Oil and gas planning from the ground up

Frustrated with current state oil and gas regulations and tired of the lack of planning at either the state or county level, a number of citizens directly impacted by the oil and gas boom in Garfield County have taken a different approach - they have negotiated directly with the industry. Their efforts over the last several months are on the cutting edge of ways to plan for natural-gas development in the Intermountain West

The Rifle/Silt/New Castle Community Development Project began earlier this year when residents in and around these communities realized that drilling in their neighborhoods was inevitable given the gas reserves in the county, current state regulations, and the nation's insatiable demand for natural gas.

Organized under the auspices of the Grand Valley Citizens Alliance, community members began talking with Antero Resources, which has purchased leases in the area, to encourage them to work with neighborhoods and communities in crafting their drilling plans, not just surface and mineral owners.

The resulting plan recommends clustering drilling on pads spaced from 640 to 160 acres apart. Clustering would minimize construction of roads, pipelines and other accouterments of drilling and thereby lessen impacts. The plan would also include best management practices for natural-gas drilling such as placing pipelines alongside or in existing roads, piping water to wells rather than trucking it in, and installing equipment to reduce toxic emissions, reduce noise and light. Drilling rigs would also be at least 500 feet from the nearest homes.

Antero Resources has adopted this collaboratively created plan, and citizens are beginning talks with other gas operators as well as local governments.

You can view a PDF version of the document, which is still a working draft, at www.hmccolorado.org/GVCAPLAN-11-2005.pdf

Western cities embracing transit

Alan Best's article in High County News (Back on Track, 11.14.2005) was a great piece on how several Western U.S cities are entering a new transportation paradigm -- one focused on livability rather that traffic mitigation, and transportation options rather than exclusive reliance on roads and highways.

This is no small feat, like all Americans, Westerners love their cars, but local business, community and elected leaders are realizing that transit has an equally important role in their future.

The only thing missing in the article (and this is probably a space constraint rather than an oversight) was a recognition of the many non-governmnetal organizations (like the Transit Alliance in Denver) that helped build the transit vision and then did education and outreach to help in implementation. As the article illustrated, elected leadership and foward thinging planners are crucial to transit success, but with out organized commuity groups and non-profit organizations that can educate, advocate, and mobilize, transit efforts are missing the third leg of the stool of success.

Land Use & Free Market Mythology

In Zoned Out, Jonathan Levine argues that the debate about transportation and land-use planning in the United States has been distorted by a myth--the myth that urban sprawl is the result of a free market.

According to this myth, low-density, auto-dependent development dominates U.S. metropolitan areas simply because that is what Americans prefer.

Professor Levine confronts the free market myth by pointing out that land development is already one of the most regulated sectors of the U.S. economy. Noting that local governments use their regulatory powers to lower densities, segregate different types of land uses, and mandate large roadways and parking lots, he argues that the design template for urban sprawl is written into the land-use regulations of thousands of municipalities nationwide. These regulations and the skewed thinking that underlies current debate mean that policy innovation, market forces, and the compact-development alternatives they might produce are often "zoned out" of metropolitan areas.

Order the book . . .

Giving transit a wireless edge

While cities across the country are implementing wireless networks to turn themselves into 'hot spots', transit agencies are using the rapidly growing technology to allow riders to stay connected to work and friends. Now instead of hearing people's private conversations, riders will be able to hear the tap-tap of people scrolling through their email or reading the news online.

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) has become the first transit system in the nation to offer wireless communication to all passengers on its trains underground. Five of the Bay Area's six wireless companies have signed up to use the system, Rae said, and the sixth is in negotiations. The arrangement will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars, and eventually millions, for BART.

While not all commuters see the benefit of underground cell-phone service, it could help stave off fare increases. BART's deal with the phone companies for downtown San Francisco will bring in at least $408,000 a year. As additional stations, tubes and tunnels are wired, that amount could rise to more than $2 million a year.

Read the full article . . .

La Plata County increase well permit fees

La Plata County more than tripled the fee it charges gas companies to process permits for new wells on Monday in an effort to brace itself for a flurry of increased natural-gas drilling in the months ahead.

