[Regarding “‘Invest Back Into Our Community’: Local Leaders Call for TDA to Reduce Its Tourism Marketing Budget,” Nov. 22, Asheville Watchdog via Xpress:]
The abundant amount of our taxes, including occupancy tax, that is being spent on promoting local tourism is having a serious negative impact on Asheville. Most residents I know don’t go downtown anymore because finding parking has become so difficult. Traffic has increased, yet our public transportation lags behind.
In my opinion, we have maxed out our infrastructure, and it is not ethical to ignore the stress that tourism has caused. Promoting Asheville has not only attracted tourists but also panhandlers from afar who see tourist locations as a sure bet. This in turn has created an extraordinary amount of homeless people living wherever they can.
My vote would be to cut tourism promotional expenditures by 90% and reallocate those funds to improve infrastructure, deal with the homeless situation and lower the exorbitant residential property taxes. It makes no sense to be a No. 1 travel destination spot that drives up prices, therefore increasing residents’ taxes, and at the same time having insufficient infrastructure.
Don’t wait to see how the allocation formula works out; reallocate now.
— Valerie Naiman
Asheville resident and business owner since 1980
Can’t disagree with almost all of this, but…
We don’t get to say how much TDA money is spent on expanding tourism. The state legislature determines that.