It has never stopped : Tahoe residents blame Airbnb, county for nonstop tourism in pandemic
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Tahoe City.Ryan Salm/Special to SFGATE
Between Dec. 10 and Jan. 13, Gov. Gavin Newsom placed Lake Tahoe and the greater Sacramento region under a regional stay-at-home order that told people to postpone trips and stay home. The order interrupted one of Tahoe’s busiest seasons of the year, but of course, it didn’t stop people from coming for a ski trip over the winter holidays.
Placer County s code compliance department received 350 calls and emails during the most recent order, said Jayme Paine, a supervising officer in the department. Some of those were from visitors who had questions about traveling to Tahoe or property owners reaching out to learn more about whether they could still rent their house. But many of those complaints came from Tahoe residents frustrated that the Airbnb or Vrbo on their street was still occupied when they were supposed to be empty.
Tahoe is cracking down on Airbnbs. But officials can t stop visitors from coming
South Lake Tahoe is dealing with many of the contradictions in the stay-at-home order Share Updated: 10:35 AM PST Dec 16, 2020 By Julie Brown/SF Gate
Tahoe is cracking down on Airbnbs. But officials can t stop visitors from coming
South Lake Tahoe is dealing with many of the contradictions in the stay-at-home order Share Updated: 10:35 AM PST Dec 16, 2020
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Show Transcript WILL BE OPEN THIS WEEKEND DURING THE STAY-AT-HOME ORDER. THE RESORTS ARE WORKING UNDER STRICT GUIDELINES FROM THE STATE. TY: KCRA 3’S BRIAN HICKEY IS LIVE IN STUDIO B GETTING HIS SKIS READY FOR THE WEEKEND WITH A LOOK AT WHAT EXPECT IF YOU ARE HEADING TO THE RESORTS. PRACTICING PHYSICAL DISTANCING UP THERE ON THE MOUNTAIN AND JUST GETTING SOME EXERCISE. THE RESORTS ARE OPEN BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF STUFF THAT IS CLOSED AS WELL. YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THAT. IF YOU HAVE A LARG
Tahoe is cracking down on Airbnbs. But officials can t stop visitors from coming.
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During the first stay-at-home order, in March, South Lake Tahoe was empty. Mayor Tamara Wallace remembers driving down the four-lane highway that transects the city, toward the California-Nevada stateline, and not seeing another car on the road for almost 2 miles.
“It was a feeling of the end of the world,” Wallace says.
Mayor Wallace doesn’t think Tahoe s second stay-at-home order will roll out the same way. This time, the order coincides with one of Tahoe’s busiest times of the year for tourism.
“We’re not like Hawaii,” she says. “We can’t stop traffic to South Lake Tahoe. We are not an island. Whether or not we can stop people from coming to South Lake Tahoe is just not an issue. We can’t. But when people are here, we can have people be good stewards of our community and be kind and safe.”