Here’s a recycled idea for a stimulus package. A short term boost and a long-term jobs program:
For a $1M let’s say you build a tram from Main Street to the Ski Bowl…more construction jobs right away. The limited rooms, and then the restaurants in town would rise in value with the potential for more investment in town. What a cool way to pay back the folks who are anchoring main street now…. Braley & Noxon, Sarahs, The Alpine, etc. Joel Beaudin and the Copperfield investors would do a jig.
I know on projects that I’ve worked on that took multiple years… many times you end up with the RIGHT solution, even though it’s not what you started out to do exactly. For this idea to work, BRQ had to be built, and we are getting some value out of it. (Certainly not an amount equal to the cost to date, but the fat lady hasn’t sung yet.)
And now the Ski Bowl. Not only is there good terrain over there, but it’s an historic ski area that is being brought back to life. Pretty cool.
Maybe AFTER the ski bowl is connected this transfer lift will be the obvious conclusion to the project. I mean obvious to the people who get to decide it. You’ve got $5-10 million into it over the last 10 years, and now for another – how ever much – you’d really start to get local benefit.
I know there are a lot skeptics who think this won’t happen. Or that the powers that be won’t let it happen. Maybe they’re right. This would increase the appeal of Gore vs all mountains including Whiteface. But it sure makes more sense than spending that money on Lift #14, the gondi to nowhere.