David R. Roefaro, Mayor

City of Utica, New York

   Let it snow, no really

Wednesday October 29, 2008 (Utica, NY) - This winter, the underutilized Val Bialis Ski Chalet will see more snow than the city itself. That's because Mayor Roefaro has brought Alpine Products LLC to the chalet, in an effort to bring new life to one of the city's greatest assets. Alpine Products LLC will bring their snow making equipment to the chalet, just in time for the month of December.

The city will be performing some minor grading work on the hill-precautions to ensure the safety of both the anticipated crowds, and the new tube slides. Yes, tube runs and tubes that residents can rent will be a first on the hills of Val Bialis.

Alpine Products LLC has entered into a one season permit with the city, thus granting them the rights to operate Val Bialis this winter season. Roefaro said, "We've got to be a city that offers more to area families. I'm looking at this as an economic development initiative. If you think about it, we can bring new companies here, and we can give them the best business incentives in the industry, but if we can't offer them a quality of life that invigorates them, they're not going to come here. We're setting a new stage with this effort; we're making our own snow for the first time in years, and I'm confident we'll be making more than snow once word spreads."

The City of Utica is the only city in the lower 48 states that has ski hills in the center of the city.