Although the view from the Grand Canyon Skywalk contains spectacular views, the view behind the scenes is anything but serene, according to the New York Times.
In case you’re unfamiliar, Skywalk is a horseshoe-shaped superstructure with a glass floor that extends about 70 feet over the edge of the Grand Canyon. The video below will help show what I’m talking about:
It’s owned by the Hualapai Indian tribe, and co-created by Las Vegas-based David Jin. It opened for the public in 2007, and the complex contains a gift shop and other revenue-producing operations.
The Times reports that Jan was supposed to get a cut of the revenues for the next 25 years, in exchange for the $30 million he coughed up to build Skywalk. And that’s where the turmoil lies:
He accuses the Hualapai of shortchanging him and has gone to court — both the tribal court in the tribal capital of Peach Springs, Ariz., and United States District Court in Phoenix — to press the matter.
The Hualapai accuse him of not fulfilling his end of the bargain by leaving ancillary parts of the project unfinished. […]
In court documents, Mr. Jin says tribal “infighting and irregularities” have complicated his dealings with the Hualapai, who he says have not paid him any profits since 2008. He said that the tribal tourism enterprise had gone through a succession of six chief executives since signing a deal with Mr. Jin in 2003.
Recently, the Hualapai removed their tribal chairman, Wilfred Whatoname, for unapproved disbursement of tribal funds. Several other tribal members have been removed for mishandling money, Mr. Jin’s representatives say. […]
Hualapai leaders deny that the tribe has mishandled the Skywalk money, which they say is going to the betterment of tribal members. […]
Mr. Jin has gone to tribal court to try to force the Hualapai to enter into arbitration over the sharing of profits, and he sought a temporary restraining order in federal court aiming to prevent the Tribal Council from seizing his share of the Skywalk by using a recently passed eminent domain ordinance. Mr. Jin failed to win the order, but a federal judge is now overseeing the dispute.
The Times notes that the legal dispute has spilled into the complex itself, where several projects, including a visitors center, remain unfinished.
Skywalk claims hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. If true, it’s amazing people are ponying up about $73 a head — all while going to the complex on a primitive road — to stand on the horseshoe for a few minutes, when one could gaze from the edge of Grand Canyon National Park for one-third of that amount.
If the court case drags on and the facilities at Skywalk continue to languish, one has to wonder how much longer it will remain viable — if it is at all.
I’d say several hundred people visit the Hualapai Nation daily, I’ve been there and seen the crowds several times per year since the Skywalk opened. Since the author of this story doubts it, maybe he should visit so that he could write a less biased story. The road to it is dirt, like the majority of roads in Arizona, and it would be in much better condition were it not for the hundreds of cars that drive it daily. Many people fly into the Res too, they have a fairly busy airport. Did you check any facts for this story?
I said “claim” on the attendance counts, because there’s no independent confirmation of that number.
And, yes, I confirmed it with several sources that the road indeed is primitive, as dirt roads simply are.
If the Hualapai’s have not paid him his share since 2008 how is he supposed to finish the interior of the building? Estimate of 8 million is owed to Jin, cost of finishing out the gift shop is $100,000 or so. The Hualapai’s are responsible for getting Diamond Bar Rd paved, its still 8 miles of dirt road, and utilities cannot be completed till the road is paved, so whether the tribe or Jin is responsible for utilities is a mute point until the tribe lives up to it’s commitments.