theSheetNews.com

For several weeks, there was a sign outside Perry’s Italian Cafe proclaiming that The Stove was coming. The sign also bore The Stove’s logo.

The apparent plan of Cafe owner Glenn Taylor was to operate both The Stove (breakfast and lunch) and Perry’s (dinner) out of one location.

Whether this plan can be implemented, however, is for the courts to decide.

Destination Mammoth

Mammoth Mountain CEO Rusty Gregory held a “fireside chat” with Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra staff and volunteers on Tuesday. After the meeting, I received the following email: “ … The report my wife heard from a friend who was at the meeting was that Rusty Gregory was there and said he is abandoning the goal of being a Destination Resort in favor of being family friendly, with most folks coming from Southern California, and a few from San Francisco––or something to that effect.”

So I called Rusty yesterday for comment. His reply: “Not close to accurate.”

Gregory said MMSA is redoubling its marketing efforts in Southern California, which he says is also the best way to build destination business. In a nutshell: Take care of your base and the rest will follow.

Gregory also said MMSA is hyper-focused on the family market, which represents 48% of its business.

Fesko and Peters rejoined 

Tim Fesko and Bob Peters renewed their battle for the District 4 Supervisor’s seat in Mono County by facing off at a Republican Party candidates’ night on Tuesday in Bridgeport.

My observation: Fesko is coming on strong. This will be competitive. Despite several questions which attempted to push Fesko’s buttons on a variety of topics, notably the legal entanglement with his brother Greg, he kept his cool.

And smartly, Fesko settled the suit and a gag order has been issued by the judge so it will no longer be a factor in the campaign.

Greg Fesko said via email, “Due to gag order as part of the settlement of the lawsuit I cannot provide any details. Tim and his wife Mary settled with us and the matter is closed. Wish I could go into more detail because it would make for some interesting reading.”

Anyway, as I see it, you’ve got a “Thousand Points of Light. Stay the Course” moderate Republican in Peters taking on a Tea Party-type in Fesko.

Some differences in their policy positions are stark.

While Fesko believes that North County would be better served by marketing to the Reno area and over in Sacramento, Peters said, “Our major market is Southern California. He ranked the Central Valley #2.

In some areas, however, they see things similarly.

In regard to County management, Peters said, “Too much power is concentrated in too few hands at the moment.”

Fesko believes the tail is wagging the dog, that the current Board has ceded too much power to CAO Jim Arkens. “Upper management is dominating the Board,” he said.

And while consolidating departments looks great on paper and theoretically saves money, “we may be opening ourselves up to a huge lawsuit because we do not have the proper layers [of government],” he added.

As an example, he pointed out that Arkens now has three management titles. not only is he the County Administrator, but he’s also the Assessor and head of Human Resources.

So imagine this, said Fesko. How does anyone make a complaint against the CAO? To make a complaint, you have to go through H.R, er, the CAO.

And if the CAO is the H.R. manager … boy, it sure sounds like you’ve got to suck up to Jim Arkens if you want a career at the County, because if you happen to fall into disfavor, he’s the same dude who’s gonna conduct the job interviews. Judge, jury and prosecutor all rolled into one – and all with the blind support and allegiance of the Supervisors who made him king; Hunt, Bauer and Hazard.

It’ll be interesting to see how Arkens counts to three once a new Board sits in January. Can he replace Bauer and Hazard with two of the three newly elected members of the Board?

In regard to the Probation Department position filled this week, The Sheet spoke to CAO Jim Arkens on Thursday. He said he was not involved in the interview process, contradicting what Tim Hansen said in Kirkner’s story on page six.

He said the interview panel consisted of Brian Muir, Tim Kendall and Julie Tiede, and that there were six or seven applicants for the job.

Karen Humiston was the second person extended an offer. The first person offered the job did not take it.

When asked why the Interim Director had not been offered the job, Arkens said, “Interims have the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities.” He suggested we talk to Tim Kendall, as the D.A.’s department has a lot of interaction with probation.

