If we don't take risks... if ambition deflates like a balloon popping off the helium tank and giving a loud flatulent bloop as it falls to your feet ... where does that lead? We are trapped between the virtues of low cost subsidized housing and the unintended consequences of Corporate Welfare.

 Replying to Roger Marolt's derailing of Aspen with opinions on the third rail of Aspen politics which is APCHA, the government subsidized housing where the majority of registered Aspen voters live.

There is no question that housing in Aspen is not affordable. There is no question high priced housing flows stronger than the Roaring Fork in thaw under Slaughter House Bridge all the way down to Glenwood.

One particularly thorny question is how much has affordable housing contributed to the housing/wealth divide?

The cost to maintain a free market rental is 3 to 5 times as much as APCHA charges for rent.

What is the personal price of APCHA price fixing?

If you live in APCHA housing how does that change you?  Would you pursue a pay raise if it meant exceeding APCHA income caps and losing your home? Could you pay fair wages to a plumber, electrician, or painter to maintain your home under APCHA income caps? Would you invest in capital improvements if your kids couldn't inherit? Would that deed-restricted sale cover the cost of assisted living?

If you live in APCHA housing do you feel secure? What happens if the RETT dips and those APCHA rentals start to approach the actual price of maintaining a property? Close the airport for a year, watch as we play Jenga with the bond market,  defund CDOT, defund RAFTA, defund firefighters, the list of economic threats is legion.

Don't believe APCHA will ever be defunded? Take a close look at the 2021 vote on the Wheeler WRETT.

The cold hard truth is that APCHA is not sustainable. Something has to give.

Tesla Hate?

Response to Lo-Fidelity in the Aspen Times:

https://www.aspentimes.com/opinion/lo-fidelity-teslas-in-aspen-shame-pride-or-ambivalence/

 Lo, Tesla hate? Sorry- nothing new.  It's almost as if I were driving with ZG plates through Summit County in the 1970's.

Having been a Tesla driver since 2015 I've gotten my share of single finger salutes and coal rolls.

There's only one problem.

These are great cars. I mean off the chart eyes roll to the back of your head bluebird 36" champagne first tracks doing bumps with teenage knees good.

Mom owned an Oldsmobile Tornado when we moved here and then she got a little used Porsche 912. If those two cars had a love child it would drive like a Tesla. Big American muscle car on the highway with an adrenaline junkie Bavarian corner hugger heart going up Indy Pass.

There isn't a safer car anywhere. The HEPA filter was good enough to keep out all the Lake Christine smoke. If you saw what was left of the Tesla from the Maroon Creek crash you wouldn't believe anyone could have survived. I've had a car spin out in front of me in the rain in Glenwood Canyon- anti collision stopped the car so smoothly the passenger in the back seat didn't wake up.

I love these cars. I love that I still laugh whenever I drive past a gas station. I love that I've saved over $60K in expenses in the last 10 years. It makes me giggle. I don't giggle often.

If you want some inside dope on Elon Walter Isaacson's biography is a must read. I'd add Asimov's Foundation Trilogy and the NYT April 4 opinion piece by Jill Lepore to that list. Executive summary: It's all about technocracy. The problem is "test till failure" does not work well with human beings.

If you want to protest Elon- buy low pick up some Tesla stock and lead the charge to ditch him as CEO. A 71% drop in profits isn't a great look on any company. Don't forget the Apple Board fired Steve Jobs.

Fear not Lo two old Aspen kids can find a way to skitch behind anything.

JMO

Aspen Ideas 2023

 That's a wrap.

The leaf sculptures are back in their crates.

https://www.aspenideas.org/pages/recommend-a-speaker-for-aspen-ideas

Walkability : Letter to the editor

 Do you want a main street strip mall or do you want a walkable city?

Lining Main Street with commercial buildings will not reduce traffic on Main.

Lining Main Street with commercial buildings will not reduce traffic on side streets.

Lining Main Street with commercial buildings will not increase walkability.

Want a walkable city? Each zone district has a restaurant, a grocery, and an ER within walking distance of where you sleep. 

