Page 2: The noose tightens

It appears the jig is up. Mammoth Lakes Land Acquisition (MLLA) is tired of waiting for its money.

To make an analogy, I compare the Town’s negotiations with MLLA to my relationship with my dentist. I just keep putting it off, putting it off … until it’s really expensive and it really hurts.

Does anyone else get the feeling that due to the incredible negotiating skills of the Town’s $1,000/hour lawyers, we’ll definitely be able to bargain MLLA down at least 25% in any settlement.

But only before another six months go by and the debt reaches about $44 million.

So we’ll settle for $33 million plus our own attorney fees of $1 million or so.

When the initial judgment was for $30 million.

Which wouldn’t have nearly been for $30 million if the Town had hired a competent expert to argue the valuation of the phantom project which was never built in the first place.

Somewhere out there, Pete Tracy and Rob Clark are sipping Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain …

An agreement seems farfetched. This is undoubtedly headed for bankruptcy.

Ironically, Mammoth’s Town Council is finally soliciting some public input this coming Wednesday – now that it’s probably too late for that input to matter.

Here’s the ultimate irony. The best, positive spin we can put on our lowball offers to MLLA is our lack of ability to pay, which, unfortunately, is all too true. Town of Mammoth Lakes Transient Occupancy Tax Revenue was down 22% year-over-year for the month of December and no one expects that number to improve any when January figures are released. The Town has estimated it will finish the year with its budget $1 million in the red – and we all know that when the Town’s involved, double the estimate to arrive at a real number.