“I didn’t make the ultimate decision … I don’t know why the CAO would refer you over to me,” said Kendall. “In regards to the interaction with our department, she [the Interim] did fine. She did a qualified job.”

“I sit in on multiple interview panels,” he added. “We rank ‘em qualified or unqualified.”

The June Lake community continues to hash out its plan for the upcoming winter season, but is caught in the two steps forward, one step back dance that can make any process difficult.

At this point, the June Lake Revitalization Committee has established subcommittees and chairs, requested and been allocated $100,000 from Mono County, held meetings with Rusty Gregory and the Forest Service, and established a procedure for budget approvals.

In conjunction with the Mono County Economic Development Department and the Tourism Commission, the community has developed a form that will be filled out whenever an event or activity is planned. The form will be reviewed by the June Lake Revitalization Steering Committee, then by the Economic Development Department and will finally end up on the Tourism Commission’s desk for prioritization and approval.

The group is still nailing down what June Lake entity will be responsible for cutting the checks, but it has been narrowed down to either the Chamber of Commerce or the Historical Society. The question was expected to go before the Chamber next week.

Also next week, the Revitalization Committee meets on Sept. 12 and another meeting has been scheduled with the Economic Development and Tourism for Sept. 14.

Now for the backtrack:

At Tuesday’s Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, new safety concerns and emergency response protocol related to the June Mountain closure were raised.

“How do we handle people getting hurt,” asked CAC member Jerry Allendorf in reference to those who will hike up the face of June Mountain this year regardless of the closure and the delayed avalanche controls that are expected.

“It will happen,” said Mono County Sheriff Rick Scholl. “We deal with these issues throughout the County and we will just have to ramp up the response that’s appropriate to the situation.”

“If people get hurt on the Mountain it will not be a quick response,” added Undersheriff Ralph Obenberger. “We won’t go in unless it’s safe for us too. Skiers and boarders up on June Mountain will be low on the Sheriff’s priority list.”

It was suggested that Mammoth Mountain and the Forest Service still be expected to take some responsibility for safety on June Mountain. However, how and to what extent is currently being argued between the two entities.

MMSA’s plan for non-operation has yet to be submitted to the Forest Service and the Forest Service has yet to send a letter of non-compliance to MMSA, according to Mono County Supervisor Vikki Bauer.

“The Forest Service gets a percentage of every sale at Mammoth Mountain, which is about $2 million every year,” said CAC Chair BZ Miller of one potential reason for the delay. “You don’t want to bite the hand that feeds you.”

Mammoth District Ranger Jon Regelbrugge has stated at previous meetings that the Forest Service believes the letter of non-compliance will be challenged by MMSA once sent, so it wants to make sure all the T’s are crossed and I’s dotted so it will have a strong argument in an appeal.

In other words, District 3 Supervisor Elect Tim Alpers told The Sheet, “It’s easier to not send the letter than to deal with possible litigation.”

Another issue along the lines of safety: cell service. There is a transceiver on June Mountain that needs to be kept clear in order to keep phones working.

It wouldn’t be a matter of getting up to the transceiver, but of getting up to it a lot, the group agreed. Once buried in snow, the device would be difficult to dig out.

“We’re going to have to accept that we are just going to be taking care of ourselves at some point,” Bauer concluded.

Rusty’s response to requests

Alpers and Mono County Supervisor Larry Johnston met with Gregory approximately two weeks ago to discuss several requests from the June Lake community and the Board of Supervisors.

According to Johnston, Gregory was not in favor of providing a shuttle bus between Mammoth and June Lake.

“He said the purpose of the closure was to save money so he doesn’t want to spend money on a shuttle bus,” Johnston explained last week. He may, however, be willing to run an employee van that would take June Lake residents who work at Mammoth, to their jobs. Any extra seats in the van would be available to anyone else trying to get to Mammoth. Gregory apparently suggested a 15-passenger van since he is expecting about 8-9 employees to be traveling from June.

