LA Times: Long Valley Ice Skating Rink & People Mover

[Perry]

That's a good point. If they build *up* by strengthening the structure and adding another story, that wouldn't involve destroying the park. An ice skating rink weighs a lot, but hotel rooms would not, and they would generate a lot of income to pay for the tramway maintenance costs.

[Hikin_Jim]

Hotel rooms might facilitate more people taking more prolonged trips into the backcountry. A lot of people (my fiancee for example) won't backpack but would be happy to stay in a hotel. Maybe not a big impact, but it would increase backcountry travel some. People could also hike to the hotel from Idyllwild and then return the next day, effectively doubling their range and doubling their wilderness usage.

Having said that, I'd be less opposed to a hotel built on top of the existing structure than erecting new structures, particularly gift shops with mandatory pass throughs.

[Perry]

Today I called the district office in Lake Perris and was referred to the Idyllwild office where I left a message. If anybody gets an official response, it's important to keep in mind that the spokesperson for the state park may not have anything to do with approving the plan and may not endorse it, they are simply passing along information. In fact, I can think of several state park employees who are probably against it. So it's important not to get angry at the person answering questions ("shooting the messenger").

I am curious whose idea this was to build an ice skating rink. It might be one of these people:
http://www.pstramway.com/board/board-details.asp
But could also be someone in tram management.

[TRumble24]

Seems to me the Park Authority should be run by people who know and care about the outdoors and the wilderness, like senior Park Rangers or something like that, and not business people...but maybe that's just me?

[Hikin_Jim]

For real, but you know what they say, "money talks." Hey, maybe this credit crunch will have one good unintended consequence: it'll be hard to finance any major construction.

[Perry]

A few days ago I got a call back from Ranger Jerry Frates, and he kindly provided some more information on the subject. He said it could be a year before the Long Valley Management Plan process is started, and there would be about 2 or 3 public hearings before it is approved. No development (such as the ice skating rink) can take place without approval of the LVMP. As far as the people-mover, he said that it couldn't be accomplished along the footprint of the sidewalk due to engineering problems (curves too demanding). So the people-mover project is dead right now. That's a summary based on my notes.

[Hikin_Jim]

Thanks for the update(s), Perry.