It’s very clear from the angry letters to the editor over the last few years that our community is at a crossroads. The questions seem to be: do we want to embrace growth with open arms, or preserve a beautiful place? Personally, I’m not sure why we have to choose. If we’re smart, careful, and all willing to sacrifice a little, can’t we have both? There are plenty of examples from all over the world of communities who have successfully capitalized on their popularity and preserved quality of life for their residents and visitors.
To do this, we need our leaders to work with us to create and share a bold collective vision for what we want Tobermory to be. If we don’t, our own community, infighting and shortsightedness, will sink us.
Did you know that if visitors increase by 15% per year (historically it’s been around that) the number of tourists will DOUBLE in five years, to over 1 million? Can you imagine DOUBLE the number of trespassers, litter, illegal parking and help wanted ads?
An important question to ask is why we have these problems. A familiar story: I recently told a young couple that no, they could not park in someone’s driveway “for just a minute” while they went swimming down the Cape Hurd fire road. But do you know why they did? Because there is literally nowhere to access the water. Unless booked weeks or months in advance, we simply do not have the facilities to accommodate the expectations of the tourists we currently attract, nevermind the waves that are coming if our unplanned growth continues.
Unless we collectively, as a community, come together to agree on a way forward, guess what’s going to happen? We’ll keep arguing about small ideas like parking lots, litter, STA fees, “up here” vs “down there”, and we will be overrun by visitors we cannot accommodate, both because there is no space and local businesses cannot find enough staff to serve them. Those visitors will also be increasingly frustrated, like the people waiting in endless lines for food, or the young couple who feel like there is nowhere they can park and enjoy this beautiful place without someone telling them to “move along”.
Please, let’s stop talking about whether we need more parking lots or garbage cans; that’s not the issue. Let’s talk instead about big, bold plans, modelled on other tiny but beautiful parts of the world. Places that recognize that growth is good, but it must be sustainable and manageable, both for the people who live in those communities and for those who visit. We have a short window to get this right; it is closing fast.
Maggie Fox
Cape Hurd
