Moonshine Ink Shines a Light on Tahoe Economy in Special Issue

Mayumi Elegado, the publisher of Moonshine Ink, had an ambitious plan for her June 10 print edition. As she writes in her introduction to the issue, she assigned a series of stories that “explore all the nooks and crannies of the local economy, to study the whole picture.” But a funny thing happened: Each nook led to one topic: the housing crisis in the Tahoe region.

The story package starts literally at the beginning with Pat Dillon’s “A Brief History of the Tahoe Economy,” stretching from the Martis people, who lived here until around 500 AD, followed by the Washoe, who arrived 500 years later and have stayed here ever since. Today’s economy, he writes, “encourages owners to rent their properties by the day or week to visitors.”

In “Escaping the Tourist Trap,” Sage Sauerbrey writes, “Tahoe/Truckee has been keeping all its economic eggs in one basket for about 10 years: tourism, and last spring the Covid-19 pandemic raided the chicken coop.” But the article also spotlights creative entrepreneurs looking beyond visitor-driven businesses.

In “Redefining Tourism in Tahoe,” Alex Hoeft writes about sustainable tourism. “The concept demands that a destination and its visitors balance the economic, social, and environmental needs of a place.”

In an opinion piece, Brett Williams pleads, “Don’t Blame the Visitor for Structural Problems.” He examines instead the effect of short-term rentals, noting that owners of second homes do short-term rentals so they can also enjoy the property: “If the buyer wanted to buy a property that is an investment property, they would have bought in Sacramento or Reno where prices are lower and profitability is higher.” 

Melissa Siig digs into another Tahoe conundrum: “No Housing, No Employees.” Siig talks to workers and business owners, and asks, “what becomes of a community when the workforce and business owners can no longer afford to live there?"