Point Reyes Light - December 11, 2003
Supes drop West Marin from tourism district
By Andrew Pridgen
County supervisors next week had been scheduled to create a countywide Business Improvement District (BID) designed to promote tourism in Marin.
Last week, however, the board unanimously approved a motion from Supervisor Steve Kinsey that West Marin not be included, and this week, the board approved a motion from Supervisor Annette Rose that Belvedere, Tiburon, Sausalito, and Mill Valley will be excluded as well.
Those cities in southern Marin may band together to form their own district to market the area separate from the rest of the county, Supervisor Kinsey said.
The vote is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16, but with so many dropouts, the tourism-promotion district may include only communities from Corte Madera north, county officials said this week.
The district, which is to be financed with a one-percent tax on lodgings rented overnight, was proposed because the Convention and Visitors’ Bureau has been costing the county almost $180,000 a year.
When a countywide BID was first proposed, Supervisor Kinsey gave it his backing. He dropped his support for including the coast, however. Numerous West Marin residents and merchants expressed concern that adding to the 2.5 million travelers already visiting the Point Reyes National Seashore annually could, in fact, make this area less attractive to visitors, not more.
"I continue to believe that West Marin is a place to be discovered, not marketed," Supervisor Steve Kinsey told The Light Wednesday. "I appreciate residents’ support to get all the [Board of] Supervisors to remove West Marin from the BID."
Point Reyes Station resident Jeanette Pontacq spearheaded the drive to remove West Marin from the BID, but this week she said something might still be done to entice people traveling through West Marin to shop and stay overnight.
"The innkeepers that want to do something need to [involve] the people of West Marin in this question," Pontacq told The Light Tuesday. "Even when you mention the word[s] ‘more tourism,’ people get their hackles up. That word can be redefined, but it takes all of the community to tackle that, not just a few people."
Kinsey, meanwhile, does not foresee the county’s helping market West Marin in the foreseeable future. However, he noted, a few projects geared to tourism are already underway: increased management of traffic, new or improved roadsigns, and installation of public restrooms next year in downtown Point Reyes Station.
"There is opportunity for businesses to work for themselves," Kinsey Said. "I see no additional role for the county at this time."