The board of county commissioners unanimously approved a measure that raises the permitting fee for a new well from $385 to $1,300. The resolution also raises the permit fee for major facilities, such as compression and water-injection stations, from $1,280 from $3,000.

In the past two months, gas giant BP and Tulsa, Okla.-based Samson Resources both won approval from the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to double the number of coal-bed methane wells on large tracts of county land.

BP expects to file for permits for 100 new wells by the end of 2006 and drill about 75. Currently, the company operates about 1,100 coal-bed methane wells in the county.

Across the border, San Juan County does not require a permit. Neighboring Archuleta County charges $385 to process a new well permit, while Delta County bills just $150. Gas-rich Garfield County takes a $400 base fee and then charges an hourly rate for all permit-related work.

Read the full article . . .

Oregon's land use laws get support in court

Oregon's land use laws are often seen as a model of how state and local communities can manage growth and improve quality of life. When Measure 37 passed last year, many planners and growth management proponents worried how it would hamper public planing efforts in the state.

Measure 37 requires that state and local governments either compensate land owners when regulations lower property values or waive the rules.

Now, Marion County Circuit Judge Mary James has ruled that the law violates five provisions of the state and federal constitutions.

Read a statement from 1000 Friends of Oregon . . .

A Prince who questions the status quo

Prince Charles is visiting the U.S. these days. Often derided and always hounded by the media, there seems to be more to Charlie than his love life.

"I’ve been trying to encourage people to think about. … To break the conventional mold in the way we've been building and designing for the last, well, during the last century really, has all been part of a throw-away society,” he told a interviewer recently.

His alterternative vision is laid out in bricks and mortar in Poundbury, a village of 2,500 people, which he created on his land near Dorchester in the south of England. All his ideas on architectural design, class structure, aesthetics and ecology are here. And what he sees as the future looks very much like the past: an 18th century village adapted for the 21st.

Single-family homes are mixed with small apartments so there are people of all income levels here living side by side in a community with shops and light industry. The narrow twisty roads discourage automobile traffic, and cars are parked out of sight in landscaped lots.

“The whole of the 20th century has always put the car at the center,” the prince explained. "So by putting the pedestrian first, you create these livable places, I think, with more attraction, and interest and character. Livability."

Read the full interview . . .

Taking traffic congestion solutions to a higher level :-)

The French may have come up with a solution to all that traffic clogging up our highways in the U.S. The costs my be prohibative, but the views would be spectacular. (Thanks to Randy Russell for photo)

Will bigger be better?

With the opening of a new 125,000 sq. ft. Target this month, Glenwood Springs becomes one of the smallest communities in the U.S. with the three retail giants duking it out over the region's retail purchases. Glewnood's population is only 8,500.

Both Wal-Mart and Kmart have been in town longer: the 40,318 sq. ft. Kmart store opened in 1982, followed by Wal-Mart in 1987. Wal Mart doubled the size of its original store to 111,000 sq. ft. a few years later. Now comes a bigger Target store, which is part of the Glenwood Meadows development - a commercial and residential development that effectively doubles commercial space than the town.

Located at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers, Glenwood Springs is the service and shopping center for resorts such as Aspen and Vail, and a tourist destination in its own right.

Eagle County adopts 9 month moratorium on new subdivisions

Eagle County Commissioners adopted a temporary moratorium on new subdivision and zoning changes in the county by a 2-1 vote. The nine-month halt stops new subdivisions or zoning changes that would increase the already-allowed number of homes on a piece of property. However, the moratorium more a of a way to slow things down rather than bring construction to a halt.

People can still apply for, and receive, building permits on already-zoned property and there are built in exemptions for “hardship case” and re-zoning property for employee housing, either rentals or for-sale units that have restrictions on how much they can increase in value. There are already close to 16,000 approved but un-built units in Eagle County.

Commissioners Arn Menconi and Peter Runyon want to give staff time to complete work on new or revised regulations governing building in wildlife habitat, building on ridges and hillsides, and requiring water conservation and “environmentally friendly” building materials for new construction.

