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Show A-2 The Park Record Saturday, February 17, 2001 Lodging occupancy peaks Saturday reaches high, President's Day weekend is a near-sellout for area properties by Bruce Lewis OF THE RECORD STAFF "There's almost no room at the inn; we have one unit left," said Liz Sherrcr al East West Resorts Sherrer's comment echoed others in the lodging industry, exultant about a ne.irl -lull town for the President s Da) holiday weekend. 'Given this season so far. there's a great deal ol excite ment to be lull-up." "We have nothing left lor the week of the I7th through the 24th." said Iamar (onville at Resort Property Management, "and there are only 19 units remaining for the week alter that." The Park City ChamberBureau's Lynn Goss confirmed record-breaking occupancy occu-pancy numbers, even as the num ber ol pi I the area percent over the past year. The 1 7th and lKth are record-breakers for the number of visitors in town." (w -aid. with 16,930 and 16.985 lodging guests, respectively. "We have neer had that manv people in town before. It's a record." l p until last year, (ioss added, the Chamber Bureau was basing lis occupanc) calculations on 15,000 pillows The number the r to the point where the organization reused the basis to 17.0(H). With the 2,000 additional bed spaces included, the Saturday and Sunday ligures hit 99.58 percent and 99.91 percent, respectively. I he aerage forecast occupancy occupan-cy lor the President's Day week -tomorrow through Saturday. Jan. 24 stands at x7 percent - about 14.800 visitors a night, when averaged across the holiday week. T think this is the first week we have seen a six-figure total for guest nights," said Bill Malone. ChamberBureau executive director, referring to the 103.448 projected visitor-night stays for the Feb. 18-to-24 period. The previous high was slightly over 97.000 visitor nights during the Sundance Film Festival several weeks ago. There aren't any surprises in the patterns of visitor arrivals or average length of stay, both Goss and Malone said. Peak check-in days are the same and the average aver-age stay is still a little over four days, not down much over the past couple of years but off significantly sig-nificantly from five-plus a decade ago. "People are still in the pattern of calling in for their lodging reservations later in the process." Conville said. "They are waiting to see what the specials will be. Mobile clinic asks employers for help Continued from A-1 before the situation is dire. We see people w In i have had diabetes dia-betes ;ill their life." savs Caswell, "but who have not had access to health VanDeGraaff says that, initially, he found a lot of financial support lor the PHC. so much so that in October he added to its schedule a pediatric clinic, in November a diabetes clinic and in December a pre-natal clinic. "There was a lot ol enthusiasm in the beginning," he s;iys. "but people don't realize the ongoing funding needs." The PHC receives $2,500 each from Summit County and Park City per year, and the rest comes from private grants. The initial support for the project, says VanDeGraaff. carried car-ried it through December. In January. clinic Lai increase in patiei from April from December, the had t to patient isits. Mnce Jan. I, doctors have already seen 200 patients. Last year, says VanDeGraaff, the average lor each clinic was 13 people. Now. he says. 35-40 people are coming each night. VanDeGraaff guesses that this increase is due to several factors, including winter weather and a higher number of temporary workers in town. Perhaps most decisive of all. however, how-ever, could be the fact that the Peoples Health Center is the only choice for uninsured area residents. and word has gotten around that for iM $5, one can see a doctor or get a checkup lor his or her child. But the increased popularity of the I'lK means that its funding can no longer keep up with the demand pi, iced upon it. Factors like the need for more volunteers and some beneficiaries' benefi-ciaries' reaction to the volatile stock market have contributed to the problems. prob-lems. But what PHC's current dilemma dilem-ma comes down to, says VanDeGraaff. is the need for more donors. That means the solution will probably lie in attracting grants from private donors, or petitioning the city and county governments for more funding Options for solutions to PHC's money crunch become more apparent appar-ent upon looking at just who its patients are. A recent report characterizes charac-terizes 82 percent of the clinic's patients as Hispanic, the majority of whom work in industries like construction con-struction which usually offer no health insurance. Who is