Letters to the editor for Sept. 3

Vacation-rental parking rules don't make sense

Once again, the South Lake Tahoe City Council appears to be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I have to agree with Councilman Ted Long. How are we going to regulate the new vacation-rental parking ordinance? If we issue parking stickers for vacation-rental vehicles, how are the police going to determine those renters that do not have a sticker, or which cars belong to residents? Are we going to issue stickers to all residents and visitors and ticket all vehicles without any stickers?

If the council is concerned about "the quality of living in our residential areas" and the blight caused by vehicles parked in our neighborhoods, then they should take a tour through our living areas and notice the number of campers, trailers and boats as well as extra cars and commercial vehicles "littering" streets every night by our residents.

Let us pass an ordinance that address the total blight: Issue vehicle-parking permits for residents and vacation rentals; limit the number of vehicles per household; limit the time on the street for boats, campers, etc.; ban overnight parking of commercial vehicles and clean up the total problem.

Ron C. Rettus

South Lake Tahoe

No need to make trail multiuse

I would just like to enter my support to the reader who asked that the Cold Creek Trail not be rerouted for mountain-bike use. The Cold Creek Trail is one of my favorite "in-town" hikes. It is a beautiful trail, going up to high meadow and meandering along the creek as it falls toward the lake with lots of wildflowers and aspens along the way. Cool and sheltered from the wind, it is a wonderful respite from both the heat and traffic of some other trails.

I also agree that the restructuring of the Christmas Valley Trail was for us hikers a sad deviation from the pleasant stroll up to Dardenelles, adding at least 15 minutes to the distance and switchbacking endlessly away from the pleasant sights and sounds of the river. Perhaps this was needed as a safe corridor for the bikers to transit from Big Meadow, since it seems that it was graded especially for a beginner to intermediate level of bike rider, being not very challenging any longer.

In the case of the Cold Creek Trail, there does not seem to be any need to do this in order to accommodate both trail users. The road could easily accommodate the bikers and the creekside trail above the bridge could still be used for hikers without much change. I no longer use the Christmas Valley Trail in order to get to Dardenelles; I drive a bit longer to get to the main trailhead down the road and leave the revamped trail to the bikers.

Please reconsider doing any major changes to the Cold Creek Trail. I believe a hiker-only corridor there would be very low-impact to the environment and provide a needed vigorous "wet" trail to those of us living in town and wanting a nice afternoon hike. This trail has existed for quite a long time, probably since I moved here more than 30 years ago. Please don't take away one of Tahoe's most beautiful trails as an unneeded "fix" to a resolvable problem. Your funds and manpower could be used to much better advantage elsewhere.

Barbara Shirahama

South Lake Tahoe