BRNE - don't yell. We get plenty of that at the fronton. The more you are told "you don't know what you are doing," the more defensive and closed off you get. And we have the capacity to close doors, shred and not take calls. The "we are the ones who pay your salary" comment, is correct, but a bit selfish as it does not take into account all of the people who come out to the fronton every day - many of whom have been disparaged for their looks, or socioeconomic status on this site. There are many of you, but far more of them. So don't do the internet equivalent of yelling by capitalization. It is true that some of the things that you would like to see, improvements, etc. are both reasonable and inexpensive - relatively. It's the relatively part that is important. Fort Pierce aside, let's take Miami and all of the nasty comments that have been made about this venerable 80 y/o landmark. NOTHING in that building breaks that costs less than $500.00 to fix - its like the frekin military in that regard. There are approximately 13 separate roofs (more perhaps) now all with hurricane damage. Signage that is 50 + years old, etc. Employee attitude is an ongoing problem, but it is not much different then the AVERAGE within the pari-mutuel industry. We have people who have been with us for 30 to 40 years, who have watched this decline. You are wrong about management's attitude. Come into a fronton and ask to speak with any one of us - we all maintain unconditional open door policies. We are a bit gun shy, because we don't have a whole lot of time to hang-out. But seeing us is not that difficult. We encourage our employees to recognize that they are the front line of the business; some have responded well, some have not. Try to replace a mutuel clerk. Terms like "dismal failure" don't help. The truth is that you can't know what we are up against financially, or within our own facility. We are not blind, lazy or stupid. Many years ago I sat in an hourly position at the fronton where I wanted to write to ownership and talk about how the place was being mismanaged and thought about all I could do if only I were in a position to do so. Now I am in such a position and I see that we are all doing the best that we can. Can we do better - yes. But you only see one side of the story - you look only at what draws your eye. There is just so much more. In short, if you think we don't care you are flat out incorrect. As for ownership, there is not one of them who could not have sold their property and walked away with cash. Stay in in hopes of machines? Perhaps - wouldn't you? You can attack the "corporation" i.e.: the Colletts, but they have committed hard dollars to keeping things going and to the re-build, when insurance would have had us wait. Why not just furlough the employees and collect business interruption if cash is the only important thing? We could have done that now two years back -to- back, at different facilities and it didn't happen. Room - need for improvement absolutely necessary, but attacks without all of the facts doesn't help. You do as much damage with the harshness of many of your comments as you say we are doing with our actions or in actions. In some areas we will have to agree to disagree. Not everyone is going to be happy with the Ft. this year. Sad but true, but it is the reality of the current Jai-Alai world. The fact that we are still open when I have been reading about of imminent demise for 20 years is as impressive a fact as I can think of.
