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. 

City Hall, again, letter to the editor

Last Tuesday at City Hall was VEEP worthy.

Bert suggested we turn the Wheeler into City Hall offices - because- I kid you not- it's also historic.

Lest you think this was some sort of Bertian humor there is precedent. Bert's suggestion was building a performing arts center on Galena Plaza in exchange for abandoning the Wheeler to government offices. For those who have not suffered through the bazillion votes on that property- one which we bought through popular vote and threw CAPP's auto out to occupy- the original intent was a performing arts center. That was the RETT vote- upkeep on the Wheeler and support the Arts with a second ballot question authorizing a new performing arts center in addition to and complementing the restored Wheeler. The performing arts center did not pass, the RETT did.

We've waffled on what to do with that parcel since we bought it. No to the performing arts center, no to the art museum, no to city hall, no to everything. Performing Arts moved to the District Theatre, the Black Box, the Tent(s), The art museum supplanted the 'Stube and who knows where City Hall will split it's seams if we don't stuff it into the Galena parcel.

Oh, so many irons in the fire... the Armory Community Center , the RETT,  referendemitius...it's a simple war of attrition. Create as many alternatives as possible, force studies on each alternative, delay any decision and the "no" vote wins. (Mayor Skadron raises the same objection as he did with the Power House proposals - the funds are not in place for the Armory Community Center- may I humbly remind the Mayor that to date our non-profits raise money and build faster than the City)

But allow me to reel things back in to the core question. Should City Hall be a "one roof" solution on Galena Plaza? Yes, because interaction between City departments is key. Easier "one stop shopping" for citizen interaction with City Gov. is "huuuuuuge". If I fault this one roof plan at any point it's that it isn't comprehensive enough... all departments should have a presence where any Aspenite can walk in and talk to a person in that department .. all departments are not under the current Galena one roof proposal.

Does City Hall need to be built on Galena Plaza? No,but it needs to be within the City limits and with only that one caveat little orphan Galena Plaza is the most economical and least disruptive option.

The image which keeps floating up in my mind is the joiners table at the 'Stube. A cup of coffee mit schlag and a Belgian waffle makes solving the world's problems much more congenial. We lost the 'Stube because of referendumitus and knee jerk no... fool me once....

Kool-Aid, letter to the editor

How can I be anti-Condo in Basalt and anti-Ref1 in Aspen? 

Isn't Referendum 1 all about hamstringing the evil developers and isn't that what condos in Basalt would be- evil development?

If that's how you read it- you've drunk the Referendum 1  kool aid. 

drinking the kool aid link for those who don't remember the original reference

Ref 1 does nothing to curtail development. Nothing.  

A b s o l u t e l y NOooooooothing. 

All Ref1 does is guillotine City Council and cost us $20K for each special election.  

Vote NO on Ref1. 

Do no harm, letter to the editor

First, do no harm.

Referendum 1, what harm does it do?

First and foremost it increases the friction between City Hall and the Citizens. Some may think that's progress. I do not. That's Aspen politics as usual and I'm thoroughly sick of it. I think that polarization is the problem and every effort should be made to create an atmosphere where we can listen to each other and live together. 

Second- It *favors* large developers. Yes, that's what I said- it gives large new development an advantage over any maintenance or restoration project. Full disclosure- that's me- trying to maintain at 47 year old property which is both my residence and my rental.  One interpretation of code would force me to replace plate glass windows with drywall since more than 25% of my wall is window. Until you bump your nose against it you have no idea how crazy the code is. The more difficult you make it for long time locals to maintain their properties the more you invite bulldozers scraping the ground bare and building new.  The examples of bulldozing old properties due to renovation road blocks are too numerous to mention- unlike the Ref1 proponents whose crystal balls predict that the voters will  "scare" developers into submission- for which - may I remind you- there is not one single precedent. 

Third- legislatively it's a mess. For those governance junkies who occupy their time with Roberts Rules of Order,  the Federalist Papers and Plato it exemplifies the very reason for a Democratic Republic instead of a Democracy.  

Ref1 supporters use the classic FOX news tactic to mobilize a mob with smoke, mirrors and emotional diatribes. This gives away the Representative system without a whimper- much less a fight. 

Engage your inner Spock.

Vote NO on Referendum 1

Bubbles, letter to the editor

This is a letter to the editor regarding the Telluride inspired ballot proposal to amend the home rule charter and take all building permit variances to a public vote instead of a vote by City Council.

