May 29, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 5A
Side Rail  JON RAHL
Partnerships vital to tourism success in Seaside
orchestrated “7 Wonders
of Oregon” campaign. If
you aren’t familiar with the
campaign, please Google
“7 Wonders of Oregon” and
start planning your excur-
sions now.
If you are familiar, you
likely know that the next
phase of this campaign
involves giving away re-
gionally-inspired
bikes
near or within each of the
“wonders” being promoted.
These bikes have been de-
signed, built and soon will
be hidden with the help of
partners all across the state.
A campaign of this magni-
tude would simply not be
possible without all of these
individuals working togeth-
er. And the tourism industry
statewide is reaping the re-
wards of these efforts.
Locally, the Visitors Bu-
reau has engaged in sim-
JON RAHL
ilar types of partnerships
with our two membership
organizations, the Seaside
Chamber of Commerce
and Seaside Downtown
Development Association.
Individually, we all have
goals, objectives and strat-
egies, but together we are
amplifying the voice of
Seaside tourism, business
and event promotion for a
common goal: improving
the area economy. As we
prepare for the summer sea-
son, don’t forget you have
partners in this community
who want success just like
you do. And they are often
just a phone call away for
help and future collabora-
tion. This type of mentality
is vital towards continued
success.
Transient Room Tax
numbers: Analysis of data
and numbers is a big part
of what I’m involved with
as we plan projects, and re-
cap what we’ve done. The
most critical number that
drives our budget is tran-
sient room tax collections
(also referred to as TRT
or bed tax). And for the
13th consecutive quarter,
Seaside bed tax has ex-
perienced year-over-year
growth. For the quarter
ending March 31, Seaside’s
bed tax experienced a 30
percent increase (yes, you
read that correctly) over the
same time period in 2014
— which happened to be a
record at the time. Fiscal-
year-to-date, Seaside is up
about 12 percent over the
same time period.
Oregon’s North Coast
update: The spring por-
tion of our Oregon’s North
Coast promotion (our col-
laborative effort with the
Astoria-Warrenton
and
Cannon Beach Chambers of
Commerce) is wrapping up
this month with digital vid-
eo advertisements running
through May. Since Febru-
ary (with a break during the
March Spring Break time
period), we’ve targeted ads
towards potential travelers
Green Thumb
Plant Sale at
Convention
Center
Letters to the Editor
Open letter to Seaside City
Council: To me, there is no good
reason to allow marijuana dispen-
saries in the downtown core of
Seaside. Broadway should be off
limits, since there are many other
locations that could be used with-
out making it so visible to family
visitors to Seaside. This is a tour-
ist town, and we have no medical
clinics in the downtown corridor.
As far as I am concerned there
does not need to be one here at
all, but that has already been de-
cided for some unknown reason.
Pot — really, why do we need to
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ple stupid? Granted, there is lots
of money involved, so that must
be the reason. Money talks.
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make you out of your mind. It
may dull the pain, but many of
these folks do not take it for the
pain, but to just dull their mind.
There may be medical reasons to
take it, but even more just do it to
get high.
So we let the medical shops
open, and then the recreational
shops follow shortly. There are
studies at colleges about all the
harm pot is doing to the grades
of the students. They cannot con-
centrate or retain anything in their
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nesses are complaining about their
employees not doing their jobs, or
even showing up for work, due to
the excess pot use.
I realize there is nothing I can
say or do about this, but being
a downtown business owner, I
feel I should at least be listened
to. Please don’t hurt our reputa-
tion by allowing pot shops in the
downtown. We are already looked
down upon for stuff that has hap-
pened in our past. Don’t let pot
shops in the downtown add to that
reputation.
M. DIEBOLT
Seaside
Friends are great
Friendship is a good thing to
have in any school you go to. It’s
nice to have friends around who
care for you, people to talk to is
really nice to have, too, and when
you have friends you create amaz-
ing memories together and bond
together. It’s a good thing to have
loyal friends whom you can trust.
Friends who will have your back
no matter what happens. To have
friends who love you through
thick and thin.
In school it’s nice to have
someone who understands you.
It’s a good thing to have a friend
who doesn’t judge you for either
mistakes you made, or things you
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doesn’t judge you will be the
long-lasting friend for you.
A friend who understands you
still can judge you. It just means
they will be nice to you about
it, but to have both is really nice
to have. Friends who like you
for who you are and not because
you’re rich, or have something
they want, is a loyal friend —
someone who has fun hanging out
with you, and enjoys your pres-
ence.
In friendship you have some-
one to talk to. Friends will help
you. When you want someone to
talk to, they will be there. When
you have friends you can talk
about anything the both of you
want to talk about. You can talk
about boys or girls that you like
or have a crush on. Or, you guys
could talk about plans in the fu-
Sum m er Rea d in g 2015
Ever y H er o ha s a Sto
Sto r y!
ture you guys are going to do to-
gether like camp, sleepovers, par-
ties and going to fun parks.
Some types of friends like to
gossip with one another, either
about boys they like, boys they
don’t really like, girls they like,
girls they don’t like, celebrities
they like or movies coming out.
Some cool friends like to talk
about new clothes or shopping.
When you have friends you
create memories together that you
can never forget in your life. They
can be good or they can be bad.
It is better if they are good ones,
but you never know. You can have
good memories by going on dou-
ble dates with friends. Or going to
the movies and having a really fun
time. You can have good memo-
ries of camping with friends, too.
In this summary, I wrote about
how friendship is a good thing to
have in school, and really any-
where else. Friends are nice to
have around. Having friends, you
have people to talk to about. With
friends you create memories to-
gether. Friends help friends out.
HOLLY WOOD
Broadway Middle School
Seaside
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Sum m er Rea d in g K ick-o ff Pa r ties
The Seaside Sou’West-
er Garden Club’s Green
Thumb Plant Sale will be
held Saturday, May 30,
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The
garden club is presenting
the sale at a new venue,
the Seaside Civic and Con-
vention Center. The public
is invited and admission is
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plans for the annual plant
sale, Saturday, May 30, 9
a.m. to 3 p.m. and and the
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Seaside Civic and Commu-
nity Center.
The sale provides a wide
variety of plants and other
popular items. The silent
auction will feature unique
planters. There will be a
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to fund the scholarship
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available for $1 each or six
for $5.
/"
No pot shops
in Portland (55 percent of
all ads), Seattle (35 percent
of all ads) and Vancouver,
B.C. (10 percent of all ads).
In April, those targeted
ads included an opportu-
nity to win a week on Or-
egon’s North Coast. The
three-week contest generat-
ed nearly 6,400 entries. Of
those, about 25 percent said
they wanted more informa-
tion from us on a regular
basis, a really strong opt-
in rate and a group we can
now regularly market to.
Have a thought or a
question about tourism
in Seaside, or maybe an
idea for a future column?
Drop me an email at jon@
seasideor.com. Jon Rahl is
the director of tourism for
the Seaside Visitors Bureau
and assistant general man-
ager of the Seaside Civic &
Convention Center.
"+0
Throughout my life I’ve
participated in a lot of team
sports and group activities.
Whether it was ultra-com-
petitive or just for fun, it
feels good contributing to
a collaborative effort. The
same is often true in the
tourism world. Individual-
ly, we can be really strong
with our efforts, but collab-
oratively our performance
can be enhanced when we
have multiple organiza-
tions (think of them as team
members) working towards
a common goal.
I’ve seen this very type
of collaboration and part-
nership work extremely
well in the tourism indus-
try. Not only at the local
and regional level but also
at the state level. A perfect
example of that is happen-
ing right now with Travel
Oregon and their brilliantly
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