Gregory also said he would offer lift ticket discounts for skiers and riders who do take any shuttle bus provided to get to Mammoth, according to Johnston. Gregory was also amenable to offering discounted MMSA lift tickets in June Lake lodging packages as well as integrating June Lake into the 800.Mammoth system and using MMSA’s databases. The June Lake community will need to work with Howard Pickett and the Marketing Department, Johnston said.

Gregory was not in favor of designating the Chair 5 area for snow play due to the liability MMSA might incur from this, and he was not in favor of funding a snowcat operator for June Lake. It was suggested that perhaps Mammoth Nordic could help in this area, but upon further review, it was determined that the non-profit would not be available to help with its Nordini as the machine is maxed out with the work the group does in Mammoth.

“The group [JL Revitalization] has found that if they do anything to the snow, they’re liable,” commented Bauer.

Gregory was agreeable to clearing the June Mountain parking lot for events on a case-by-case basis, Johnston concluded.

Potential Buyers

The community is still interested in finding someone willing to buy June Mountain from MMSA CEO Rusty Gregory and MMSA. One option may be working with the Mountain Riders Alliance, a group that works to bring ski resorts back to the mountain and the skiing, and away from the big, flashy mountain scene.

The group helps resorts get away from the corporate scenario and turns running the resort into a co-op organization with a board that makes decisions. The group is expected to come talk with the community in October.

Pictured: Rusty Gregory speaking at Tuesday’s meeting/

June Lake community remains frustrated by pending June Mountain closure

Looking thinner than usual, Mammoth Mountain’s CEO attended the June Lake Citizen Advisory Committee meeting on Tuesday night. The June Lake Community Center was packed, filling two rooms and spilling into the hallway, and the meeting lasted for more than three hours.

It was the first time the public heard directly from Gregory since the announcement of June Mountain’s closure was made public on June 21.

Unlike many times past, however, his words did not soothe the crowd because he was unable to simply say he would reopen the Mountain for the 2012-13 season.

A common complaint in the weeks since the announcement has been the nature of it; abrupt. Gregory explained that it had been an extremely last minute decision forced upon him and his partners by their lenders.

Gregory explained that the company has eight lenders: six senior and two junior lenders.

In a non-drought year, Mammoth has revenues of about $45 million. $17 million goes to pay interest and $10 million goes to pay the debt down. The remainder goes to capital expenditures, Gregory explained.

This year, however, Mammoth only had about $23 million in cash flow.

“We were in default of our covenants and we worked for four months with Wells Fargo who reworked our covenants,” Gregory said. At least one of the other senior lenders needed to agree to the new covenants and at first all of the other senior lenders did agree, Gregory said.

However, one week before the Mountain would have been in default, the other banks said no to the new covenants. Instead, Mammoth was told to cut more expenses.

“June was one of those cuts,” Gregory said. “It was thrown in at the last minute, otherwise we would have been in default. We had to close it until we can do better.”

In order to appease the bank, Gregory said they would need to develop a long-term plan and a way to deal with the annual loss at June.

“I’m happy to continue operating at losses, but the issue isn’t the annual losses, it’s the purpose for those losses,” he said.

He asked the community to develop a vision for June. To which the community sharply replied that it had developed a vision back in 2006 when June Mountain went through a shortened season and June Lake formed the June Lake Coalition.

The Coalition reviewed the impacts of losing June Mountain and negotiated among its members to identify mutually beneficial planning solutions for June Lake and specific recommendations for the Mono County Board of Supervisors.

The group’s work can still be found online at http://www.monocounty.ca.gov/junelake/

“We know our vision, ask us,” said Double Eagle Resort co-owner Connie Black.

Gregory also pointed out, as many expected he would, that in order to be able to move forward, the community needed a larger bed base.

“We need another 1,000 units,” he said. “It won’t work for people to drive from Mammoth to June. At least 20 percent of the ski area’s demand needs to be in the bed base here.”

