Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Tarantella d'Aspen

"Opportunity" normally when I hear that word and it's connected to anything in Aspen I start looking for snake oil and a word which is normally paired with "shinola". 





This time it's real. This time it is actually an opportunity to do something for the community instead of something to the community. 

This bas-relief of "Kairos" god of opportunity was once at the Palazzo Medici in Florence, but now has been lost. 


I've groused for years about how we've stripped the heart out of town by moving our essential services outside the City Limits. We moved the public schools out of town, we moved the hospital out of town, we put our Rec center a bus ride away,  we've  isolated our human services from the humans they serve.  At what point do we decide to stay inside the City limits? Why when government would have to relocate of course….. and there's the opportunity… not to compound the problem but to sneak some of the humanity back inside the S curves. 


The Armory has always been a lousy City Hall building. It's a warren of depressing isolated little offices filled with fluorescent lit hell. The City Council meeting room is configured for confrontation either coming through the doors into the lions pit or sitting behind the desk waiting for the predators to  arrive. The City Hall option offered for the Armory places a lot of bandaids over open wounds but it certainly does nothing to heal them. There is no flow. There is no grace. There is no joy.

Say  *yes* to the Galena Plaza option. First, it costs us less money. $9 million dollars less money. Second it means no down time during renovation. Third we use the real estate we already own instead of feeding free market landlords. The potential sales tax increases from converting our current government rentals to retail/lodging hasn't been figured into this but I'm betting it could make that $9 million in savings jump a bit higher.  Finally and this is the really important lightens my heart gets my toes tapping perks up my pointy ears and raises both eyebrows reason … it sets the Armory free. 

A Community Hall located in the community? A place where we might be able to sneak some of those essential services which have been exiled to the bus routes back into the walkable zone?  Science Center,  Performing Arts hub, TV studio, medical clinic, ACRA out of the garage, soda fountain, Folklorico, Tarantella,  basketball,  banquets, roller derby, bingo, bowling, what's your wish list?



Here's the kicker, it costs us nothing. What's the hitch you say? Well, it's a big one. We have to stop fighting each other, we have to poke a hole in the smothering shrink wrap of divisiveness long enough stick our noses out into fresh air and smell the potential.  

Let me tell you, we used to dance in this town. We used to dance a lot. We could dance again.  Bring back HIldur and her accordion and let's all dance a polka till we drop or they kick us out the door , set the Armory free.

Let my people dance.



6 comments:

Unknown said...

We did! We danced all day and night. We danced on the mountain, on skis and in ski boots! So fun!

I think moving some larger facilities like the rec center out of city limits was smart and necessary. I do like the idea of reconfiguring the old armory for a different use. The Galena Plaza sketch looks great from here.

Here's to you Ziska. Sending much affection to Aspen and the valley.

Ziska said...

The way NYC solved the problem when Saint Vincent's closed was to open "micro" medical clinics in lower Manhattan. You can get basic medical care and some emergency care in walking distance. Some stuff needs to be larger but if you attach that big hub to smaller services in walking distance you can keep the neighborhood.

Ziska said...

and let's face it, some if that dancing was to keep our feet warm...

Unknown said...

Not in The Tippler... :-)

Unknown said...

I agree. While good to maximize view with large windows, the proposed design of the Zupancis property building does not look charming or consistent with Aspen's historic character. Neither does the office building next door. it's even worse. why not redo both with proper historic points to coordinate with beautiful courthouse, extending a Main Street historic presence. Last thing we need are glass and steel urban spaces. Most who come to Aspen do so to escape city environs. I think we'd do well to encourage even demand new construction resemble historic character. Restore and preserve, and continue holding development to strictest size height mass scale and historic points. Otherwise we continue to look more and more like New York or Vail or any other city. Case in point: art museum out of touch with the neighborhood. Also think as much green space as possible should remain on Zupancis. It's a big parcel in a prime location which had a historic cabin in the back corner of the property. Hope it's still there.

Ziska said...

I agree. However, just because many of us believe the proposed "Galena Plaza" building is a weak design for it's context - (i.e. Aspen)- this is no reason to ditch the Armory Community Center opportunity.

We don't have to have the worst case scenario. This is not an either or choice. We can have both, an Armory Community Center and a Galena Plaza which keeps all the good points (energy efficiency, lower cost, easier transition, work flow between departments etc.) and a Galena Plaza with an architectural style which isn't out of character for Aspen. The Galena Plaza design needs work so that it isn't jarring and Ann Mullins made that abundantly clear in the Monday work session.

I don't know why Bert hates the idea of a Community Center at the Armory so much he wants to incite a referendum to kill it. Killing the Galena Plaza option kills the restoration of the Quiet Years Armory. Frankly I'd rather have the Galena Plaza warts and all if it would get me the Armory back to it's "Quiet Years" glory.