Former Homestead Mayor, former County Manager, Internet tube guru, former low income housing developer Steve Shiver and Chamber of Commerce Alan Harper, schemers tasked by Big Miami Dogs to turn the Homestead Air Force Base into a privatized commercial airport for discount airlines (all gone) and the reconstruction of Cuba (not yet), cut out of Homestead before all those platted subdivisions turned into ghost towns, are partners in Ghost Town in Maggie Valley, NC.
According to a local news source, the lead partner "made his money in Putt-Putt franchises and now lives in Florida."
Maybe there's a Putt-Putt franchise for Alex Penelas, Tom David or Rodney Baretto, in it. Or Otis Wallace, Barbara Jordan, or Javier Souto, Horseman and Farmer! Giddyap!
In a 2003 interview, Shiver touted his business acumen. "I have driven technology projects from the very first day by doing away with paper in our offices, and mandating that all my senior executives use Blackberries and Nextels for responsiveness. Some staff that wouldn't even turn a computer on for e-mail now fight you to take away their technology." So why Maggie Valley and not Silicon Valley? Oh well.
That fighting spirit is no doubt serving Shiver well, now that he is starting over in a cooler clime redolent of the Old West. And that whole housing boom he helped unleash, scarring the landscape of South Dade: well, it's old history now by gum!
"Nestled at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains in Maggie Valley, Ghost Town offers rides fit for the youngest buckaroo to the bravest outlaw. Ghost Town also features staged gunfights, live music and shows, crafts, food and lots more fun. Step back into the Wild West at this timeless, family-fun destination located in a beautiful mountain setting surrounded with breathtaking views. Ghost Town in the Sky has something fun for all ages."
23 comments:
I mentioned this venture a few months ago, when someone mentioned that Steve and his wife were getting divorced.
Gimleteye writes:
Thanks for the tip. It is an interesting one.
Been to Homestead lately? It's a lot like the Wild Wild West. Empty houses, bullets flying and the new section 8 hellhole Capitol will soon be filled to capacity. May change the name to Opa-Locka South.
Yeah. Steve and his gang screwed up Homestead about as well as it could be done. Where's Bill Losner, by the way. Bet he's a happy camper up there in NC too!
So is he really getting divorced?
If so perhaps we won't have to suffer thru anymore of her "society" columns in the Homestead News Losner?
And yes please, send 'ol Bill up there too.
, "Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggi Valley", I remember when my son, wife and I went to Gold Mountain outside Franklin, NC. between there & Sylvia on 441 north.(The year '70) We rode the sky lift up the mountain to what was then called "Gold City". We saw gun fights ,
rode in a bright red stage coach,
saw girls dance in an old timey saloon, pan for rubies & sapphires. Found out 2 years later it went bankrupt. too many attractions came in, went sour.
If Shiver is starting over it might be like Gold City and the Water Slide Theme park that Fla City had years ago & be old history. Kupoot
Riley
Have fond memories of Maggie Valley. There goes the neighborhood never trusted the guy. We sure have had some winners for City Manager.
Go, Bill. I'm sure Steve can use your help up there. Putting people on chairlifts is just about right.
Heard Losner was tooling around the Bahamas on his new floating whorehouse megaboat.
Shiver, Losner, and potato farmer Tim Williams ruined Homestead (with a little help from the rest of the corrupt council) and then bolted out of town.
South Florida has seen this forever; developers come in, rape the land, build slums and leave ruins while they move to greener pastures. No wonder there is so much distrust of developers. It is worse with the terrible 3 because they lived in Homestead and presumably cared about the city. Out of town developers would have a harder time if locals did not facilitate the destruction. Guess money trumps conscience. I feel sorry for Maggie Valley and hope the locals put up a fight.
Slums is the correct term, too many people in too small a space. Detached tenements is how far they are willing to go. Shiver leaving is great he should take a few others with him.
Its good there's a historical record of what and who did it, and screwed Homestead and Florida City. All these "farmers" and property rights nutcases like Losner: all they wanted was to cash out as quick as possible. Losner scammed someone to buy out his bank. Cruising the Bahamas and counting his money.
