Our shorter, warmer winters make it unwise to spend a lot of taxpayer dollars on private luxury ski resorts that depend on snow to make a buck. Our wetter, stormier summers are not very good for expensive golf resorts, which are going bankrupt all over the country right now. The full-build 250 room hotel option for the Belleayre Resort is "marginally feasible" in the developer's consultant's own statements. That means "likely to fail" to generate the 18% profit necessary to pay for the huge construction. In a nutshell, "likely to fail". This is public comment time for the review process. Tell the State to choose the lower build option, and not to spend $5 million for the Highmount property that the developer bought a few years ago for $250,000. Don't gamble with taxpayer dollars on a slow horse.
Dave Channon
Shandaken
