You love Joshua Tree because it is different, non-corporate, radical . . .but corporate–sold tourism is killing the place we love.
The situation-
Joshua Tree is world famous as a hub of emergent culture and ancient natural beauty. But politically, it is just a small unincorporated town in the county of San Bernardino. We have no mayor, no city council, and very little power over how our community develops. Nevertheless, there are a lot of great people who have been attracted to this special place and have invested themselves in creating a unique and independent community here that is more than just a tourist town, but is a culturally connected place that resonates all over the world. Local people saw that there were not enough hotels so they created unique and soulful vacation houses to share with visitors, there were not enough restaurants and supplies so they created renowned restaurants and shops, they also created music venues, and arts programs- all with a blend of worldclass qualities, unique local values, and specific culture that exists nowhere else.
This unique local community is being strangled by corporate businesses that extract profit from our resources- natural and cultural- while giving nothing back. Like anything else- growth and tourism brings both positive and negative impacts to our community, but the corporations extract most of the positives while leaving only the negatives behind to burden our local community and our neighbors. It is estimated that corporate vacation rental listing sites pulled 25million dollars out of Joshua Tree’s local economy through service fees last year alone. And, San Bernardino County room rental taxes collected by the corporate sites don’t ever seem to find their way back to improvements and programs in this smallest town that generates most of it. We are being bled dry.
First step. . .stop the bleeding-
The corporate vacation rental lists advertise OUR properties, OUR creative culture, OUR caring service- Then they extract 15% service charges, capture local taxes, lobby against local community interests, and direct guests to non-local businesses. But the only service they actually provide is a list. Just a searchable list- that’s all the 100billion corporation really is. So, we – the community of Joshua Tree- made our own list. . . that simply connects guests with us directly.
The best of Joshua Tree – all of the same unique and personal vacation rental properties that you see on other sites – are all here- we just remove the corporate layer and give guests direct access to the people who built this place and live here. . .and the money you save stays in Joshua Tree to improve this community.