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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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¢
It’s not the first time moving the election day has been suggested but it just may be the first time a sitting City Councilman has come out against it. On Facebook it’s turning into a full out Bert vs Skippy rock ‘em sock ‘em. If you can get past the accusations of SkiCo liftie zombies casting votes for their Ice King overlord or upstart “kids” gerrymandering by dates instead of districts I ask my fellow Aspen voters to look at the science, specifically how your state of mind effects the way you vote.
It’s not a skiing economy. It’s not an outdoor sports economy or an arts economy or a conference economy. It’s not about the skis, the bikes, the kayaks, the concerts or the think tanks.
Aspen real estate is an investment which is AAA with a phenomenal rate of return when flipped. The dividends are parties and networking.
Ask yourself what sustains the real estate economy ? Then ask yourself if that’s what you want.
Real Estate prices stay high as long as demand is higher than supply. There are other factors but that’s the economic foundation. All of our restrictions, our labyrinthian permitting, our challenging terrain, our civic divisiveness, our remoteness, - those all increase costs, increase the project timeline, and thus limit supply.
The same factors increase the divide between classes, the 3 jobs class vs the 3 homes class
The same factors decrease the amount of land for wilderness and wildlife- after all even an uninhabited monster home is an invasion displacing species of native plants and animals encouraging scavengers who are used to living off our trash and on our well watered lawns.
When did the real estate economy take off? In my opinion the rocket launch was in the 70’s. Condos encouraging non-residential ownership combined with limited growth ordinances, and height restrictions all combined to squeeze the supply.
Square footage prices alone are not what has made Aspen what it is today. Add to this Affordable Housing which helped keep wages artificially low (The entry level wages I received in the 70’s would translate into $55 per hour today.) and the J1 visa (multilingual *and* cheaper be still my beating heart).
Viola! Ever increasing real estate prices and stagnant low wages. … and you wonder why the 1% of the 1% wants a slice of Aspen? It ain’t skiing.
Update: Follow the money.... 2018
"In the first quarter of 2018, the
median sales price for a luxury home—defined as the top 10% of the
market—in Aspen reached $18.34 million, an impressive 162.1% increase
from the same time last year when the median was logged at a
comparatively measly $7 million.
“We’ve been seeing these big numbers
because the backlog—what I call the ‘aspirational priced inventory’—is
coming off the market, either expiring, or sellers are realizing they
need to meet the buyers on price,” Mr. Miller said."'
Dear bicyclists, I don’t want to kill you.. but you’re making that really difficult.
Please look both ways before you cross a street. I do when I'm a pedestrian, when I'm riding my bike or when I'm driving.
You may have to slow down... I know that's inefficient ... I know you lose energy and you need to pedal harder to get that speed back... I know you hate to do that... but really... slow down ... look both ways... it's a good habit to get into.
Pedestrian crosswalks are not bike lanes. Please do not ride in a pedestrian crosswalk. Please do not use your cel phone while riding in the pedestrian crosswalk.
Please do not assume I can see you on your electric bike doing 20 mph in the pedestrian crosswalk when the sun is coming straight into my eyes (hint- if every car has the sun visor down there’s a reason).
Even the bears move slow walking across Main street… be as smart as a bear.
News flash- turn signals do matter. There are some nifty bike helmets with LED turn signals now- buy one- it costs way less than that bike you’re riding.
While we’re at it… not all cars are equipped with backup cameras. A vintage truck backing out of an angled parking spot cannot see your 6 year old on a bicycle.
Wouldn’t the Rio Grande bike path be a better choice than the streets of Aspen when riding with your kids? We desperately need to follow the German example of a “bicycle only” autobahn but even our excellent bike/pedestrian paths don’t keep bicyclists out of the roundabout. That is a tragedy waiting to happen. Of course there was the Lance wannabe who almost got clotheslined by my dogs' leash when he raced through the red light at Main and Monarch… but I assume he has a Darwin award by now. Dear bicyclist, please do not compete for a Darwin award.
Just in case you don’t remember one year ago the “one roof proposal” for City Hall was $20 million dollars cheaper and an estimated 10 years less time to complete and the Armory become a community center instead of a shoe horn City Hall.
After a lot of shouting ”Taj MaHALL!” and finger pointing the more expensive more disruptive less efficient less “green” solution was adopted. The same anti-Taj contingent are now complaining that we shouldn’t borrow money to build the new City Hall. Wellllll, we had a cheaper solution and that was considered too hubristic for “small” government. We had a more efficient carbon footprint under one roof but that was less important than square footage footprint. We had a less disruptive solution but that was…. horrors…. less disruptive. We actually voted that we wanted a community center more than an aging Armory wearing a skin tight City Hall spandex refurbishment onesie and that people’s vote was tossed aside (insert the word deplorable as you will).
