Did bad moves by SLO County bring more visitors to the Central Coast?
San Luis Obispo County recently spent thousands of advertising dollars asking Central Valley travelers not to visit this area as we began to reopen local businesses and dine-in restaurants.
The ads were designed to help keep San Luis Obispo County’s COVID-19 case level low by restricting the number of out-of-towners who could possibly bring the virus into our area.
Neighboring counties have had higher coronavirus case and death counts than San Luis Obispo County so far. And our county officials wanted to keep it that way — thank you very much.
In a related move, a county regulation limited hotel occupancy to 50% of capacity, preferably renting them to coronavirus-wary front-line healthcare workers, employees of essential services and county residents taking care of family members.
These might seem like good moves for SLO County, but the market and government folks forgot some crucial psychology.
They were kids once, right? Some of them are parents, correct?
What is a guaranteed way to get rebellious offspring to do something? Tell them they can’t do it.
It works every time. (Well, almost. Somehow, saying “Please, honey, don’t clean the toilet,” doesn’t have the illicit lure that “No, don’t go to that all-night party.”)
Then right before Memorial Day weekend, county officials allowed most retail shops and dine-in restaurants to open with restrictions, bringing joy to entrepreneurial Mudville.
Bad move. Talk about adding fresh bait to the fishhook.
As inland temperatures soared, thousands of people feeling terminally housebound after nearly three months of confinement flocked to San Luis Obispo County — drawn by the allure of the open road and coastal shores.
Some business people were thrilled. Others were overwhelmed. And some were wary, with a few opting to sit on the sidelines a while longer to watch what happened.
A few shops and eateries still haven’t opened, even though they’re entitled to do so.
Beach areas were packed. Throngs of people strolled along downtown streets and jammed into restaurants that were offering in-house services. The tourists, often standing shoulder to shoulder, lined up to get into choice locations and queued for take-out food at food trucks and cafes.
Parking areas at North Coast state and county parks were closed, so visitors parked wherever they could — clogging neighborhood streets, hogging curbside parking spaces, and, in some cases, leaving vehicles parked so they blocked through traffic.
Determined beachgoers hauled their coolers, umbrellas and toddlers to the ocean’s edge, sometimes via circuitous, occasionally trespassing routes.
Meanwhile, area residents either hid at home to avoid the crowds, or braved the onslaught by jockeying around the dense, slow traffic, occasionally mumbling expletives as they drove.
“It’s like July 4th,” one Facebook poster noted crossly.
Other locals mentioned online that they only saw a few of the visitors wearing masks, especially in confined public areas, like restaurants and shops.
Oh my, I’m wading into dangerous territory there. Say the word “mask” and reactions can be rapid, visceral and often very, very angry on both sides of the divide.
I’m not going to debate the pros and cons of mask wearing. People who know me know how I feel, and I don’t want to get into kind of tit-for-tat spatting in which nobody wins and no opinions are changed.
It’s sad that so many people from other areas ignored the county’s pleas to wear face masks and stay away a little longer — requests designed to help keep others safe and healthy.
We don’t yet know the full effects of that Memorial Day visitor invasion. But one thing is clear: SLO County made some bad moves.
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 5:15 AM.