responsible for the health needs of this transient work force? PHCs Caswell, says the community should assume some responsibility. "We need to take care of the people peo-ple w ho take care of us." says Caswell. "I w ant to dispel the myth that people that use this service db'nVworx hard. These people work harder than anyone any-one I know." Both Caswell and VanDeGraff say that the businesses that employ the PHC's patients should assume STEPHEN ZUSY I PARK RECORD Donna Fischer, M.D. and Deb Caswell, the People's Health Center medical manager prep the van's exam rooms. some financial responsibility. Some of these employers, like the Park City Homebuilders Association, already support the clinics and plan to continue contin-ue doing so. Brad Sanders, the PCHAs president, says supporting the PHC is basically supporting its workers who arent provided with benefits. "We support it because, in our mind, we use a lot of transient workers, and we feel these workers and their children need to be taken care of," says Sanders. "We feel the obligation." Sanders adds that he thinks other employers should do the same. "We re trying to lobby real hard for more support," he says. VanDeGraaff, Caswell and Sanders all agree that getting more support for the PHC is largely an issue of awareness. VanDeGraff says the service has garnered little opposition. opposi-tion. "We're careful not to compete with anybody," he says. "The people we're trying to see are people who otherwise wouldn't be going." The PHC is also looking at working work-ing more with the Summit County Health Department. Caswell says she is in the process of working with the department to institute the statewide "Baby Your Baby" program in Summit County. Baby'krff-'gaby 'helps mothers-to-be fpr sixtydavs before delivery, the time during which they are applying apply-ing for Medicaid. Caswell says that, with 38 pregnant women currently in its care, pfe-natal care is a top priority for PHC. Summit County Nursing Director Sally Kershisnik says she's hoping to have that program in place within the next month. Kirshisnik says she is strongly in favor of the People's Health Center, but, again, it boils down to money. "Funding is a hard issue," she says, adding that, nationally, the trend is toward decreases in federal funding for public health. "We can provide the nurses," Kirshisnik continues, "but there's still the lab tests and prescriptions." pre-scriptions." In the meantime, Caswell says the People's Health Center's clinics are becoming more efficient, and as a result, the PHC can manage the money it does have a little better. "People are getting used to the system," she says, adding that she makes follow-up calls so patients don t come back unless they have to. VanDeGraaff says a big step will come when the PHC gets established as a Rural Health Center, when it will have direct access to federal funds, as much as $200-300,000 per year. But VanDeGraff says for the time being, the PHC can do a lot with a little. "We've demonstrated there's a huge need," he says. "We can provide a good product for a low cost." For information about how to contribute con-tribute tot he People's Health Center, call 615-7822. Local corners first gold STEPHEN ZUSYIPARK RECORD Home town skeleton hero Lincoln DeWitt captured first place in the Bobsled and Skeleton World Cup event hosted at the Utah Olympic Park Friday, Feb. 16. Fans came out en mass to support their countryman at the races. Continued from A-1 one of the five World Cup events. DeWitt took the silver medals in Nagano. Japan and in the second race of the year in Ingls. Austria. At the race in LaPlagne. France, he finished with the Bronze. In the first race of the season sea-son in Winterburg. Germany. DeWitt earned his lowest finish fin-ish of the year, coming in 12th. Rettl, coming off a victory at the World Championships, finished the year strong, but was tied for tenth in the over all before Friday's event. Before Friday. DeWitt trailed Japan's Kazuhiro Koshi by 16 points in the overall standings, and was five points behind fellow American Jim Shea. But the 50 points he picked up in the finale, coupled with Koshi and Shea both missing the podium, put DeWitt over the top. DeWitt finished 13th overall a year ago. his highest event finish in 1999-2000 was sixth. Friday's race was the only opportunity for the international interna-tional field to compete on the Olympic Park track before next year's Games. The skeleton and bobsled World Cup continues Saturday, with the women's skeleton and the conclusion of women's bobsled. Tricia Stumpf (Park City) is in third place in the overall standings, with a narrow, five-point five-point lead over fourth. The women's skeleton