If a city of 36 million can make that happen a city of 7000 should be able to make that happen. https://youtu.be/zysL_lkdtys

Vacancy Tax: letter to the editor

The vacancy tax plus the 1% increase in property tax are like trying to untie the Gordian Knot. You'll only get rope burn.

Don't untie a Gordian Knot. Use a big fat machete.

When I moved back to Aspen in 1991 from NYC my income dropped by 1/3+ but my net remained the same. Why? NYC has an income tax. Make an income tax for anyone claiming Aspen as a primary residence with a yearly income one thousand times+ the Colorado minimum wage. No Trumpian taxobatics allowed- tax the gross.  That should cool some real estate and renovation jets for a bit. Then do your Robin Hood $55 food tax rebate thing and redistribute on a larger scale - to the residents who don't make $3mill a year. 

Money Money Money letter to the editor

There are first world problems and then there are Aspen problems... we fall into a category unto ourselves. 

 In response to Mick's editorial: Why spread the blame so thin? The wealth divide is not new to Aspen it is as old as the town itself. 

The American dream is money. 

How much money do we need?

 Would more money for everyone cure this? Is it time for a billionaire's tax on the second, third, fourteenth home? Our $140,000,000 City budget for 7000 residents has not stitched up the wealth wound. If anything the spiderweb of budgetary choices at City Council meetings has grown more tendrils while staunchly guarding the prime directive of bureaucratic self preservation. It's a donkey carrot always out of reach. With all our wealth, all our leverage, all our good intentions, all our privilege, many still feel cheated. When the weight gets too much, when the alcohol or the cocaine won't scratch the itch of have and have not, when the mountain is not enough ... many make an irreversible choice. Suicides are far too frequent in "paradise".

 I'm often asked by visitors what has changed since I moved here in 1968. 

 "Vanity". 

 People used to come here so they would not be seen. You could sit at the Jerome bar and be sitting next to a rancher sitting next to a movie star, next to a cabinet minister, next to a taxi driver, next to a Nobel prize winner, next to a busboy. Nobody asked for autographs in the check out line at Tom's Market. Now people come here to be seen. They brag about who they saw coming out the doors of the Nell or who was sprayed with Veuve at Cloud 9. 

 We have become the fishbowl. 

 How much money does the fishbowl need? I could list the differences between 1968 and 2022 from the size of City Government to the size of that Cabin in the Woods, to the gobsmacking Gorsuch Doronin deal but "more" sums it up. It is human nature to always want "more". I think the only thing which hasn't increased in that time is the hourly wage (*arguably an unintended consequence of APCHA combined with Reagonomics in the candy cane spiral of "Social Good" waltzing with the event horizon of "Greed is Good"- but I digress). 

 More is never enough. 

 We have gerrymandered answers through the ages... and so far "I want I want I want" is still the mantra of our species. It is both our greatness and our curse. Arguably Social Justice and Corporate Greed spring from that same "I want more"well. Evolution has rewarded "I want more". Is there an answer to subdue the "I/We want more" drum beat? Spirituality? Altruism? (personal favorite) Stoicism? I don't know; but maybe it's time for us all to start the hard work of "enough is enough" 

After all, there are plenty of places on the planet where people would kill to have Aspen's problems.

The Great Biochar Gas Line experiment.

In 2019 the local Natural Gas Company approached me with the news they would be placing a new pipeline through my property. They were putting in a 6" line to replace the current 4" line. They expected the job to last the summer and tear up a swath about 20' wide right through the center of the meadow. Now my meadow doesn't look like much since I have no water rights and no irrigation but it's enough for the cattle in the Spring to do some fire mitigation.

Around the House and... in the Meadow

That green patch in between the sagebrush and the red barn is exactly where the gasline goes through. Not only would the pipeline nix grazing for that year but possibly several years after if the grass did not grow back after being pounded by heavy equipment for a summer.

