Goodbye Tahoma Meadows

        The Tahoma Meadows Motel Resort located next to Highway 89, a stone's throw from Tahoma Market, is now under the ownership of the developers of Homewood Mountain Resort. Another example of corporate money squeezing out the local economy in the quest for ever increasing profits. The former owners did a wonderful job restoring the site over several years after they purchased the establishment about 16 years ago. On a comfortable timetable they rebuilt all the individual cabins while continuing to operate as a hotel. They hired local residents and offered breakfast prepared onsite in the upstairs dining room above the space used as the office. That space had been a restaurant but did not fit their image for the site.

      The Mayor spent many a night as a guest there during the construction of a nearby residence in which he was involved. It offered, among other things, a warm, attractive, safe and secure night's rest. There is ample parking and most cabins were well off the highway, and highway traffic noise was not an issue.

      So, developers come in with an attractive offer: in the millions of course, and the hard working husband and wife weighed the options: take the money and run; ignore the offer and refuse to sell; negotiate with a counter offer to test the mettle of the interested party. In most real estate negotiations, there's subtle influences always: timing and the economy; time in for the hard working owners and their future prospects staying; and the timing of the sale itself: will another 10 years of hard work payoff? So, they sold.

Now, what?

       The Homewood Mountain Resort web site states that the property will provide housing for development staff as the company moves forward on its plans for the Homewood site.  This means that the site will no longer be a destination for visitors and guests of the West Shore who will find their options more limited than ever. As one indication of the current situation, a property in the Rubicon Bay area, an old 50's style rancher, on 4+a., has been offered for $35 millions! True.

       Homewood resort owners are floating the new concept(for the West Shore): a members only ski resort, where the elites will come to play-no peasants need apply. This turnover will ne the death knell for families who are not in that class of income. Visitors will have to find skiing sites far removed from Lake Tahoe, maybe in Oregon or Washington, or Utah and Colorado.

     Neighbors on the West Shore are holding a community meeting at Tahoma's Sluchak Park on July 2nd @1:00pm to plan a response to this abuse of a community and its viability as a livable area.