Author Archives: Webadmin

Diane Becker’s email to the IVGID Board re employee beach access

Incline Village Crystal Bay Matters Posted on by

Re:  Opposition to May 14, 2025 Agenda Item H1 Regarding Employee Beach Passes 5/13/2025 Dear Trustees and General Manager Harrison, I am writing this email in opposition to the recommendation in item H1 to provide employee Beach passes.  The supporting Memorandum does not discuss any of the risks of damages to the property owners and to IVGID of proceeding with this recommendation, including the risk of costly litigation against the District, and does not explain why proceeding as described in the Memorandum will not violate the Beach Deed. I ask that the District  advise the public if an unqualified legal … Continue reading →

More questions for the candidates.

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All candidates were asked to submit responses. Only Mark Case, Harry Swenson and Frank Wright returned responses. What would you do to address the increasing need for subsidies? Diamond Peak has been subsidizing operations at other venues. Do you think DP revenues should pay for DP projects? One candidate said he thought we could double or triple proposed facility fees and still receive an incredible value. Would you feel that way with a $2340 fee? Do you think trustees should approve bonds without a bond election? Why or why not? Do you think the Hyatt and other hotels/STR’s should pay … Continue reading →

Homan’s “portfolio model” is sheer fantasy

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Trustee Candidate Homan promotes his portfolio theory as a model that has served IVGID well for decades. It goes something along the lines that it’s perfectly acceptable for one venue to lose money as long as all the combined recreation activities cover their operating expenses.That has never been IVGID’s model. He insists that IVGID is not here to run “for-profit” businesses. Maybe that’s true for parks, the skateboard park, disc golf and numerous programs for youth and adults. But when it comes to venues like the Champ course and Diamond Peak, that’s just sheer fantasy. Look at this exercise from … Continue reading →

IVGID HAS BEEN BROKEN FOR YEARS.

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IVGID’s prior Boards under Callicrate and Wong, not the current Board, failed. Perhaps some, including candidates for Trustee who only located/relocated here a few years ago, might be surprised by the following quotes from November 2020 board meeting minutes.  Anyone who thinks the disfunction was caused by members of the current Board is ignoring IVGID’s years under GM Winquest and a Board controlled by Callicrate and Wong (whose PAC supports candidates Tonking, Homan and Jezycki). Problems such as vacancies in senior management, mistakes in hiring, and purchasing million dollar items without a formal bid process were commonplace. Here are some … Continue reading →

Lake Tahoe policy, funding, ignores what’s urgently needed

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Author, Pamela Mahoney Tsigdinos, lives in Washoe County and volunteers with Tahoe grassroots groups working to protect Lake Tahoe. Where Lake Tahoe is concerned, leadership is not just lacking from elected officials and land use agencies at the county, state and federal level; it’s reckless. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency’s (TRPA) executive director laid out a jargon-laden 2024-2025 work plan that is not only deficient; it ignores the elephant in the room. Wildfire dangers continue to outpace projections across the West. Property insurance premiums are soaring around Tahoe and insurers are pulling out or canceling policies altogether due to wildfire risks. While we all salute those in firefighting … Continue reading →

Can IVGID learn from its mistakes?

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What went wrong? If you haven’t had time to listen to IVGID meetings, at least take a look at pp. 156-160 of the Board packet for the 1/31/24 meeting. The interim Finance Director, Bobby Magee, has listed numerous financial issues that either have been or still need to be addressed. With such an extensive list of major shortcomings in IVGID’s financials, it’s apparent that past leadership failed to provide adequate financial oversight of our recreational venues. It’s pretty obvious from Board meetings, Audit Committee meetings and Golf Advisory Committee meetings, that our former GM failed to monitor the financial health … Continue reading →

Proposed Rec Center Expansion is not for the public.

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The 9/14 special meeting of the IVGID BOT should be cancelled. As of 8am on Tuesday, September 13, there is still no RFID contract for the Board to review. And the description of the revised rec center expansion is lacking in sufficient detail. There are serious drawbacks to this proposal. Square footage of various rooms is not available. However, what is presented is that there will be no added gymnasium; the staff memo is deceptive in listing the dedicated gymnastics space as a “gymnasium”. And including expanded staff office space, conference and break rooms as “recreation center” is equally misleading. … Continue reading →

Recreation Center Expansion

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IVGID Recreation Center Expansion/Remodel The Duffield Foundation has graciously offered to pay for a huge expansion to IVGID’s rec center, housing a new gymnasium, gymnastics club and youth center. However, in the rush to move this project along, questions remain that have not been addressed. Is this what the community wants? The Duffield Foundation is footing most of the bill for new construction, so they have pretty much been calling the shots. The expansion meets a few of the needs listed in the CS Master Plan, but does not address others which were given higher priority in the plan/surveys. Gymnastics … Continue reading →

Support Trustee Schmitz

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The June 8, 2022 IVGID Board Meeting will go down in the annals of Incline Village history as a day of infamy. At the opening public comment, IVGID Trustee Sara Schmitz was ridiculed by a former Trustee, Peter Morris, for lacking the mental capacity to be a Trustee and for being an “agitator”.  Chair Callicrate made no objection to these comments even though he had told the public at the prior Board meeting that character assassination “would not be tolerated”. Instead, he chastised members of the public for audibly objecting to Morris’ personal attack. Not surprising after learning from Trustee … Continue reading →

More concerns about 5/26 IVGID BOT agenda

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Ordinance 7 provision for hotels and motels New language appears in the Ordinance 7 draft that finally came out on Tuesday afternoon, just 2 days before the public hearing, that was never discussed by the Ordinance 7 committee. It deals with hotel and motel guest access. Although the beach deed specifically mentions hotel and motel guests, at the time the beach deed was drafted, hotel and motel properties were charged a rec/beach fee for each hotel unit. Hyatt guests typically don’t use the beach since they have their own beach; the per room assessment stopped in 1982 for all hotels. … Continue reading →