Would it come back from this in the promised "two years?" Without irrigation? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

So we made a deal- pay a bit more and use some of my land for a staging area and I'll use the cash to buy biochar compost. That way we could compare- same soil, same weather, same disturbance, but with two different rehab methods. The Gas Company would use their standard spray at the end of the job and I would put down their seed mix in biochar compost on the staging area.

The Gas Company reclamation:

Harrow the ground

October 25 2019 spray green hay and seed (no idea if the green additive was fertilizer or preservative)

By November 4 the "green" had faded

November 6 the Staging Area is bare - no harrowing here

Biochar compost on the Staging Area

Load it into the spreader with the forklift (borrowed from nextdoor and with a great deal of help from Octavio and Scott) and add the same seed mix into the spreader...

Spread it on the Staging Area

Even it out a bit...

Get some old moldy hay and spread that on top... (old and moldy so the elk don't think it's a Thanksgiving treat)

The winter of 2019-20 was one of the driest I've seen since 1996 and the summer was even drier. There wasn't a whiffle of moisture all June and then came the Grizzly Creek fire to put a cherry ontop of COVID. The conditions were "challenging" March 24, 2020 and our "moisture" for the Spring.

April 10, 2020 Pipeline: NO Biochar

April 11, 2020 Staging Area : Biochar

After a dusting of Snow on April 17... April 28, 2020 Pipeline NO Biochar

April 28, 2020 Staging Area: Biochar

May 30, 2020 Pipeline: NO Biochar

May 30, 2020 Pipeline closeup NO Biochar

May 30, 2020 Staging Area: Biochar

May 30, 2020 Staging Area closeup: Biochar

September 30. 2020 Pipeline NO Biochar

September 30, 2020 Staging Area: Biochar

April 12, 2021 Pipeline NO Biochar (even the skunk cabbage looks wilted)

April 12, 2021 Staging Area: Biochar

Two years gone. I complained- the Gas Company came back in 2021 with a water truck and spread more seed. The 2021-2022 winter was better than the previous winter. June 25, 2022 Pipeline NO Biochar

June 25, 2022 Staging Area: Biochar

Conclusion to date - 2020 was a major drought year and 2021 was better but still drought. This year 2022 seems about on track with 2021. The Biochar made a major difference in 2019-2020 and allowed grass to come back first before skunkweed and sagebrush. The pipeline reclamation may catch up if it keeps raining but it took 2 seedings and 3 waterings and there will be less grass and more sage than before even if there isn't bare ground. Bare ground in a drought goes hard as brick and doesn't let the water back in to feed the soil. The Biochar held what little water we had and gave it to the grass. Yes, one application of Biochar costs about 2X what the standard reclamation does- but if you have to come back an reapply the numbers even out and if what you get back is less suitable for grazing... well that's not optimal either. The cows haven't come back yet.

the fire hose is open, letter to the editor

Yes, our visitors can be overwhelming at times. They enable my sumptuous Aspen lifestyle. Thank you. We have an embarrassment of riches in this town and it is due to our visitors and our locals both.

That said, I would remind everyone that the way you treat others is the way they will, ultimately, treat you. We are a service industry town and at which , if I do say so myself, we do not suck.  We do need quiet buses for that down valley commute back to the low rent district. We need a titch of understanding that throwing more money at the sky will not make the planes land or take off faster. After all- it’s a vacation - not a board meeting- even if the same people are in attendance. So sit back and let it things happen instead of trying to make them happen.  For my fellow locals- take that early walk, or run, or skin, or just a sip a cuppa watching birds at the feeder to clear your head keeping that precious quiet space protected while dreaming of Canyonlands where we will inflict the same insanity on our Utah brethren.

As Stuart Mace once said to me…. “Three deep breaths will cure anything.” Breathe and breathe deep- there’s less oxygen up here. The mountain doesn’t care, the mountain will be here long after we are gone, and for that we are thankful.

"All of the Above"

"All of the Above" that's the rallying cry from our Colorado representatives.

Last Saturday I attended the Club 20 Fall meeting in Grand Junction Colorado. It is a bipartisan lobbying organization for the Western Slope of Colorado but the members are predominately Conservative Republicans. The speakers - from both parties- craft their messages to that base.

