Route 66 Webcam
Welcome to the new Route 66 Webcam located right here in Flagstaff Arizona.
Historic Downtown Flagstaff Webcam | Flagstaff Monte Vista Webcam
Web Cam Suspended
Flagstaff Webcam Says Good-Bye….
Flagstaff Webcam has been suspended as the owners of The Old Town Shops and The Hotel Monte Vista have cancelled our rooftop lease agreement. The Old Town Shops, our mall next to Heritage Square, provided rooftop space for the Heritage Square Cam. They run Sage Brush Traders and many other shops inside of the mall.
For over eight years, more than 300,000 visitors a year have been able to see beautiful Flagsaff, Arizona live. Our volunteer group provided live, streaming TV cams that offered visitors the ability to snap photos and see our wonderful city in its glory. Flagstaff Police used the cam to catch criminals and monitor bad behavior. TV stations from Phoenix and all over mentioned us on air during snowfall. Tourists would show up in front of the cams to have friends take their pictures. We even had a Paul McCartney sighting! He did not sing for us.
That meant nothing to our local business owners.
These local business leaders have told us they will no longer grant rooftop access. Both said they could not see how Flagstaff Web Cam helped them make any money and thus, could not justify offering three feet of space for our volunteer efforts.
We solicited each and every rooftop owner in the Downtown Flagstaff area. Every owner turned us down. We asked Hotel Weatherford, Babbitt Sports Center, Downtown Diner and the Flagstaff CVB. They all turned us down. Most of the owners, like Old Town Shops and Monte Vista, could not personally see the financial benefit of having us place the cam (at our costs). Some complained the cam would give publicity to other business and not them. The Downtown Flagstaff business owners have little care for their neighbors. Sadly, we discovered most of them don’t like each other. Unfortunately, we do not have forward thinking people who can understand the value of the goodwill and free publicity we delivered – all without any costs. So, we have to respectfully disagree with our old friends and move on. We do thank them for the previous years of support. They have the right to tell us to leave.
The Flagstaff CVB also turned down our efforts. Flagstaff CVB Director Heather Anardi has refused any cooperation with us. The CVB believes Flagstaff Webcam is a competing site. Our CVB, as a policy, does not assist “competing” local sites.
While our cam has outdrawn the CVB site, we happily link over to them. Flagstaff is suffering terribly from the recession and it is disappointing that local volunteers, the CVB and business leaders cannot work together for a common good. Sadly, local government leaders, including the Mayor’s office have refused assistance as well. We will miss bringing you our wonderful city. We will miss bringing you The Pine Cone Drop. And we will really miss bringing you Route 66.
Flagstaff Web Cam has maintained these cams at our cost for eight years. This was a volunteer effort brought to you by locals who funded the effort. We have to give special thanks to generous contributions from these people who helped pay for our bandwidth: Doctor Rick Weeks, Law Offices of Mike O’Malley, Thomas Accosta and the Arizona Airport Shuttle. Space and support was generously given for the Route 66 Cam by Peace Surplus. They donated rooftop space for the Route 66 Cam. Peace Surplus has been fantastic to work with.
Our local business leaders have let down our city. Without their cooperation, we cannot deliver Flagstaff live. This site has now been purchased by Web Brokers. We wish them the best of luck.
- Rick DeSota, FlagstaffWebCam
Drop our local business leaders a mail and tell them if you think the Flagstaff Webcam was good for our community:
john@sagebrushtraders.com
sean@hotelmontevista.com
