Elsewhere in this issue, we have talked about the soon-to-be-built “Colorado River Elevated Bikeway and Transit Hub,’ at a cost of $9 million to improve what one local politician called a “stale” tourist economy.
But is this kind of extravagant tourist pandering a warning of things to come? Has the exploitation of The West’s beauty and the race to squeeze every possible tourist dollar from it reached never-before-seen levels of greed and banality? Check this out…just a few hundred miles downriver from Moab, this is what some developers have in mind for the upper reaches of the Grand Canyon…
(from IndianCountry) ‘Opposition Grows For Navajos’ Planned Grand Canyon Escalade’ AND images of proposed gondola and ‘riverwalk’
AN EXCERPT: Developers are pushing forward with a plan for a large-scale tourist destination on the Navajo Nation at a place held sacred by the Hopi Tribe, despite mounting opposition even among some Navajo tribal members….Grand Canyon Escalade, as it’s been named, would span 420 acres near the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado Rivers just east of Grand Canyon National Park. Its centerpieces would include a tramway to carry tourists from the South Rim to the Colorado River, and a riverwalk….“Pedestrian friendly arcades will allow visitors to access Artisan Studios and Galleries along the Canyon rim,” reports a new web site for the project, “which will offer not only shopping but the ability to interact with Native American artists and artisans, dine at restaurants with unparalleled views, learn about the Navajo and Native Americans by touring the Cultural Center, and spend the night at a Canyon-side lodge.”
And an update from ‘Navajo Times’…
‘President Ben Shelly threatened to withdraw his support of a proposed resort in Gap/Bodaway Chapter unless the partners can prove “solid public support” for the massive project by the end of the year.’
