Shazam!

Measure Z passes with 70% approval.

Overheard prior to Wednesday’s Mammoth Council meeting.

“Hey Tim [Flynn], how are you doing?”

Flynn: As good as I can be after the shellacking we took yesterday.”

The unofficial results released Tuesday night had Measure Z passing with a whopping 70% of the vote.

Passage means current zoning in residential neighborhoods can only be changed by a vote of the people.

Prior to the vote, there was general consensus that Z would pass, but by a lesser margin.

Z was largely opposed by the local business community. – or at the very least, enjoyed its least popularity among that segmewnt of the population.

At the Mammoth Lakes Tourism Board meeting on

Wednesday, though Z was not referenced directly, there was discussion about the Town’s historical inability to have community members row the boat in the same general direction.

Board member Paul Rudder, who was a panelist for the “No” side during the Mammoth Lakes Board of Realtors Measure Z forum, said that what is missing is a unifying vision. “I think people are dying to buy into something,” he said.

And then I thought to myself, wouldn’t a 70% vote represent buy-in?

Or, as I thought further, does the Measure Z vote represent a certain degree of citizen backlash towards the last major decision it wasn’t consulted on – the enaction of the TBID (Tourism Business Improvement District).

Depending upon the verbiage one prefers, the TBID is either a “pass-through” fee meant to fund local marketing efforts, or a tax enacted without voter approval meant to help fund a government in distress thanks to the $50 million airport debacle.

Realistically, the TBID, if put to a public vote, would’ve pulled the same demographic numbers as Measure Z. Meaning, 30% would’ve voted for it, and 70% against. The composition of the TBID vote might be slightly different in that there is more support for it from the traditional lodging establishment but … the average citizen who had no dog in the Z fight might come out for a TBID vote which directly impacts his wallet.

The emotions surrounding the Z vote appear to be tied into a larger clash of wills between a business community struggling to persevere after these many years of drought and a larger community with different goals, dreams and expectations.

As Gomez’s/Base Camp owner Michael Ledesma said, “We don’t even have universal agreement that this is a resort community.”

Ledesma added, “We rely on tourism one hundred cents on the dollar, no matter what anyone says.”

The ‘we’ being the business community, as I interpret it.

I’m not sure that statement holds true for everyone, and that’s the divide.

One way to look at things might be to say, the business community got its TBID and the larger community got Measure Z and maybe that’s a suitable compromise.

One comment that MLT Executive Director John Urdi made at the meeting (to what extent tongue in cheek I cannot say) was, “This place [Mammoth] succeeds despite itself.” What he was alluding to was Mammoth’s sometimes-prickly customer service element.

But here’s a thought. If the guy in the trenches thinks that the community prioritizes him over the visitor he serves, maybe he won’t be so prickly. Measure Z has sent a pretty clear message that we wish to take care of the local community first. Certainly, the Town Council’s recent passage of a Quality of Life ordinance also reflects that priority.

Yes, the oft-quoted Colorado study on nightly rentals of single family homes stated that prohibitiom of nightly rentals is futile. But that hasn’t stopped other cities like Santa Barbara and Santa Monica from adopting tight restrictions.

In other words, not everyone agrees with Colorado.

Maybe we should give enforcement of existing ordinances a real shot. Worst that can happen is we’re no worse off than we are.

To use a little George W. Bush lingo, I think that we’re all suffering from a bit of strategery fatigue. Lots of folks with a lot of big ideas and everyone wants everyone else to play follow the leader.

It doesn’t feel too much different than the play time I have with my three-year old. I’ve noticed that in our Ken and Barbie dialogues, Ken is afforded very little latitude in the conversation.

No one cares what Ken thinks.

Ken does, however, have some very trendy leather pants (which I suspect he may have stolen from Barbie, but I haven’t broached the subject).

What I would suggest is perhaps tearing a page out of former Councilman/Mayor Skip Harvey’s playbook. A decidedly un-sexy hoodie and sweats page. When he ran for reelection, Skip ran as the “Pothole” Mayor. His goal was to get back to basics and tackle the essential services that government is supposed to focus on – as opposed to the vision crap which is always so alluring because it appears so close … and is always a lot further away.

Time to stop huddling and run a few plays for the fullback.