Editorial: Tourism pros outweigh annoyances

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• Pismo pursues ‘wine and waves’ crowd

  Pismo pursues ‘wine and waves’ crowd

  Most of San Luis Obispo County’s wineries are north of Cuesta Grade, but Pismo Beach is emphasizing its proximity to smaller South County wine regions to draw tourists.

  “We’re one of the only beach areas with a wine area 10 minutes away,” said Peter Candela, chief executive officer of the Pismo Beach Chamber of Commerce . “That’s one of the reasons why we have one of the largest (transient occupancy tax) collections in the county.”

  Pismo Beach collected more than $6 million in those hotel bed taxes in fiscal year 2010-2011.

• Park closure would harm, not help

  Park closure would harm, not help

  Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to close 70 state parks — including the campground at Morro Strand State Beach — doesn’t add up. The $22 million in savings that would be realized is too puny to worry about; it accounts for just two-tenths of 1 percent of California’s $9.2 billion deficit.

  And that’s not the worst of it. When you account for what local communities will lose if these tourist attractions close, the “savings” realized by the state quickly turns into big losses for small businesses, as well as cities and counties that benefit from sales tax revenues.

  Officials in Morro Bay, for example, worry their economy could be out $2.5 million per year if the campground closes. If it’s even half that amount, that’s a big loss for acommunity that’s been struggling economically as much as Morro Bay.

• Letters to the Editor 5/17

  Letters to the Editor 5/17

  The larger oil factor

  Oil industry executive Rock Zierman is being deceptive when he attributes a 15 percent reduction in U.S. oil imports to increased domestic production alone. He omits the larger factor: Since 2007, U.S. consumption of all liquid fuels has dropped 9 percent (New York Times, March 22), primarily because Americans now drive less, and do so in more fuel-efficient vehicles. The main reason: During the Obama administration, the federal miles-per-gallon mandate for new cars has been increased several times, after a long freeze.

  If Mr. Zierman and his oil industry cohorts were really concerned about energy independence, they would not have spent hundreds of millions of dollars ($393.2 million during the Bush/Cheney administration alone) lobbying against stricter fuel-efficiency standards and other elements of a sensible national energy policy.

• Government Watch: A roundup of this week’s agendas

  Government Watch: A roundup of this week’s agendas

  Arroyo Grande City Council. Meets Tuesday. 473-5400. Presentation of 2011 report by the Northern Cities Management Area technical group, which conducts groundwater monitoring in the northern portion of the Santa Maria Groundwater Basin; third quarter budget review.

  Grover Beach City Council. Meets today. 473-4567. Proposal to contract police services from Arroyo Grande; review request for proposal for street sweeping services; fate of a city-owned parcel at 920 Brighton St. that’s now a community garden, and direct staff to return with potential relocation sites for the garden.

  Morro Bay City Council. Meets Tuesday. 772-6200. Hearing on whether the Morro Bay Tourism Business Improvement District, which taxes hotel receipts to fund tourism promotion, should continue; discussion of local sport fishing businesses; discussion on allocations of community promotions committee funds; update on street paving and rehabilitation program.

• On drunk patrol: Pismo Beach has highest rate of drunken-driving arrests in county

  On drunk patrol: Pismo Beach has highest rate of drunken-driving arrests in county

  A Tribune review of drunken-driving arrests during a nearly three-year period shows that Pismo Beach has the highest rate of DUI arrests in the county, at 76 per 1,000 people. The data also show that 40 percent of those arrested in Pismo Beach on suspicion of driving under the influence live outside San Luis Obispo County.