Billionaire Joe Ricketts wants to build a luxury resort and simply rename a small town in the US state of Wyoming. The residents are up in arms.
Joe Ricketts, billionaire and owner of the MLB team Chicago Cubs, wants to rename the town of Bondurant in Wyoming to “Little Jackson Hole,” as the New York Post reports. The reason for this is a luxury resort that Ricketts wants to build on his 5.6 square kilometer property, Jackson Fork Ranch.
The resort, to be named Homestead Resort, is described as a “premium resort experience with a missionary focus on protecting, preserving and enjoying the natural beauty of the Hoback Region.”
Bondurant has a population of about 152, and they are less than enthusiastic about Ricketts’ proposal. “About 75 percent of the people just got up and left the dinner where this was announced,” Pat Burroughs, a resident of the town, told the NYP. For Burroughs, the Bondurant Valley has always been a magical, happy place. So much so that 33 years ago she decided to make it her home, as “cowboystatedaily” reports.
Residents fear the name change could cause confusion among delivery services. “One man even had trouble getting his medication,” said Burroughs. “He kept saying he lived in Bondurant, but they were looking for someone in Little Jackson Hole.
Richard Pearson, who describes himself as the oldest lifelong resident, fears the community’s privacy will disappear. “I hate to see the changes this will bring to the privacy of the people who live in this valley,” Pearson told the newspaper.
He also criticized Ricketts for buying several properties to strengthen his power to rename them. “It’s like a cancer. He just sucks up everything. Everything that becomes available, he buys.”
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