The latest ORDA Screwup

Grillman wrote

I am still grilling at mid

Grillman wrote

I am still grilling at mid

..And my personal "Sherpas" will be carting up the beer!  

JTG4eva! wrote

YC....I knew what you were getting at, and it doesn’t take much effort to make a big difference is someone’s day.  Too many people in service industries just don’t realize that anymore.  Can’t believe the person he asked couldn’t even be bothered to go tell his manager, who should have handled the simple request.

Service like that begets the need to take matters into your own hands!

Last Sunday, the service in the Tannery was top notch. The girl was quick and frequently checking on us.

Because, like, that was her job.

Bit naive at any resort just to ask some random employee to make a fire for you, let alone Gore, but, I've seen worse. Listened to a fru fru woman complain to a ski host I was skiing with at Stowe that her boots didn't fit, and wanted a solution from him.

I doubt anyone expected the employee would drop whatever they were doing and make a fire for them right then and there.....and to expect a response better than a “sorry, not my job” brush off isn’t unreasonable.  I’ve been in plenty of locations with fireplaces that beg for a fire, and you typically ask the nearest service employee, who should be able to handle the request, pass it on to the person whose job it is, without indifference.  No?

Employee might have been related to this guy...
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=frankenstein+fire+bad&docid=608047203042855188&mid=C4277E412EB1520E1E7EC4277E412EB1520E1E7E&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

they ought to just light the fire each AM and be done with it---somebody will undoubtedly keep it stoked all day provided there's wood available.

I love the fact that Beck's has the woodstoves in the yurts pretty much burning 24/7, and I'm sure their customers appreciate it

We're going overnight with the fires at Plattekill on Saturday so things should be nice when you arrive on Sunday. :)

You skiing Platty on Sunday Harvey?

JTG4eva! wrote

I doubt anyone expected the employee would drop whatever they were doing and make a fire for them right then and there.....and to expect a response better than a “sorry, not my job” brush off isn’t unreasonable.  I’ve been in plenty of locations with fireplaces that beg for a fire, and you typically ask the nearest service employee, who should be able to handle the request, pass it on to the person whose job it is, without indifference.  No?

No. That's not unreasonable at all.

Last week my lady and I were in a snowmobile dealership looking to get her a new sled. We were the only ones there. We looked around for a minimum of 10 minutes and nobody, I mean nobody even acknowledge are being there. Long story short we left, went to another dealership and bought a sled. We were professionally greeted as we walked in and had a good buying experience.

As noted in this thread before I'm a believer in using your dollars elsewhere if you aren't happy.

p.s. don't tell mc i bought another sled  

http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2019/01/orda-reps-state-senator-tout-82-5m-sports-venue-upgrade-proposal/

I wonder how they'll manage to screw this up.

SIAWOL wrote

they ought to just light the fire each AM and be done with it---somebody will undoubtedly keep it stoked all day provided there's wood available.

I love the fact that Beck's has the woodstoves in the yurts pretty much burning 24/7, and I'm sure their customers appreciate it

I guess that's what he was getting at. I personally don't care because I'm usually too busy skiing to sit by the fire, but a an occasional visitor to the mountain who pays for a full price day ticket at least deserves eye contact and a polite "I'll look into that for you" or "let me see if I can find the person who handles that". IMO - the fire, lack of fire and lack of willingness to have a fire is a minor issue that is a symptom of a much larger problem.

On a positive note, Beck's is an awesome addition to the Gore scene. I love that place!

Johnnyonthespot wrote

Last Sunday, the service in the Tannery was top notch. The girl was quick and frequently checking on us.

I have always found the cafeteria staff in Gore's main lodge friendly and positive given the madness of the weekend lunch crowds.  Even when the ketchup runs out.

Petronio

campgottagopee wrote

p.s. don't tell mc i bought another sled

Geez campster, you could have bought Matt a ski vacation that he would not have to worry so much about car rentals and lodging for that money. You money grubbing rich bastards are all the same.

hehe

I'm of the belief that I can't take it with me. Go around once so I'm goin full send!

Harvey wrote

We're going overnight with the fires at Plattekill on Saturday so things should be nice when you arrive on Sunday. :)

Is anyone spending the night in the lodge TN? Worried about getting there safely in the morning with the heaviest snow supposedly coming after 2AM

campgottagopee wrote

.
p.s. don't tell mc i bought another sled

Cheaper than buying a house for a woman!

worth every penny

Interesting and refreshing read here in today's ADE editorial, and to answer Dan Stec's question, YES!! Please NYS get out of the winter sports business!