Here are some of the things I heard from the speakers and from the audience.

Representative Tipton (R) cited the Senate 181 Public Lands bill (which sends 50¢ per acre of federal land  back to local companies aka ski and mine companies - not to local governments) and the Rare Earths bill from Michael Rubio. He said we could develop rare earth elements from Coal. He said the West Slope had a "lower per capita income" but never said lower than what.  He went further to say the "New Green Deal" had no meat on it's bones and would eliminate airplanes and cattle.  We need an "all of the above" energy plan, coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear, and solar (with the caveat that building a solar farm may give you 400 jobs during the build but only 4 jobs long term- something I have yet to find a source for or verify)

Responses from the audience included "7000 fossil fuel jobs lost in Colorado" I have yet to find any source for this statement.

Attorney General Weiser (D) spoke about the opioid  law suit, the Google sales tax law suit (no results searching for that on Google- I'm shocked I tell you- shocked), reforming cash bail, Crowley County selling their water rights, and then dipped into the controversial territory of a Red Flag bill firmly linking it to everything *above* 15 rounds (crickets from this audience). He walked on the wild side commenting on the sports gambling ballot question (% of sports gambling revenue for water). No one answered if that revenue is going to pay for diversions to the front range, dams, reservoirs or bothered to define what "voluntary demand management" of water really means.

Senator Gardner (R) was by far the most personable speaker of the day and he needed to be. He's considered a moderate by the Republican base (rated 5th most bi-partisan Senator) and his seat is in jeopardy. The biggest applause of the day was for the relocation of the BLM from DC to Grand Junction- a personal initiative by Senator Gardner. Of course there was no mention that Congress hasn't allocated money for the move even though the space has been leased as of November 1 or that by moving out of the DC power base it moves the department "out of sight out of mind". The BLM will be located in the same building as Chevron. I'll let you connect the dots on that.  This was closely followed by touting the Public Lands Act (which leaves out the Thompson Divide) $17 million for I70  improvements in Glenwood and Glenwood Canyon (given the almost $2 Billion budget for CDOT I'm not feeling the Western Slope love.) Reinventing the Obama era strategy of choking Russian oil and gas dependence by supplying natural gas to Europe by talking about  our "new" natural gas customers in Taiwan and Japan to choke Chinese oil and gas dependence.  "We shouldn't rely on foreign nations for supply and energy!" As we try and make other nations dependent on us and simultaneously send troops to Saudi Arabia.  (My head hurts) Although Rep. Tipton said "lower per captia income" on the West Slope Senator Gardner said we have a $5000 per family wage growth in Colorado (again- no sources for either statement).

I missed the big Pharma panel. (needed more coffee and a break) and got back in time for the Governor.

Governor Polis (D) Talked mostly about reducing health care premiums. It's no wonder this got a cool response since Grand Junction's #1 economic driver is Health Care.  For the rest of us relief is certainly needed since health care premiums in the Roaring Fork Valley are the highest in the nation but it needs to be emphasized that this reduction (41% in Vail) is for individuals not for companies or group insurance. We are predominately small businesses on the West Slope and in order for these small businesses to thrive there needs to be an insurance solution. Without that everyone becomes and independent contractor in this "right to work" State. I certainly would have liked more information on "no new diversions" for water and if that included the diversions in the State Water Plan... but the focus was on health care.

Insurance Commissioner Conway (D) - the back up band for the insurance message.

The Special Guest served up with the pork roulade (someone in the kitchen has a sense of humor) was Rifle Colorado native Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt (R). His message was how important Senator Gardner's "bi-partisan" efforts were, how great it was to have the BLM move to Grand Junction so that staff could see what sage brush looked like, how "all of the above" was the best policy for public lands, how quickly President Trump has been able to make good on all his campaign promises and then took credit for the Sage Grouse initiative and the partnership with grazing (ignoring the fact that this was an Obama 2010 initiative and the Trump Administration spin is to open the Sage Grouse habitat to oil and gas companies)

My luncheon companions then told me how I could use vanadium to power my Tesla and I would be able to stop at any gas station and "fill up" my battery with vanadium.  (I could not keep the image of "Back to the Future" out of my head.)