The Rodeo Grounds, still owned by Intrawest, are up for sale and listed for $2.9 million. The property would most likely be the spot for this bed base. As a joke, it seems, someone put a Sold sign on the For Sale sign at the Rodeo Grounds during Tuesday’s meeting. Gregory hadn’t heard of the Rodeo Grounds selling and pointed out that he would have the first right of refusal, anyway.

A call to June Lake realtors on Wednesday confirmed that the sale of the Grounds was not showing up anywhere on the MLS, or Multiple Listing Service.

In addition to bed base, Gregory also advocated intensely for support of air service.

“Air service is about to get canceled on a year-round basis,” he said directly to at least two of the Mono County Supervisors who attended the meeting.

“Byng and Larry, you need to give to air service,” Gregory said to Supervisors Hunt and Johnston. “Get off your asses.”

Bud Hayward

“I know damn well Dave McCoy would not be doing this today [closing June],” said the original owner of June Mountain, Bud Hayward, who attended the meeting. Hayward operated June for 27 years before selling it to Dave McCoy.

“I started June as a business and developed a plan,” he explained. “It was big enough to be profitable and it still is today, but it can’t be separated from land development. June Mountain operating without land development is a loser.

Members of the community have

made it clear they would like to see June Mountain sold to someone who “would love and nurture it,” but Hayward made it clear he had “no interest, whatsoever, financially.”

Gregory said he would be happy to talk to anyone interested and qualified to buy June, but that he would rather not sell it.

Forest Service

Inyo National Forest Supervisor Ed Armenta said he had met with Gregory earlier on Tuesday.

“We have let Rusty Gregory know that he is in non-compliance and will issue him a letter of non-compliance,” Armenta said to rousing cheers from the audience.

Armenta also said the Forest Service was going to require an audit of June Mountain to “make sure we are getting the straight story. Today was the first of many meetings with Rusty.”

Community Efforts

In an effort to show that they were doing what they could to try to save June Mountain, the children of the community opened a lemonade stand and made $147.38, which they presented to Gregory at Tuesday’s meeting.

A young woman, Karrah Spitznagel, a 22-year resident of June Lake had collected more than 17,000 signatures on a petition to save June, which she also presented to Gregory on Tuesday.

“In a way I want to thank you, Rusty,” said Tim Alpers, Mono County Supervisor Elect, “you’ve galvanized this community like I’ve never seen it.”

Alpers did however warn that the ripple effect of a June Mountain closure would be felt from Topaz to Chalfant. His idea was to turn the Mountain into the greatest family resort in the country.

Next Steps

Gregory agreed to work with Black to get a group together in the next two weeks to begin to work on solutions to see if there would be any way to keep June open for the upcoming winter season, but he didn’t make any promises.

“I can’t do a one year commitment,” Gregory said. “It would be placating you to say it will open this year and I won’t bulls**t you.”

Gregory also pointed out that June Mountain needed to operate more efficiently by “creating demand to come here.”

“As much as you hate me tonight, we want to make it work,” he said. “Love it or hate it, Mammoth attracted capital.” He said the same needed to be done in June.

Members of the public called out that maybe he should start by marketing June Mountain better. It was also mentioned several times that a one year closure would lead to at least five more years of potentially worse losses while the mountain ramped back up.

When asked whether or not he could choose people over profit for one more year, Gregory said “We’ve done it for 26 years, we can’t do it anymore. It puts the larger community at risk.”

The latest from the creator of the “Kiss My Black Pass”  bumper sticker. 

During his presentation to Mammoth Lakes’ Town Council Wednesday evening, Mammoth Mountain CEO Rusty Gregory opined that during the recent regional snow drought, “We fared better than our peers … which makes me the tallest man at a midget contest.”

A relative description, perhaps, but as town lightning rods go, the self-described 6 foot, 5 inches and 230 pound Gregory is hard to miss. Gregory used his presentation time before Council to give a detailed explanation of the 75 layoffs and other employee pay cuts that were enacted a week previously,

“I want to be very clear … the steps were very severe … but they were nobody’s decision but mine,” Gregory stated categorically. He further flatly refuted some speculation he’s encountered via local chatter and on blog sites that the layoffs were somehow ordered by Starwood Capital Group CEO Barry Sternlicht or by banks scrambling to avoid defaults.

