Letter of support for Lake Tahoe Community College’s Tahoe Basin Public Safety Training Center
Tahoe Chamber | March 22, 2022 | Community News • Government Affairs
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Tahoe Chamber supports Lake Tahoe Community College’s request for $22.9 million in California state funds to help construct the Tahoe Basin Public Safety Training Center on its campus. A signed letter was submitted to Senator Brian Dahle on March 16, 2022.
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We are writing on behalf of our more than 550 members to respectfully request you designate the proposed Lake Tahoe Community College (LTCC) Tahoe Basin Public Safety Training Center as one of your top 1st Senate District priorities for submittal to the Senate Budget Committee.
We are extremely proud of LTCC’s expanding accomplishments, serving the South Shore and surrounding region for nearly 50 years. As a comprehensive community college, LTCC students can obtain individualized instruction across 39 options for associate degrees in additional to 39 career, technical, and general education certificates. Some 36% of LTCC’s undergraduate students come from Latinx backgrounds. LTCC is a designated Hispanic Serving Institution providing equal access to LTCC educational and career training curriculum and programs.
Given their track record and visionary campus Master Plan, we are extremely enthusiastic in our support for the Tahoe Basin Public Safety Training Center, LTCC’s newest initiative for adding to their career training and educational programs. Annually, the Lake Tahoe Community College provides approximately 7,000 students with academic and professional development opportunities that support them in achieving their personal and career goals aligned with the needs of business and industry. For 16 years, LTCC’s Lake Tahoe Basin Fire Academy (LTBFA) has trained students as fire professionals with graduates now serving throughout California and the western United States. Many of them were on the front lines fighting last year’s devastating Caldor Fire and the other destructive wildfires within your Senate District and elsewhere.
The Tahoe Basin Public Safety Training Center will allow LTCC to build upon their partnerships with local, state, and federal agencies, training a broader array of public safety professionals. It will nearly double the training capacity for the region’s firefighters, forestry professionals, and first responders. The facility would also be able to serve as an incident command center for training as well as real-life emergencies in the greater Tahoe region. In fact, LTCC’s campus played a vital role as a staging area for public information operations during the Caldor Fire. We recognize and appreciate that California’s state priorities include forestry, fire, and public safety programs. As an active community-based organization, we hope you agree with our assessment that the proposed LTCC Tahoe Basin Public Safety Training Center is timely and responsive facility consistent with state as well as local and regional priorities.
A state-level allocation of $22.9 million will be combined with $5.7 million in local bond funds (Measure F, approved by LTCC district voters in November 2014) to complete the full site development and outdoor training facility (Phase II) and construct the Public Safety Training Center (Phase III). If approved in the State’s FY 2022-2023 Budget Act, the TBPSTC groundbreaking would occur in 2023 and the Center would be fully operational and serving the
community and region in 2025.
Please designate the Tahoe Basin Public Safety Training Center proposed by Lake Tahoe Community College as one of your top 1st District priorities as State Legislators consider funding allocations for FY 2022-2023.
Respectfully submitted for your consideration and support,
Tiffany Zabaglo, Chair, Board of Directors
Mike Glover, Chief Executive Officer
Steve Teshara, Director, Government Relations