Big Burke announcement

[from_the_NEK]

http://qburke.com/blog/i-stand-with-the-q/

At least it seems they now recognize there is a big public perception issue

Quote from the Blog post:

As for season’s pass sales; we’re in decline. Particularly because our community has lost faith. We can accept that. We will take the anger. We will take it and turn it into the glue which holds the last 19 of us together. Why? Because we know you will be back. You love the mountain.

So you, Q Jr, and 17 other employees are going to crawl into a bunker with no windows and wait for everyone to come crawling back?

 

[Cannonball]

http://qburke.com/blog/i-stand-with-the-q/

At least it seems they now recognize there is a big public perception issue

I'm not sure she understands who the underdogs are here.

 

[VTKilarney]

Quote from the Blog post:


So you, Q Jr, and 17 other employees are going to crawl into a bunker with no windows and wait for everyone to come crawling back?

I picked up on that too. It was a REALLY poor blog post. No recognition at all that change is needed.

I'm not sure what's she is trying to prove at this point. Especially when she says that "to some extent" East Burke has been in decline lately. East Burke is a true success story and is as vibrant as I have ever seen. She needs to come down from the mountain.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I'm not sure she understands who the underdogs are here.

Well, I imagine it's easier to be so "positive" when you're one of the only people still receiving a paycheck and able to put food on the table for your children.

But I think a better analogy is that she's betting on the wrong horse.

She thinks she's betting on an American Pharoah with her loyalty, when in reality she doesn't realize that her horse has incurable joint disease and wont race again. The hotel will likely one day open, but it wont be run for very long by the “Q” she constantly refers to.

 

[Cannonball]

Well, I imagine it's easier to be so "positive" when you're one of the only people still receiving a paycheck and able to put food on the table for your children.

But I think a better analogy is that she's betting on the wrong horse.

She thinks she's betting on an American Pharoah with her loyalty, when in reality she doesn't realize that her horse has incurable joint disease and wont race again. The hotel will likely one day open, but it wont be run for very long by the “Q” she constantly refers to.

What's especially bad about it is that she stands with the "Q" but apparently not with the "Burke". Kind of says it all.

 

[yeggous]

What's especially bad about it is that she stands with the "Q" but apparently not with the "Burke". Kind of says it all.

I have to wonder if Q asked her to do this as a condition of continued employment.

 

[from_the_NEK]

What's especially bad about it is that she stands with the "Q" but apparently not with the "Burke". Kind of says it all.

Yep. I'm sure she is afraid for her job and is currently towing the line for "Q" to appease him.
So 19 people that follow "Q's" standard are all that he was able to dredge up throughout the entire country (according to her blog piece, Ms. Benedict was actually recruited by "Q")? No local want to work there anymore.
How the hell does Ary expect to open this mountain ever again? This is all just making me feel sick (or maybe I'm coming down with the strep throat that my daughter is currently home sick from school with).

 

[VTKilarney]

It's reasonable to expect someone on your payroll to be publicly supportive. I just don't think that her blog post was a good one. Saying nothing is better than saying things that will just elicit a negative reaction.

 

[River19]

The fact that the few remaining folks still employed in that "organization" feel it is "Q" vs. the community/patrons says everything we need to know. The simple existence of a clear division between Q and everyone else is clear evidence the rift with the community.....awe hell, damn near everyone has only gotten wider since he first started to repeatedly step in piles of PR poo......

IMHO the laying off of 180 folks including the folks who have been the heart and soul of the operation has really increased the gap between Q and everyone else. I don't see a future where there is a bridge that can cross that gap now......I just don't.

As BG has said, the fact that Sr and Stenger's proposed solution to their refund mess happens to be the exact definition of a Ponzi scheme is sadly funny and fitting at the same time.

 

[tumbler]

I'm going with Stockholm Syndrome.

 

[VTKilarney]

From the blog post:

Much of the community would like to know what efforts we will put into the mountain this upcoming 2016/2017 ski season; we have only two things: heart and elbow grease.

How has that been working so far? I was hoping for, "Bring in management with ski area experience."

