PLEASE READ

For sixty-five years I have lived in and mentally recorded all
manner of life here in Mariposa County. Coming here at the age of
ten was quite an experience because my family and I were stepping
back in time, moving to an old Gold Mining town that still believed
that the mines would open again. Not since l913, when the mills at
Mariposa, Mt Bullion and Coulterville, closed, did any large scale
industrial mining exist. Sure there was the Mt. Gaines, and the
Diltz; the Clearing House and Red Cloud; the Nellie Kahoe the
Sweetwater, Whitlock and Pine Tree, that ran off and on over the next
fifty years or so, but no large scale operations that became the
basis for prosperity for the towns of Mariposa, Mt Bullion, Bear
Valley, Hornitos and El Portal. El Portal was a railroad town, with
the grandest hotel in the Yosemite region. The rest struggled with
small scale farming, livestock rising, family businesses and logging.

The big sawmill was in Madera County. Small family sawmills
operating on mostly private timber fed a lot of seasonal workers,
but nothing sustained nor capital producing. Land was the only thing
that had value, and then not until the late l960's when WWII veterans
began retiring from General Motors, Lockheed, Northrup and FMC, began
looking for cheap land to retire on and maybe run a cow or two.
In many ways the lack of significant economic development has been a
blessing. I get a kick out of the no growth'ers because I don't
believe they understand that the preservation of Mariposa County as a
small population and low development county has been more the result
of a number of significant occurrences than anything pre-planned.
The lack of a General Plan until l980 was more the result of
political pressure on the Board of Supervisors by the memory of a
mining industry, resulting in Ordinance 180,
and the fortuitous adventures of Supervisor Frank Long who lead the
move to create Agricultural Exclusive Zoning well before any General
Plan was ever adopted. The adding of the Williamson Act only
reinforced the preservation of our open space, representing more
than half of the private land in the county. Roughly 25% of the
county is in AE zoning and 80% of that is in Williamson Act
contracts.

The mining industry of course died with its proponents.
If Mariposa County citizens would be satisfied with poor roads,
little fire protection, volunteers running an ambulance that may or
may not start when called, even water shortages in the town of
Mariposa not every year, but many, septic tanks or cesspools, little
law enforcement which meant one had to take care of himself, (often
the Sheriff would show up the next day to visit with the
participants), no child and elder protection services, no health
inspections of restaurants, no checking to see that a building was
going to stand the test of time, to arguments about where ones lot
lines were, no or a very poor library, no proper storage of the
county's archives, no drug or alcohol recovery programs, no food
stamps or welfare, no one to care about rock slides, no electricity
or telephone etc., then we could say the hell with any economic
development or even sustaining what we have. Then there would be no
threats to the environment, except dumping trash, garbage and old car
bodies into the next gulch over, overflowing septic systems,
unidentified strange white powders, nobody to care if your wife has a
black eye and the only folks in jail (the old 1858 stone jail) would
be the drunks and the crazy.

You see the problem is that I remember all of those things around
here, not that long ago when one considers how old the earth is and
how short a time has passed since we have made a few improvements.
Now the real problem seems to be how to sustain this so called
quality of life improvements and keep as much as possible humming
along with enough shelter, food and comfort for all our citizens. We
suffer from the free enterprise system which says that if enough
people risk their treasure and create something for their friends to
do for pay, then we can keep it going.
So what happens when someone figures out that maybe we can keep this
quality of life progressing and not create over population, destruction of the environment and development of every inch of our county.

There are a few things that we must do to secure the future. We must
understand that developing our major industry, one that is
environmental or green based, is not a bad thing. Especially when
one considers that it will only extend for a couple of months full
employment for our citizens and not require wholesale importation of
new citizens to man the machines. Consider this. We know that with
the completion of the Silver Tip project in Fish Camp that this
county will have enough hotel, motel, B&B and vacation rooms to
sustain our economy for many years. The trick is not to build many
more of these but utilize the units that are already in place or
about to be in place. Frankly, it will be very difficult in today's
environment, for much more development in the lodging industry once
the projected projects are completed. Costs of construction and
permitting in the future will be so high that investors will look
elsewhere. So an additional one or two hundred more rooms to the
county inventory will have little effect except to make the existing
developments more solid.
It is probably not well understood that we are a one industry county.
The tourism business produces approximately $240 million in gross
revenue of all types. This fiscal year should end with the lodging
industry selling about $100 millions in overnight stays. The balance
comes from all the other things we sell and provide. The next
richest part of our economy is Government which at all levels,
County, State, District and Federal, probably adds $80 mil to our
gross county product (also without producing one dime in development
capital because there is no profit). Next comes Agriculture which
reports about $10 mil in production. Every thing else pales in
comparison.

