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Compromise and 'getting along'
07/08/2008
Joe Kelly
While we agree with the basic premise of your editorial "Can't we all get along," I do believe it takes unjustified shots at Dave Donaldson and ignores the recent history and current reality of Belleayre Mt. Ski Center. We who support the ski center have worked for more than a decade to try to "get along," with Hunter, Windham and every other private area out there. We sought joint tickets, joint promotions, regional ski passes and a host of other initiatives that would have promoted the region effectively. This regional cooperation exists in virtually every ski region in the world. I was present six months ago when Mr. Donaldson offered to sponsor an effort to bring this about to the manager of Hunter Mountain. They didn't then and don't now want to" get along ", they want to win! They want to stop Belleayre and are taking a Shermanesque slash and burn approach to do so.
Hunter and Windham have not only refused to get along, but have, with the Greene County legislature, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Belleayre in a thinly veiled attempt to build their resorts on Belleayre's ashes. Ulster County can and should defend its major tourist attraction and we don't need Greene County to tell us how to run it. Our tourist attractions are just as important to our economy as their ski centers are to theirs.
Now that they have successfully lobbied for their "fairness," commission (a commission charged only with looking at costs not benefits) we are not naïve enough to believe these folks are going to stop there. They have 80% of the region's skier visits already. Both ski areas have built massive ski in/ski out hotel and condo complexes around their trails with not one single peep from any environmentalist.
The owners of Windham just paid an enormous price for that ski center. Is public recreation supposed to suffer so they can justify their investment? Did they not know that The State has operated Belleayre for nearly sixty years? They obtain Belleayre's operating budget by The Freedom of Information Act, but refuse to release any of their numbers. They want to sell real estate at huge prices and profits but want to deny skiing to anyone who can't spend $75 for a lift ticket. Yet they talk about fairness. Fairness to whom? What about fairness to the hard pressed citizens of New York State that authorized though the New York State Constitution, the creation and operation of Belleayre Mountain. You may think that scholarly exercise is good, but when that scholarly analysis causes more job loss for Ulster County (which it will), causes yet further delays in the review of a project already under review for nearly a decade (which it will) and shuts out a majority of the population to the sport of skiing (which it will) we wonder if you'll still feel this way.
We applaud Dave Donaldson for standing up to defend a critical Ulster County facility and for understanding the severity of the threat at hand. While a boycott might or might not be in order, just the fact that he mentioned the "B" word has raised the level of awareness and attention that this legislation ought to have. We appreciate Donaldson's call for action against this well financed and unwarranted attack. If they really want to "work together" tell them to call off the high priced P.R firm they hired in Albany to attack Belleayre for the last year. We don't have their money, but we do have the right of public recreation on our side. You shouldn't have to be rich to ski, golf, swim or get a higher education for that matter We urge other public officials to read the legislation, understand the threat and ask the Governor not to sign this bill. Let Hunter and Windham earn the loyalty of their skiers by giving them what they want not what Belleayre already has!
Very truly yours,
Joe Kelly
Chairman
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