A Los Angeles Times reporter made the trip to June Lake where business owners were quoted as saying they don’t think many will make the trip come winter with June Mountain closed. The Times quoted Don Morton, manager of June Lake Accommodations as saying, “If the mountain closes we are dead.”
Mammoth Mountain CEO Rusty Gregory made the clear announcement that the company did close June Mountain because of annual $1.5 million losses. The Times’ June Lake story, called “Slippery Slopes”, revealed a not surprising picture. The story quotes June Lake people as saying that their property values have dropped at least 10% since the announcement and that some hotel workers are planning to leave town in November.
The story says, “June Lake is a throwback to ski towns of a quieter era.” Rusty Gregory is quoted as saying that June Mountain has lost “$500,000 to $2.5 million annually since Mammoth bought it in 1986.” Gregory told the Times that June Mountain must bring in about 150,000 skiers per year to make money. The numbers have flagged around 45,000.
The need for more lodging rooms came up and so did the failed Rodeo Grounds 900-unit condominium project. Intrawest gave up on the project in the midst of community dissent and a failing economy.
The Times’ story reveals the town’s suffering and points to no answers for this winter. Locally, talks continue over possible solutions. See LA Times story: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-june-lake-20120725,0,3265113.story
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“Reality is for those who lack imagination” (attribution unknown)
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/reality_is_for_those_who_lack/187958.html
“Ken Warner July 26, 2012 at 8:23 am #
There’s other ways for an economy to become more robust. Adaptation is one way. Adapt to the needs of the World around you. And those needs are less and less for tourism from SoCal when people from SoCal can be anywhere in the World in 1 day.”
Please do cite one entity that June Lake has to offer to the needs of the world around us other than tourism, Ken.
Today’s credo:
It’s all about me.
I can see intellegent converstion has left the room…
Great comment.
Benett
Hi,
Does anyone know or can anyone find out how may MVP holders there are for the 12/13 season?
MMSA usually allots ~24-26,000 MVPs per year and they’ve sold out every year.
as a longtime mvp pass holder, I want a discount/refund on my 12/13 pass. I paid for a pass with access to two ski resorts….now I only have access to one. June was the perfect place to go on crowded weekends… I expect 20% back on my pass…come on MVPers, we all gotta request this from mammoth….this is like bait and switch….sell one thing, deliver another!!!
I spoke with mammoth mtn, they will do nothing for you, except give you a complete refund! Bogus. And what about those people who planned on buying a June only pass so they didn’t buy the MVP pass? Shouldn’t mammoth re-open the mvp pass sales for people who had planned to ski June only? I’m really ticked at how Mammoth is handling this…they don’t give a rats ass about their longtime customers, that’s obvious!!!!
And June Mountain didn’t lose “$500,000 to $2.5 million annually since Mammoth bought it in 1986.” MMSA lost that money. Blame the perpetrator not the victim.
Great observation Ken. Think Rusty will say it correctly next time.
@Vince- Lake Tahoe ring a bell?
Communities are either growing or dying. There is no standing still. June blew it years ago (ie Don’t Mammoth June) and now has to live with the effects. This is not rocket science.
Nonsense! That’s the lie big developers tell you so they can rape your town like they’ve done to Mammoth Lakes.
There’s other ways for an economy to become more robust. Adaptation is one way. Adapt to the needs of the World around you. And those needs are less and less for tourism from SoCal when people from SoCal can be anywhere in the World in 1 day.
Mammoth had growth — lots of growth from the time Intrawest bought into MMSA. Look what we got. A town full of empty condominiums and McMansions. Old established businesses out of business. Grow or die is a big fat lie.