“If we hadn’t the banks would have,” Gregory acknowledged, adding that “it’s important for lenders to see we’re ahead of what they’d do.” His preferred modus operandi: “React quickly rather than hope it goes away.”

Of the 75 positions eliminated, Gregory said that 17 were from either senior or top-level management. Some jobs, he posited, will likely need to be reinstated when things turn around. Back in the 1990’s 150 employees were laid off during what became known then as “Black Monday,” but Gregory pointed out that 80% of those employees were back on the job within 11 months.

Gregory said the cause the current crop of cuts was borne out of the regional drought. In terms of market demand, he illustrated that there is “a desire to go skiing until winter is over or demand is met.” If Mammoth doesn’t have snow, skiers will go to Colorado or Utah, and typically come back to Mammoth later. “That didn’t happen,” he explained. “We had early season snow, which can be precursor to a drought, but by the time ski season opened, no one had snow.”

He said that even if conditions improve for the rest of the ski season, MMSA’s revenues would still be off 30%. Half of MMSA’s roughly $150 million in projected annual revenue is paid out in wages, and things are costing more, such as fuel. MMSA had to spend more this year on water and electricity making snow, which he said was effective, but costly.

He said after a litany of salary reductions and hour-trimming measures, MMSA considered closing Chairs 12 through 14, but concluded that would lead to “false economy,” and send the wrong message to skiers.

One rumor floating around is that MMSA is being repossessed by the bank, which he dispelled, explaining that the company is in breach of operational covenants of its loan. According to Gregory, payment obligations, however, are being met.

In the near future, he expects Canyon Lodge to close after the spring holidays, as usual, and said June Mountain will continue to operate as long as it has snow. Gregory said MMSA will be ready to commit resources to summer when the weather is right.

Meanwhile, look for more job sharing among current employees, who will pick up front line duties, such as lift operations.

In other Council news, Interim Town Co-Manager Marianna Marysheva Martinez briefed Council on preliminary Town Budget deficits for fiscal years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. Also pointing to low snowfall as a main contributor to the shortfall in revenue, Marysheva Martinez said so far the Town is looking at a $700,000 deficit, which could have been as much as $1.5 million had it not been for more conservative budgeting. She said less money will be earmarked for tourism, housing and transit as a result.

She also projected a $2.2 million gap in the following year’s budget, up a bit from $2 million. Neither projection, she added, includes any fallout from the ongoing airport litigation settlement.

The following letter was sent out this week to Mammoth Mountain employees by CEO Rusty Gregory.

A letter from Rusty

Dear Editor:

The company has completed its most successful Christmas and New Year holiday period in my 34 years on the mountain. Never in our history have we hosted so many guests with so little natural snow and produced such a high quality experience on and off the mountain.

I had the opportunity to talk to scores of guests over the last 2 weeks.  They were universally effusive about how much fun they were having and couldn’t believe that Mammoth had top-to-bottom skiing, the Unbound pipe and parks were going off, June was open, Woolly’s Adventure Summit had snow for the tubers, and that we even had cross country skiing up to Minaret Summit. They were wowed by the fireworks at Night of Lights and on New Year’s Eve, and had a blast at the concerts and DJ events. The Village rocked and they loved that we opened a day care and brought Sushi Rei back.

Many of our guests came to Mammoth from Northern California for the first time because the Tahoe resorts’ lower elevation and limited snowmaking capabilities only allowed the operation of a small fraction of the terrain and services Mammoth provided. A significant number chose Mammoth over their usual winter vacation spots in Colorado and Utah. You all worked very hard and performed wonderfully. From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of our guests and a grateful community, thank you very much.

But now, the crowds are returning home, the temperatures are warming and the weather is forecast to provide more sun than snow in the days to come. I know that all of you are wondering how the company intends to deal with the less than optimistic outlook going forward.

