Aug 26, 2024
Last time I spoke to the City Council, I shared a little about me and my husband and our unhosted Airbnb. I shared that we live in our home, but often rent it out, when we travel for my husband's work or when we want to raise capital for future improvements. I shared that with that money, we replaced the roof on our home, added solar panels and now contribute more to the energy grid than we use, replaced the fencing around our property and have completed other major improvements. We care about our community. We care about our home. We contribute a lot to this community.
Since then, I have been told by members of the group Pacifica Homes are Not Hotels that they don't need to speak to us, that they know most of the council members and are friends with them — and that this matter has already been decided. Without us.
Is THIS the type of community we are trying to build?
If you do this without listening to our needs.... If you do this without understanding how damaging this would be for some of us.... Then you are legitimizing this notion, that newcomers aren't welcome. That change and the economic vitality of this community isn't important to you. And that you are sated by the notion that a handful of well-intentioned but short-sighted individuals get to decide the future of our city without the engagement of the rest of us.
Someone once said, 'Knowing is an intellectual barrier to learning.'
For anyone who came here with their mind made-up, I hope that you will listen. We care about our community. We care about our frustrated citizens, but If you have a pest problem, you don't burn down your own house to solve it. And yet, this is what Pacifica Homes are Not Hotels is suggesting. We have a few bad actors — so let's hurt our own economy to fix the problem.
If the City decides to ban or further restrict unhosted STRs, it would likely lead to a "significant reduction in STR permits from compliant hosts, significantly impacting the economic benefits that the STR program provides to the local economy and local businesses. This may also result in a crucial drop in City revenues between $1.5 - $1.7 million per year, which may lead to the inevitable reductions of already underfunded city services."
There are some in our community who believe we can thrive without a tourist economy. I do not believe this. A thriving healthy economy is built on a diversity of stimuli. We have a cap on number of units, we need to focus on effective policy that makes enforcement pay for itself and allows the city to remove bad actors who are not contributing to these neighborhoods.
We hear the concerns of the other side. We hope that you will HEAR ours.
- Russell
