Tourism cart before the horse; Update: yet another?
August 22nd, 2008 by Republican By DefaultOnce again a Tacoma merchant is burned by the pipe dreams of local liberals. Tall Ships Tacoma finished their events with a loss of half a million dollars. That’s right. The “International Financial Services District” isn’t the only pipe dream still catching the fancy of local liberal cheerleaders. Tourism is still front and center in the minds people who should know better.
AngelouEconomics, the consultants hired to evaluate downtown Tacoma’s economic development options were very clear in their presentation about tourism. It’s not a primary industry for Tacoma to focus on. Tourism is a secondary industry that will grow as the primary industries in their recommendations grow. Yet, the cart is still before the horse.
Another money losing event. Another expensive tourist attraction (museums, museums, museums). When will local leaders wake up and change course into something productive?
As much as people like me try to explain the error in this approach, sometimes object lessons are the only thing that gets through to people. As a businessman who’s been burned by the local hype, I can say that as time goes on more and more people will speak up about the problems. Taxpayers may sit by and watch their tax dollars disappear into a sinkhole, but businesses can’t survive when their money disappears with it.
One such example of disappearing dollars is the Pollard Group. They have been put in a dire situation because of this failed dream. Theiraccountant said, (link to article above):
“I said, ‘Your board members are on vacation, but I’m sitting here in an office trying to figure out how I’m going to make our payroll,’” Sutherland said. “This is not an account we normally would have opened. No one would do business with a blank slate for $42,000. We did so because it was Tacoma Tall Ships.”
Sutherland said the community nature of the event gave it a special sort of cachet with the company.
“We put the job above our other press jobs,” she said. “We ran everything through, provided a good, quality product. And we can’t even get a response from the executive director? The president? The vice president? [emphasis added]
Recent history is littered with burns just like this one. There are developers who can’t find a workable solution for an investment that will likely not pay off. Small businesses that invested time and money developing markets in Tacoma. Individuals who tried to open small businesses based on the speculation that the market would be there.
The problem isn’t Tacoma. The problem is the people who are spending the taxpayer’s money on things that promise little to no payoff for the city. They’re doing so at the prodding of people who don’t understand business and don’t recognize the difference between a good idea and a bad idea. They cite examples of other cities who have accomplished such things but fail to recognize the differences between those cities and our own.
Tourism might be a productive investment for Tacoma in the future, but it isn’t right now. I no longer believe it’s enough for the city government to simply change its focus to other industries in their economic development strategy. I now believe that they need to just shut their mouths, get out of the way and let commerce move the city’s economy forward. City government should focus on filling potholes and hiring police officers.
Update: Tall Ships looking for ideas to erase deficit. As for covering this deficit, I’m sure it will come out of our tax dollars. This city council will do anything to keep their pipe dreams alive.
I have a few ideas for next time. How about waiting until there’s enough foot traffic downtown to make up the difference so it doesn’t run a deficit again. Parking sucks downtown so everyone had to be bused in. Why not make it more convenient to get there and make it more desireable for locals to attend.
How about holding more events on the North and West ends of town, such as on Ruston Way, in Point Defiance or Titlow parks. Tacoma is bigger than downtown. Or maybe including Gig Harbor and Vashon Island in the festivities and possibly generate some foot traffic for other Tacoma waterfront attractions. Then local boat owners could operate shuttles like the old Mosquito Fleet. Ticket sales for that could help make up the difference.
Update: A Colorado company that has been operating luxury trains on Tacoma tracks has decided to end the operation. They’re not making money. Again, I’ve always though that local tourism benefitted from a ‘bad’ economy. With fuel prices high and vacation plans supposedly scaled back why didn’t this operation do better?
I still have to agree with Angelou Economics. Once other industries begin to grow in Tacoma, operations like this can succeed. Until then, it’s not worth the investment.