Mammoth Lakes Tourism, Joint Meeting of the Council, funding discussions for the year round marketing program and strategy

Councilor John Wentworth began the joint meeting last Wednesday to explain the city council’s goal of working more closely with Mammoth Lakes Tourism to ensure that both are successful.

At the end of the session, it was unclear how the two units would work together, but it was clear that MLT had managed to attract tourists to the city.

Wentworth’s question was what kind of world Mammoth would go into this year and next. MLT Chairman John Morris’s adoption was a world that will look very much like it did two years ago – before COVID. Eric Clark of Mammoth Mountain and John Mendel, agent for the Mammoth Fire Protection District, agreed.

It didn’t take long for the discussion to focus on housing construction. A tourism economy is dependent on its labor force, but in the case of Mammoth, the same economy has generated housing costs in excess of the incomes of most of its workers. And it’s getting worse as the price of condominiums in the city has skyrocketed since COVID.

Almost 20 years ago the running joke in Mammoth was: “Bishop is Mammut’s affordable housing.” At the same time, the running joke in Bishop was “Big Pine’s Bishop’s affordable housing”. The reality: Both Counties Mono and Inyo have a problem with affordable housing.

Mammoth Lakes Tourism’s marketing was very successful last year despite COVID-19

MLT’s year-round marketing program works. Now it’s about smarter tourism and higher prices – fewer guests, but higher income. An unintended consequence, however, would be that more second homes are rented out on short notice. According to Mendel, only a third of Californians can afford to own a home. “We can’t solve this,” he said. “We can’t tell people what to do with their houses. We cannot fix the housing costs. “One thing that would help is a 12 month economy, he added.

One thing the city could do, according to Councilor Sarah Rea, was to buy condominiums and include those units in an inventory of affordable housing for workers. John Urdi, MLT director, reckoned the temporary occupancy tax would bring $ 4 million over the organization’s current budget. His recommendation for the next four years: Use these funds to solve problems caused by tourists – housing, garbage and parking.

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