Sedona has always depended on tourism, but the unsustainable flood of tourism over the past five years is clogging our roads, trails, and choking the life out of our town.
Our local businesses had no problem thriving on less than half the number of tourists we have today. But the City and the Chamber’s insatiable greed for more has clearly put our town, its residents, and even our local businesses at risk.
It’s time to say enough is enough.
Those we elected to represent us have not done so. They continue to approve new hotels, have been completely ineffective in dealing with the short-term rental crisis, and allow hundreds of off-road rental vehicles to destroy our fragile environment and endanger the health of our residents.
Enough is enough.
We need to clean house and elect representatives who will actually represent us and not simply offer excuses for why they can’t.
Creative and effective solutions that meet the needs of residents have been non-existent for the twelve years I have lived here. It gets worse every year. Those who have lived here thirty years and longer say the same.
It appears the plan for the current City is to turn Sedona into a Disney-style theme park and the needs of the residents and our environment are just an annoyance. They are well on their way as we can see unless we stop them by electing representatives who represent us for a change.
The City has finally reduced funding to the Chamber for Destination Marketing because other avenues are already bringing in an unsustainable number of tourists. It has only taken them twenty years to do so after being repeatedly requested by residents. And who knows if after the August elections they will simply increase the Chamber funding again. Instead of the Destination Marketing funding, they are going to use the funding to produce a series of videos asking tourists to behave better. These are the kinds of do-nothing solutions they offer us.
One of Many Creative and Practical Solutions
Why not designate one-third or one-half of all trailhead parking for residents only and heavily ticket tourists who ignore this? This has been done in many parts of the country and keeps beaches and trails from being overrun and available once again to residents.
There are many creative and practical ways to support residents. But we never seem to hear of any from those who are now in elected office and seeking to remain there. What we hear are excuses and plans to accommodate an unsustainable number of new tourists at an increasing cost to Sedona’s residents.
Enough is enough.
Help elect people who will actually represent you. And run for the available positions of Mayor and four Council Member positions. Sedona Citizens Unite will support you. Click here to find out more.
SPEAKING
Design Conference, 2019
Designing Teams
San Jose, CA
Design x Mental Health, 2019
Speaking Out
San Francisco, CA
Impact for Growth, 2018
Building Compatible Teams
San Francisco, CA