The questions have been rolling in over the last week. Our readers have noticed that Squaw Valley recently upped the stakes in the battle over the incorporation of the town of Olympic Valley. Last month, we reported that Squaw Valley Ski Holdings LLC was the sole contributor to the group of concerned citizens, known as Save Olympic Valley. SOV’s latest monthly financial statement was posted by the Placer County Elections Office this week, and the report is no different.
While only $9,000 of non-monetary contributions were made to SOV by Squaw during the month of May, the bigger picture is a lot more frightening. Save Olympic Valley spent nearly $85,000 in expenditures during the month of May, with expenditures totaling $183,000 over the last two months. At this time, SOV needs an infusion of roughly $52,000 to meet its current obligations. We’re guessing that money won’t be coming from individual contributions or bake sales.
Where has SOV been spending this money? Much of the money has been committed to various legal services and consulting services. Reportedly, yet another flyer went out in the mail. The expense report does show expenditures for printing and postage this month. A huge chunk of money, roughly $23,000, has been paid out to a local consultant, who has previously been employed by Squaw Valley as a “community outreach coordinator.” One would assume that the consultant is trying to find some community to oppose the incorporation of Olympic Valley, proposed by IOV. So far, that support has only come from a few second homeowners and property developers within the valley. They even spent $2,000 for search engine optimization, so when you Google “Squaw Valley”, the SOV campaign tops the results.
Popular support for the incorporation effort seems to be holding steady. Several straw polls have been conducted and the latest one, at Curbed.com, shows that people are in favor of incorporation by more than a 2 to 1 margin. So the question remains, how much money will Squaw Valley Ski Holdings spend in an effort to squash the will of the people of Olympic Valley? We have to wonder how long the investors behind KSL will remain patient, while SVSH continues to blow through cash while tarnishing their brand and reputation.
Sure, $183,000 won’t build a new lift, but it is a huge amount of money. It probably would have kept the Alpine Bowl Chair open every day this season when we really needed it. More importantly, loyal Alpine and Squaw employees had hours severely curtailed or were laid off completely in order to protect the bottom line. How long does KSL expect to keep the support of it’s employees and long time customers? #FreeAlpine
Andy Wirth and KSL should be ashamed of themselves.
Creating a town is a right for communities and they should allow the whole legal process to play out. But instead, they are blatantly trying to pass misinformation and create fear.
If any KSL investors are reading this, do you support this waste of your money?
From half a planet away, I’d query (in round figures)
– $22,000 for a “community activist”
– what “Non Monetary Contributions” are
– $25,000 for Insurance? What for?
– More lawyers and advisers? What for?
– More mailbox junk “asking questions”?
Pathetic!
Someone needs their head read
Community activist, she charges a lot, but they obviously get a lot for that money? They should probably pay her more.
Non monetary contributions – is KSL and Squaw’s staff time devoted to the negative campaign, as in Mr. Witth’s time, accounting people and those who file the reports, do the mailings and their other minions.
Insurance is in case the newly incorporate town sues them. Just guessing on this one.
Lawyers and advisers to be sure their publicity is positive (money well spent?), they also advise KSL on how much to pay the advisers.
Sov want to lead the townsfolk like the Pied Piper, and oddly the officials are 2 people from Marin County and a CEO/President. Is that a conflict of interest?
I hope they took out Willis Texas Inc’s political risk policy.
I think KSL first sold hotels to Omni and now they sold the SF Athletic Bay Clubs to JMA. More cash in the kitty? Money for lifts? Reduce debt? Who knows.
I’d keep an eye on the Resort and see if it sits on more water. I doubt its great drinking quality at that end of the valley but who knows. I always thought the 8 mile pipe was to help the Resort expand with Phase 2, and the 8 mile water will be tap quality.
I just opened my facebook thing and I saw this Bay Club sale is true!
Wasn’t the 8 mile pipe going all the way to Homewood – on USFS land under a road that’ll bypass new Martis Landswap, and bypass the inadequate old ‘the 64 acre bus bay’/Fanny Bay Bridge’? I dunno. But throw in a rumored sale of a resort near Squaw Creek and add in the NLT water deal, and wow, what a mega resort using Truckee PUDs water. It’s brilliant! Add in some Planes, trains, roadworks, and autos and buses too.
Aargh, KSL should cut them off them thar purse strings and set em adrift on the sea of despair, matey.
Now where be that Treasurer Chest in Hidden Loot Lane..
Dear Unofficialalpine
Your addictive FREE “shares of facebook shares” traverse the ski world – Squaw should hang it’s head in shame! What on God’s earth has happened to Squaw ever since these SOV people came along?
