Tahoe residents think environmental problems serious

Those were the findings of a telephone survey conducted this summer by Arthur Bauer and Associates for the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

The survey was conducted as part of the TRPA's effort to determine if taxes and fees should be imposed to fund environmental programs. The poll had a margin of error of 4.4 percent.

Of the more than 500 people surveyed, 54.8 percent said environmental problems at Lake Tahoe are very serious, while 36.7 percent said they are somewhat serious. Only 4.7 percent said they are not very serious.

Water clarity of the lake that straddles the Nevada-California line was consider the most serious problem, followed by water purity, air pollution, dead trees and traffic.

More than half of respondents, 56.8 percent, said the TRPA has a poor reputation.

Jim Baetge, TRPA executive director, said it was encouraging that a large percentage of Tahoe Basin residents recognize the region's environmental problems.

"If you don't have people first of all recognizing there's a problem, it's pretty hard to ask if they're willing to pay," he said.

Baetge said he is also working to improve the image of the agency created by Congress in 1969 to protect the Tahoe Basin's sensitive environment.

"I'm trying as much as possible to get people to appreciate and understand what we do," Baetge said.

He said he can understand why some people dislike the agency when it turns down projects and proposals.

Forty-one percent of those surveyed said the agency has a poor reputation because of excessive building restrictions.

"I never did like the TRPA," said South Lake Tahoe, Calif., resident Joseph Rinaudo, who was turned down when he wanted to pave a portion of his property.

"They won't even let you improve your own property," he said, adding, "I guess they mean well. That's all I can say."

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