Making health care more like public education

Imagine taking all the money a state spends on Medicare and Medicaid and spreading it out to provide basic health insurance to all the residents in the state? Former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, architect of the Oregon Health Plan, wants to see his home state take such an approach.

He likens his approach to public education, in which all children 5 to 18 are entitled to a pubilcly financed eduction. We believe public education is a public good that benefits not just inidivuals by society as a whole - no one is left out.

Kitzhaber believe the same should be true for health care and health insurance - everyone get a basic benefit. Individuals can always purchase more (just like they do in attending private schools and private universities), but this approach creates a baseline of services and coverage rather than the implicit "rationing" of coverage we have today.

Making health care more like public education

Imagine taking all the money a state spends on Medicare and Medicaid and spreading it out to provide basic health insurance to all the residents in the state? Former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, architect of the Oregon Health Plan, wants to see his home state take such an approach.

He likens his approach to public education, in which all children 5 to 18 are entitled to a pubilcly financed eduction. We believe public education is a public good that benefits not just inidivuals by society as a whole - no one is left out.

Kitzhaber believe the same should be true for health care and health insurance - everyone get a basic benefit. Individuals can always purchase more (just like they do in attending private schools and private universities), but this approach creates a baseline of services and coverage rather than the implicit "rationing" of coverage we have today.

Tax breaks for organic farmers

The tax system can play a key role in private economic decisionmaking. Some economists have argued that we would do better to tax waste (inefficient resource use (energy land and water, garbage, etc.) and things we don't want (pollution) than the current approach of taxing such things as income, work, and investment (which we want to encourage).

Woodbury County, Iowa believes that offering tax breaks to local farmers willing to make their farms organic could boost their ailling economy, encourage more young people to enter farming, and improve the local environment at the same time. The County Commissioners might be on to something.

Free Community Wi-Fi ?

The world of municipal wi-fi got has gotten more interesting. Despite the Colorado Legislature's effort to minimize local government competition in the world of internet services (last year they passed a bill last year forcing local governments to hold an election before offering such services), municipal wireless might happen anyway -- for free. Google and Earthlink may provide wireless serivices to San Francisco and Philladelphia for free, or much cheaper that many people imagined, to anyone with wireless modem.

Read more . . .

Health insurance indicators

Starbucks and GM have a lot in common: they are large companies, recognizable brands, and their economic fortunes can inform us on the state of the U.S. economy. They have one other thing in common - both companies currently spend more on health care insurance that they do on the raw materials to make their products.

But large corporations aren't the only ones scratching their heads about increasing health insurance costs. A recent report by Kaiser Family Foundation claims that the annual average family policy is now over $10,000.

Read the full article . . .

Vacationing all year long

The tourists and second home owners of Colorado's mountain communities have decided to increase their stake in the mountains. From 1990 to 2000, U.S. Census Bureau figures for eight Colorado resort counties show that primary residences became the dominant housing type - growing from 53 percent of the market to 62 percent. They also accounted for more than 90 percent of the increase in the housing stock in that time.

This trend is one of the factors leading the State Demographer's Office to project that the combined population of Eagle, Grand, Garfield, Summit, Pitkin and Routt counties will more than double from 192,000 to 389,000 by 2030.

Read the full article . . .

Salt Lake Housing Authority buys trailer park

It's a story heard too many times across the rapidly growing West: a trailer park owner wants to evict trailer residents to redevelop the property to serve a higher income clientele. Trailer park residents, who often live in old trailers unfit to me moved usually lose any investment they made in their tenuous property, have few options but to move on.

But given the lack of affordable housing in many Western states, some local governments are beginning to see trailer parks as a critical supply of affordable housing that their commuity can't 'afford' to lose.

So in Salt Lake City, activists and elected officials took an unusal approach when they learned about the fate of a 25 unit trailer park -- they bought it. After seven months of tedious negotiation, the Salt Lake Housing Authority persuaded a trailer park owner to sell his property to the county for $1.2 million, ensuring that the families in mostly fixed-income community would not have to relocate to make way for condominiums. The county purchased the Park Hill property with the help of a $700,000 loan from Fannie Mae and two deferred loans from the state and the county, each in the amount of $275,000.

