Making cents of the president's forum

Tahoe Daily Tribune

July 27, 1997
By Sally J. Taylor
Tribune staff writer

Cash registers around Lake Tahoe's sapphire shoreline "ka-chinged" to the tune of "Hail to the Chief," as the president, vice president, other government officials, their entourages, Secret Service and media converged for the Lake Tahoe Presidential Forum.

Harveys Resort Hotel/Casino reserved more than 100 rooms in 11 different blocks for various groups. Some guests, part of the advance teams, stayed for weeks. "It's helping the economy. They're paying the (full) rates," said Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority Executive Director Ron Spellecy, who served on the forum steering committee.

Overall, lodging was in short supply due to the fact the event was held on a weekend during the busiest month of the year for Tahoe tourism.

The Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe on the North Shore hosted Saturday's Presidential Forum but people affiliated with it searched for accommodations elsewhere.

"We sold out a month to a month and a half before we knew we were having this," said Barbara Corbett, Hyatt public relations manager.

Despite added security and restrictions on employees and guests, previously planned activities worked around it.

"We don't see this as an inconvenience," she said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The Jean Deal Association investment group from Texas planned its Hyatt conference more than a year ago, said founder and namesake Jean Deal during morning coffee. Nevertheless, its meeting rooms were moved from the Lone Eagle Grille, where Secret Service agents swept the rooms in advance of the president, to space inside the hotel.

A greater inconvenience, she said, were the lack of rental cars.

"If you don't have a rental car, you can't get around here," said Deal, unaware that the lack of public transportation was among the issues discussed during the forum.

Lodging and transportation problems also confronted media representatives. After numerous calls, Channel 4 broadcast journalist Noelle Cisneros found rooms for her news crew. But Thursday night, she arrived at the Reno/Tahoe International Airport after the last rental car rolled away, too late to catch the Tahoe Casino Express. A Reno cab driver made a tidy $72 on the late-night trip to South Lake Tahoe.

The Presidential Forum also provided profit opportunities for the T-shirt industry. The Hyatt gift shop sold T-shirts showing President Clinton boating on Lake Tahoe and proclaiming "Keep Tahoe Blue."

Shirts, Inc. near Stateline commemorated the event by selling T-shirts depicting Clinton behind a podium.

Laminating special-guest passes brought Insty-Prints some extra business. So much so that the print shop ran out of laminating materials and bought out the stock at Anchor Printing to finish the job.

Food services also enjoyed extra business including catering various receptions. The reception that followed the vice presidential forum at the USFS Visitors Information Center was a group effort that included Harrah's Lake Tahoe, Cork & More, Tahoe House Backerei, Lorraine Boulangerie, Border House Brewery and Boerger Winery.

Cash registers are expected to continue ringing for some time after the president and vice president return to Washington, D.C.

The forum turned the attention of the world to Tahoe, its beauty and the effort to preserve it.

"From the beginning, if this were just a photo-op, we didn't want to be here," said LTVA's Spellecy, who has logged "in excess of 200 hours" in forum-related planning. "I'm confident it's a lot more than that."