Please fill us in about “SOV-iets” who “accidentally” registered their 2nd homes in a spare bedroom in Hidden ‘Loot’ Lane. Do these SOV people genuinely think they’re capable of leading the town into the Light? They’re a joke, and Squaw is fast becoming an embarrassment.
SOV-iets, that is genius.
It’s easier to remember than Gaffney’s ‘pschological transferance” analogy: ie where a rude person says you’re rude. I prefer “tattle tale”. Everyone remembers what Cindy Brady did 🙂
$2000 for BING? Geez, everyone at Resort @ Squaw’s Google Conference said Google’s heaps better. Don’t they like google’s big bucks?
This is a World First – brain fahts that actually stink.
Hi,
As a lover of Squaw (aka Squabble Valley), this caught my eye. Please :pardon my ignorance with US politics, however:
Does Schedule C sort of say that SVSH gave $130,000 ‘worth’ of legal and consulting services to SOV?
So if SVSH is effectively AW, and as AW is 1 of 3 on SOV’s Board, isn’t SVSH really giving him this money?
In some parts of the world that would raise eyebrows. Are things different in America because I can’t imagine a Senator running his own “grass roots” group while he and associates sit on committees to lobby for Counties and Federal Airports across NV/CA borders for grants and subsidized buses and things?
As I said, I don’t know much about about US politics but I do recall Cindy Brady was in strife for tattle taleing, and SOV tattled on the harmless IOV group. Is tattle taling the done things these days?
They’re really turning people off Squaw.
Thanks for the facts UA. I’m glad their not using my pass money to pursue this battle with IOV. I’ll hold off giving them a single dime till the chairs start spinning!
What’s the number for the Farsical Practices Commission??
Squire,
I thought Truffles were expensive, but at $22,000 this Activism takes the cake.
How odd.
Lifting the corporate veil, it looks like Squaw tells things to their lawyers and consultants who then tell ‘Squaw Olympic Valley’ everything that Squaw told the lawyers and consultants in the first place. Like a game of peanut shuffle but with more peanuts than a candy bar!
At some point, surely Atty-client privilege will be tested in Court,, won’t it?
I dunno, but maybe Sierra Watch’s legal teamcan write an op-ed on that. I think they’re called Amicus Briefs (but they’re not very amicable)
I hazard a guess that the communiques aren’t privileged at a later stage of the process. The “Sov-iets” are worse than a joke, they are in my respectful view, harming KSL.
$183,000 in 2 months, are you f**king kidding me?
KSL’s nickname of “Killing Squaw’s Legacy” could not be more appropriate.
Maybe I’m off base here, but shouldn’t the attention, resources and focus be on operating a ski resort?
Stop the madness!
^^^
what he said.
A link to your and Curbedski’s articles are circulating around the Village, as well as through Teton, facebook and probably twitter.
This “activism” by upset non-voters is sickening. If they want to vote ‘twice” or three times, they can complain to the United Nations or something.
Democracy vs Hippocracy!
In the media Sov jumps up and down with claims that IOV needs bake sales, but Sov itself is funded by the developer.
Pull out your check books, Mr Sov.
Grab some cooked books for a bake off.
Run a movie nite. I hear the 3 Stooges draws the crowds.
We can’t allow this Democracy nonsense to prevail.
http://unofficialalpine.com/?p=4888#comment-30224
interesting stuff here.
Can’t all the ‘concerned’ 2nd home owners raise their own money? Or aren’t they really that concerned.
I’m stunned to learn that “Sov’-iets” tried to register themselves at other people’s places, without the real owner’s permission! Bwhaha. Those clowns couldn’t run a circus.
Andy Wirth please go away, far away, like say Colorado.
Squaw / N. Tahoe just don’t like you. You can only buy
so many friends.
I heard your buddy JTH almost got killed the other day
while jumping into a wedding at Squaw. Fun sport dude!
Well that’s what the folks on the plane with him told me.
SOV-iets Classic that’s going to stick around.
Chief
That KAOS-L are at it again!
~’Agent 86′
Where is this elusive activist?
“One of my fundamental beliefs is that the community is the expert, the community has the answers. You have to ask the right questions.’
Uum, I have a question. Q: If the community has the answers, can SOV pay IOV instead of SOV’s lawyers and activists? Cut out the middleman!
The more that’s exposed, the happier I am that these ‘Sov-iets’, and their ‘community activists’, can’t vote. They’re as popular as a mars bar in a wet amenity!
If a buy a pass now, what stops SV from introducing the threatened paid parking? I mean, they’re going to somehow recoup the average $90,000 a month they’re spending, won’t they?
….Hi, I get a bucketload of cash to tell you the sky will fall”.
Who’s going to listen to cashed up chicken little?