Flip. Flop. Want to know why it’s so difficult to get anything done in Aspen? Flip. Flop. Flippety floppity flipperooni floppsy woppsy doodle all day. You can’t make this stuff up.
A modest proposal: shut down 82, McLain Flats and Independence to all traffic for 24 hours. Shut. It. Down. No deliveries. No down valley workforce. No tourists. No warning- just put up the barricades. Let’s just take a look at who is “local”. Then we can ask each other if the few who remain can sustain for more than 24 hours without deliveries, out of town workers, tourists- without the $ all of these bring. Pay the wages of everyone who missed work that day out of the City Coffers. Track the sales tax on that one day and extrapolate revenues for a decade of lean living. Put Dr. Baxter’s toll booth up on the Castle Creek bridge the day after. No charge to enter you just have to pay to leave.
Think I’m joking? Did I forget to add my $500K consultancy fee?
Traffic is a symptom. It’s a symptom of economic success. It’s also an indicator of our lack of sustainability, inability to scale, and lack of foresight.
1. Complete all roadwork during off season and off peak traffic hours. The prettiest curbs in the world don’t make up for potholes to China. A 4 hour trip from Monarch and Main to the Airport was due to the roundabout shut down to 1 lane during the XGames.
2. Stage equipment as close to the point of need as possible (Parks and Recreation I’m looking right at you when I say that)
3. A public transport shuttle direct from baggage claim into Ruby Park in Aspen. Don’t mewl about not having a grant to cover this… we have the buses we just need the will to use our available resources to address an obvious need.
4. Restrict delivery hours... 3 am to 7 am. We do it with grooming the mountain we can do it with supplying the town. Offer white noise headphones to all downtown penthouse owners.
5. For pities sake- expand the bus service to serve the down valley worker. This means buses after 2 am so restaurant staff can get home without driving. Better yet make these “quiet buses” and kick off anyone who is drunk, obnoxious, and making any noise other than snoring.
If you have rules which are unenforceable maybe you need to take a close look at the rules.
I won’t argue about how much city sponsored (affordable, employee) housing is being sublet and rented. I have a pretty good idea since I’m ubering quite a few visitors to those units in high season- but that’s only anecdotal data.
How enforceable is the “no rentals rule”? Unless you want to go “full United Airlines” not a lot. Dumping residents out of affordable housing on the street is a photo op no local wants to see and the tabloids/social media would lap up like whipped cream on strudel.
Here’s the modest proposal- allow rentals with a cap- $100 per person per night. Rent through Airbnb. Airbnb already collects lodging tax off the top and it goes direct to the City/County/State. This increases our “low cost rental” base and gives our affordably housed a way to raise money to pay for maintenance and repair in the City built housing.
Don’t want to rent at “affordable" rates through Airbnb? You want to act like free market - fine- buy out the your “affordable” house at full market value. We could call that the Appraisers Christmas bonus special.
It started in the 80’s with pigeons. I don’t remember a single pigeon until Reagan was elected. Pigeons on the Mall. Pigeons above the Elks club.
I live in a place which faces Aspen mountain and used to be the “top of the hill” right at the 8000’ line where nothing was ever going to be built. It’s where the meadow and forest reclaimed it’s rightful place back from slides of slag miners left behind. “Freddy” the first owner of #106 planted a pine tree at her back door. In 48 years I watched that tree grow- kissing my balcony and climbing past the roof. Hadid’s development came with the Pigeons and smashed the old boat tow shack leaving the 8000’ rule in the dust. Up went 15,000 sq foot homes between me and the mountain- unoccupied homes with pigeon spike rows on perfectly oiled log pediments. I still had the tree between me and “dream homes”. I watched generations of Steller’s Jays, Nuthatches, Chickadees, Juncos and Hummingbirds build their nests and raise families in that tree. Once there were 7 baby Steller’s in a row on my balcony rail. Over time the songbirds left. By the time Obama was in office there was only a magpie nest in the tree. By the time Trump was in office the tree had been cut down and my view of Aspens, Lodgepole pine, Blue Spruce and Queen Anne’s lace was replaced with an homage to Joni Mitchell….. a parking lot.
Now ravens sit in the trees on either side of main street waiting for roadkill. Magpies chatter at West End diving after what your dog leaves behind. Sparrows flock to Peaches and Paradise feasting on flakes of pastry. Gone are the pine siskins, the finches, the towhees… even the Camp Robbers stay far above us at the Sundeck or Maroon Bells. The last time I saw a Stellers Jay it was half way up Buckskin Pass.
People ask me what’s changed in 49 years. We used to be a town of humans living in a forest full of birdsong where bears stayed in the berry patches and watched us from a distance. Foxes were rarely seen and coyotes never. Now we are a town were the scavengers come to dine.
Aspen. We are victims of our own success. That leads me to believe that we need to redefine success.
