"Ghost Town in the Sky, the mountaintop theme park that reopened last year after sitting dormant for five years, filed for bankruptcy protection and reorganization under Chapter 11." Its chairlifts are cold and empty as the low cost housing its CEO, Steve Shiver, tried to build in Homestead.
We have a cynical and jaundiced view of Miami speculators involved in the North Carolina theme park, Ghost Town at Maggie Valley, and especially the bankrupt theme park's CEO, former Miami-Dade County Manager, Steve Shiver.
As a Homestead local political insider, wielded his influence like the class bully. It used to be just the good old boys who ran Homestead, but the cancerous growth that consumed Homestead during the late stages of the housing market boom literally transformed the place into a nightmare that sent Shiver packing.
During the day, Shiver teamed up with bankers like Bill Losner and Bob Eppling who couldn't wait to sell their property and services to the highest bidder, no matter where they came from or what they wanted to do. Shiver helped to foment the development boom that turned the rural area into a sprawl-infested disaster of badly planned development at the edge of two national parks. It is hard to make sense of the mentality that turned farmland into instant low rent districts and slums.
The South Florida Builders and Latin Builders Association cheered Shiver on, especially during the time that farmland off the Turnpike and the Homestead Air Force Base was in play. If there was ever a place in Florida that symbolized "developers gone wild", it was in Homestead under Shiver and Losner's tenure, there.
So to hear that Shiver's enterprise at Maggie Valley has gone belly up has a certain symmetry to the Homestead experience.
Oh, they say that they are "victims" of a bad economy. Believe me: when it is time to really hold up to the public the examples of how the US economy went so far off the tracks, Homestead and Steve Shiver's tenure could very likely be Exhibit 1. Back in the day, they ran off their critics; people like Chris Spaulding who led the civic opposition against the no-bid HABDI deal to redevelop the Homestead Air Force Base as a major, private commercial airport.
When Alex Penelas appointed Shiver to be his county manager, who would have thought those critics of growth-at-any-cost would be vindicated in the end?
Apparently, not the people who bet Ghost Town would amount to a hill of beans under supervision of developers timing their watches to the arrival of sprawl-loving bulldozers and graders and utilities. Looks like they have a long time to wait, before Ghost Town and its amenities pay back all its believing creditors.
24 comments:
I sincerely hope that the waiting is forever. I put these guys in the same boat as Bernie Madoff. I hope they all sink together. Both caused harm to many people. Only one did it by buying off politicians, I have a feeling that the other did it also. So happy to see both suffer.
Here come the condos which Shiver wanted all along. With a big PR push as vacation homes, he may sell enough to the still around speculators to make it work.
Surprised it took Shiver this long to run that place into bankruptcy protection. This is the architect of failure after failure, starting with Homestead then onto the peoples transportation surtax, the 2002 elections nightmare, HABDI and now a theme park. Here come the bulldozers!
This is what will happen to the Gables is we let developers like Sanabria get elected. Let's keep the Gables the city beautiful that it is today.
god bless you all
As an "insider" here working at Ghost Town you all have no idea what that man has done to help keep this place alive. Really, you all need to grow up and stop blaming national issues on one man and a few banker friends.
Gimleteye writes:
It is not "one man and a few banker friends." The political culture Shiver represented here in Miami Dade was designed to make a few people rich, and to cost taxpayers lots and lots of money. It is an amazement that Florida, and Miami-Dade County, is the political origin of the housing boom: read our archives "housing crash" for full details. The costs of sprawl that Shiver promoted tracked through Miami Dade just like General Sherman marched through the South. Don't believe me? Come take a drive down the Florida Turnpike and end up in Homestead. See for yourself. If not for blogs like ours, there would be no accounting of the winners and losers. We would just keep playing through this crisis one inning after another as if the misery was simply a matter of creationism.
Its great when 'what goes around comes around'. Cant say I feel sorry for SS.