Here is what I know:

So far, this winter is the driest on record since the 1800s. I’ve talked to the heads of major resorts in California, Utah and Colorado. Each of them are cutting back on lifts, terrain and staffing to save money. Many think that the winter of 2011-12 will never really get started and the weeks and months to come will just bring more of the same.

Here is what I believe:

We operate the best mountain in the country and we run it better than other resorts run theirs. Skiers want to ski and boarders want to ride. This yearning and the demand it produces doesn’t go away just because Mother Nature isn’t cooperative. Mammoth is the skier and rider’s mountain.  When it snows, they will come. In my 34 years on the mountain, I’ve seen several severe drought years with little or no snow in October, November or December. It snowed by mid-January in each of those years.

Here is what we are going to do:

We are going to do the opposite of what other resorts are doing. We are not going to cut services to save money.  We are going to keep everything open – Eagle, Canyon, the Village, all the current lifts and all the terrain possible. If temperatures allow snowmaking, we will add more runs and lifts as soon as we can, even if it’s during the middle of the week when crowds are light. We are going to keep our seasonal and year-round employees. If hours of work get too thin for some, we will feed each of them every night to make it possible for them to stay in town. We will continue to operate all our shops and restaurants everyday on the regular winter schedule. Our rental shops will be renting all categories of skis and boards including demos, everyday.

We are going to do just what we did over the holiday, giving our guests way more than they expect, and way more than our competition. We will do it the Mammoth Way with big smiles, a positive vibe and the informal, authentically sincere service we are famous for.  Our guests will love us for it and they will come back.

I don’t want anyone to underestimate the company’s commitment to the quality of our guest’s experience or misunderstand their individual role in delivering it.

I wish each of you, your family and friends a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Rusty Gregory, CEO
Mammoth Mountain Ski Area

For the Nordic record

Dear Editor,

An article published in the Dec. 17 issue shed some bright, positive light on the steady evolution of the Nordic scene in our community.

Competitive Nordic programs developed and provided by Eastern Sierra Nordic Ski Association have garnered the attention of Mammoth Mountain’s Race Department and are benefiting greatly as a result of their involvement and support. The Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation is also providing scholarships to offset team fees, travel costs, and education expenses based on need and performance. This type of significant support is crucial to the present and future success of local programs geared towards raising the caliber of homegrown, competitive Nordic talent.

The article also inadvertently compared the work of Mammoth Nordic with MLTPA. Given the recent scrutiny initiated by Sandy Hogan regarding the Town’s administration of Measure R and MLTPA, I  believe it is important to note how distinctly different the missions and objectives of our respective non-profits are:

Mammoth Nordic supports, develops and promotes Nordic Recreation.  We are an all-volunteer, non-profit organization providing a high quality, groomed Nordic Trail System free to our locals and visitors alike. Our Club is funded by contributions from our members, local business owners, second homeowners and visitors who value the experience we provide.

MLTPA is a well-compensated, taxpayer-funded consultant to the Town that advocates for trails and public access, fosters stewardship, and convenes and facilitates community participation. MLTPA is currently seeking to secure their operational financial stability over the next five years with a guaranteed $1.5 million dollar commitment from taxpayer-funded Measure R. Suffice to say, Mammoth Nordic supports Ms. Hogan and others who believe the relationship between the Town, MLTPA and the administration of Measure R is in need of an open and transparent review.

Brian Knox
Mammoth Nordic

So I’m home watching Nickelodeon with my daughter, and, cognizant of the recent report which stated that SpongeBob Squarepants has a negative impact on kids (clearly an overblown lie perpetrated by a bunch of desperate Univ. of Virgina academics, er, freeloaders on a research grant), we were watching Family Brainsurge instead. Lo and behold, during the part where they announce all the great prizes that a family can win, there’s an ad for a ski vacation. It looks like a joint promotion between Mammoth Mountain and the Westin Monache. Bizarro!  When, I wondered, did Mammoth start slumming in my (Nickelodeon) demographic?

