A letter is on its way to residents with Short-Term Rentals asking for compliance with the State’s Stay-at-Home health orders by not renting to those from out of the area. The logic is seamless: if vacation travel violates health orders, we shouldn’t give those travelers a place to stay.
Both the Inyo County Board of Supervisors and Bishop’s City Council approved the letter at the request of Mono County and the Town of Mammoth Lakes both of whom have taken flack for enforcing Governor Gavin Newsom’s travel ban with their residents pointing to Inyo County and Bishop as sources of violators of that ban.
Newsom’s order closed businesses through late December then was extended for another four weeks with Counties able to go back to the appropriate COVID-status/color tier once hospital Intensive Care Unit bed capacity fell at or above 15-percent. Until then, Inyo is stuck in the Southern Region with a current ICU capacity of “0.”
The lure to travelers to the Eastern Sierra is the Mammoth Mountain ski resort which lies outside the Mammoth Lakes city limits and operates under different COVID restrictions.
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They have to enforce the law. That is a horrible way to run the town by blaming owners for their loss by blaming them for following the rules. Make that public if you have any morals.
All tourists coming to Mammoth are now
Essential travelers..
The problem is that the county issues this letter but then they don’t enforce the current orders. They make a lot of excuses for not enforcing the rules, but my question is why bother writing this letter if at the end of the day they aren’t going to provide any enforcement.
You probably do not realize this, but the reason they only “ask” is to get business owners to take it upon themselves and bear the burden and cost of “Following the Health Orders”. That way the county can put the responsibility for the financial losses on the business owners, and say the business owner’s losses were due to their own decisions. Plus enforcing the orders is not legal. Also, If the County enforced these orders then businesses were literally “forced” to shutdown and all financial losses, or going out of business would more obviously be blamed on the government. That would make towns and counties liable for financial losses for business restrictions, shutdowns, and stay-at-home orders. That would cause local government financial devastation and that simply is not acceptable option for governments.
Whether you agree or disagree with Covid-19 policy, this is a case of government self preservation at the cost of the taxpayer/business.
Maybe Mammoth Lakes and Mono County should pay their mortgages then.
They should pay for all the expenses of owning a property as a short term rental business. Whatever applies per each situation. Mortgage, all utilities, HOA fees, property taxes, all expenses they have to cover by owning and running a property as a business.
you sound like a socialist, keith. and you sound like a speculator who is also a sore loser.
Nope, actually quite the contrary. I am pro Free Market Capitalism, and want limited government. However, if the government is going to force businesses to foot the bill for their policies then yeah let the government cover the expenses or get the hell out of the way.
Keith
Everything isn’t a lawsuit,even though in this day and age some think it is.
Do you really think small business owners that happen to lose money during a Nationwide pandemic are entitled to,or more important,would win a lawsuit against the County or State for money lost ?
I think it all comes down to common sense,when we all see COVID cases sky rocketing across the United States,with the World’s # 1 hot spot happens to be some 200 miles or less from our communities in the Sierra and where a good majority of our visitors come from
Being as such,whether someone is telling me what I can and can’t do or not,you won’t catch me inside a restaurant or thinking of a short-term rental for a couple days of recreation out of town,or anything else that involves crowds of people and visitors..
If people’s own common sense happens to cause hardship on a business owner does that mean some type of lawsuit against them can be expected on them too for exercising that ? .
Just shut down the Gas stations from Mojave north. That will slow
down the migration north. Might even slow down some locals that are driving around checking on everyone elses business.
Mono person I don’t think your really a mono resident, you act and behave like someone who is secondary home owner up here or even worst a tourist. You can’t have it all, your perspective is jaded and not based on facts/data. You encourage bad behavior and you thinking opening up at this time is a good idea is craaaazy. It is quite obvious you don’t know the people of Mono/Inyo, you don’t know what they stand for and what they believe. Your ill mannered statements are childish. If people did what they had to from March last year to now, we wouldn’t be in this situation we are in currently. Again the selfishness of Americans is killing each other and only prolonging the effects to our businesses/economy. What business do you know so we can all support you??? Probably nothing and not even a resident or home owner.
Been here since 1972….I can think for myself and do not have to resort to name calling.
Speaking for myself,I sure wouldn’t want to do a short-term rental,then find out a couple days later the property had been rented out to some super-spreader family from L.A. County for a week before I was staying there.
If the vacation destination was closed or limited like so many other businesses maybe their would be fewer vacation travelers.
I smell a Chicago style grease job.
The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, when the heck are we gonna learn?
If I had a short term rental I would continue to operate until the ski area had to follow the same rules everyone else is.
When are you guys going to get over it?? It’s done, the doors are open and let them come. The mountain is making fistfuls of cash, and you are wanting to close down the mom and pops – how embarrassing..
That’s exactly what needs to happen..Get over it… everyone will
Eventually get this Flu no matter where you hide.
In the meantime Every business in the
Eastern Sierra files Bankruptcy.
You think some of these short term rental owners even have a license? It’s pretty much a cash business.
Is it true that Mammoth Mountain has it’s own rules?! Wouldn’t MMSA be included in the southern region just like Bishop and Mammoth Lakes? Why aren’t hotels/motels in Bishop forced to validate people staying for business? You can drive through town and see suvs stacked with skis clearly not here on business.
Charlie to answer your question. Ski resorts were not included on the Stay at Home order. There was talk about looking into it but I haven’t heard much beyond that.
SUP 395
There is no REAL stay at home order for anyone,other than those trying to spin it that way.
What I think Charlie is trying to say is why doesn’t MMSA have to abide by the rules for the vast number of SoCal tourists,catering to them with the open restaurants,taverns,and short term rentals while the rest of Mono and Inyo County does not allow that because of the COVID and safety restrictions.
But there’s an easy answer to that.
Money..
It’ s all about the green-backs and Benjamins,even though the majority of the tourists and their money is flocking to our towns and streets from the # 1 COVID hot-spot in the World.
If an owner violates this order they lose their license to operate. Endangering the public’s health should not be taken lightly.