Hualapai tribe seizes Skywalk

The latest on the Hualapai tribe's Skywalk, which I've covered over the years:

Indian tribe battles developer of spectacular walkway over 'sacred' Grand CanyonThe Arizona Indian tribe on whose ancestral land the Grand Canyon Skywalk was built is locked in a bitter feud with the developer who pumped at least $30 million into its construction.

The tiny Hualapai nation last month exercised its right of eminent domain to take over the management of the site and kick out the non-Indian developer.

It is a bold move that could serve as a test of the limits of the sovereign power of Native American tribes over non-members.

The dispute over the potentially lucrative Skywalk--which all agree could draw up to 3,000 visitors a day--pits the tribe's sovereign rights over a site it sees as its economic lifeblood against a developer's contractual right to manage the attraction for 25 years and share the profits.And:The dispute at the heart of the crisis appears to focus on specifications including who was supposed to provide infrastructure--power, water and sewer--for the project, with both sides accusing the other of acting in bad faith.

What is not in dispute is that a visitors' centre overlooking the Skywalk--a beautiful building on the edge of the canyon with floor-to-ceiling windows where a restaurant might have been--is nothing but a shell.

Construction on the centre stopped several years ago--the sides disagree as to why--and the building lies unfinished and vacant, with bales of insulation piled up and gathering dust on its bare concrete floor.

Visitors who drive to the site, often as a day trip from Las Vegas, must traverse a long windshield-busting stretch on a dirt road. Others fly in by helicopter or plane to the reservation's busy airport.

The Hualapai council members say the unfinished site is an embarrassment to the tribe, which approved the project despite some internal objections about building on land roughly 30 miles from a place central to the Hualapai creation story.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Skywalk Has Quadrupled Visitors and Skywalk Developer Sues Hualapai Tribe.

Below:  "Empty: What is not in dispute is that a visitors' centre overlooking the Skywalk--a beautiful building on the edge of the canyon with floor-to-ceiling windows where a restaurant might have been--is nothing but a shell."