WWW published this in 2015, still just as relevant if you add cannabis and that industry’s rush to have events county wide. Note the Economic Development Board facts: Tourism is 6.5% of Sonoma County’s GDP so why all the preference?
Big Wine & Binge Tourism Cost You:
Groundwater depletion
Drinking water quality polluted with chemical runoff
Lack of diversity & monoculture-ask the Irish
Deforestation for the land rush-say NO to coastal pinot
Wildlife corridors fenced off, habitat diminished for animals.
Wineries have more rights than we do-look at Supervisor approvals
Millions of pounds of chemicals in vineyards yearly
-Sonoma, 2,211,222 (MILLION) pounds in 2014 (cdpr.ca.gov)
-Napa: 1,372,525 (MILLION ) pounds in 2014 (cdpr.ca.gov)
Cancer rates for kids highest in state for Napa, Sonoma #3 (see website: www.kidsdata.org)
Chemical pollution in air, soil and water
Tourism=death of local servicing business
Loss of Mom and Pop stores to tourism based business
Low wage industries, need 2 and 3 jobs to stay financially afloat
Hollowing out of neighborhoods
Communities fragmented by event centers, tasting rooms, vacation rentals in all zoning
Housing becomes an investment instead of a home
Unaffordable, high rents and lack of housing
Children and grandchildren move for lack of affordable housing
Safety: more rural roads used through neighborhoods used due to traffic congestion on regular routes
Roads and infrastructure crumbling, taxpayers pick up the tab
High rate of police calls from tourists, taxpayers pick up the tab
Paralyzing traffic and carbon pollution throughout county
Vineyard workers housing and health risks from chemical exposure
8 to 10,000 acres paved over for industrial ag production in So CO.
Wineries get Williamson Act tax breaks for not paving over ag lands and creating industrial business model in ag zones, process continues
General Plan 2020 predicted half the wineries we have now with over 70 new permits in the pipeline for rural Sonoma County