Guest column

I have been hearing a lot of talk lately about “no growth,” “slow growth” and “smart growth.” My sense is that islanders don’t want the islands run over with people. San Juan County residents want to keep the laid-back, rural, pastoral flavor of the islands. They don’t want maximum build out.

So, I have to ask myself, why are we letting county government spend $350,000 a year to exclusively promote tourism by a Destination Marketing Organization without even a whimper of protest? Are islanders just too busy to notice? Have people given up on county government?

Has San Juan County changed so much that South Burn, who valued “pilgrims” but who zealously campaigned against the county promoting tourism, is just one more outdated memory? Or is tourism really suffering so much that we must subsidize their advertising?

When I have asked people if they want the county to impose a second 2 percent hotel/motel tax on lodging bills for the exclusive use of promoting tourism, the response has been, “No, but what can we do about it? The commissioners wouldn’t listen to a petition with a 1,000 names on it. Why would they listen to me?”

I’m glad our revolutionary forebearers didn’t have this attitude. I’m glad people in the Civil Rights movement didn’t have this attitude. I’m glad the suffragettes didn’t take this attitude. I’m glad that the abolitionists didn’t have this attitude. If we believe in anything, it takes work to make it happen.

A few people have worked very hard to persuade the Board of County Commissioners to add this second lodging tax to pay for promoting tourism. Not all of the lodging industry supports this tax. The commission will decide this issue on May 21. I have asked the Board of County Commissioners to actively engage the public about this issue, but it is soon to slip under the radar screen next week.

This simple decision has the potential of changing the nature of these islands more than anything else ever has in the past.

There have been lots of reasons given for supporting this tax, but in reality, there has been no analysis done for the necessity of this second lodging tax. It is entirely possible that the tax could harm the tourism industry in the county by adding one more cost to the already increasing ferry fares, parking fares, etc.

The Visitor Information Service, which has objectively and in a balanced manner distributed information successfully for the county to hundreds of thousands of inquirers about the San Juans, is soon to be subsumed by a much more aggressive Destination Marketing Organization working through the Chambers of Commerce. If citizens want this extra tax, wouldn’t it be more prudent to apply this $350,000 to the struggling County Parks budget?

I believe in tourism. Some of my greatest experiences, good and bad, have come from being a tourist. My friends work in the tourism industry. I used to work in the tourism industry. I know enough, however, to realize that as more people move here, more people want a piece of the tourism pie. Does this mean we have to recruit even more tourists than we already do through the proliferation of articles in Sunset magazine, the Wall Street Journal, real estate ads and websites, etc.?

I am told that this increased advertising is to persuade people to come during the shoulder season. My experience is that tourists come when the weather is warm, the days long, the whales in season, and all the restaurants open. No amount of advertising will bring tourists when the days are cold, the nights long, the whales in southern climes, and the restaurants closed.

So, to use a common cliché, “Who needs it?”

— Rhea Miller is a member of the Board of County Commissioners. She lives on Lopez Island.

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