Now, for anyone to misunderstand the value of the Tourism to the
citizens of Mariposa County leads one to believe that they have not
taken an honest look at what is at stake or the potential benefits to
the county. I would say, since this is quite simple, that they are
looking only at self interest. What is at stake? The future of our
county is at stake. Are we prone to making mistakes? Sure. Not
every pig in the litter makes it to market. But you have to try.
Now to specifics. The complaint that the Tourism Business
Improvement District concept is BAD for Mariposa County has not
looked at the complete package. The 1% assessment which the industry
will be contributing to this private district will result in a
marketing program for both the lodging industry (our largest by far)
and everyone else. The cost of this assessment can be passed on to
the customer if wished and if one were to consider the actual cost,
take for example a room rate of $50.00 will raise .50 cents more for
the BID. The TOT, which the county received, is set at 10% and the
county reinvests 5% on marketing and then, sharing with no one else,
has 95% to add to the General Fund for such things as they deem
appropriate. (Fire Trucks, part of the Road Fund, General County
Operations, Planning, Libraries, Health Services, Law Enforcement
etc) Without the TOT, 65% of the revenue that the county has to
spend on non-imposed social programs would disappear. So out of that
$50.00 room the county government adds $5.00 and the BID adds
$.50cents. The Tourism Bureau gets an additional .25 cents for
marketing of all kinds of economic activities within the county, as
long as that investment makes good business sense.

The law that allows the county and the private Tourism Bureau to
create a partnership for the benefit of the economy of this county
dictates that the larger providers of services have a greater voice
in the formation of such a function. But the next part of it is
because this is a private/public partnership, that a management plan
be adopted and a contract agreed upon that attempts to address the needs of all levels and classes of the lodging industry as well as everyone else who contributes to the general welfare of Mariposa County. Are you aware that in any kind of community service district, the contributions of the more valuable
properties contribute a larger portion of the costs? Nothing
different here.

I am just about at the end of my service to Mariposa County and its
industry. Real professionals, I am told, will take it from here.
Fine. The structure of the Board of Directors will still have
members which are not participating in the TBID to help bring balance
to the process. If this fails it will not be because we are not
trying. Consider this. Two years ago the TOT contribution of the
lodging industry was $8.7 million, all to the General Fund. Of that
about $650,000 was reinvested in tourism through the Tourism Bureau
and the Visitor's Center's of which there are two. Last fiscal year
the revenue was $9.25 million and the projected revenue for this
fiscal year is $10.4 million. Marketing by the industry and the
Tourism Bureau is working. To strangle this effort at this point
would set us back a long ways. As the industry continues to grow,
the revenues for Mariposa County will grow which will allow this
county to meet both the demands for service and the obligations of
the present and future. I do understand the concerns of some small
operators but since this TBID can be canceled each year, all I ask is
for Mariposa County not listen to self interest and give this a
chance. This is our economic future which will give us the
opportunity to look at other opportunities at an improving quality of
life without significant private development and population
increases, which have their own problems.

Leroy Radanovich

Leroy Radanovich Email:
Leroy Radanovich

To Read More By Leroy Radanovich:
Leroy Radanovich's Mariposa Life Archives

To learn much more about Mariposa County along with
historical photos:
A signed copy of "Images of America" - Mariposa County,
By Leroy Radanovich can be purchased at his web site:
Radanovich Galleria & Books









This is a early day photo of the Mariposa Mine in
Mariposa County that is mentioned in the article to
the left by Mr. Radanovich.

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books









Mariposa in 1920

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books


















Mariposa County Courthouse written by Leroy Radanovich and
Scott Pinkerton is a book about the oldest courthouse in California that is still in use today.
The book is signed by Leroy Radanovich.
To purchase the book:
Radanovich Galleria & Books

















Mariposa in 1860

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books