Questions of the State Parks Commission

Looking at the article about ‘Hot Springs State Park proposals’ in the April 18 issue of the Thermopolis Independent Record, I have some questions.  

I see that the contract was awarded to the bidder who scored 5,213 points out of a possible 6,000.  I am curious to know what the criteria was for earning all 6,000 points; why did this bidder score so high?  Was the state’s process weighted to give preference to an applicant who would propose such sweeping changes?  Did the state parks commission automatically give preference to a proposal which would include replacing a recreational pool facility with a spa/wellness center, reducing by half the available recreational pool capacity?  Did the commission favor a proposal which would greatly change the riverfront to include more development, less nature, less peace?  Was the commission seeking an applicant who would change the family-scale character of the existing concessions to something quite different, something more attractive to a ‘world-class experience,’ something global? No hyperbole there:  the one to whom this contract has been awarded is president of the Hot Springs Association, which is associated with the Global Wellness Institute’s Hot Springs Initiative. The CDC is involved. 

Does the commission think it a positive thing that this bidder offers glamping, brewpub, drive-in theater, even offering to run the State bathhouse?  The state park helps the town economy when visitors to the park also visit businesses in the town.  If the state park businesses duplicate, or replace, businesses available in the town, the town economy suffers.

And why were those criteria weighted as they were?  It sounds like a foregone conclusion, that the whole bidding process was meant to force on the people a very different vision of Hot Springs State Park.

You have something remarkable right now, a place where the body and the spirit find rest and rejuvenation.  The proposed changes, quite simply, sound like the destruction of a very special place.  My heart breaks for the people of Wyoming who have cherished this park for generations, and you are taking it away from them in favor of exploitation.

Martha Downing, Livingston Mont.