The Stupid Person’s Solution to all our Economic Woes: Tourists!
No one disputes that the Rochester area faces many problems. The most serious problems, job loss and people loss, stem from the overabundance of state laws and regulations that choke businesses and individuals (high property taxes, high energy costs, high workers compensation costs, the scaffold law, I could go on, but I might fling my coffee mug at an innocent bystander).
In light of these serious challenges, nimrods predictably offer the perfect solution to all our woes: TOURISM DOLLARS!
The latest example of this can be found in an editorial in today’s D&C that praises the state for focusing on upstate tourism. According to the D&C:
The state this week rolled out a new campaign, using the iconic “I Love New York” slogan, to draw tourists upstate from nearby states and Canada.
The idea is that high gas prices will limit trips this summer, meaning people from New Jersey or Toronto might be more inclined to visit Rochester’s lakeside or take a golf vacation in Monroe County than travel long distances.
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The upstate focus, as it develops, must be about more than the Finger Lakes and Niagara Falls. Those are great attractions, but so too is the rich history of Rochester, the home of Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony and George Eastman.
There are jewels upstate that a renewed tourism effort should uncover.
Someone please tell me who would go on a vacation to visit the homes of Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and George Eastman. The next time you talk to an out of town friend, try to convince them to vacation in Rochester so that they can visit the George Eastman house. Let me know how that works out for you.
And what is so unique about the pretty good public golf courses located in Monroe County? Is there some kind of shortage of decent public golf courses such that someone would travel a couple hundred miles to come here to golf at Ravenwood?
Do not misinterpret my disdain for the tourism solution as some kind of criticism for the area. I have lived all over the East Coast, and I chose to live in the Rochester area. Despite all the problems, it still has a great standard of living, low housing costs, excellent local sports, great public schools (and there are good private schools in the city), and a litany of other things that make life great. But I emphasize that it is a great place to LIVE, not to vacation.
Trying to save a struggling region through tourism is not unique to Rochester. Morons in other communities cling to this hope as well. For instance, the City of North Tonawanda, located between Buffalo and Niagara Falls, acknowledges on its homepage that it usedto be “an important regional manufacturing center.” However, the City allegedly has a bright future because it is now “focused on waterfront development, entertainment and tourism.” Has anyone in human history ever visited North Tonawanda for the “entertainment and tourism”? Slogan: Come for the seedy bars, stay for the smell of burning tires!
The irrational idea that tourism can save this region harms us because it turns the focus away from solutions that could actually help us. Even worse, it leads to insane decision-making that actively harms the region. Let me remind you that the Fast Ferry debacle wasted millions of dollars of taxpayer money; and the bleeding continues.
I can think of a litany of things that the money could have been used for to improve the quality of life for the people living in Rochester (and maybe it would have helped keep some of those people from moving to North Carolina).
1. We could have hired more cops to help keep the crime rate down in the City.
2. We could have set up a fund to keep property taxes low throughout the region for years to come.
3. We could have bought the Buffalo Sabres (or most any professional hockey team) and moved them to Rochester.
4. We could have pulled together a giant community bonfire event and lit the millions of dollars on fire.
What would you have done with all the fast ferry money?
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