A few days later, I had my answer.

MMSA CEO Rusty Gregory said this week that the company recently funded a major market research project to “really understand our market better.” He added rhetorically, “Are the things we’re doing what our customers want?”

Unlike research commissioned by the Town of Mammoth Lakes, which is typically stuffed inside a bottle and floated down Rock Creek in the hopes that a magic genie fish will discover it and grant Mark Wardlaw three wishes, the Mountain apparently gathers research and creates a strategy.

In this case, Gregory says the direction is to broaden the MMSA brand beyond athletic experiences, parks and pipes. “We’re hyper-focused right now on young families, singles and young couples,” he said.

What else is the Mountain doing? Well, given two solid years back-to-back and the recent company refinancing, MMSA is reinvesting in itself and spending some money. To wit:

1.) The new “High Five” high-speed detachable quad which will replace the former glacial Chair 5 triple. The bottom of the chair has also been relocated slightly to the west at the bottom of Coyote. The goal: much improved trans-mountain access.

2.) Radio Frequency Information Devices (RFID) installed at 19 lifts. Paper, scannable lift tickets are now a historical relic. New lift tickets will resemble hotel key cards, which will be read by the RFID, prompting the gates to open.

Once a guest has a card, he/she can log onto www.mymammoth.com and buy future tickets online and go straight to the hill.

The goal, said Gregory, is not only to reduce lift lines and congestion, but also to gain information which can then be used to flexibly target promotions to guests.

3.) The new food and beverage partnership with Levy Restaurants, which some may be familiar with as Levy has food concession contracts with the Los Angeles Dodgers as well as, closer to home, the Reno Aces.

Think of Levy as the new Patina.

This partnership, however, will take vows Gregory. It’s less about being different than Patina and more about timing, he says.

4.) MMSA is also in the final stages of reaching a deal with CNL to revive Sushi Rei, not only in the same location, but with the former proprietor Jaison Leroy.

Sheet: So what’s all this about? Were you just getting a little bored?

Gregory: No, I just have a little money. I’m never bored when I’ve got money.

And the spending’s not over. On tap for next year: a $10 million renovation of Canyon Lodge.

Village Parking 

Unfortunately, that interview came before I had a chance to ask Gregory about the fiasco otherwise known as the Village parking situation. Turns out the lot on the let’s call it north side of Minaret Road was closed to the public as of Thursday afternoon. The following note was sent to Village merchants on Thursday:

All,

I just want to let everyone know that I’ve been informed by the owner [Credit Suisse] of the parking lot that they need to block access until we have a signed lease. Per my understanding, the parking lot will be closed by the end of the day (November 3rd). We are making arrangements for parking availability during this brief period with the Neighborhood Company.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

-Jason Roland, Commercial Asset Manager, Intrawest Placemaking

Village merchants are understandably upset. What other mall in America doesn’t have parking? As one merchant griped, “The lot is being consumed vastly by day skier parking, hospitality guests staying at the Village, Village owner overflow and not equally commercial guests. Personally we are and have been against the continuation of being charged via CAM (Common Area fee) for commercial parking that should be provided by the landlord, at the landlord’s (CNL, Intrawest) expense like in every other commercial development or by the town via agreements made with the developer/landlord to provide for Village parking.”

Within 16 short days, Sierra Star Golf Course bartender Rusty Richardson accomplished what golfers around the world strive for … only he did it twice.  Richardson, who has been working at the Star since its fourth or fifth year, made a hole in one at the 14th hole. Sixteen days later, he accomplished the same feat at the same hole, with a different pin location and a different club.

“I ran around the bunker and the green about three times and soaked it in,” Richardson said.

Richardson, a leftie who taught himself to golf by watching the pros on T.V., moved to Mammoth in 1998. Richardson’s advice for golfers striving for their own hole in one: “Always aim directly at the flag, and reek like confidence.”

