Members of the business community in Telluride and Mountain Village are calling for an end to the ski patrol strike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nearly 100 community members gathered Wednesday afternoon at the San Miguel County Courthouse to voice their concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThank you all for coming. We\u2019re all here for one reason, we love our community. We\u2019re not anti-patrol, we\u2019re pro-Telluride,\u201d Luke Brown said while speaking from the courthouse steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe want to get back to sharing our love for our community with the people that we need to come and visit to support our businesses, support our families and our livelihoods. We\u2019re asking for a resolution quicky so we can join forces as a community, end the fracture and get pushing in the right direction together,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown is the owner of Wild Oak Telluride, a local property management company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Telluride Ski Patrol Union went on strike Dec. 27 after months of failed contract negotiations with Telluride Ski Resort. The resort closed for more than a week, and Chair 1 is currently the only lift open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown said the impact on his business has been \u201calmost uncomprehensible.\u201d He said the company has been operating in triage mode, trying to stop the financial losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m on the front lines. People can\u2019t call the ski area; they can\u2019t call ski patrol. They call us, as the people with their accommodations, and we\u2019re getting the brunt of a lot of their anger and frustrations,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got potential lawsuits, and all these things that are getting threatened upon us that are out of our control. The losses are absolutely significant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brown said members of his staff have offered to go on furlough for January to help keep the business afloat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kate Contillo, who works for Alpine Lodging, said the company has lost tens of thousands of dollars since the strike began, with hundreds of work hours lost for employees. She said the march was not about assigning blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe goal is not to figure out who\u2019s at fault and what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong between the two parties that are negotiating,\u201d Contillo said. \u201cRather to show that the community wants to find a solution to the problem, and wants them to find a solution to the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marchers moved through downtown carrying signs reading \u201cMake it stop,\u201d \u201cUnity now,\u201d \u201cDrop (avi) bombs not jobs,\u201d \u201cTelluride thrives when we\u2019re all in it together,\u201d and \u201cThis hurts innocent locals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carolina Sanchez attended the march with some of her children. Her husband works in ski valet and lost his work when the mountain closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was shocked and then he also had to talk to the guys that work with him and explain to them that they couldn\u2019t to pay anyone because of the situation, because of the strike, and everything going on,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said her family will get through the situation because they have no other choice. She and her husband have four children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut still, it\u2019s a lot of stress on us. It\u2019s a lot of anxiety. It\u2019s a lot on us as families,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sanchez echoed Contillo\u2019s sentiment that the march was focused on resolution rather than assigning blame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t care who\u2019s responsible for this or not,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cThey need to understand that they\u2019re hurting all of us. The families, the businesses, the hotels, restaurants, everybody is being affected because of this behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, Telluride Ski Resort made a new contract offer to the ski patrol union. Union members plan to vote on the proposal Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nearly 100 Telluride and Mountain Village residents and business owners marched to demand an end to the ski patrol strike. Community members, including local business owners and families, say the ongoing dispute is hurting livelihoods and local tourism. The ski patrol union plans to vote on a new contract offer Thursday.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":8845,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"news-category":[514],"news-tag":[],"class_list":["post-8844","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-category-featured-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n