Dan Prenzlow and Dan Gibbs, from Parks and Wildlife and Dept of Natural Resources respectively, wrapped the meeting. The audience response was more direct to this presentation perhaps since it was the last one. This included a reference to controlling the wolf population "follow the science before wolves get on the ballot" and the pressure of people on wildlife  having adverse effects on the hunting season.  "Follow the Science" seemed a particularly ironic choice of verbage.

That was my Saturday in Grand Junction Colorado. It left me as hollow as the previous day's Climate Strike had left me hopeful.

What is lacking is discernment.  What is really lacking is the ability- or even the desire - to listen to rural concerns without pandering or playing to the lowest common denominator. 

J.M.O.

Climate Emergency

The mote in their eye…. and the beam in ours.

I listened to Public comments on the BOCC Climate Emergency Resolution yesterday which included an impassioned protest not to listen to a “Bartender”… “A Bartender!!” for advice. Well, who hasn’t? (and in my experience it tends to be better advice than pundits and politicians). This was after our  younger citizens quoted Greta Thunberg’s UN speech. As Ms. Thunberg has repeated… and repeated… “Listen to the Science”. If your bartender happens to have a PHD in climate science- well, then - you’re in Aspen.

To our local governments I say "Lead by example.” There are plenty of things each of us can do on an individual level but THAT IS NOT ENOUGH and that’s the point of a “Climate Emergency”.

What’s OUR Climate Action? Here are a few ideas,

1.Make all County/City owned vehicles electric or hybrid. (incentivize EV purchases through HOV access and free parking)
2. Make all County/City owned properties Net Zero
3. Carbon tax all jet fuel at the Pitco Airport
4. All energy supplied to County/City buildings and new construction must be from renewables.
5. Ban all single use plastics and micro plastics from retail vendors in the County/City.
6. Use recycled plastic as paving material.
7. Plant trees and replant every habitat area which has been destroyed for roadways (the roundabout springs to mind)
8. Build wildlife bridges over roadways.
9. Protect wildlife corridors (do not allow human encroachment - houses and/or ski trails).
10. Reduce the number of trails (foot, bike and motorized)  through wildlife habitat
11. Install a diagnostic PPM network which will give data points for Carbon and air pollution.
12. Monitor the carbon content of soil throughout the County
13. Improve the Pitco Landfill by pyrolizing construction waste and beetle kill for biochar compost, making rag paper, and mandating “drop and swap” for contractors.
14. Revegetate every abandoned mine site in the county with biochar compost like they did at Coal Creek.
15. Keep the water in the rivers and on the Western Slope Colorado River Basin.
16. Reinstate grazing for fire and weed mitigation (looking at you SkiCo)
17. Mandate Carbon offsets for all air travel by County/City employees and elected representatives.
18. Enact a Billionaire tax to pay for it all.

Less talk. More Action.

Make the punishment fit the crime, letter to the editor

This is a response to our recent "bear incident" for which the restaurant was fined $500 and the bear was killed.

Make the punishment fit the crime. Fine $25,000 for each unlocked dumpster and double the fine for each subsequent infringement.

We've fined $10,000 per tree for illegal removal. How much is a bear's life worth?

Spinning into butter and the art of the possible, letters to the editor

Although I am a member of the Wheeler Advisory Board this is strictly a personal opinion and is not the opinion of the Board or the Wheeler.

The mission statement and the adjunct goals  for the Wheeler Opera House are like throwing spaghetti at the wall. It’s an everything list.

Everything lists are not mission statements.

Kennedy didn’t say we’re going to the moon to beat the Russians and build robots and computers and unify the planet in one event on one day…. no… Kennedy said we choose to go to the moon and other things “not because they are easy, but because they are hard” Now that’s a mission statement.

Mission Statements are more than aspirational - more than motivational - mission statements should embody the best possible character of those launching the mission.

