Pacifica Chamber of Commerce: "Pay Up or Git Out!"

Analysis and Opinion

By Lionel Emde
Riptide Correspondent

The Pacifica Chamber of Commerce, in a stunning departure from its longtime policy, has decided to exclude non-chamber members from its printed directory. In sending out notices of renewal to members, this change was first on the list:

"ONLY Chamber members whose dues are current will have the opportunity to advertise in our annual keepsake, the 2013-2014 Business Directory."

The policy of inclusion of any business wishing to have a listing or an advertisement in the directory goes back to at least 1980, according to Jean Headley of Headley Office Services, who joined the chamber in that year.

But that's not all, at least in terms of shocking changes for chamber members. Membership rates have skyrocketed, with one member telling this writer of a dues change from $160 last year to $295 this year! Others have reported increases of 50 percent from last year's rates. The notice of increase sent to members has the reassuring question:

"IN 'STICKER SHOCK' OVER YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES INVOICE? That was never our intention. The good news is we've changed the structure of your annual membership dues by adding more features which increase the value of being a Pacifica Chamber Member."

The notice then goes on to note various technological "improvements" to one's business visibility: (1) six-line listing in the directory, (2) listing in a mobile iPhone app, (3) uploading of photos, video, and customer testimonials to the chamber's website, (4) e-newsletter sent to members, (5) the chamber's employing a PR firm, which will supposedly drive more traffic to one's business website.

The chamber places the collective "value" of these items at $1,000. Pretty reassuring to a struggling local business facing a 50 percent to 100 percent increase in its chamber membership, eh?

The irony of all this is that some businesses have passed this by long ago and already get their new customers online with no assistance from the chamber. This writer's business has gotten almost all new business references from Internet searches,

The chamber directory, which used to be the local bible of buying, has not been the source of much of anything in terms of referrals in recent years. And full disclosure here: I haven't been a chamber member for years, having not seen any good reason to join. 

One of the stated goals of our newly inspired chamber is "Endorsing political action." The chamber has taken some pretty bizarre positions in recent years, including its breathless endorsement of Pacifica's very high garbage collection rates, which are being inflicted upon the smallest commercial base of any city in the county.

How that can be considered "representing the interests of business with government" (the chamber's words) will have to be left to the reader's imagination.

The chamber also has enthusiastically endorsed the proposed six-lane widening of Highway 1 between Vallemar and Rockaway, which would create the only such six-lane stretch of Highway 1 in the state of California.

And then there's the chamber's entry into the local political world. On the invoice for payment by local businesses entering the brave new world of chamber membership is a "voluntary" $39 contribution to something called "BacPac," a political action committee (PAC). 

On the California Secretary of State website, our chamber's PAC is called "Pacifica Chamber Of Commerce Business And Community Political Action Committee (PACPAC). There are no filings or contributions as of yet, and this appears to be new. Whether it's BACPAC or PACPAC, the chamber seeks to extract from members a contribution, as evidenced by the new billing invoice.

Perhaps politics should be left to the people and their government. Or perhaps a business organization such as the chamber of commerce should actually be in touch with its members to know their opinions. It seems that neither one is what's going on at present.

Comments

[Linty Marr]

Glad we didn't give them $54K for an amateurish "Pacifica Marketing Plan" they wanted to foist on City Council last year.

[Jay Bird]

That's funny. Given that the Chamber of Commerce in Pacifica supports putting a freeway through Pacifica -- which will:

1. Gut the thriving Rockaway business district
2. Destroy housing prices in town -- who wants to live next to a freeway?
3. Make a river of cars run through Pacifica -- past us to areas further north and south -- but not stop to stay in what will no longer be a scenic Pacifica

Why join the Chamber of Commerce at all? What value for a local business could there be?

[fiscal conservative]

Oh boy, the chamber coffee club really did it this time. Take a ride around town and look at the empty storefronts. Linda Mar Shopping Center and Eureka Square.

Any chance Don at the chamber can come back?

[todd bray]

Yes, well said, Lionel. Our local chamber has been co-opted by a very right-wing group of local real estate businesses, the names of the proprietors we would all recognize as they are regular contributors to this and other blogs as well as our local Tribune. There are several internal issues the chamber is coping with like how the board is appointed now. It assures the chamber will remain reactionary. It's a pity the chamber has become a parody of itself but not surprising given who is on the board and its president/CEO.

[Jean Headley]

Well said, Lionel. I agree with everything you said. Be sure to read my letter to the editor in next Wednesday's (2/13) "It's My Turn" column in the Pacifica Tribune. I've personally spoken with several chamber members and more than 30 non-chamber members about the board's new exclusionary, elitist, and extortionistic practice, and every single one of them is adamantly opposed to it. There are various reasons these businesses are not chamber members, and they should not be penalized by not being able to advertise in the local business directory, where their customers have been able to find them for years. The board should reverse its decision that it did not get approval for from the general membership.