As more money pours in to upgrade the state’s winter sports venues, we’re realizing how much the public doesn’t know about how these tax dollars are being spent.

We don’t want to be suspicious or accusatory. We just want more information.


We’d like leaders of New York’s Olympic Regional Development Authority have to tell people how, as precisely as possible, they plan to use $82.5 million Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed to upgrade venues this coming fiscal year. We’d also like them to publicly make their best pitch for why these venues should get so much more after the state invested the same amount in them over the last two years: $20 million in 2017 and $62.5 million a year ago.

That’s just for capital improvements. For operations, it would be nice if ORDA’s skier and visitor revenue covered its spending, but in reality it always falls short. The state gave it $10 million last year, and now Cuomo is ready to give it $27 million, including an $18 million increase for as-yet-unexplained contractual services.

Should legislators approve that? What will their constituents tell them?

The explanations from the governor and the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism have said the goal is to add year-round amenities to help Lake Placid compete with Park City, Utah, for tourists. What does that mean? The $20 million capital allocation two years ago was supposed to include a mountain coaster ride at Mount Van Hoevenberg and a zip line at Whiteface Mountain. Did all that money instead get eaten up by upgrades to the Whiteface and Gore ski lodges? Or would this be for new amusement amenities? Or new ski jumps?

ORDA officials have started to talk about this. On Wednesday, the day after the governor presented his budget, ORDA CEO Mike Pratt and board member Art Lussi talked to our reporter Griffin Kelly. Pratt couldn’t put price tags on the upgrades but said even the proposed $82.5 million wouldn’t be enough to fund all the projects the authority would like to complete.

That is sobering, and good to know. It would have been good to know a year ago.

It was a bit of a shock last year to see the state fork over $60 million to upgrade the 1980 Olympic venues, but people figured that’s what was needed to prepare for the 2023 Winter World University Games. We and many others figured that would cover it all, and while public officials didn’t specifically say that, they didn’t say otherwise. Certainly none warned it wouldn’t even cover half.

Or maybe a lot less than half. How much more do ORDA officials plan to request?

Maybe they don’t even know.

Lussi said the price to upgrade an old facility can increase after a project starts.

“What is expected to be a $50,000 fix turns into a couple of hundred thousand because a wall is unstable or an elevator needs to meet modern (American with Disabilities Act) requirements,” he said.

State Sen. Betty Little echoed that.

“Two years ago I was able to get $3 million for the ski jumps, thinking it would be enough, but obviously it wasn’t.”

“Look, we’re either going to maintain our infrastructure, or we’re not,” said Assemblyman Dan Stec, whose district includes Lake Placid. “We’re either going to stay in the winter sports business, or we’re not.”

He makes a good point about commitment. But on the other hand, isn’t that the kind of thing one would say to rationalize runaway costs?

While these statements are understandable, they also raise disturbing fears. We love the Olympic venues, but are they a money pit? We love that New York state has maintained these venues and kept Lake Placid as an international winter sports hotspot for all these years — outliving Olympic sites built much later — but are we wasting money out of pride? We love that ORDA staff members dedicate their lives to managing them, but are they weak on managing money? (The state comptroller’s office has criticized their fiscal management in the past.)

Those are painful questions, and we dearly hope the answer to all three is “no.” Yet those fears should prompt us to examine ORDA’s fiscal management with open eyes. Maybe we have not pressed hard enough.

Therefore, we will seek details on how ORDA has spent tax dollars on venue upgrades so far, and how it plans to do so in the future. We hope it will help settle people’s minds. Hopefully Pratt and other ORDA officials will sit down with us soon and go through their budgets, like the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism did with us this fall.

State taxpayers should be given enough information to decide for themselves if this is a good way to spend this tax money, or if those funds might be better spent elsewhere.

Does anyone know how much Chevy snow pays Orda.  Word is Orda gave Chevy 7000 lift tickets this year.  At 50 buck per that’s 350k plus they get to run thier dog and pony show and display cars all year.  The PR exposure is worth millions GM is getting.  What exactly are they paying Orda for this?

In ops issues somehow on Skyward they managed to blow heavy slop over the beautiful gun pow that was there Thursday.  You blow the heavy stuff on the bottom and the light stuff on top but somehow despite these cold temps they got it backward.  Once groomed this is going be a glacier.