The Wheeler? "The mission of the Wheeler Opera House is to monitor and ensure the preservation and viability of the historic venue and its property  through exceptional performance experiences for residents, guests and performers, and to support the cultural assets of the Roaring Fork Valley.” Exceptional world class performances at affordable prices and a meeting space, and an educational space, and a rental space, and sustain the historical building, and and and….  When you try and chase everything at once you chase your tail… in one spot…. spinning into butter.

"Arena Stage’s vision is to galvanize the transformative power of theater to understand who we are as Americans.” Now that’s a mission.

 Part 2:
Align each goal to the season which can support that goal. Practice the Art of the Possible.

Our most ignored population is the one which actually supports the Wheeler. Our “semi Aspenites”, our second homeowners buy real estate and pay the RETT. When this population is in the back of my limo and I ask them if they’ve gone to the Wheeler the ubiquitous response is “I’d love to but there’s never anything there I want to see”. As for our down valley locals what can Aspen provide which will inspire a trip above the roundabout? I get plenty of riders in my limo going from down valley to Belly Up but none going to the Wheeler.

If The Wheeler had high profile $$$ performances during season when our well heeled guests are here (and those of us of the working class are working) then perhaps  higher ticket prices could fund not only the running costs of the Wheeler but those high profile acts coming back to town during off season at “affordable” prices after the working class has had a chance to catch up on some sleep and might have the time to go see a show.



Part 3:
As I asked during the public comment portion of a recent Aspen City Council meeting- please align the Wheeler Advisory Board directive with the Wheeler Mission Statement so we may serve you better.

Choose the Arts, letter to the editor

Want a job and housing in Aspen?

We have 300+ employees of the City of Aspen (bennies! housing!)  but we aren’t teaching our kids to be bureaucrats we’re teaching them to be chefs and wait staff (no bennies! no housing!). The alternative to a  City job or winning the APCHA lottery is to be a real estate broker and sell as many 50,000’ mausoleums as possible. Who needs open space.. we don’t need no open space… we just need that one view from that one window.. and a plastic elk.

I can feel what’s trickling down… and it ain’t quality of life.

Want free market and a meritocracy?
I say, "Choose the Arts".

“The Arts don’t pay.” you say… I say… "Bull****".

Sit through all those credits at the end of a Marvel movie that’s the “below the line” credits the “little people” without the mansion or the stretch. Every one of those people has a job which pays enough for their home and for their kids to go to college. Every. Single. One. (that’s what collective bargaining can do folks) Do you think Food & Wine or X Games would happen without the air time? The Arts are not just paint.

We certainly have our share of artists who were born and raised here- successful professionals in their fields - they can afford to live here but they don’t work here - they don’t bring their business back home.  What would it take to fix that?

JMO

Marsha Marsha Marsha, letter to the editor

APCHA APCHA APCHA, Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.

Yep, it’s human nature, find yourself in a deep dark hole… dig in deeper.

Why would government discourage real estate development when government is funded by taxes on real estate sales? Endless growth… that’s our economic model…that’s our vicious circle.  APCHA’s circa 1970’s rules are not carved in stone… time to smash them.

Solution 1: Stop being a real estate economy… foster other economic drivers.
Solution 2: Pay the servants more.
Solution 3: Tax the masters more.

We complain that APCHA should sustain itself and limit free market potential in the same breath. APCHA puts a cap on earnings for residents and a limit on tenure. APCHA restricts rentals and resale.  APCHA also cedes maintenance and responsibility for maintenance to those same residents. So, live below the Aspen poverty line if you want to keep your home, move or die at the end of your term, and don’t repair anything because you don’t have the money to do it much less the opportunity to recoup the cost on resale.  Local government gives lip service to lower priced lodging and slaps fines on APCHA residents who rent out a couch during Xgames which in turn facilitates the  highway 82 bumper car fun when our 100,000 new best friends rent homes below Basalt. The entire system is perched on the head of the very wobbly pin of the real estate transfer tax… so if we actually stop selling off paradise and leave room for trees, elk and a lion or two…. we lose the cash for “affordable housing”.

