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Belleayre Coalition Endorses ORDAMoveSees economic benefit for entire region Highmount, NY -- June 2, 2011 -- Officials for theCoalition to Save Belleayre expressed cautious optimismwith news from Albany that operation of Belleayre Mt. SkiCenter could be shifted to the Olympic RegionalDevelopment Authority (ORDA).”A turning point,” is whatCoalition Chairman Joe Kelly called the news, firstreported locally on Wednesday morning. Saying that the

DEC is “too busy and to distracted to properly operate aski facility,” Kelly added that he thinks a move to ORDAwould be good for both the Authority and for Belleayre.” “We bring proximity to a huge metropolitan skier baseand tremendous skier loyalty to them,” said Kelly. “Theygive us an organizational structure that exists for thepurpose of running public winter recreation facilities and

a track record of success.” Kelly, who has advocated forimprovements at Belleayre for more than 30 yearspointed to major layoffs at Belleayre announced by theDEC just as the ski center was gearing up for winteroperation last year. “That news was devastating andreally let us know how precarious the Belleayre situationwas.” 

At December rallies in support of Belleayre and itsemployees, elected officials came and urged localsupporters to take control of their destiny and come upwith a better plan for the operation of Belleayre. “Theyasked us for options, we reviewed what is doneelsewhere, and most of us feel pretty comfortable that

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ORDA [which operates both Whiteface and Gore MountainSki Centers] is probably the best option for Belleayre.” 

 Though Kelly said he thought most Belleayre supporters

would favor an ORDA plan, he did express caution abouthow and when the transfer might take place. “We areendorsing this because we want a voice in our future,”said Kelly, “a voice we didn’t have with the DEC,” headded. “If Belleayre is going to ORDA, there must belocal representation on the ORDA board,” said Kelly. “Wewould want to know what they have in mind about thatbefore giving our blessing. We are also very, very

concerned about the employees on the mountain,” theChairman added. “They have made huge sacrifices.

 They have done incredibly great work under the mostdifficult circumstances possible. They have earned ourloyalty and we want to be sure there is labor stability inwhatever new entity operates Belleayre Mt.” All things being equal however, Kelly spoke for many

when he said “this move could help put Belleayre frontand center again for at least the next 6 months to a year.It could get us the attention we’ve long sought, theinvestment that will make us great and the stability weneed to grow our local economy.” Kelly added that “all of us look forward to continued discussions about the futureof Belleayre Mt.