Yosemite -Aramark

Today's S.F.Chronicle has front page article about Yosemite contractor ,Aramark , receiving worse than ever annual review . 

Gerald Adams wrote:

Today's S.F.Chronicle has front page article about Yosemite contractor ,Aramark , receiving worse than ever annual review . 

https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/article/yosemite-ahwahnee-hotel-rodent-infested-disaster-20357610.php

Aramark sucks all the ass; but i must admit; a multi page article detailed through the lens of someone upset that their old timey Gala;( which they paid several thousands of dollars to attend; which occurs at a hotel shamelessly named after the people who were displaced to build it) wasn’t the great gatsby cosplay dreamnight they envisioned… it doesnt spark a lot of sympathy.

Displaced is a polite word for slaughtered.

But that's when America was Great! 

What's wrong with you people?

Oh wait a minute,  wasn't the Ahwahnee a WPA project? That would be leftist?

I am confused as hell now. 

Well for what it's worth, these news stories have dredged up some painful old memories of mine. After the great flood of 1997, when my wife Linda was VP of the American Alpine Club, she got involved in the lawsuit regarding Camp 4, and then the effort to get the Camp onto the National Registry of Historic Places. During this time, Linda developed a really productive relationship with the NPS, especially in regard to the designs of the future enlarged campsite, which have been finally realized in more recent years. Linda was instrumental in securing funding for the trial period of the first climbing ranger. Back then, one of the rangers told her that many of the questions they got from tourists were regarding rock climbing and they didn't really know how to answer them. So Linda said, "I can take care of that problem". And so she started a program that was a cooperative agreement between the then concessionaire DNC, the Park Service, and the AAC. Initially Tom Frost would cover one weekend a month and Royal Robbins would cover another weekend. Then Linda and I would cover the other two weekends. We would show historic movies or other presentations to the tourists on weekend evenings. And we would answer questions about rock climbing. This went on for about 25 years. A nice perk we would get is that the Park Service would give us free camping for the weekend. We live in Marin County so this would involve 150 mile drive up to the valley every weekend for us. We received a lot of really grateful feedback from the DNC and the Park service for these programs. The concessionaire provided the AV Equipment such as video projector, microphone and so forth. The equipment tended to be in poor condition, and not uncommonly components would be missing. Linda secured funding to upgrade the speaker system, which was greatly appreciated. About 2 years into the Aramark concession phase, I noticed that the AV closet in the outside amphitheater at the lodge had a rat infestation. I went to talk to the desk manager at the lodge about this. 2 weeks later, nothing had been done. I complained again and the desk manager made some sort of excuse that I couldn't understand, but which sort of sounded like they really couldn't do anything about it. I think it was about 2 weeks later when my complaining resulted in them sending a poor teenage kid out with a few pieces of cleaning equipment completely inadequate for the job. The concessionaire always had sort of a passive aggressive attitude towards interpretive services. They are required to provide interpretive services but perhaps they don't really want to, since it doesn't bring in any revenue. So we often had problems with the equipment being missing or malfunctioning, which could be really stressful when we were trying to give our programs. The good thing about this problem was that it meant that I had to be there every weekend, because even if we would hire AV people to help, they would insist that I was also there due to this problem with the equipment. When Aramark came in, initially I was pleased that the interpretive staff I dealt with seemed more involved and professional than in the past. But then one night when it was raining, and they moved us into one of the Interior spaces. I found that the DVD controller was missing that I needed to play the DVD. I said to the Aramark manager over the cell phone "do you realize how stressful it is to be trying to give a program when the controller is missing?" The next season, when we were planning our schedule, she was talking to me in a rather vague manner, but it became clear that they didn't want us to give the program anymore. That it was "no longer fun" dealing with us. She was upset that when I had complained her about the missing equipment I did so within earshot of some of the tourists. And she said it was unprofessional that I had called a friend who manages AV equipment for the NPS for advice. But she struggled to confront me directly since she knew that Linda was suffering from Alzheimer's and was also concerned that these programs might be some sort of integral part of our life. So she was reluctant to confront me directly. These communications were just over a phone conversation and never over email. Linda had received a wooden Arrowhead, which I believe is the most prestigious award that is given by The NPS to a civilian. And she had numerous other awards for the work she did in Yosemite. Later on, I was in the campground office getting a campsite when one of the Rangers recognized me and asked why I was trying to get a site. I told him that the Aramark people had fired us since I wasn't "professional". He said, "you're not professionals, you're volunteers who drive 150 miles up here on the weekend to do your program." Anyway, we were kind of getting tired of spending every weekend in Yosemite during half of the year and Linda was getting into serious issues with Alzheimer's, so it was time to move on.

One last thing I wanted to point out was how that all of this was done for free. Tom Frost and Royal Robbins drove up monthly for years, and the only perk they got was a free dinner. Linda spent many hours talking to young climbers about their issues in Yosemite but she never found a single young climber who would be willing to help with these programs without being paid.

Hi Tom,  I was a regular in the Valley for about 25 years, in various ways, prior to 1997. Your story is very interesting. I really don't have much knowledge of Valley goings on from '97 onward. 

I do believe the NPS is ultimately responsible for concessionaire performance. Or the Department of the Interior. They provide the performance and service requirements. They award the contacts. They provide the supervision. And it is very much a political game. My opinions on these matters come from my personal experience: involvement in the 1970's "Master Plan", countless days camping and climbing in the Park, and about 8 summers living and working there. I also had some enlightening conversations with the Head of the Department of Interior's Eastern Division,  whose direct boss at one time was  Dick Cheney. He was a relative by marriage, and a great guy.

I have no idea what the fix is. Maybe an idea of what it could be, but I sure don't see it happening.

Thanks for sharing the history Tom. (I am not assuming you aren't already aware of some or all of what I said. And your opinion/experience might be different. )