(As an "insider" here working at Ghost Town you all have no idea what that man has done to help keep this place "alive".)
You must have been referring to his cleaning of the local roads with his urine while being arrested for drunk driving that was helping to keep the locals stay "alive."
Please stop writing so you can fix your rides and pay your bills SS.
Has he sold his Redland mansion? Don't forget his support of Mestre, the guy that polluted our groundwater. Or his running Tony's restaurant into the ground. Or the "deal" to get money from Homestead for not renting the shotgun houses he bought. Or his total failure as head of the Homestead Mainstreet group. Or the wasted Joint Land Use Committee that he headed and produced nothing. Anyone who wants to defend this guy must have their hand out.
The last time Main Street Historical Organization did well in Homestead was about 10 years ago before Steve got his hands on it. He was mayor then and he couldn't be president of the group. But, he was in the background orchestrating it's take over by his buddies.
Shiver has a history of appointing committees full of his friends. He selected the Ag and Rural Study committee, the Watershed Committee, Mainstreet and the Joint Land Use Study committee (all of which failed to produce anything positive). He put just enough loyalists on these committees that he could control the outcome. This guy is scum.
The joint land use study (for the air base fly zones) was a joke. Shiver managed to get the board's composition changed in it's entirety. Richardson and Vision Council who was facilitating it at the beginning, helped maneuver Bill Loser, Paige Lattiner, and other Shiverites onto the board, in spite of it being a county study held about county lands. Ivey, Homestead city manager, was in charge of the composition. Richardson put himself on the committee as voting member even though he was setting up the study. He pulled by then X-county manager Shiver into the committee and then I believe, Losner nominated him for Chair of the committee. Even the support personnel to the commander from the airbase seemed to be under the influence of Shiver. The committee had every farm bureau member they could on there as a committee member and totally ignored the Homeless Trust, Homeless Assistance Center, the surrounding homeowners and even the 2 county commissioners as stakeholders. There were 17 members and all but the Subrata from the county, A National Park rep, and the Air Base Commander (he should have been king, it was about them!) and an odd person or 2 were Shiverites. Bad Study. Shiver did not like the sunshine rules. He made no effort to hide his distaste for the sunshine questions when the board tried to address them.
At the meetings, while everyone seemed to fall over backwards for Shiver, the military reps looked like they were sucking on lemons.
Weasel and a beady eyed one at that, doesn't get much worse.
Hey, your giving the weasels a bad name. He's more like a snake! He is traveling all over the state begging for money to open the park. I don't understand why this "group" of wealthy business men don't have a few hundred thousand dollars between them to invest in this park that they love so much!
Why won’t anyone report the real truth about Ghost Town In The Sky?
Steve Shiver is claiming that they have done major construction in order to get the park open again this year in spite of filing bankruptcy,
However Nothing has been done on top of the mountain and there is no more than 4 or 5 people left on payroll at this time.
Why is a company filing for bankruptcy protection still doling out $10,000 Per month to its CEO.
Why has it not been reported that Ghost Town is saying that they have an investor that is willing to invest $100K for payroll and
Operating expenses and more to come later (RESURECTION LLC) when indeed that investor leads back to Lynn Sylvester (Accountant and partner in GHOST TOWN).
If the company has money, why are they NOT paying any of their bills? $100K would go a long way in making some creditors happy.
Why are these questions not being asked and reported?
Ask Mr. Shiver if he can guarantee that the roller coaster will be up and going? He will say “yes”, which would be a flat out LIE.
There is NO WAY that the coaster can be operating by opening. Check with the local State Inspectors and see what they have to say about it.
WE are all tired of seeing someone like Steve Shiver (with a history of bankrupting things) get away with FRAUD.
Check with Maggie Valley Water who has enormous outstanding bills on the park. If a park cannot pay for water (a basic necessity) how do you think they can open a theme park?
Ghost Town has tried to get the local motels to buy ticket packages to sale, although they will not offer to give them their money back if the park does not open.
