I'm posting some old letters to the editor. This is so I can remember what I wrote, and to keep myself honest. I'm posting them in the order I wrote them so this goes back a couple of years.
We are surrounded by genius. Genius to the right of us. Genius to the left of us. Genius in front of us.
Sooooo, no renting your "affordable" couch? Airbnb is baaaaaad, baaaad, baaaad. Someone might make a few extra bucks and someone else might visit Aspen for under $100 a night. Right, because we don't want to have people who live here earning too much money and we only want people to visit here with tons of money. Got it. Genius. Bloody perfect genius.
Meanwhile back at City Hall… we have lip service being paid to "affordable lodging" through the same old permitting carrot and stick FAR TDR WTF are you thinking 20th century "go fish" for your permit trading cards. Seriously, if you don't know what FAR and TDR mean- be thankful, very thankful- these are anachronisms we use to regulate growth instead of, oh I don't know, keeping up with the rest of the world???.
If any member of City Government (or the Chamber for that matter) had listened to Brian Chesky's talk at the Aspen Ideas Festival they would have heard how airbnb is reaching out to local governments and partnering with them to insure regulations are being met, insure lodging associations and landlords are being supported, and working to give a "give back" button to donate directly into the City coffers. Fortunately for us, KJAX has the podcast
"Airbnb: How the Sharing Economy is Redefining the Marketplace and Our Sense of Community"
"Airbnb: How the Sharing Economy is Redefining the Marketplace and Our Sense of Community"
Okay, end of airbnb rant, but not the rant about our local government. I saw no one from local government at the Aspen Ideas Festival listening to the "Metropolis" track or any of the "Civic Engagement" panels, listening to Jennifer Pahlka talk about "Code for America" or Larry Lessig pleading for the;SuperPac to end SuperPacs. Is no one in local City Government interested in learning how representative democracy is evolving in the rest of the globe? All you had to do was ride the bike a wee bit farther, to the Meadows. No "the dog ate my homework" excuses allowed this is one darn big event for our small town and it's part of the job- both as ambassadors and representatives.
The world came to us last week and we didn't ride out to greet them. Dope slap. Biiiiiiiig dope slap.
The world came to us last week and we didn't ride out to greet them. Dope slap. Biiiiiiiig dope slap.
2 comments:
Loved the airbnb "rant." I hope you address it in the newspaper because the people at housing haven't heard yet. You have your button on the zeitgeist with many of your posts, including this one.
Anon,
This was published and I was told by Mayor Steve that the Housing Department was "looking into it."
A little reminder from others couldn't hurt… like everyone in affordable housing who is interested in participating in this… it might even help pay the higher maintenance dues for the HOA.
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