begins at 10 The women's bobsled hits the track at 3 p.m. American Jean Racine will try to hold on to her first-place ranking in the driver standings. The men's bobsled is next weekend at the Olympic Park. Paid parking revenues start rolling in City has $25,000 to spend from paid parking; first dollars go back into Main St. by Jay Hamburger OF THE RECORD STAFF Three years after introducing the controversial paid-parking system to the Old Town core, trie city's fay, and Display, parking meters can't be called a cash cow. City Hall, though, recently revealed that the paid-parking system is amassing excess revenues rev-enues $25,000 for the first time since the meters were installed in early 1998. "For sure we've generated a little excess revenues this year," Transportation Director Kent Cashel said. He lists a few changes in paid parking since it started as reasons why the excess revenue was generated, gen-erated, such as tinkering with parking prices and when the system sys-tem operates. "That program has worked quite well and we've worked diligently dili-gently on cost control and improving fine collections," Cashel said. In mid-December 1999, the city changed the paid-parking system sys-tem to run year-round on Main Street and four months per year in paid-parking zones on Swede Alley and in the China Bridge parking structure. The city also changed the pricing pric-ing structure so parking cost $1 per hour in all paid-parking zones. Originally, parking off Main Street. qost 50 cents per hour. Historic Main Street Business Alliance trustee Steve Hooker said the excess revenue was expected given price hike. "I knew it would as soon as they raised the price," Hooker said. "That doubled revenue coming com-ing from Swede Alley." The first year of the new system sys-tem ended last December. The city recently publicized the excess revenues. "The program appears to be working with the goal of breaking even," Cashel said. "It's made a little extra money." In previous years, the program had operated in the red. The Park City Council decided to put the paid-parking money into Main Street. Earlier this month, the City Council OK'd a $25,000 contract with the Historic Main Street Business Alliance for marketing and business development. develop-ment. The paid parking money accounted for $15,000 of that con tract. "It's nice to see it and it's nice to see the grant go back into the business community on Main Street," Hooker said. Roger Harlan, the one remaining remain-ing City Councilor that voted to approve the paid-parking system, said the news of the excess revenues rev-enues was welcome. "I'm glad that it's not losing money. It was never designed as a major revenue source for the city." he said, adding, "I'm pleased we're not continuing to subsidize it." Harlan also said paid parking is accomplishing another goal: freeing free-ing up prime parking spots for shoppers and diners. He also said the business alliance is a worthwhile recipient of the initial $15,000. "If it makes a little money, we're able to take that surplus and put it back into Main Street," Harlan said. The excess revenues come as the city government is starting to consider Main Street issues more closely than at any point since the paid-parking debate, which peaked in fall 1997. The City Council and Marsac Building staffers are starting to devise a long-range strategy for Main Street, such as the makeup of businesses on the street. Bodell is contemplating mayor's office Continued from A-1 potential opponent for the mayor's office. She is an artist who lives in Old Town. During her first 13 months on the City Council, Bodell has pursued pur-sued an agenda of public involvement. involve-ment. She has discussed citizen oversight on the Police Department and during City Council meetings she frequently attempts to ensure issues are explained thoroughly before voting. vot-ing. Bodell said her mayoral style would be different that that of Olch. T think Brad Olch is a Mercedes sedan and I'm a blue Chevy pickup truck. Different styles. We go about things differently," differ-ently," Bodell said. Filing for this fall's election does not start until summer. There will be two City Council seats on the ballot this fall also. Reservations warmly accepted at W--OSOO 1751 Sidewinder Drive in Prospector Square "Consider tjourself 1 INVITED to our NEW "'Outstanding crab calces earn raves for this cnew and wonderful' Park City Regjonal American offering the 'best ever' East Coast-style seafood and 'great specials'; the 'excellent service' earns more barks of approval." Highlights from the lOOO Zagat Survey Award of Excellence blind Dog proudly supports ; Lincoln Dewitt, ; U.S. National Skeleton : Champ |