We have some perpetual problems. When a problem lasts for decades then it's something which is symptomatic of something deep- a division at the root of our community. Traffic is one of those problems and the S curves rear up like a cobra's head bobbing back and forth while we look for a local mongoose or at very least someone with a bit of charm and a flute. County and City have just authorized another $500K study of the entrance to Aspen.
Popular wisdom points a finger at construction traffic. The guests we can ferry in and out pretty well. We could make that
more efficient with simple cost effective measures like a shuttle
directly to arrivals and departures at the airport. That would be easy. We're allergic to easy, but that's another discussion.
Are there ways to slow the real estate/construction market? I mean other than whinging that we don't want more growth while we pocket all the cash growth brings?
You
could reduce the second home owners claiming residency in their
2nd/3rd/4rth home by imposing a City/County income tax- targeting the
$million income crowd and that would force a few out- but probably not before they tried to make a profit on a re-sale.
We could ignore our aging buildings and infrastructure and let it rot. Some of us remember Aspen when it was full of derelict houses - if you like that sort of thing move to Cisco Utah - or the top of Aspen street. Live with no indoor plumbing, running water or heat a couple of years and then decide if that’s quaint and cozy.
Construction could certainly be more efficient. Now we're so grateful to get a contractor who will deal with the draconian depths of the Aspen Planning department we’re willing to say yes to any timeline.
What about stopping new construction? Once those older edifices have rotted it’s certainly easier to build new.
Moratorium you say! Allow me to gently whisper “supply and demand” to remind everyone how we got our first real estate bubble in the 70’s. Limit the supply and the demand soars.
Kill the goose you say! Sabotage the lifts, bomb the Wheeler, nuke the mountains then people will leave us alone in the rubble. I mumble again “Jim tried that…"
Destroy City Hall you say! It's all the government's fault. Well, if you really want anarchy default on a couple of City and County loans which might wreck the credit rating - that should bring the budget and the bureaucracy down. Referendums are ham fisted inelegant blunt force weapons use the silent stiletto of finance. It worked with the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and devaluation of silver in 1893.
Maybe we want something other than Mad Max in the Rockies. Maybe we want a positive strategy which enhances the quality of life rather than smashing things in a hissy fit. Maybe quality of life is more than money. Maybe it's quality of life for every life.
What is the answer to that long snake of traffic which makes Aspen a miniature FDR drive or 405? There really is only one answer which I can think of. Reduce the number of commuters. House laborers and their equipment at the point of need. Support more telecommuting and remote offices. Allow "pop up" mobile housing for the duration of the project.
Encourage the nomadic workforce of the sharing economy (Oh, what one Basque sheepherder and his flock used to do grooming Aspen Mountain in a summer) .
Don't just target by age, income or time in the valley. Prioritize essential services. Work with what you have. Practice the art of the possible. Water takes the easiest path and to quote Doctor Who, "Water always wins". If none of that works for you - look around you and rejoice in what you have - practice acceptance.
We should update the Consultant Bingo Board.
Finally, don't do what we've done with every other traffic study we've ever paid for- don't pay for it and shove it in a drawer kicking the can down the S curves for another generation.
Four to one that’s the number Sun Tzu gives. The baggage train needs 4 servants to every one warrior. Look at Versailles 1000 aristocrats and 4000 servants in the palace plus 60,000 in the town. Count the cars coming round the S curves and you’ll find the ratio hasn’t changed much.
Give me 8000 new best friends during food and wine give them each 4 servants….
The servants .… well… there’s your problem.
Okay- you want to quibble about that 32,000 estimate, after all the art of quibblage is an fundamental Aspen sport. Count the number of cars coming round the S curves- I say 32K- but I’ll give you odds on 16K. Feel better?
When you look at the S curves ask yourself this simple question. Do you want to see Aspen with 16,000 more families? They would be diverse working class residents. They would force more real people retail like $5 food and shoes. They would make us less seasonal. Right now our guests never see the man behind the curtain, or the maid in the grocery store or the plumber at the deli.
We, like Epcot, have multiple secret doors behind which the servants hide while the paying punters walk the streets. The servants are only visible when they commute. Can you envision 16,000+ more people living inside the city limits? If you need a reminder go to the Historical Society and look at a few pictures of 19th century Silver Boom Aspen.
Is more government built housing the answer? Nope. Not when the affordable house starts at $1,000,000. You’d have to make $240K a year to afford that house payment even at current interest rates.
But we love our little town we want to keep it small and we love our skiing and music and mountains. If we want it all then we pay the price in traffic or…. the servants need to live in the palace and walk to work.
What would make a sustainable Aspen? How could employers house their own employees? How do we enable that scenario in our big balloon real estate market? The top floor wasn’t always a penthouse, not in the pre transferable development rights (TDR) and Burlingame years. Our well intentioned government housing incentives targeting development resulted in a wild west real estate market and a wider social divide between rich and poor. We have never taken a long hard look at what it takes to support a sustainable community. Let’s do that. Now.