Solution 1: An Arts economy. 
Solution 2: Link wages to a percentage of profit. (or…ducking... muttering under my breath …. make what we pay City staff in cash and benefits the minimum required for all workers in Aspen….at very least give any company with an Aspen Business License the opportunity to buy into City health care)
Solution 3: A billionaire income tax… for those who claim Aspen or Pitkin County as their primary residence. It will still be cheaper than NYC or LA. This links our tax base to our wealth index instead of  build, buy, or die base.

Bonus initiatives? Want to slow development? Require net zero for every new building… including government buildings… including the lift 1A corridor. Want to reduce traffic? Restrict traffic to EV vehicles and subsidize EV purchases…(at very least stop subsidizing non-EV vehicles - like the Downtowner vans). Want to subsidize housing? The City could co-sign existing free market housing for residents and be a guarantor for the first, last and damage required for every long term lease  (It will be a long long time before that expense reaches the cost of one Burlingame bedroom).

Oh yeah, rumor has it we have an election coming up. Vote for the candidate who can stop digging a deeper hole and think themselves out of the damned box.

Think the Green New Deal  is radical? There is an alternative "little ice age" genocide.

What would Yvon Chouinard do? Letter to the editor. Unpublished.

What would Yvon Chouinard do?

Lead by example.

1. Make all City owned and operated buildings net zero. That includes APCHA. Replace “City of Aspen” with “Pitkin County” copy and paste.

2. Make all new City building projects net zero. Replace “City of Aspen” with “Pitkin County” copy and paste.

3. Make all City vehicles EV. Replace “City” with “County” copy and paste.

4. Do not hand out a single City of Aspen subsidy to a company which isn’t net zero. Replace “City of Aspen” with “Pitkin County” copy and paste.

5. Do not hand out a single City of Aspen grant to a non-profit or entity which isn’t net zero. Replace “City of Aspen” with “Pitkin County” copy and paste.

These are not radical suggestions.  After all I haven’t suggested we give every deer, elk, bear, mountain lion, chickadee, nuthatch, blue spruce, lodgepole pine and wildflower an absentee ballot….we should because those are what make “Aspen Aspen”… but that would be radical and I doubt you’d get the bears to vote in March.

Lead by example, that is what I expect of my representatives and my government. Do more-300 City employees can make a bigger difference than any single citizen.

Gofundme bail for climate protesters 
@sunrisemvmt
#GreenNewDeal

Subsidies for Billionaires.... letter to the editor

$800,000

Under the fig leaf of reducing cars in Aspen we are poised to subsidize a multi billion dollar company with $800,000. Do we get stock options with that?

1. Rideshare does not reduce vehicular  traffic- anywhere. If it’s successful it increases the number of vehicles.
2. Rideshare has about 5 drivers in the valley.  We have no drivers because there isn’t any money in it. Want to increase the number of drivers? Have our 300 City staff take one rideshare a week. I can give you coupons.
3. Rideshare does not reduce your carbon footprint (see point #1) if you want to reduce the carbon footprint - subsidize some electric cars with that $800K- for the police force, for existing livery services, gift the down payment to 800 lucky Aspen citizens for their first electric car.. (have an EV lottery instead of an APCHA lottery) … any one of these would reduce our carbon footprint.
4. Airports, airports, airports. It’s about the airports…. and if you really want to reduce the number of cars during ski season you will take one of those mini buses and start direct bus service from baggage claim to Aspen. Next open communication between Grand Junction, Eagle, DIA and Aspen airport transit authorities when ever there is an airport closure to stop “dead heading” aka one way trips and returning to Aspen empty.
5. High volume events like Xgames, New Year’s Eve, Food & Wine bring in rideshare drivers (mostly from Denver) …. drivers without local business licenses and without local knowledge (hilarity ensues when they try and use GPS in the RFV). That’s where your “new” drivers come from… places with a lower cost of living … just like the rest of the service industry… which means … you guessed it… more traffic.

Rideshare is a free market business model with a lot of venture capital and to date only successful in a high volume urban 24/7/365 environment. We are rural resort with a seasonal economy and marginal connectivity…. and chances of having enough empirical data to find trends for our economy are slim to none… Do not try and shovel an $800K metro model into an Aspen size sack. 

