The Sonoma Valley Visitor's Bureau has joined the Chamber of Commerce in condemning our initiative. The business community is united in their objections to our effort to control and limit growth in Sonoma; no surprise in that...here is our response:
It is understandable that the business community wants to defend its profit-making potential. And that tourism contributes to the local economy is not in dispute. The issues raised by the SVVB, however, ignore a basic reality of Sonoma: the residents are not willing to sacrifice Sonoma's unique quality-of-life simply for the sake of higher profit and what the Visitor's Bureau board calls "sustained economic growth." Sonoma's voters have previously sent this message to the business community loud and clear with their denial of the Rosewood Hotels Hillside resort and the passage of the sprawl-stopping Urban Growth Boundary. At those times, the business community made the very same arguments and dire predictions, and they were rejected. Was the result economic disaster, a collapse of tourism or or the destruction of Sonoma or its reputation? Not at all; the visitors kept coming, the community thrived and the business community adapted to the new regulations and limitations.
The Sonoma everyone enjoys today is in large part the result of the regulations previously put in place to control the pace and scale of growth of our community. The business community needs to face reality and get in sync with the citizens, accept that the key to their financial success is not devotion to "growth" and the ever higher profits they desire but embracing a balanced vision for the community that preserves Sonoma as a desirable place to live and visit; a less hurried, less crowded, quiet, and safe rural town that places the needs of residents first. Do this and the citizens will reward you, the visitors will appreciate it, and the local economy will be just fine.
