Letter: A one-company town
I am not always a media supporter (I dislike the Vail Daily’s recent policy against publishing letters about national political opinion) but the recent letter in the Vail Daily criticizing the media by Sue Froeschle about its article covering the strike at Park City against Vail Resorts could have been more thorough and broader. Referring to other businesses both on and off the mountain that are totally or partially owned by Vail Resorts is informative in showing how we are somewhat dominated by this company and its policies and pricing.
Over the years Vail Resorts has swallowed up many businesses on the mountain and off. Vail Resorts employees current and past in our midst control many boards and businesses public and private, for profit and not. This carries over to our politics.
Our town was created in part to provide services to the ski company that it did not want to provide —including housing and streets. If it was profitable for Vail Resorts to do all these things and to operate all of the retail businesses and real estate sales offices, they would have done so and done more and more all the time. Observe the local fight against the Booth Heights development and the current version of Vail Resorts to protect the local bighorn herd and its habitat where previous employees helped approve it and it took five years and almost $20 million paid by the town of Vail to Vail Resorts and its attorneys to keep it from being developed and built.
Bob Essin
Vail