Looking at the figures, what I DON’T see are psychaitric fees. Swing Our Voters need a few shrinks because they are swinging registered locals TO IOV ! They must be nuts. 🙂
Is this debacle the second or third trainwreck in a week.
Where is IOV’s report? Also all of the SOV homeowners who filed the complaint against IOVs infractions are FULL time homeowners in Olympic Valley. The homeowners who tried to register on the non political site Next Door that Fred called Bogus Neighbors and would not verify them have homes in Olympic Valley and would not have any desire to live at Fred’s house in Hidden Loot. They have their own homes. One full time on squaw valley road. The fact that Fred says that they all registered his address as theirs it is obvious that either there is something wrong with the site or a “Fred” error with technology. 2/3 of those “bogus neighbors” I have no idea how they stand on the incorporation issue. How would you feel signing up for a neighborhood site and they have called you bogus and a fraud before you even get on it? Friendly olympic valley? Is this an indication of how the “town” is going to be run? This is a simple website that he can’t manage.
Where’s SOV’s money coming from? Can’t it raise it’s own with bake sales?
Who’s doing SOV’s leg work: $22,000 for a community activist and $9k for “non monetary’ helpers? What a fail of a grass roots organisation. An average $90,000 a month is a turn off.
One of them’s testimonial says Truckee is her home. Please correct the Adverts and the pricey junk mail to say ‘full time squaw resident with a holiday home in truckee’
Hidden Loot. Yep, you got that right.
Tattle taling is devisive and petty. Ask Cindy Brady what happened to her.
How would feel being accused at the FPPC and then finding that “Sov-iets” are using your address rather than their own. I’d call the cops to find out if something was afoot. Three ‘the computer done it’ accidents for the first time raises eyebrows.
many used to think “it’s just a ski resort, what’s the fuss”, but these Checkbook-driven ‘concerns’ are 183,000 more reasons to doubt their spin.
$quabble Our Valley boastfully tattled to the Pfft commission…. and they expect to congratulated? Ohh myyy.
Has SOV registered it’s truckloads of money with the DMV?
just asking. I’d simply like to know if someone is a highly paid lobbyist when they say something’s really good.
I’ve lost my keys in a senior moment but not three strangers’ homes.
Registering on the nextdoor site is easy peasy: just put in your own real address and presto the computer registers you. Put in a fake address and, presto, the owner finds out.
Unbelievable excuses from the Sov folks – three people simultaneously and mistakenly insert Fred’s address on an automated website? But it’s fred’s fault? Or it’s the puter’s fault. It’s not mischief makers or a Sov tactic? Unbeelevable. Is it any wonder that 2/3rds of the curbski poll are for townhood.
Don’t KSL know how many locals, passholders from ‘everywhere’, condo owners and 2nd home owners read Unofficialalpine for the latest news and views?
The SOV ‘5th column’ are nothing more than a developer’s ill conceived ‘shadow organization’ of barrow pushers.
The tactic is a FAIL in the age of social media.
Honesty’s the best policy. Ask any Mom.
Of course they need Political Risk Insurance and lawyers – last week the SEC charged a Private Equity Firm, over a $2500 ‘donation” over a decade ago, with an obscure little law in the ‘pay to play’ law.
Here’s a peek at the issues faced by private equity firms http://www.sec.gov/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370542119853
The broker’s political risk policy is sorta mandatory if you’re going to be on many committees like the airport and for planes, trains, and autos. Especially if your VP at the Presentation tells people their property investment will increase. Remember the answer to the “What’s in it for me” question at the Presentation?
So who’s surprised that SOV needs lawyers, advisers and a $25,000 policy for insurance?
UA, In that link is this political contributions/lobbying/advice/pension fund/cross-corporate business.
Eg: “LeeAnn Ghazil Gaunt, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit, added, “Public pension funds are increasingly investing in alternative investment vehicles such as hedge funds and private equity funds. When dealing with public pension fund clients, advisers to those kinds of investment vehicles should be mindful of the restrictions that can arise from political contributions.”
Sounds very messy. I mean once Sov tattle tellers run off to the FPPC, you just never know if theFCCP thinks ‘hmmm, let’s see if the complainers threw stones in glass houses?”. I’m glad Sov bought political risk insurance in case they screw up.
At 89/night for 4th of July ‘week’, can I book the next 5.6 years at the Village by using that $183,000?
Do the maths:
“Stay 3 nights and the 4th is on us. Rates start at $89/night.”
Oops. I have to add an extra 1.4 years because every 4th nite is free.
Woohoo. But do they accept “non money” coz I have a lot of that 🙂
For 90k a month to do nothing, they can fire SOV and hire me. I’m the best at doing nuffin – my mom says so!
