SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Residents in the Regan Beach and Lakeview Commons areas over the past several years have been complaining and lobbying the city for what they call illegal behavior, including cars with loud exhausts racing up and down Lakeview Avenue.

The city of South Lake Tahoe is picking up speed with changes to counteract what residents near Regan Beach call disrespect for the safety of others. 

“We as a neighborhood are tired of the destruction, and carelessness of the groups of people who don’t live here and treat this place and its residents with such disrespect,” said longtime resident John Kolesar.

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Another longtime resident who wished to remain anonymous said, “trespassers with loud vehicle exhausts smoke weed and drink before getting back behind the wheel and speed down Lakeview at 60 mph.” 

The resident also alleged an increase in theft from houses close to the beach.

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South Lake Tahoe Police Chief David Stevenson, spoke to the increasingly dynamic efforts to protect and to serve. 

Stevenson said they’ve been responding to complaints regarding these issues over the past several years. 

“We’ve had 47 extra patrol checks and 10 more traffic stops occur,” he said. “On average, spring and summer months are busier.

“Past years we’ve used planters strategically placed at the exit to narrow the space encouraging the drivers to take it at a slower pace,” Stevenson added. “We also had an electronic speed sign trailer and rubber speed humps along that main drive.”

Public Information Officer Lindsey Baker said, “We have some solutions in mind, but we want to propose those ideas in a meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 13, at Regan Beach to get feedback and suggestions from the community.” 

Plans the city have are on hold until the community meeting. Potential plans include suggested concepts such as installing signs at the beach entrances, speed bumps, traffic feedback signs from lakeview commons to Regan Beach, retractable spikes at the exit and reducing hours of operation. The speed bumps would be collected prior to the winter season to allow for plowing. 

Baker said, “Top areas of focus have been ensuring the gates are closed at the times presently set and doing due diligence to prioritize the calls coming into the city public safety answer point.”

Public Works Director Anush Nejad, said the community meeting is important to receive input from residents.

“I think it’s important for us to be able to get input from all of the residents in this open meeting, even tourists and visitors can attend,” Nejad said. “This would be a pilot project that we would implement in other communities under the umbrella of traffic calming and neighborhood preservation. The following ideas, plus additional input from the neighborhood, will be discussed during the meeting. We will then seek a budget and install the appropriate devices based on sound traffic engineering principles.”