Thursday, February 11, 2010

Steve Shiver and Ghost Town at Maggie Valley: The blame lies somewhere else ... by gimleteye

Ghost Town in the Sky and Steve Shiver are in the news again, finger pointing on the local ABC affiliate after a landslide originating in the bankrupt amusement park, managed by former county manager Steve Shiver, caused significant damage. The Smoky Mountain News reports: "It could take months or even years for lawsuits over a massive landslide in Maggie Valley to be resolved, leaving affected property owners in limbo over who is financially responsible for the damage to their homes. The landslide originated from Ghost Town in the Sky, a mountain top amusement park, where a giant system of terraced retaining walls gave way. N.C. Geologist Rick Wooten does not believe the slide was solely due to natural causes, but could not be more specific."

The Asheville Times: "Ghost Town in the Sky as recently as two years ago paid a contractor to rebuild parts of a retaining wall that gave way in a mudslide more than a half mile long. The amusement park made repairs to the structure above Rich Cove Road in 2007 and 2008 after a wall that had been in place for years started to fail, Steve Shiver, the park's chief executive, said Monday. Shiver, while mayor of Homestead, Florida, regularly belittled environmentalists for resorting to lawyers and engineers in their effort to stop the conversion of the Homestead Air Force Base to a planned commercial airport. He told the Smoky Mountain News, "“Obviously there is a responsible party, but I am going to let the engineers and attorneys figure that out,” Ghost Town CEO Steve Shiver said.

"Eventually the truth will come out," says one contractor.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could it actually be that what goes around is finally coming around ?

Anonymous said...

It always does.

South Florida Lawyers said...

Major liability there.

Anonymous said...

Well, its got the proper name, "Ghost Town".

Anonymous said...

There may be some job openings in Homestead for him: Mayor, Vice-Mayor, City Manager, etc., etc.

Anonymous said...

Yes, please take him back! Please?!?!?

Anonymous said...

NO ! Please no. Keep him there; we will send money but don't send him back here.

Anonymous said...

How about Somalia? Seems fitting.

Anonymous said...

Surely there is some place on the public teat for a delusive narcissist with an arrogant sense of entitlement?

Anonymous said...

Shame on Ghost Town for not investigating this guy. One can run but cannot hide.

Anonymous said...

Come on, he and the rest of the gang have been hiding in plain view in Homestead for decades. Just look at the place. Every acre has their paw prints.

Anonymous said...

Has Steve Shriver filed for bankruptcy yet? Who keeps this empty suit propped up?

Anonymous said...

I hear Iraq needs a head guy, maybe NC and FLA could trade him for a nice (less dangerous) terrorist.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately Mr. Shriver is against the federal million dollar clean up of his failed retaining wall which unearthed debris on his neighbors downhill and destroyed their homes and left those who moved back without water. There is 16,000 tons of dirt ready to move when the ground gets wet and he will not give permission for the Feds to come onhis land to stop another landslide from occurring. He filed bankruptcy last year and the llp entity which owned GH sold the property to one of the llp owners al Harper it's an inside deal owed by the Bk court after the February landslide. Another landslide is certain to occur and the area is unstable. The town of Maggie Valley has not proceeded against shriver and the best they can do is get some counsel who says that the town could proceed against the ghost town group with a law that prevents junked cars and old swimming pools to be mainted on private property but the last landslide came down the hill at 30 miles an hour and piled a thirty feet wall in to homes in it's wake. How could junk cars be any precedent for this disaster. The federal governments offer to remove the fill expires in October but no court order has been issued by a lawful body to remove the imminent threat of landslide that remains. Mr. Shriver wants another wall built instead and he failed to maintain the old one but he is opposed to the clean up of the fill or the watershed. There is no insurance or FEMA aid for the victims of the deb slide, and watershed is damaged . And this is what we call politics!