Are $697.000 of local taxes going to Placer and then to commitees of resort people who, in turn, use the $ to advertise their resorts? Amazing – and how’d UA know this SEC/FBI/IRS thing at the time the Sov’sTesti-moan-ial hit the presses! http://www.sec.gov/servlet/Satellite/News/PressRelease/Detail/PressRelease/1370541453075: Imagine if someone could dig up the taxpayers $697,000 money, use in in the Valley and just think if resorts spent their own $183,000 on something useful. That’d be about $900,000 well spent. Or we can piss it into recycled junk mail to help land fill. Hmmm, tough call.
If IOV gets cheaper office space and keeps this $697,000, won’t their surplus be like $1m or more a year? Can you interview that ex Hewlett Packard treasurer guy about grants (like the $800m engineering innovation grants for water), libery deals, the infrastructure finance district stff, Moodys and Standards & Poors review of Placer’s $30,000,000 debt, and stuff – I want to know what he ‘looked at’ coz readers of UA have seen tons of stuff.
who paid for the ‘letter [by 8 squaw businesses] to the community’ on page 13 of the Sierra Sun?
Hey,
Who asked Moonshine to write up about ….[drum roll] … $183,000 … for lawyers lunches and junk mail.
But if there’ any left over caviar for my cat?
http://squaw.com/things-to-do/events-calendar/free-outdoor-summer-movie-series sounds like a step in the right direction. Ok, ok, ok, they won’t screenResorting to Madness, Lost, Towering Inferno, Voyage to the Bottom of the Aquifer, or Wall Street. But it’s a stepin the right direction, no?
Hows bout re-runs of Gilligan’s Island, Skipper 🙂
Dear UA
I thought this was interesting: – condobuyers can sue the architects for negligent design. What’s the best way to avoid negligent design?
In a unanimous decision, California’s Supreme Court has ruled that the principal architects for a condominium project may be sued directly by a condominium homeowners association for design defects. The case, decided July 3, 2014, is Beacon Residential Community Association v. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP, S208173.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and HKS, Inc. (collectively, “the architects”) were the principal architects for a 595 unit condominium project built near AT&T Park in San Francisco. The units allegedly developed several defects including water infiltration, structural cracks, and overheating that made units virtually uninhabitable at times. The homeowners association sued the architects, alleging that these defects were caused by negligent design.
The architects defended on the grounds that they were not in a direct contractual relationship (privity) with the eventual buyers and owed a duty only to the developer who had retained their services. The trial court dismissed the complaint.
The Supreme Court reinstated the suit, holding that the architects did owe a duty to the eventual unit owners. The Court noted that the importance of contractual privity has diminished over time and liability to foreseeable third parties has been extended in many circumstances.
In deciding that the architects owed a duty of care to the ultimate owners, the Court highlighted three factors: (1) the closeness of the connection between the architects’ conduct and the plaintiffs’ injuries, (2) the limited and predictable class of potential plaintiffs, and the absence of options for the owners in obtaining design services on their own. In the end, the owners are forced to rely on the skill of the developer’s architects. The Court concluded that, under these circumstances: “… an architect owes a duty of care to future homeowners where the architect is the principal architect on the project – that is, the architect, in providing design services, is not subordinate to any other design professional – even if the architect does not actually build the project or exercise ultimate control over construction decisions.” (emphasis in original)
Even though, on most projects, the developer has the final say on design choices, the architect who makes recommendations on the design cannot escape liability to the end user. This decision is sure to give homeowners associations another target in defect cases. Architecture firms should immediately consult their professional liability carriers to determine whether these direct claims will be covered.
Hi UA,
Here’s a run down today by the esteemed Moonshine Ink regarding the Water. http://www.moonshineink.com/news/plenty-water
1. Squaw looks like they’d use , or exapand, snowmaking water up at HCamp and Gold Coast.
2. What about Snowmaking on Shirley’s. Is it ‘on’ or ‘off’. KSl can’t make up their mind. It’s be nice if the overpaid activist told us what’s up.
3. What’s this ‘100 homes’ worth comment again. I thought the Minutes in December said that comment was likely to mislead people, but yet here’s the ‘100 homes worth’ rising like a fart in the bathtub again.
4. Are we being told “old well agreements limited the amount we could suck out (and that stifled development) so with more Wells we get more water?”.
5. I don’t undertand the ‘suck bath water out via straws as the faucet runs’ analogy. I mean for years we’re told the aquifer level plunges down to dangerous levels so therefore even Cushing and Intrrawest couldn’t build bigger places. But magically there’s more water now than anyone ever imagined? Someone, at some time, was spinning tall tales, but who?