"Greed" ("Money") Cannot Buy "Class"

CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA
CITY COUNCIL
Regular Meeting
Tuesday, October 3, 2006

V. Announcements from Closed Session, from City Council Members and the City Administrator.

B. Announcements from City Council members. (Council members may ask a question for clarification, make a brief announcement or report on his or her activities).

City Councilman Erik Bethel:

“Speaking of promotion, I was just reminded of something, a group of individuals from Carmel and from the greater Monterey Peninsula, the Monterey County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Greg Sellers, Carmel’s Economic Development Manager, Carmel’s Chamber CEO Monta Potter and I took a tour to Aspen. Just say no, I paid for this out of my own pocket. But, the purpose of the trip to Aspen was to sit down with their members of Council, their Chamber of Commerce, their equivalent of the Pebble Beach Company, which is called the Aspen-Snowmass Ski Company, and essentially learn some best practices in terms of promotion, bringing in destination marketing and we learned quite a bit. I’d like to be able to share that information at some point with the Council, either by email or potentially Monta or Greg could do that as well.”

Corrections/Clarifications: The company is the “Aspen Skiing Company;” President, CEO Pat O’Donnell (Web site: http://www.aspensnowmass.com/) Their slogan is “The Power of 4;” Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Snowmass and Buttermilk. Part of their promotion is “We Are Different” and “Guiding Principles.” Specifically, under “We are Different,” they “strive to preserve and enhance the delicate balance between ‘resort’ and ‘community’ that makes Aspen/Snowmass unique.” And under “Guiding Principles,” their “Purpose” is to “Renew the human spirit” and their “Values” are to “Sustain the ‘Aspen Idea’ based on the concept of the complete life where mind, body, and spirit are enriched.”

Interesting Facts on Aspen:
According to the Aspen Chamber Resort Association, a non-profit, community organization “dedicated to supporting the business community and enhancing the visitor’s experience,” between 1987 and 2005, the average annual lodging occupancy rates ranged from a low of 50% to a high of 62%.
Source:
http://www.aspenchamber.org/Documents/Occupancy_Reports/2006_Historical_Monthly_Average.pdf)

On their “Why People Choose an Aspen Vacation,” “Attractions,” the Association touts the “restored historic buildings within the town of Aspen.”

Aspen City Council
“The Aspen City Council provides leadership, stewardship and service to the town. Through an open and friendly process, we work in partnership with our residents to supply services not provided by the private sector in order to meet their day to day needs, to preserve and enhance our community character, and to further the Aspen Dream: the ideal of a community nourishing the mind, body and spirit of its citizens.”
(Source: http://www.aspenpitkin.com/depts/39/)

As compared to the Carmel-by-the-Sea City Council
“The purpose of the City Council is to establish local laws, to set policy, to reject or to approve programs, to allocate funds, to establish the City's tax rate, to represent the public in supervising the operations of City government, and to provide to the citizenry a better, more attractive and healthier place in which to live.”
(Source: http://www.ci.carmel.ca.us/)

COMMENTS:
What exactly is City Councilman Erik Bethel’s VISION for the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea? “Best practices” are desirable, but not in the context of imitating Aspen or any other city. As Aurelle Smith, Monterey, recently wrote in a letter to the editor of The Carmel Pine Cone, “I remember a time when Carmel was a Brigadoon, hidden away and discovered by the fortunate, not needing to flaunt itself or beg the outside world to discover it…it has become just an upscale version of a cheap seaside resort, one that mistakes its worth by using marketing ploys instead of realizing the natural beauty of sea and surf which made it the world’s best hideaway…What a pity.” Indeed!