Dunsmuir Community First (DCF) and innuendo seem to go hand-in-hand. What are the true motives of the groups for and against regulating vacation rental properties? Well, for starters, we’ll list our concerns and motives: The voice behind this web-site, in favor of no regulation, owns a vacation rental property. I am in favor of minimal government intrusion into the lives of private citizens and a very strong proponent of property rights. Hey, if you’re not paying my bills, well… you get the point. A vacation rental property is a residential use of a residential property – nothing more. I won’t tell you what color to paint your house, you don’t tell me who can stay in mine.
DCF has raised issues of ulterior motives of nearly everyone on the city council or planning commission who opposes regulation. In nearly every case they hint that this opposition is based on personal monetary gain. Review their web-site and see the number of people they’ve accused of ulterior motives. There’s hardware store owner Ron McCloud, Cave Springs owner Louie Dewey, former resident and planning commission member Denise Fairhurst and council members James Phelps, Tim Padula and Mayor Guzman. Why, you’d think this is a great big conspiracy rather than just a group of people who feel property owners have a legitimate right to rent to vacationers!
We at Dunsmuir Common Sense feel that personal monetary gain (without harming others) is a perfectly rational basis for making a decision. If you have a property right, why would you want to give it up? Yet, DCF wants to paint this as deceptive, corrupt, greedy and wrong!
Yet, could DCF have similar ulterior motives? No matter how big they like to paint their organization, we highly suspect that the voice behind the group is Dunsmuir resident Christina Saverimuttu. Or is she a resident?! Public records indicate that she and her husband own a house in Dunsmuir, although their mailing address (where the county sends the tax bill) is in San Francisco. Hmmm, four years after buying their Dunsmuir property, they still have tax bills mailed to San Francisco! The funny thing is this: DCF suggests planning commission member Denise Fairhurst had something to gain by voting against vacation property regulation. Yet, it turns out (per public record) that Mr. and Mrs. Saverimuttu purchased their Dunsmuir property from Denise Fairhurst. Could that transaction have soured Ms. Saverimuttu? We don’t know, we haven’t spoken with her. But we have spoken with several people who’ve been negatively portrayed by DCF, upstanding members of the community who feel their statements have been taken out of context by DCF and used to portray them in a negative light.
Here’s where we’ll leave this: We don’t know if DCF is trying to gain monetarily from their beliefs any more than we know if the city council and planning commission members are. Perhaps there aren’t any ulterior motives at all. Maybe those opposed to regulation really just believe that a property owner should be permitted to allow guests into his/her home, and that any agreement between the guest and the owner is a private matter. Apparently those opposed to vacation rental properties believe that the community and neighborhood should be able to dictate who we can and cannot have as guests.
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August 15, 2008 at 9:33 pm
Napa Autobon
8/15/08
I was pretty much speechless after reading the content of the DCF web site. Now I would like to share a few of my comments with anyone who cares about Dunsmuir moving in a positive direction.
There are so many more pros than cons posted on the DCF site that it is actually is its own worst enemy. The DCF site actually helped me reconfirm how important it is to the community to have people continue to visit and vacation in this beautiful “teeny-tiny town” in the mountains.
With economic trends changing to recessed markets locally (just look at the empty businesses downtown) and all across the nation why would anyone consider any kind of regulation(s) that could hurt the potential of tourists and visitors coming to Dunsmuir and vacation rentals for that matter? The vacation rentals are some of the nicest properties in the area. They are well maintained and usually very much improved properties. It is a fact that many of the vacation rental properties have helped Dunsmuir property values increase and keep pace with the current costs of living increases and the basic principles of inflation.
What could happen if vacation rentals were to disappear? The huge decrease in property tax income just might send the local government into an economic tailspin. It’s tough enough out there as it is for the city to not exceed a fiscal budget. If substantial income to the city is reduced, then guess what rises? TAXES! Guess what decreases? Education funding, local city services, city administration and so on…
If you are opposed to vacation rentals, that is certainly your right. I also understand that changes in the growth of communities can be saddening, but it’s inevitable. It’s how you deal with the growth of community and how to “make it right” for all whom, live, visit and / or even just pass through for a bite to eat or buy a few flies from the local fly shop.
Dunsmuir is generally all about good people, a nice vibe, and a hopeful and prosperous economic future and of course a great river. Why would anyone want to spoil it? I smell “Sour Grapes”.