IS THE ECONOMY'S "PERFECT STORM" SAVING ROYAL GORGE?

There's an old saying, "It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good." Whether that phrase necessarily applies to our current economic situation is questionable, as it seems as if we're truly being buffeted by something far beyond run of the (m)ill wind--a maelstrom perhaps?

However, in terms of slowing down the relentless march of Kirk Syme (Woodstock Development) and Todd Foster's (Foster Enterprise) over the top plans for the future of Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort, maybe this really is a perfect storm.

Take insurers, for example (before they take you...) Seriously, insurers don't just insure things, like Royal Gorge LLC's over-fueled forests, and, in case I haven't mentioned it before, Royal Gorge, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure- thin your trees!

Insurers are big investors in real estate and development. Look at AIG-- heck, look at how AIG, by investing in junk and overreaching helped pull down the markets, and then got a still controversial 85 billion dollar bailout from the Feds. It kind of makes you wonder if they've been investing in any mid-Sierra resort development, doesn't it?

Say Royal Gorge LLC wanted some ready cash to push their development forward in Placer County-- at a minimum, they're needing the readies to feed Supervisor Kranz's kitty- $5000.00 last month alone. Banks are pretty skittery about lending right now, so who's to say Royal Gorge LLC isn't courting east cost insurance companies? Do you think those insurance companies (and reinsurance companies too), are going to be quick to shell out money in this economy for non- essential resort development when the fundamentals, such as water, sewer, dams, egress roads, and, er, snow (notice how global warming seems to be uncomfortably real?) aren't exactly in place? Maybe not.....

Add in DSPUD's ongoing struggles with the State over what they're dumping in the South Yuba River, which will certainly wake up folks to the fact that there's a limit to how much effluent you can put in the river (at times of the year the dilution may be only 2.5 to 1, instead of the desired 20 to 1, and unbelievably,DSPUD doesn't even have a gauge in place at the discharge point to measure this, but relies on estimates from a gauge 10 miles down stream!) 

DSPUD's trials and tribulations are something I'll save for another day, maybe a rainy day, which we certainly could use. As to the economy's ill and capricious winds, they really may be blowing some clouds with silver lining over Donner Summit-- or at least they're giving us a breath of fresh air before Kirk Syme and Todd Foster's bulldozers make a suburb out of Royal Gorge, arguably the best cross country ski resort in America-- and that's not hot air.