Sedona, AZ -- Sometimes newspapers fail to consider the
ramifications of the stories they print, and in this case, the
Arizona Republic is as guilty as sin.
I was told about the story from my mother who lives in Chandler.
“Did you read what the Arizona Republic wrote about Sedona on the
front page,” she asked.
“No," I replied.
“Well, they are saying traffic is so terrible there, that people
have to wait hours just to get from one place to another and that it
is only going to get worse,” she said.
OK. I’ve lived here full time for more than a year and part time for
two. I know traffic can back up every so often but I’ve never felt
there was a “problem.”
I live in the Chapel Road area and I make at least three trips a day
to West Sedona and once or twice a week to Oak Creek Village.
Considering the construction, I found delays, when they occur, which
is rarely in my book, negligible. When they occur, I simply take the
opportunity to enjoy the scenery and contemplate how lucky I am to
live in this beautiful city.
So I looked up the AZ Republic article, printed August 11,
here, and I was spun like a vortex on steroids by the
insensitivity and irresponsibility of its content.
First, there was the headline “Traffic bedevils road to red rocks.”
Bedevils? Tens of thousands of Arizona residents read the AZ
Republic and how many of those planning a trip to our fair city were
turned off by the headline itself? The use of the word “bedevils”
against a spiritual community was an obvious attempt at sophomoric
humor.
Then there’s the opening sentence “Growing traffic is creating bad
vibes in new-age Sedona.”
Traffic doesn’t grow. Babies grow. Trees grow. Traffic increases.
What bad vibes? I meet locals all day long and no one talks about
the traffic. The trees being cut down at the “Y” by ADOT, the ADOT
plan for more light poles on 89A – that’s what people are talking
about.
The writer notes 3 million people visit us annually, spending $370
million which supports 10,000 jobs.
Well, we need each and every one of those visitors to keep things
going here and generate tax revenues to maintain our viability. Our
city coffers are not exactly bursting at the seams with cash and
given our deteriorating infrastructure and added challenges, every
visitor generated penny counts.
How many thousands of would-be visitors who read that article are
now making plans to vacation or travel somewhere else because of the
alleged traffic “nightmare” bedeviling us poor spirits in Sedona?
One business owner of a very popular establishment on 89A told me
every time an article comes out in a major newspaper blasting our
traffic woes or talking about construction problems on I17 North,
there is a measurable drop in business due to less visitors.
“Less business means less employees and they go to Flagstaff to get
jobs,” he said. “Now the younger workers don’t come out after work
to spend money in our establishments and we lose further business.
When they print those articles they don’t realize how much they hurt
us. Even local musicians suffer because we can’t generate enough
money to pay bands what they deserve.”
One very vocal local was quoted as saying Sedona is no ‘Disneyland.”
Darn right we’re not. We are God’s Disneyland and spending a bit of
extra time on the road on a holiday to catch our natural wonders
sure beats the heck out of standing on line in the hot sun waiting
for a ride.
Yup. I’m upset with that article. I wonder if the reporter took the
time to drive around Sedona during the day, any given day, and see
just how bad traffic is before writing that article. I don’t believe
he did.
The editors at the Arizona Republic owe us an apology, or at the
very least, a story extolling the virtues of our beautiful Sedona --
virtues and sites well worth any wait or traffic delay.
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Sedona Verde Valley Times print publication, please email Rita
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