There are plenty of opinions on this:
Neil B. Siegel
Andy Stone
Lee Mulcahy
Blanca and Cavanaugh O’Leary
Mick Ireland
Curtis Wackerle
Chad Abraham
Maurice Emmer

and many more…

I couldn't find a copy of the petition or the ballot proposal on line.

Here's some backstory.

and here's the letter:
****************

I wish the authors of the "Keep Aspen Aspen" and City Council had met Bubbles.

Bubbles was a student of human nature. Not that Bubbles had any reason to trust humans they'd been pretty awful to him before he made it to Anderson Stables. His previous owner had used a 2x4 as a training tool.

He was a stout little quarter horse with a sure step who'd take you down the steepest slope, weave through deadfall or rocket through the barrels at top speed like a horse half his age.

He was a sweetie but every once and awhile he would jump. There wouldn't be anything in on the trail, nothing to spook him, he'd just give a big ol' sideways hop and if you weren't paying attention- you'd be on the ground. Then he'd stop and look back and I swear he'd be laughing at you.

That was the point of course, to see if you were paying attention. Given his history Bubbles could have turned into a biter or a fighter but instead he became a teacher.  He'd test you just enough to let you know this was a dance for two, not just the one with a sloppy hand on the reins or swinging the 2x4. All he asked for was your attention and your attention had better include respect.

Mutual respect. That was Bubble's lesson.

The "Keep Aspen Aspen" charter amendment is a big ol' 2x4 to the head.  Before you pick up that 2x4 think about what this amendment achieves. The message to Council is that we're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

Fine and good. Beyond that what are some of the possible outcomes? Developers could turn tail and suddenly comply with all existing code… and there'll be pork in the treetops come morning.

Council could weaken current code and make everything compliant taking the voters out of the equation entirely…soon to be an Oliver Stone conspiracy movie.

Citizens could suddenly become proactive and delve into the minutia of each variance request leading to the democratization of every issue ... and we all become Gandhi.

Citizens could rely on the best advertising soundbite for their vote….like "keep Aspen Aspen" which is a sterling example of a catchy soundbite.

We  could all just vote our emotions unencumbered by facts.

Yeah, those last two, those I believe.

The problem is this won't just be a one-off. Changing the charter hamstrings this Council and all future Councils. You don't use the 2x4 once you use it repeatedly in perpetuity. The last time we did that in Colorado it was the TABOR. Will we be de-Berting in a few years?

Yep Su Lum "This is no way to run a railroad". The train of City Hall and the train of Citizen outrage threaten to meet head on leaving a ton of twisted anger and smokey unintended consequences.

How do we achieve mutual respect?  One thing for sure it's not with a 2x4 to the head.

Dicey

Let's face it, if you made a reality TV show out of the politics in Aspen it could get better ratings than Survivor. Our last City Council/ Mayoral election is a perfect example. We had 11 people running for 3 openings. Three of these 11 already had seats on the Council but were vying for the center seat of Mayor. The cast of characters* was equally "Survivoresque" (*couldn't find the mayoral "squirm night" grassroots episode- I'll link it later if I find it)

Once the smoke cleared we had two new Council members and a "tie" for Mayor. It wasn't an exact "tie" but close enough to call for a run off. The winner of the run off was a sitting Council member which meant that the remainder of his 2 year term would be filled by an appointee.

Spin the wheel again.... 9 candidates for the vacant seat.... which resulted in a deadlock between two "finalists" with a 2 to 2 vote on the newly elected City Council.

Does your head hurt yet? It could have been settled by a throw of the dice (no really, I'm not kidding) but at the 11th hour one vote flipped-  and there was no dice throw (much to the dismay of our local press who were ready to photograph every angle of that toss).

Why all the fuss for a town of 6000 you may ask? It's simple, that "small" town has a yearly budget tickling the edges of $100 million. Yep, I said $100 million. Now, there's a high stakes crap shoot for ya...

Last night was the first meeting of the full "new" 5 member Aspen City Council. I attended for the "public comment" segment where anyone can come forward and talk for 3 minutes about things which are not on the agenda. I was the last one to speak in the "comment" section. I gave them all a present.  I gave everybody a copy of happy
which is a great documentary on what makes people happy.

 The happy documentary goes deeper than our stereotypical ideas of happiness into what really makes people feel good. When Roko Belic (the director) was presenting this at Mountain Film at the Wheeler one of the questions from the audience was "If you had to name just one thing which makes us happy what would it be?" Roko's answer was instant, "Community."

That's why I gave the Council a copy of the dvd I believe that  "the happiness quotient" should be the major driver behind all decisions made by them.

I also gave them  a finger puzzle...

 

The more you pull away from each other - the more trapped you are.