See the previous post for more "mobility" talk.

Mobility letter to the editor

Mobility lab $2.5 million…. and another “ask” on the ballot for RFTA… uhhuh.

No, I don’t believe that a cappuccino machine at Brush Creek will reduce the number of cars in Aspen. I believe what would help is a reliable public transportation service where you never wait more than 10 minutes, which does not use hwy 82 (please, no more HOV on the right,  ever), which scales the size of transport to the number of riders and which is Green. R&Ding that type of solution is worth $2.5 mil.

Repeating old LTEs: pay for the bus with a credit card or phone at every stop.  Buying passes in Aspen or paying with cash is sooooo 20th century.

Have a  small buses picking up direct from baggage claim at the airport and going into Aspen. Our guests can’t find the bus stop, they can’t find the underground passageway; and they’re constantly trying to cross 82 at one of the most dangerous intersections on the most dangerous road in the State. It doesn’t matter that the bus is free if they can’t find it or they die trying.

Have a local bus which meets up with Bustang. That would be “local” not just BRT because if you can walk to a local stop that bus will not connect to a BRT in time to get you to Bustang.

Let’s add late night down valley buses for the “worker bees” who leave after closing time. Make it a “quiet bus”.

Driving livery - both limo and rideshare- for 3 years the greatest opportunity  I can see to conserve is when the airport is closed (snow, wind, wildfire- whatever). There are just as many people trying to get into Aspen as trying to get out and yet most of us drive to another airport and come back empty. The answer is simple- the implementation is difficult- a dispatch service which all livery services can opt into for all Colorado airports. This would match riders to incoming drivers who want to return home. It could cut the number of livery vehicles down by half. It could reduce the traffic just when the roads are the most dangerous.

Trying to change behavior rarely works. Plugging existing behavior into new easier patterns... that has potential. JM2¢

Plus ça change.... 

Lake Christine Fire continued

 

July 10

Okay this is going to be a long update.  It ain't over till it's over. Here's the executive summary: After El Jebel was saved by extraordinary firefighters the monster moved up Basalt Mountain and set it on fire. The monster kept eating beetle kill through old growth forest and wildlife habitat, exploding pinions and turning them into rockets which shot across the mountain making spot fires on both the East and West steeps which fueled it's march towards the North and Gypsum.  As I write this extraordinary efforts from an army of firefighters, first responders, helicopter pilots, water truck drivers, and all manner of support teams have reached 87% containment.  It's almost impossible to imagine how rough the terrain is where this battle rages.... but here is the view from where I am... 

July 10 and Basalt Mountain is smoking from spot fires.

There was the promise of rain on July 11

 

...but nothing up on the Heights... this was my view driving back to the ranch...

 

July 12

Having missed the "parade" for the firefighters I made a little sign.

You can see Basalt Mountain smoking in the background.

 

Because a sign has two sides....

Helicopters were flying over head 

The mountain was still smoking

 

...and the heli crews were working....

 

... and the view at night left no doubt..

 

July 13

... and the mornings began to fill with smoke...

 

making for spectacular sunsets

and ominous sunrises 

 

July 18 brought wind

 

The Pyrocumulous grew

 

and grew

 

July 18

 

July 19

 It ain't over till it's over

 

Midnight July 20-21 it was time to bug out again.

July 21

Coming home from Denver on I70 the smoke from Lake Christine turned the sky orange 

 

July 22!!!

RAIN!!!!

Look closely 00.07"

 

Report for July 23... the monster is still growing...

 

in the afternoon two more RAIN events

bringing another 00.13" 

 

July 27

more smoke and moving north on the East side of Basalt Mountain

 

The big kids move in next door....

 

July 28

 

Total for Saturday 00.18"

Woohoo!!!!!

 

and with the rain and the helicopters the result today is:

 

87% containment

WOW

The evacuation orders have been lifted 

I still have helicopters overhead. 

link to the first blog post on the Lake Christine Fire