Donna, your article is great. You objectively summarize the peril our city faces if we continue to fuel our questionably focused non-profit Chamber of Commerce with taxpayer, business and tourist dollars – hoping they will, through some miracle, do the impossible – restore our city to the thriving tourist driven economy it once WAS… R-I-P.

Even IF the Sedona Chamber of Commerce came up with a suitable ad campaign (their lackluster, “My Sedona!” certainly isn’t doing the job), the plain truth is they will continue to spin their costly wheels ($545,000+ in salaries and benefits according to their Federal 990 filings) on the ‘oily sweat and tears’ of the businesses who have done their personal best ‘scrambling for answers’ and through no fault of their own have no way out, other than to close their doors.

When a Sedona Icon such as The Hideaway restaurant – for decades a favorite of locals and tourists offering excellent food and service – finds they cannot pay the exorbitant city sewer rates and are being squeezed into obscurity – Council must wake up, tighten their spending belts, and work with businesses on a ‘one on one’ bases to help them to survive! City Attorney, Mike Goimarac’s ‘Class One Misdemeanors’ and threats of ‘jail time’ for missed City tax deadlines are Draconian and out of touch.

State of Arizona hear our plea, “Help us, please!” If there is any way to overturn the ill-gotten Home Rule vote that was “stolen fair and square” by our ‘upper management City Staff’, our Mayor and City Council by ‘slight of hand’, ‘smoke and mirrors’ and ‘deceptive rhetoric’ a couple of years ago, then, let us ban together as a community and do it! The City Council’s mantra then was, “If we have the money we MUST spend it!” Well, we DON’T have the money…. and they are spending it anyway – with all of us locals – along with our ‘falling like dominoes businesses’ and cash strapped tourists – stuck footing the bill.

It seems if Sedona’s population is dropping, I’m not the only one telling people this. Tourists don’t live here.

Those future potential residents who read this website probably won’t move here either.

Since the Chamber is the beneficiary of public funds, I think they should publish their outlays so that the public can see where the money goes.

My work involves connecting with various travel and convention bureaus around the Southwest. The majority of the municipalities I’ve contacted–whether they are large cities or small towns–have a chamber that is separate from the tourism bureau.

Seems like in Sedona, the fox is guarding the chickens.

I’d like to see more accountability from the chamber. Perhaps they might think about reaching beyond their small circle of beneficiaries to involve the community at large. If it’s good for locals (restaurants, night life, parks, community cohesiveness), high-quality travelers will enjoy it too. It’s time to stop focusing on “industrial tourism,” as Edward Abbey termed it.

I have written so many articles over the years on subjects related to yours that I can’t remember them all. I would have hoped that I have written the best of articles on the subjects of sales and bed taxes and the Chamber. But, I must defer. This article is the singularly best written article of its kind I’ve ever seen published in Sedona. Thank you ever so much for writing this. I’m proud that there are business people left in our town who have contributed to its charm as you’ve defined it. I hope to meet you one day…maybe at tomorrow night’s Council meeting re: The onerous bed tax proposal!