YOUR AD HERE »

Letter: ‘Sounds like I was a bad boy’

In his Feb. 6 letter, Carl Ribaudo said, “Mr. Crawford was legendary for never offering new solutions to challenges and problems that confronted this community, just attacking what was proposed.” Sounds like I was a bad boy.

For the record, I was elected to the city council in 1998. I had opposed the city redevelopment plan because the debt was out of control. At the time, opposition to the state’s redevelopment law was growing. So the San Francisco Examiner came to South Lake Tahoe to investigate the situation here. On Sunday, March 12, 2000, they published their findings, more than two pages of type and photos. An Examiner reporter interviewed me in my home. In the article the redevelopment manager Jay Von Klug said, “I understand Bill’s concern and I understand that it’s scary for anybody to be $100 million in debt.”

Today in 2016 the future “I forecast” is reality. Twenty-four percent of the city budget goes to debt service. It is a major factor in the city’s fiscal problems. Debt-service payments will continue into the 2030s.



It’s true. I am not a visionary with grand solutions for the city’s fiscal problems because such solutions are too often illusions. They create more problems than they solve. So I’ll leave that department to Carl. Maybe he can cure the debt.

Carl is for win-win solutions designed by him for him to control.



Bill Crawford

South Lake Tahoe, Calif.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around the Lake Tahoe Basin and beyond make the Tahoe Tribune's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.