 

[WWF-VT]

"There is a very important point which the community should be aware; Q Burke Mountain Resort LLC and Q Burke Hotel & Conference Center are two separate entities. The failure to open Q Burke Hotel & Conference Center is not the reflection of the management of the resort or the owners of the hotel. "

So there are two different and independent entities running this place into the ground?

 

[ChicoKat]

Even in the bizarre world of 'Q-Ville' that type of public communications warrants the same form letter they so callously sent out to 180 employees.

What are the odds the of bike park operating this season? That would hit the local businesses.

 

[epic]

I won't be surprised if the bike park fails to open this year. If it does not, I don't think it will impact the community. It's already lost momentum, and people will still ride KT with or without the bike park. People love KT, I bought a family pass even though we only ended up riding there once last season. I will buy a family pass again.

If the bike park is failing it is only because of Ary. I have been riding there since day one. Or even before that, when just a few sections of Jester were open. The last few years, it has been a Sunday ritual to bring my daughter up and ride the bike park. The split with KT made us re-evaluate and we cut back and made more trips to Highland and Killington and Bromont because we don't want to patronize the Q. He's also made it harder to spend money there. The customers are still coming but he won't take our money. We used to always eat lunch on the patio of the Tamarack when we rode there. The food got worse and then they just stopped all together. Closing the Tamarack for lunch means we now spend half of what we used to. Good thing there is the food truck! If they open the park this year, will we patronize it? I don't know, not if we can help it, but we will still be riding in East Burke.

 

[VTKilarney]

A new VTDigger article:
http://vtdigger.org/2016/04/04/state-freezes-q-burke-investor-account/#comments

 

[epic]

I wonder how Stenger's EB-5 meetings are going in SA. They know how to use the Googles over there too, don't they?

 

[whitemtn27]

Oh my God (from the VTDigger article):

Stenger in the memo says developer proceeds have been “denied to the developer since July” and that this “needed operational capital” was to be used for planning costs associated with the rest of the Q Burke development — the aquatic center, and tennis and mountain bike facilities. As a consequence, planning for the expansion of the resort is “stalled,” he says.

Um, dude, your accounts are frozen due to suspicion that you've been spending the hotel capital for operations. This is NOT how you want to react.

 

[DJAK]

Saying nothing is better than saying things that will just elicit a negative reaction.

This. 100 times. There is nothing for Q to say right now that is going to help, only enflame. Well, other than a mea culpa or announcing no more Q in the name.

Ary needs PR counsel desperately, but has shown isn't interested in taking any counsel, so, it continues. Only weirder.

 

[ChicoKat]

I won't be surprised if the bike park fails to open this year. If it does not, I don't think it will impact the community. It's already lost momentum, and people will still ride KT with or without the bike park. People love KT, I bought a family pass even though we only ended up riding there once last season. I will buy a family pass again.

If the bike park is failing it is only because of Ary. I have been riding there since day one. Or even before that, when just a few sections of Jester were open. The last few years, it has been a Sunday ritual to bring my daughter up and ride the bike park. The split with KT made us re-evaluate and we cut back and made more trips to Highland and Killington and Bromont because we don't want to patronize the Q. He's also made it harder to spend money there. The customers are still coming but he won't take our money. We used to always eat lunch on the patio of the Tamarack when we rode there. The food got worse and then they just stopped all together. Closing the Tamarack for lunch means we now spend half of what we used to. Good thing there is the food truck! If they open the park this year, will we patronize it? I don't know, not if we can help it, but we will still be riding in East Burke.

Pretty much sums up how are usage and spending at the bike park has gone over the last few years. Once I heard of the split with KT and saw the leaked e-mails it was clear this guy was a Q-Bag. If it opens we will still ride there a couple of times but the lift pass will be the only money they get out of us. We love E.Burke and really liked splitting a day at the park then down on the KT trails. Highland and killington will see more of us.

 

[oldtimer]

If open, Burke mountain biking will be weekends only. That is, unless Stenger forces their hand to open the hotel for the summer season. WHO, please tell, is going to provide the startup capital for a hotel at a resort that has closed itself. Do these clowns have and cash they are willing to part with, or only funds from overseas suckers?

BTW- why didn't she call him Ary? after a while the "Q" thing became creepy and impersonal. If you like and trust the guy, at least use his name?