The "property rights" farmers are the Dade County Farm Bureau Insurance farmers. Losner has been on the board forever and, until recently, ran the show. He lost lots of influece when he sold the bank. Nobody really liked him but kissed-up because he was the banker.Now he has no influence and no friends. Don't forget the other local banker/Farm Bureau Board member, Epling. Just as devious as Losner but smarter. His employee, Amamda Garner, was on the Homestead Council and did his pro-development bidding to trash Homestead until the voters kicked her out (just like Losner's son Councilman Steve Losner). Yes, the big boys in Homestead have lost control but it may be too late for the once nice town of Homestead. If these yahoos run again, I hope the voters of Homestaed are not swayed.
Yes, the comment above sounds exactly right. It is REALLY too bad that The Miami Herald completely missed the corruption and fraud in Homestead and Florida City, allowing the rampant overdevelopment to go on, unremarked. What a mess it became, and no one ever reported it out. Not Losner and his bullying or Shiver and his scheming.. And Eppling is still around... the row crop farmers can't sell their land like Tim Williams did, land they borrowed heavily on banking on housing supported by Caribe Homes and the rest. It must suck to be a farmer these days, with no one from the LBA to bid on your land and only the Farm Bureau to fall back on.
Miami-Dade agriculture is the one industry still thriving. Construction is crap, tourism is faltering and agriculture keeps trucking. Too bad the BCC does not recognize the gem in their midst. Farm prices are hot with biofuels becoming more important as food supplies dwindle. We need to keep all the farmland we have for food production to compensate for the farmland switching to biofuel production. County commissioners need to stop acting like construction is king because, as we have found out, it is fickle, greedy and corrupt. And yet the wacky commissioners saw no problem with pushing the line west; stupid, stupid, stupid. You think oil is expensive? Wait until you have to depend on foreign, contaminated food!
Shiver, Losner and Moss stopped Redland incorporation. It would have been the only rural/agriculture city in the county. It never even got to a vote because it would have passed, big time!
Oh my gosh - Stanley Price and Steve Shiver both moving to NC at the same time. Do they have gorillas in North Carolina? Stanley, please retire.
Already in Maggie Valley, Shiver has been charged with DUI/DWI, disorderly conduct and indecent exposure, in one night! His driving priviledges have been revoked in NC. The businesses of the valley have made it clear they want nothing to do with him. Too bad for the economy of the valley. The theme park is doomed if he is allowed to remain.
Maybe it's not to late to give sir shiver a parting gift! Maybe the good people at the IRS could take a little harder look at the self proclaimed golden child .
The Shiver and Losner bashers can continue to blame everybody but themselves. If Shiver was such a bad guy, why did Alvarez do a fund raiser at his house? He is the top anti-coruption guy, don't you think he would know better. Its time to leave Losner and Shiver alone, get over it.
Phyllis Glahn
Asheville, NC. wrote on July,1,2008
Things are far from perfect. Evidently the park is in financial difficulty. The coaster is still not running, and other parts are not working up to par. Also workers are not getting paid. My husband is a contractor there and has not been paid since April. He is aware of a great deal of work on the electronic equipment, games and such, that still needs to be done. Ghost Town owes us over $5,000.00 and no one will even return our calls.
Anybody surprised? I didn't think so.
I think its apparent that Shiver is playing "Bialystock' with Ghost Town. His arrest, the lack of due dilligence on several projects and the non-payment of vendors, all seem to be a well orchestrated plan to bury the park in debt so they can bankrupt it and sell the land off to real estate developers so more Florida predators can come into NC and despoil both economy and environment. I wished I coulsd have slapped him when I had the chance, if I ever see him drunk in the Valley again, I sure will. I'd wager he's never been in a real fight or ever had his ass kicked. It might change his attitude, humble him a bit.
"In fact, he is the only one that has kept this place a float."
Now THAT is funny!
Gold Mountain may have filed for bankruptcy in the 70's, but I'm sure the fire that destroyed it sometime between 1973 and 1976 had something to with it.
My family and I had been there several time in the late 60's and early 70's and were planning another trip while I was in Junior High School, when a classmate told me it had caught fire. I don't think it re opened after the fire.
There is now a gold panning place at the base of the mountain called Gold City. I head they used to have their operation on the top of the mountain, but took the chair lift down about 10 years ago.
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