Jerry Sanders at the Cul-de-sac of Happiness
What do you do if you’ve gotten to end of the Road to Happiness? Are you then inherently happy? So why does Mayor Sanders have that looking on his face? Maybe it’s the sour news from the tourism industry at the press conference he attended today at the Sheraton off Harbor Drive. Tourism officials announced that occupancy rates over the last 28 days (pre-Comic-Con) were down seven percent. But not to worry, they have an ad campaign ready to roll, themed (you guessed it), “The Road to Happiness”. The campaign will be paid for by the newly instated Tourism Marketing District (the one where hoteliers decided it wasn’t OK for San Diego to tax them, but it would be OK to tax themselves). It will try to attract visitors from Los Angeles, Orange County, and Riverside County – people who would drive here. They’ve even a website for prospective tourists: sandiego.org/happiness.
But what about people like the rest of us who already are at the end of the road? Not to worry! They have a website for us, too. Since we’re already happy, we should Stay Happy. But wait a sec: That site is filled with hotel deals. But if I’m trying to economize my vacation, wouldn’t I actually sleep in my house? And no coupons for Sea World, or a concert, or Legoland, even? I think I understand the look on Sanders face now.
