Letters to the Editor
Let Council decide
Dear Editor:
The road to success is to identify the problem and try to move as quickly as possible into a solution.
Sometimes, when hastily done, the solution turns into yet another problem. That is what I believe has happened with the home rental issue.
The issue here, as I see it, is enforcement. We don’t have a lot of resources to police the homeowners who are currently illegally renting. With the growing rate of technology and websites that cater to short term vacation home rentals, the “Let Mammoth Decide” initiative does not address enforcement at all. Instead, it locks down the current zoning in place and takes power out of the hands of elected officials whose very job is to figure out a way to better enforce rules and regulations. It also is going to cost $50,000 to hold a special election to consider this ballot initiative, taking away precious money and resources from looking into possible enforcement measures.
Another facet of this is:
We need to effect immediate change in order to entice business, Jobs, development, and sustainability in this town. We also need to service the $50 million MLLA airport litigation debit. The only tangible immediate remedy is regulating, taxing and expanding SFVHR’s into additional residential neighborhoods.
I’m not saying it’s going to be an end-all be-all solution, but at least it’s a step in the right direction, Just imagine the trickledown effect, putting another 500 beds on the tax rolls would have? The jobs it would create as well as the competition it would create? Maybe some of these 30-year old dilapidated condo projects would feel the competition and be enticed to update their exteriors and common areas. It could be a win-win for everybody.
At the price per square ft. that properties are selling for these days, we could be years away from another development cycle and the existing inventory of 30- to 40-year old product is on its last legs. We need to kick start something and fast!
There are good people on Town Council and we worked hard to put them there. I can guarantee that none of them have the intention of bringing a frat party next door to your house or want big SUVss speeding up and down your street endangering your kids. The big picture here, while there is no disputing this is about preserving neighborhoods, is about preserving our livelihoods! One doesn’t exist without the other. Please let’s figure out a way to compromise and a path to the greater good.
Tim Flynn
Mammoth Lakes
What price for geothermal?
Dear Editor:
Hidden in a beautiful forest east of Shady Rest Park is a geothermal well operation. We came upon it when I was leading a Thursday afternoon Sierra Club hike. It was immediately evident that this land had been cleared for commercial purposes because of the noise pollution and scarred terrain. It took only a phone call to be informed about Ormat Geothermal.
Basalt canyon is no longer a natural habitat. Rather, it is an unsightly drilling site where there is an obvious scarring from the surfacing of deadly CO2 as well as other chemicals rising to ground surface.
Ormat is not regulated by an outside agency. In fact, they are currently in court awaiting a judgement to rule about forcing theme to issue EIR reports (Editor’s note: the judgment was in their favor. See story page one).
What is the problem? Our drinking water, precious as it is, is sitting in an aquifer above the aquifer they wish to extract heat from, or will extract if their proposed project to drill 16 more wells is in operation. This proposed project will pump 29,000 acre feet of hot water annually, and the wells will be east of the existing well near Shady Rest Park. This means more noise pollution and scarred land closer to our town. It will also increase ground temperatures, carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants on drilling areas.
The Ormat drilling project should be monitored and information should be readily accessible to interested residents, instead of the secrecy and lack of communication from the company that seems to be the current policy. We don’t want to sacrifice clean dri.king water for the geothermal corporation, even if it is a so-called “green industry.
Sally Gessford
Mammoth Lakes
