WHY CAN’T I LET IT GO?

So I’m in Palm Springs over Thanksgiving with my daughters and the eldest, who enjoys putting her father in the line of fire, breaks out pre-Christmas gifts prior to our heading out to see Frozen II. 

The requirement was that we had to wear our new Frozen pajamas to the theater. 

Which was fine. They were quite comfy. 

But the movie … Well, the kids liked it. Margaux thought there was more “action” than in the original. But (spoiler alert) I couldn’t get over the fact that they made one of the villains of the movie … the dam. That’s right. A dam. Apparently, if you have a dam, there’s a pox upon the land, but if you blow it up, voila, nature flourishes and ecological balance is restored and reindeer prance happily in neverending circles of joy. 

Of course, Elsa was there downstream to freeze the water with her magical powers before it engulfed and flooded the hamlet/country/kingdom of Arendelle – estimated population 327. 

Just seems ironic that Hollywood screenwriters who rely upon dams and aqueducts for their water supply can write this stuff without choking on their own sanctimony. 

I was fairly entertained by Hite’s coverage of the June Lake CAC meeting on page 5. Nice to know that this issue will be on the shelves when Mr. Gregory arrives this week for Night of Lights – it’ll make him feel like he never left. 

I was not entertained by Page’s front page story regarding Mammoth Town Council’s plan to place a 1% TOT increase on the November, 2020 ballot. Not one peep from any elected official or town staffer as to why soaking the taxpayer/visitor isn’t a good idea. They’re all for more taxes. They believe the well is bottomless. 

They don’t wish “to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.” That would be the marketing budget. Don’t touch that. The thinking seems to be that we can continue to dazzle them with pretty pictures and pickpocket them while they’re distracted. Maybe so. But I think we ignore the value equation at our own peril. 

Increasing taxes is the easy way out. It’s the Kirk Stapp way out. Aw hell, I’m not gonna single him out. None of ‘em protested in the least. Because no one wants to take a hard look at right-sizing a bloated marketing budget. 

I spoke to a Councilmember this week who supports a TOT increase because this person just doesn’t want to have one more tax increase which hits locals. Admirable, but … if I were a guest, I’d start to wonder how much Mammoth Lakes really cares about me. 

Mammoth Lakes Tourism is super savvy. Last week, it executed a glorious public relations gambit in stating that MLT would not petition Town Council for any overage in TOT over the next four years. 

The current deal is that any overage beyond 2.35% of the Town’s budgeted TOT revenue goes into a “joint reserve” held by the Town and MLT. 

If MLT wishes to tap that reserve, it has to petition the town and gain approval by council vote. 

So … accessing that money is and was a huge pain in the ass. Because it was like trying to get your wife to co-sign on a $60,000 truck, or like trying to get your husband to co-sign on thirty goats. 

You could have all the reasons in the world why you needed that truck, and you could even whine that you put the damn money in the bank in the first place so you DESERVED that truck. 

But no wifey signature, no truck. 

Yeah, it was joint money, but MLT couldn’t just go to the bank and get it, so MLT saying it would forego the joint reserve over the next four years was like a guy telling a bank teller he decided not make a withdrawal after all because, you know, he doesn’t really want the truck after all. Which we all know is BS.

A beautiful, big, bold, empty gesture. 

Meant to protect MLT from an even more sinister suggestion – that maybe, just maybe, you can market this little town more efficiently – and put the savings into housing. And not raise taxes. 

Question: Is the Golden Goose the marketing department, or the guest?