Previously, Richardson had also landed a hole in one at the 18th hole. According to Richardson’s co-worker, Ian Birrell, “The estimated odds of acing a hole with any given swing are one in 33,000.”

John Lennon (along with some bloke named Paul) wrote “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which he performed at Madison Square Garden with Elton John in Nov. 1974 during his last ever live concert appearance. The photo has nothing to do with the story … we just thought it looked cool. Well, it was either this or a still of Sean Connery from “Diamonds Are Forever” – nah, too obvious! (Photo: George Kalinsky, MSG.)

Gregory pulls partner dollars, says new MHS Study Center is “priority”

Nearly 20 years ago, the Mammoth Lakes Foundation created the Diamond Partner program as a fundraising tool to help fulfill its mission statement: “The purpose of the Mammoth Lakes Foundation is to support higher education and cultural enrichment in the Eastern Sierra.”
The program started with one partner, ultimately reached a high of 25, and according to the Foundation’s Executive Director Evan Russell, included “20 or 21” participants this past year.
Russell said a $45,000 commitment over three years entitled members to:
*2 transferable ski passes at MMSA.
*A preferred MMSA parking pass.
*A Snowcreek Athletic Club membership.
*A Snowcreek Golf membership.
*An invitation to all Foundation events.
Russell said the program netted about $200,000 for the Foundation last year.
In turn, the Foundation spread this largesse throughout the community. Last year, for example, $50,000 went to local scholarships and about $15,000 went to the Felici Trio.
About two months ago, however, MMSA CEO Rusty Gregory notified Russell that he would like to see some changes in the program. Specifically, Gregory wanted to see the first $250,000 raised by the Diamond program go to local K-12 education.
As it is, Gregory and his wife Bonnie are personally donating $250,000 to Mammoth Unified’s 501(c)3 this year in lieu of his Diamond Partnership – though he hopes to backfill the donation later, if possible.
As Gregory sees it, “From Mammoth Mountain’s standpoint, we are committed to the community, especially to education, and the children of this community have been a primary focus of ours over the years … the whole college effort has been heroic and successful and continues to need support from us and others.
But it’s also clear that the K-12 programs are under siege. That is the acute need right now. We’re in an emergency situation.”
By Russell’s math, however, if he only netted $200,000 from the program and the Mountain wants him to give away the first $250,000 … he’s underwater.
So he has two options. Recruit more diamond partners or potentially rethink the entire program.
In the current environment, Russell and his Board are pessimistic about increasing sales the 30-40% necessary to meet Gregory’s demands.
In addition, some Board members have balked at the idea of rewriting the Foundation’s mission statement to accomodate the change. “Board members didn’t sign on for that,” said Russell. “My Board has told me to make sure we don’t lose focus because of the money.”
In the meantime, it’s a standoff with no immediate solution. Russell hasn’t officially said ‘no’ and Gregory hasn’t said what he’d do if Russell said ‘no.’
On a positive note, the Foundation, which turned 20 this year, has done some very impressive things. The student housing is built and enrollment is growing at a clip of 15-20% annually over the past three years.
The housing was over 80% occupied during the second semester of the 2008-2009 school year and what local students have said is that the housing has made Cerro Coso feel more like a real college versus a continuation school. Itr’s a broader mix than just seeing the same person across the room whom you just marched with in graduation three months earlier.
The Los Angeles Times lavished Mammoth’s Cerro Coso campus with a two-page spread this spring, extolling the virtues of going to college in the High Sierra.
And then there’s Deanna Campbell, the Director of the Eastern Sierra Coillege Center, whom Russell says is the best thing that ever happened to us.”
All of which, ironically, may make Russell and the Foundation a victim of its own success. Because the public perception is positive, the need doesn’t seem quite as dire. As Tom Cage (who’s been all over this issue) said this week, the college is built. Like Gregory, he sees the need at the high school level. And after years of being part of the Diamond Partner program, he’s pulled out this year to lend his support to Mammoth Now, a 501(c)3 non-profit set up under the umbrella of the Mammoth Unified School District.