At first I couldn’t decide whether to write about tourism or taxes until I realized they are inextricably linked. I retired to Grand Marais because it was a small, surprisingly erudite, quirky yet caring little town in a lovely setting. Now, however, on most days in summer I can’t find a parking spot, the grocery store shelves are bare, the groceries themselves are marked up in price, the local restaurants have waiting lines, sidewalks are clogged, beaches are overrun, and the streets are choked with both traffic and pedestrians halting mid-crossing to finish a cell phone conversation. I’m relegated to enjoying the town from Monday through Wednesday. Can’t drive to Duluth except Monday through Thursday because of the traffic. My quality of life is diminished but my taxes are skyrocketing. What the heck?
Visit Cook County has done its job too well, sadly, and virtually destroyed the tranquility of North Shore living. Oh, not so! cry the merchants who are benefitting hand over fist by the influx of buyers looking for cheap souvenir tchotchkes, fudge, or the chance to sit in the open air and drink beer. But how has the community benefitted? That’s what I’d like to know. We have more jobs than workers. Those workers we do have aren’t benefitting from the sudden mercantile prosperity by gaining full-time positions with benefits. Not at all. The housing market, tenuous at best before tourism went crazy, has now just become a pipe dream since listings have been gobbled up by AirBNBs. And the wear and tear on the town is telling. The sewage plant can no longer process the waste generated by the hordes of people regularly infesting Grand Marais. At this rate we’ll be spending to upgrade it before long.
Here’s where I get around to the property taxes, which have blown up in our faces. Two years ago I sat in a meeting as folks in their late 80s, longtime residents, decried that they were being taxed out of their homes. Years ago they had retired on fixed incomes, which inflation and tourism have now outdistanced. Where are these elderly residents to go? Who cares, was pretty much the response of the then commissioners, clearly under the thrall of their new county administrator whose philosophy seems consistent with the national Republican Congress, namely, spend it like there is no tomorrow.
We’ve seen multiple hirings in Cook County government offices, an increase in their benefits and salaries (including reduced health insurance rates) commensurate with counties and towns of a much higher population density, and the latest absurdity: the longevity bonus. When was the last time you were given a bonus for sticking to your job? Brand new road equipment, fancy heated garages. Do I need to mention the proposed $4 million jail? We could hire a rookie policeman (thereby creating a job), give him a good used patrol car, and have him ferry perps to Lake County for 40 years before we used up that money.
And who would be paying for these “improvements”? Why, the taxpayer, of course. You and me. Townies are already moving out of the city limits to save on their taxes. Who benefits? Why, the merchants and the county administrator who beefs up his financial resume so that when he eventually leaves (they all do) he looks like he was the county administrator of Chicago, not Cook County, Minnesota. We should be voting in city and county commissioner candidates with some fiscal responsibility to rein in the spending.
If the merchants are benefitting from the tourism largesse, their taxes should pay for the inevitable civic improvements necessary to accommodate the invading hordes. This goes for the AirBNBs.
As for tourism, Grand Marais was always known as a tourist destination but not all the time! We need to stop promoting the constant barrage on our town. Quit national advertising and big billboards on highways. Throttle back, already, or get out your wallets. Seven “festivals” a year would be plenty” the Solstice, The Art Show, the Fourth of July, FishPic, the Plein Air, Unplugged, and the WTIP Music Festival.
Go to the polls and vote. Things are clearly out of hand.
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