More than one of the few remaining employees have gone in to have medical procedures done (assured by Ghost Town that their insurance was active) Only to find out AFTER the procedures that the insurance had been cancelled due to NON-PAYMENT. (What a surprise).
Someone needs to look into the background of Steve Shiver (CEO and President) and ask some real questions.
Don’t let another dirty politician get away with this. Tickets are still being sold and people are getting ripped off. If you ask the real questions
You will see that is is almost impossible for GHOST TOWN IN THE SKY to open for the season. It takes several weeks to put the rides back together and get the
Grounds ready for park opening, However GT has no one working on these things as we speak. They are promising to open and taking people’s money
But are doing nothing to prepare for opening.
Please just give us the entire truth, some real reporting. I am sending this to several news papers and news stations so that maybe someone with some guts will do some real investigating and tell the whole truth.
I read today that Ghost Town owes the state of NC over $970,000 in sales tax that they collected but never paid. Yet Shiver is still asking the officials in Maggie Valley and anyone who will listen to his dribble for a substantial amount of money to open the park for the "good of the community". This is tax payers money. I don't think giving a crook tax payers hard earned money with no guarantee that he could ever repay the funds is a wise move for the elected officials in Maggie Valley. He thinks because he pays his part time employees $7.00 an hour for 6 months out of the year that he is doing something great for the community, but he's not. He has stolen from every vendor he has and now he wants to steal from the Maggie Valley tax payers too!
Meanwhile, plans are in the works to take Ghost Town to Miami — a move expected to generate revenue that will help boost the 2010 season in Maggie and keep certain workers employed through the winter.
M Point Productions, the Miami-based company who brought the House of Terror to Ghost Town this fall, is in negotiations with city officials trying to nail down a deal to build a replica of Ghost Town in Miami as a limited time winter attraction.
M Point’s CEO Peter Regalado Abad said if all goes according to plan, construction will begin in Miami next month in preparation of a February opening. Plans call for a short stint in Miami, February through March, so entertainers and employees can return to Maggie in time to prepare for the slated May 14 park opening.
Better check this out Miami before he heads back your way! Honestly we in Maggie Valley hope he does.
This sounds like another another Steve Shyster (sorry, I mean Shiver) scheme? Keep your hands on you wallet. Last reports were that the power was cut off at the Maggie Valley location and now he's hiding out in his RV in a campground near Weaverville Rd. and US 25-70 near Woodfin, NC. You should all give him a call at 828-279-3628 and let him know what you think about his unscrupulous behaviour. Will the cons never stop?
You guys wouldnt know hard work if it hit you square in the head. Go get more lay off money or entitlement money from Obama. Really, if it wern't for Steve helping us, we would have never opened. Its funny to read these comments starting with the park will never open. Shiver can't do it, he will never get the coaster open, he will never, he can't he wont, well he DID!!!! Everything that was done at this park by leading its employees and motivating them to do the RIGHT thind. In fact he often worked side by side us drilliung holes at three in the mornging to pour footers, sweeping the streets, bussing tables at Buck Mountain and all the while working with the banks, creditors, lawyers CPA's, investors and everyone else. I worked with him until the middle of the night once to get the coaster open and he did. He was the only one that was able to see through the crap of disgruntled employees who is all I ever see on this blog. Really, call him and discuss Gimleteye. He would love to talk to you Allen but really. I know this won't get published, it doesn't fit your beat Shiver at all cost attitude. Time will tell.
Whatever happened to, "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all??"
Ghost Town in the Sky is a wonderful place to spend the day with your family.. something that so many people don't or won't do anymore... who cares about the hows or the whos or the whys... just go and enjoy it... !!!!
Steve Shiver makes really spectacular landslides with the help of hill billy engineers and lack of post-work inspections. There. Was that nice enough?
Those poor poor people! At first I thought "landslide" was new ride attraction at that place.
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