A little perspective from the Brits: https://britishgrooms.org.uk/blog/261/the-grooms-accommodation-at-weg
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Gonna add something else here - Bellissimo was also promised a lot by state and local officials and business leaders (including financial partnerships, donations of goods and services, etc.). Some of those things never materialized, which left TEP scrambling to figure out how to plug the gaps. My understanding (from an insider involved with the development process) was that too many things that should have been listed on the project plan under “critical path” were not listed there, and other critical path issues/items were tasked to folks that didn’t/couldn’t meet the established milestones for one reason or another. A basic tenet of project management is that if a critical path milestone is not met, other tasks usually have to also be pushed back - esp. if they cannot begin/proceed until the preceding task is completed. WEG at TIEC would make for a good study in scope creep and deadline creep.
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That would totally leave “the dog ate my homework” in the dust as an excuse to skip school.
This is possibly the definitive statement for me.
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In this article published July 13, 2017- a year and two months ago- Bellissimo clearly states, “The only issue is housing… but we’re going to crush it and generate huge revenues to offset costs.” So he knew this was coming, and he seemed to decide on his own that the grooms were the least important.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article161280743.html
As for other funding being promised, and not delivered, I recall a really interesting and kind of scandalous article that tracked spending by a Polk county official who was working with Bellissimo to attract investors to TIEC. I wish I could find the article again. I think it was published by a relatively small news outlet so it didn’t get much attention, or maybe it was even wiped from the internet. I love a good conspiracy! Any way, this official was spending outrageous amounts of taxpayer money to fly to Wellington regularly, promised hundreds of thousands of dollars to Tryon and she also spent something like $30,000 on a banquet for potential investors held in-get this- ASHVILLE, so not even Polk County. And I don’t think that Polk County has the kind of economic resources where investing the public’s money in a world class equestrian venue is a priority for residents and taxpayers. I imagine that county official got in a lot of trouble for that and the county refused to pay the money she promised.
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I had been checking all day to see when they would speak up
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Good article. This part sums up the situation particularly well:
"This is not the first time that grooms have been provided with poor accommodation at WEG. When I attended the Games in 2002 as a groom on the British team, conditions were shockingly bad. I was faced with a mixed-gender portacabin with eight bunks with poor quality bedding. We had nowhere to lock valuable personal belongings, such as passports, away, and no personal space.
We were desperately unhappy, and it threw a shadow over what should have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is disconcerting that conditions seem not to have improved in 16 years.
It is understandable, given the poor weather that contributed to the delay of building works in Tryon, that various buildings were not prioritised. What is troubling, however, is that the accommodation for grooms is one of these that became an appeared afterthought.
It is a great shame that grooms were not considered as equally as important as the equine athletes they care for; horses who wouldn’t make to the Games if it wasn’t for the grooms care and expertise.
It is clear from a public apology made by CEO and co founder of Tryon, Mark Bellissimo, that he has an emphatic commitment to the recognition and welfare of grooms.
A mistake was made, and supreme efforts are being made to rectify it."
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Please see D above.
followed by, you understand weg is now, right?
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Any word from the US team ? Robert Dover ? Robert Ridland ? Hard to imagine Steffen Peters’ long time groom and security guy in one of those cabins (security is for SP’s owner’s horse, not SP). There must be a good many grooms who are put up in hotels by the owners.
McLain Ward posted a comment on Facebook the other day that was about what you would expect from him. Basically that his grooms are very highly valued members of his team, and deserve to be treated as such.
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Something to consider is that this is not just “a week or two” out of a groom’s life. Upper level grooms spend a lot of time on the road, and when you are traveling/competing three out of four weeks in a month, your accommodations are certainly a very big deal. I have dealt with some very unpleasant conditions while traveling as an FEI groom- lack of power (no heat in freezing temps, no charging phones, no light at night), lack of shower facilities (washed in cold buckets of water from pumps in the barn), accommodations several miles from the competition with no transport, etc. Just because you have survived it before doesn’t mean you should accept it again. Sleeping in group tents with strangers of mixed genders, keeping different schedules, with no place to secure valuables (remember, people traveling internationally are carrying passports, visas and other important documents) is no way to treat people expected to be performing their job at a world class level. This is a business trip for those at the very top of the industry and proper accommodations should not have been overlooked, nor have been placed so low on the priority list that novelty projects were completed and this was not.
ETA- even if the weather turns out to be “just rain”- how do we think those tents will handle flooding? Where are grooms supposed to hang their sodden clothing to dry, assuming the tents stay watertight and they have dry clothes to change into? Getting soaked to the bone is all well and good when you have a warm place to dry off and a dry rain coat and boots the next morning; it is very different when you don’t.
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My Question is why did they not keep they several cabins on the grounds (there are 26 that range from 1 bedroom to 5 bedroom) plus a fifty room hotel for the grooms. Oh let me guess - they could rent them out to others for a bigger profit. Tryon is really dropping the ball on this one.
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They actually took down cabins to create space for the non-existent hotel and still being graveled parking lot. Still wouldn’t have been enough room for all the grooms and the support staff needed for this number of horses.
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When did they take the cabins down? I was there last fall and they were there. So who’s brilliant idea was it to take away all of the onsite housing for a hotel that they could not get ready for the biggest event that this venue has ever seen. Doesn’t surprise me though with all the ticketing problems they are having seems like they really bite off a whole lot more than they could chew and now that it is down to the wire the house of cards is crumbling and they are choking on it.
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Unfortunately, though understandably, all of the state First Responders that were to cover the WEG have been “pulled” and deployed to the coast. WEG now has “county” support. Naturally, resources for the WEG will be wearing thin.
Hang in there East Coasters!
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Yes, Florence adds a whole 'nuther logistical nightmare for Bellissimo and state officials. Praying for everyone in Florence’s path.
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The interesting part to me was this:
[I][B]The event has been federally designated as a SEAR III event, which means Polk County will receive some federal support, but no federal money.
Arledge said state officials are working to get the event lowered to a SEAR II event, which would mean there would be federal funding and more support in terms in of resources.[/B][/I]
Did that happen? If it’s still a SEAR III then money that would roll in if it were a SEAR II didn’t materialize.
This feels like Fyre Fest on crack. Do i see in post 97 they are spreading gravel TODAY???
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TIEC was never promised financial support from local government officials. The State of NC did provide a grant for security, emergency medical facility and road improvements, and Polk County received a $1MM state grant for additional emergency services, primarily for police, emergency medical technicians and fire fighters. I own property in Polk County and follow Polk County government carefully, so I am well informed. I can’t speak to any financial partnerships or promises made by business leaders.
I was at TIEC as recently as early August just prior to the facility being shut down to the public and it did not appear to be remotely ready to host WEG at that time. Massive amounts of dirt were being moved, the cabins had been removed, parking lots were not complete, etc. I think its obvious that the project planning was insufficient and that the scope of the work that needed to be completed in a short time frame was too large for the staff and resources. I think, however, that we all need to remember that the TIEC partners took on a huge ambitious task in offering to host WEG. It’s easy to criticize without being on the ground putting in the effort to ensure the games are a success.
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Forgot to respond to this - I would love to see that article! But I have been hearing tales off and on over the past year or so from various folks with “insider knowledge” of shenanigans by government officials, business leaders, and other locals trying to aggrandize themselves with Bellissimo by promising the moon when they had very little ability or intention to deliver.
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