Big Burke announcement

[Cannonball]

I fear Burke is going to end up like Ascutney.

I hope and Pray that some lightning will strike

I know it's not what either of you meant, but's it's scary to put these two thoughts together and look down the road. The Ascutney debacle is an all too recent reminder of just how really bad these things can play out. Hopefully Burke(-Q) can find a way to turn this around and turn all those improvements into a success.

 

[tumbler]

I believe that their Facebook page said that they did work on the Q Burke hotel.

So, has he been paid? Interesting dynamic of bringing him onto the management team...

 

[from_the_NEK]

I'm surprised that a resort the size of Q Burke actually has more than 45 full-time staff. Not being confrontational here, but blaming Ary for the downfall of this place is a little short sighted. It is also unfair to blame Ary for anything to do with the Hotel. The failure of this resort and the hotel falls solely on the owners. They ultimately have watched and allowed their company to be mismanaged. Of course, firing your son is no easy task.

The full time staff includes many (if not all) of the new hires that were brought in over the last several months to staff the hotel. I imagine that accounts for more than half of the force reduction.


In a somewhat indirect way, I think Ary has played a HUGE part in the failure to raise the necessary money for the hotel. Looking back over the last couple of years, things really started to unravel when Ary started burning bridges with local organizations. The most public of which was Kingdom Trails. That led to a lot of negative internet traffic (both mainstream media and social media). If I was an potential EB5 investor, a simple Google search of what I was looking at investing in would probably turn up a lot of this negative news. Would I want to invest in a project at a resort run by someone with such questionable business ethics and lack of experience? Hell no.

The whole plan has gone so sour at this point and there is really still not anything any of us can do about it.

 

[burski]

So, has he been paid? Interesting dynamic of bringing him onto the management team...

It is my understanding that MEI, has a long history with the Q's - the Q's may have even helped MEI go from a mom and pop contractor to their current size. Being in the trades, I know most electrical contractors would not bid the Q Burke Hotel job b/c MEI was going to get the work no matter what the price - I think the same could be said for Peak CM - This company also came out of nowhere - if someone ever does some real digging and peals back the layers I think this thing may only get uglier...

 

[the original trailboss]

My only peeve with oldtimes very good post is the last line "he's not from here" Many people that own businesses in VT are not from there. I have always had an issue with the "you're not from here" but the person is running a successful business that is employing people that for "from here" Not referring to Q. An example of someone making it work is Win Smith who embraced the MRV community and slowly eroded years of discontent with Sugarbush.

In my experience, the term "not from here" or "flatlander" has been a reflection of attitude projected, not state of origin.

 

[VTKilarney]

if someone ever does some real digging and peals back the layers I think this thing may only get uglier...

If the disclosures are to be believed, that digging is happening.

 

[thetrailboss]

In my experience, the term "not from here" or "flatlander" has been a reflection of attitude projected, not state of origin.

Exactly.

 

[oldtimer]

thank you - that is exactly my usage of the term.

As a humorous aside on that subject, I had the great good experience of working for some very old time Mainers as a kid. At one point my boss was asked by a parent if, since their child was born in Maine, that made the child a Mainer. My bosses response was instantaneous- "If a kitten is born in an oven, does that make it a biscuit?"

and the inverse is also true.

In my experience, the term "not from here" or "flatlander" has been a reflection of attitude projected, not state of origin.

 

[tumbler]

In my experience, the term "not from here" or "flatlander" has been a reflection of attitude projected, not state of origin.

As long as you have green plates on your car!

 

[VTKilarney]

I was up in Newport today and spoke with some people who are very familiar with Burke's new GM. He sounds like a very interesting guy, to put it mildly. When they spoke about his history, it unfortunately didn't involve ski area management. Hopefully he transitions well.

 

[VTKilarney]

LSC News 7 continues to do very good work covering the hotel story.
Their broadcast archive is up for today's newscast here:
http://campus.lyndonstate.edu/news7/archives/archive.html

The state is going on the offensive, at least to News 7.

There is also coverage on Monday's News 7 broadcast.

 

[VTKilarney]

New VTDigger article:
http://vtdigger.org/2016/03/22/q-burke-resort-lays-off-180-workers/

 

[thetrailboss]

LSC News 7 continues to do very good work covering the hotel story.
Their broadcast archive is up for today's newscast here:
http://campus.lyndonstate.edu/news7/archives/archive.html

The state is going on the offensive, at least to News 7.

There is also coverage on Monday's News 7 broadcast.

Moulton needs to get canned. That said, it is not the State's fault that Q did not raise enough money.

 

[thetrailboss]

New VTDigger article:
http://vtdigger.org/2016/03/22/q-burke-resort-lays-off-180-workers/

Confirms my thoughts that this is a political stunt by Q against the State and to convince potential investors that it is the mean old State to blame. This is why:

Several other ski areas in Vermont have also closed early because of the unseasonably warm weather, and it is typical for ski areas to lay off seasonal workers in the spring.

They said that the seasonal workers plus the 45 FT employees for the Hotel (that haven't even started) are laid off. That is no surprise at all. I think it is laughable that they are laying off these folks and firing others to replace them with clowns who have no experience at all. The new "HR guy" who wrote that press release doesn't have any marketing experience. That press release was pretty lame.

In a swipe at the state, resort officials said in the news release announcing the layoffs that “Q Burke Mountain Resort has worked diligently to create jobs and to retain personnel even through rough times, however, job creation, job retention, and economic development do not seem to be as important to the state as previously believed.”

Patricia Moulton, secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, said that “it seems convenient to blame the state for the small amount of money that has been held.” Moulton said the state has $120,000 in architectural fees left to approve.

“We’re not the reason they’re laying off people,” Moulton said, and she emphasized that “the state is not to blame for the reason the hotel hasn’t been opened.”

And it seems that they certainly have collected enough money to pay for the project....except for their own "cut" of the action:

As of December, the owners had collected money from 103 investors, or about $56.65 million in EB-5 foreign investor funds and fees, according to state documents.

My heart goes out to my friends and family who have been impacted by Q's complete incompetence and sheer arrogance. Instead of issuing lame press releases that scape goat others, he should be reaching out to the community to get them to come to Pond Skimming or do something to improve their business.

 

[VTKilarney]

The new HR guy is just a contractor. Maybe that's why he couldn't even spell the company name correctly.

 

[thetrailboss]

The new HR guy is just a contractor. Maybe that's why he couldn't even spell the company name correctly.

Which one was incorrect? I did not see it.....

I also thought it was interesting that he called himself an "designated representative." WTF?

 

[VTKilarney]

Which one was incorrect?

Look at his letter again. He didn't put a space between "Q" and "Burke" even though the letterhead had it there for him to see. Nit picking, I know, but if they can't get the little things right they sure aren't going to get the big things right.

 

[thetrailboss]

Look at his letter again. He didn't out a space between "Q" and "Burke" even though the letterhead had it there for him to see. Nit picking, I know, but if they can't get the little things right they sure aren't going to get the big things right.

I was wondering if that was what you were saying....Q Burke vs. QBurke.

 

[VTKilarney]

I was wondering if that was what you were saying....Q Burke vs. QBurke.

I'm just saddened about the whole thing since I know who they let go.

 

[thetrailboss]

I'm just saddened about the whole thing since I know who they let go.

As we heard Q admitted that he just cannot get good staff......it's too bad he has that problem. :roll: