Yosemite closure hits businesses hard

December 28, 1995
Web posted by: 9:30 p.m EST

From Correspondent Don Knapp and wires

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, California (CNN) -- Government workers are not the only people hurt by the partial government shutdown now in its 13th day. Officials in Mariposa County, California, whose economy depends on Yosemite National Park tourism, have asked Gov. Pete Wilson to declare it an economic disaster area.

The declaration could lead to low-cost loans and other aid from the Small Business Administration, said County Administrator Mike Coffield. (192K AIFF sound or 192K WAV sound)

Yosemite tourism is the lifeblood of Mariposa County, population 14,000. Towns just west of the park -- El Portal, Midpines and Mariposa -- depend on tourists who stay in the motels, eat in the restaurants and shop in the stores that line the main roads to Yosemite.

The park's closure dealt a $5 million holiday tourist loss to the mountain county, where 25 percent of the work force has been laid off. Coffield says that even if the park reopens, it will take a long time for the county to recover.

Yosemite Concession Services, which handles food and lodging in the park, estimates it is losing $200,000 to $300,000 a day while the park is closed. Some workers have taken vacations this week but face layoffs if the shutdown continues.

All has been quiet at the Miner's Inn in Mariposa, except for the phones ringing with cancellations. Only two determined honeymooners from Spain stayed at the 65-room motel on a recent night, and all workers except for a skeleton crew were sent home.

"Even Mariposa at its best barely ekes out a living," Joan Coolidge, a Miner's Inn employee, said Wednesday. "Nobody's working. And this county hardly has any people."

County residents say the effect from the loss of money this month will be long term. Even if government aid becomes available, loans would be too little, too late, said Richard Long, who with his wife, Marcia, runs Yosemite Four Seasons Vacation Homes inside the park.

"Once it's lost in the hospitality business, it's gone forever," Long said. "There's no way you can make it up."

The Longs gave full refunds to frantic guests who booked a year in advance for reservations at the 22 units the couple rents. Then, worried about losing their guests, most of whom are regulars or referrals, the Longs invited them to come anyway -- at a $50,000 loss.

"It's killing us," Long said. "The independent merchants and employees are really feeling it. It's a tragedy unfolding."

The shutdown doused holiday celebrations, Coolidge said. She said her sister, a maid, canceled Christmas plans. Others spent Christmas standing in line for free toys to give their children; another acquaintance stood in line for unemployment, she said . "It's very hard because minimum wage is the norm here," Coolidge said. "When you don't even make that, you just don't make a living."

Waiter Raymond Chan said he is lucky now to take home $10 in tips, about one-eighth of his normal take. He had no customers at noon Wednesday at the China Station, a popular spot among Asian tour groups. The restaurant closed down for two days earlier this week because business plummeted 80 percent, Chan said.

At the 242-room Tenaya Lodge, 150 employees were laid off. And all but a few of the 206 rooms at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal were empty, said Jerry Fischer of Yosemite Motels, which owns many of the Mariposa lodgings.

He told county supervisors he wrote a record $45,000 in room reservation refunds on just one day. "We've been here for 18 years. We've fought Mother Nature ... but the idea of your own people doing you in is hard to take," Fischer said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Yosemite closure hits businesses hard

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