Given the challenges of affordable housing across the Western U.S., it may be time for more local governments to adopt Salt Lake's strategy.

(Note: Pitkin County, CO has already taken this approach with several of its trailer parks. They have also taken the innovative next step of enabling local residents to purchase their lots with a deed restriction to preserve affordability.)

Read the full article . . .

Arizona communities in affordable housing crunch

A new report released by the Arizona Department of Housing shows that home prices in the state's rural areas are climbing so high that many teachers, firefighters, police officers, nurses, government employees and retail workers can't afford to live there.

High housing costs are making it difficult for Flagstaff to attract city employees and college professors. Payson can't recruit enough new police officers. In Yuma, many retail workers must work two jobs to buy a home. Restaurant workers in Lake Havasu are commuting more than 60 miles a day to find affordable housing.

In Flagstaff, the median home price is $252,000, and it would take an hourly wage of $35.07 to afford to buy a home. The northern Arizona city's average hourly wage for employees is $11.04.

Read the full article . . .

SF Freeway becomes pedestrian oriented boulevard

The double-decker freeway that once cut through Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, a concrete monster that served as a haven for drugs and prostitution and cast unwelcoming shadows over the area, is gone. In its place is a boulevard, which was designed not just with cars in mind, but pedestrians and bicyclists -- a linear park where there was once only asphalt and concrete.

The city has plans to build up to 900 units of new housing -- 50 percent deemed affordable -- on the parcels along the boulevard that once served as the freeway right of way.

Read the full article . . .

Inspiration in the classroom

In the song "New York, New York," Frank Sinatra sings, "If I can make it here, I can make it anywhere." What Rafe Esquith and his students have accomplished in the inner-city of Los Angeles is an inspiration and a challenge to schools everywhere. They have shown how kids, in the most difficult of conditions, can not only become only great students, but great people as well. They raise the bar far beyond any standarized test.

Rafe Esquith's book (There Are No Shortcuts) and the documentary on his class (the Hobart Shakespeareans) should be required reading and viewing for all parents, teachers, and school administrators.

I-70 corridor could foster more regional cooperation

Interstate 70 is Colorado's main artery into the mountains. It dumps millions of tourists, cars, and mag chloride into the communities along its corridor. Concern over how the I-70 corridor is managed and improved have a coalition of 31 local governments and businesses thinking regionally. They are exploring the best way to get organized to ensure their preferred alternative for a corridor transportation plan are on the table.

The coalition will meet in Glenwood on Sept. 15 to discuss funding mechanisms to support the regional partnership and ultimately to support their preferred future for the corridor.

Read the full article . . .

Eagle County considers building ban

One of the fastest Colorado counties over the last decade is wondering if they have too much of a good thing.

Development has occured in Eagle County at suggest a rapid pace that County Commissioner Peter Runyon believes a ban is a neccessary "break" while the county updates its land use regulations. He wants the ban to only apply to changing a piece of land's zoning to allow more homes to be built and allow for commissioners to be able to approve small subdivisions where the property owners can prove it would be a "hardship" to wait for the ban to expire.

Given how dependent the Eagle County economy is on real estate development, the discussions at the county courthose should be well attended. The issue is schedule to be on the Commissioners' agenda in October.

Read the full article . . .

The shame of segregated schools

Jonothan Kozol's, Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America will hit the bookstores this month. His article in the September, Harper's Magazine highlights his charge that 50 years after Brown v. the Board of Education, schools in the U.S. are still segregated and still unequal.

See also the interview in the NY Times Magazine and an article in the LA Times.

Solar energy plant to power SoCal homes

Stirling Energy Systems, Inc. signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (subject to California Public Utilities Commission approval) with Southern California Edison, that will result in construction of a massive, 4,500-acre solar generating station (more than four times the size of the National Mall in DC) in the desert northwest of Los Angeles. When completed, this power station will be the world's largest solar facility and produce enough energy for 278,000 homes -- at current rates of energy usage and more if homes were more energy efficient.

