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Letters to the editor for June 25

I am sure this will be one of many letters to you and the city of South Lake Tahoe after last weekend’s events.

I had a wedding on my property (The Deerfield Lodge) this weekend, and Jerry Birdwell, proprietor of the Black Bear Inn next door, tried to destroy a day of happiness. Frank Sinatra was playing (rather softly, according to police) at 4 in the afternoon. It was disturbing his peace.

At 4 p.m., how does Frank Sinatra disturb anyone’s peace? This event benefited Ski Run Boulevard businesses. Blue Angel Cafe catered; Spruce Grove and Alder Inn had rooms filled with guests.



Mr. Birdwell, as a member of our City Council, is supposed to support tourism in South Lake Tahoe. He clearly does not. He has his own personal agenda for being on the City Council. A sign of a true politician! I support any type of tourism in my town. Tourism is my job – to make my guests happy. And I can say, even having Mr. Birdwell try and ruin a wedding, I had 150 happy satisfied guests here either at my hotel or recommended to others and 150 people angry at Mr. Birdwell. So who do you think won here? Surely not Mr. Birdwell.

Mr. Birdwell had better get his priorities straight. He has no idea who any of those 150 guests might be – say, travel editor of a Houston newspaper, who is mortified Mr. Birdwell came from there! How about a VP with AAA; has he ever heard of Via magazine? A former judge should know: Never judge a book by its cover. He is not the only inn in town with a five-star guest list – there are many.



I would also like to personally thank our police department. They were most sympathetic and polite in their duties. You have to respect men who do their job and do it well. I am sure it won’t be the last time we see you, but you never know: 150 angry people might make a difference in one man’s bitter attitude.

Robin Pels-Eichenfield

South Lake Tahoe

Regarding the passionate, heated discussion at the last City Council meeting concerning enforcement of the excessive noise ordinance at vacation rentals, I would like to share what happened at our property, the Black Bear Inn, this past weekend.

A property next to us had an outdoor event with around 150 guests. The event started quietly but got progressively louder and louder throughout the day. Things went from bad to worse when a police officer had to quiet them down, and a group of people from the event came to our establishment to let us know how angry and upset they were that we had “ruined” the event. This disastrous, unpleasant incident left everyone on both sides very unhappy. I doubt that any of my guests this past weekend will ever return.

When you are reviewing how to deal with this epidemic problem of tourists coming to town and creating disturbances, please keep two things in mind: 1) We are not always dealing with drunken “frat parties” at vacation rentals; problems can arise at nice properties where perfectly decent people have large events that simply become too disruptive. 2) It’s not just locals who are complaining; it’s also visitors to our area who are spending their vacation dollars to stay here and can just as easily decide to stay elsewhere on their next vacation.

We don’t want people who visit our community to leave here with the impression that Lake Tahoe is not the place to visit if you want a weekend of peace and quiet away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Kevin Chandler

Black Bear Inn


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