Thank you Ken. Very nicely put. I have also wanted to ask folks, if you were not born or raised here, why did you move here? Because of the small town life. because of the clean living, because of the easy way small town folks are? just curious, because I don’t understand why everyone wants to turn Mammoth into Vale or Aspen. I remember when people willingly took lower paying jobs to get the above mentioned ideals, now they want to make hundreds of thousands a year. That is the kind of stuff for the cities. We do not have all of the ammenities that LA or San francisco have to offer and in trying to get them we are going under. Lets return to the simple life that ATTRACTED enough folks to make the big wigs think they could make lots of money up here and drug us all down with them. I hope that made sense.
Exactly! I moved here to get away from the city life — not to be taxed to bring it up here. In the 12 years or so I’ve lived here, the quality of life has taken a nose dive into the same rat race that is everyday life in SoCal.
And I’m not the only one who feels this way. Just look at the revenue numbers and see how they started to decline around 2005 — after the Village was opened. The Village was supposed to breathe new life into Mammoth Lakes. Doesn’t seem to have worked out the way we were told it would.
Lets look how the Piutes in Bishop have faired…….still no sewage and electrical on most part of that rez.
esfotoguy- you are really off base on the what’s going on at the reservation. The reservation has grown more in the the last ten years than any city in Inyo has in 60 years. Maybe you should go drive threw there and say hello. While there check out all the improvements that have been done or are in progress.
What decade are you referring to esfotoguy?
A casino?…do you think this is a joke?….Gamblers by definition are losers. I dont want a bunch of losers hangin round my town.
gambler
noun
1. better, punter, backer “The British are a nation of inveterate gamblers.”
2. risk-taker, speculator “Never afraid of failure, he was a gambler, ready to try anything.”
Actually, a “gambler” sounds more like a skier. Yeah, your right! We don’t want them skiers hanging around June Lake anymore!
esfotoguy, dude, there already are a bunch of losers in June. Of course not everyone is but there are many losers in June. Why do you think they call it Loop Land? At least gamblers have money to spend, the losers live off of welfare, unemployment and disability.
Dingo,
This is an unfair judgment. Things happen in life, to all of us. We humans are certainly not perfect. But kicking someone when they are down
is not an honorable way to relate to fellow humans.
Benett Kessler
This is one of the reasons why I believe we all or at least the ones that say rediculous comments (I myself am not immune to rediculous comments) should put down there real name so they can own what they say!
I agree, Dingo that is a very unfair comment!
Well you can call me AL Jeremiah .. any way you call me .. call me AL .. hehe .. and I will call you Betty … oh wait I mean Jeremiah. Just joshin there Jeremiah .. but really who cares who I am .. but what I say?
I have to agree Dingo .. that was crap you said, the way you said it, I understand what you’re saying in part, but losers are every where .. in every crowd, even in ML, in Bridgeport, Bishop, LA and Texas!
esfotoguy .. your comments are out of line too in the way you put it. You can’t lump everyone in the loser category, if you talk like that, then you will not prove any worth, except with the losers as you like to refer to.
I know you don’t like what I say but hey you can feel free to express your opinion just as you are. Maybe you might see it clear to express it in a more elegant way .. and maybe not so much vile.
B, many choose to live off public assistance with no desire to get off the couch and be a productive member of society. These are the losers I am speaking of.
Right on .. I hear ya D. They are out there.
Gotcha,
this day and age where we can be anonymous on internet blogs leaves room for the inner child to run free.
You crack me up Al Grande.
Do the “winners” in Mammoth Lake consider the people in June Lake as the uneducated residents of the county,like they do the people in Bridgeport too ?
……and then add a few taverns,a pot shop,a big,ugly village(with no place to park),and surely,it would instantly become another destination for So Calers.
Yeah, Vince Townsend.
Slots ‘n Slopes would be the first of its kind in America.
An instant money-maker.
Ah, ‘slots & slopes….first in America’ — Really? What, you’ve never been to Lake Tahoe?
They should persuade the Bridgeport Tribe to open a Casino there, that would provide an instant 40 to 80 jobs jobs jobs 🙂 That’s the American Way!