"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.