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Letter: No sympathy

Rick Bell
Vail
Vail, CO Colorado

If you want someone to feel sorry for you in the valley Mr. Smith and Mrs. De Manigold, you are sorely mistaken. Please don’t whine about getting paid only $10 an hour and definitely don’t whine about having to be at work at 8:30, when a lift operator starts work at 7 a.m. and only makes $8.75 an hour as a starting wage. Or talk to a starting patroller who makes $9.50 when they are rookies, and they are saving lives!

Your cries are falling on deaf ears in a community where some people who come to the valley have to live on a couch all season, because they can’t find a place to live. I do have a little bit of sympathy for Mr. Smith because he hasn’t found a place yet, but he moved here in December?! You can’t expect to find a place after the season has started, that is just the harsh reality of living in a resort town. The other reality is that you are an instructor and you make good money, you can sleep in, and you get tips. If the Vail Daily wants to write an article that makes the housing crunch really hit home, they should be talking to lifties who are surviving on a diet of ramen and Kool-Aid.

When I moved here in ’98 I made a trip here the July before I moved out and set up housing and a job, because common sense told me that it would be hard to find a place to live. So in closing, so I can get back to work, poor planning on your part does not necessitate sympathy on my part.


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