Read the full article . . .

How Many Adults Are Underinsured?

45 million adults in the United States do not have health insurance. If that wasn't bad enough a new study in Health Affairs estimates that another 16 million adults were underinsured in 2003, meaning their insurance did not adequately protect them against catastrophic health care expenses, despite the fact that they had insurance through an employer.

California says 'no' to junk-food sales in schools

As the most populated state in the U.S., California has an influence on trends few other states enjoy. So health professionals, legislators, and parents are watching legislation (which has the support of Gov. Arnold) to ban the sales of ban sales of soda and fast foods on public school campuses - including high schools. The legislation follows the lead of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), which implemented a local soda ban in 2003 and a junk-food ban last year.

Read the full article . . .

Stunning and sad

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina brings to mind Thomas Paine:
These are the times that try men's souls

Please donate to the Red Cross.

More interesting numbers

Numbers don't always tell the whole story, but recently reported numbers on the uninsured and the number of lobbyists per legislator in Colorado are certainly interesting:

• The U.S. Census Bureau recently reported that number of Colorado residents without health insurance edged up to 767,000 people last year, or 17.1 percent of the state population - higher than the 15.7%national average.
• Colorado has 11 lobbyists for every state legislator according to a report released by the Center for Public Integrity. With 1,054 lobbyists for the 100 legislators put Colorado in fourth place (and more than twice the national average) for the number of lobbyists per legislator. Only New York, Florida, and Illinois had higher ratios.

Housing 101

According to a recently released study by the Center for Housing Policy, the median price of a home in the U.S. increased from $186,000 to $225,000, or 20 percent. Meanwhile, wages for key community workers (elementary school teachers, police officers, nurses, retail salespersons and janitors) in the majority of cities nationwide remained flat.

The Center has set up an on-line seachable database of housing and wage info for metropolitan areas, so only Front Range communities are included from Colorado. For folks in Western Slope communities, the information is interesting nontheless.

Turns out that Pueblo is the only metro area on the Front Range where elementary school teachers and police offiers make enough (~$45,000) to afford the median priced home ($116,00). In Colorado Springs, Ft. Collins, Denver, and Boulder. Elementary teachers and police officers need to make $13,000 more in Colorado Springs and $44,000 more in Boulder to afford the median priced homes in those communities ($180,00 and $285,000 respectively). The situation is probably more dire in resort communities where median housing prices are in the $300K - $500K range.

There has been a lot of concern and frustration with the quality of education in the state. Seems that the problem may be more than what is happening in the schools.

When does the minority become the majority?

Recent census numbers show that minorities make up the majority of the population in Texas, Hawaii, New Mexico, and California. Is it an oxymoron to call have a minority majority?

Read more ...

Is Western growth on a collision course with itself?

The Intermountain West is a hot commodity these days with projections for more people, more jobs, and more oil and gas development.

Much of the population influx throughout the Colorado resort regions will be driven not by tourism but by the pure nature of the area, according to speakers at a July conference in Keystone titled, "Visions, Vistas and Viewpoints: Imagining Our Mountain Communities in 2030."

At the same time, some energy leaders believe there will need to 400,000 new natural-gas wells in the Rocky Mountain states during the next 15 years to meet projected demand.

The Western landscape is vast, but can it accomodate to such different development visions?

Is Western growth on a collision course with itself?

The Intermountain West is a hot commodity these days with projections for more people, more jobs, and more oil and gas development.

Much of the population influx throughout the Colorado resort regions will be driven not by tourism but by the pure nature of the area, according to speakers at a July conference in Keystone titled, "Visions, Vistas and Viewpoints: Imagining Our Mountain Communities in 2030."

At the same time, some energy leaders believe there will need to 400,000 new natural-gas wells in the Rocky Mountain states during the next 15 years to meet projected demand.

The Western landscape is vast, but can it accomodate to such different development visions?

Health district for La Plata County?

A community task force, which includes representatives of the Colorado Nurses Association, Action Coalition for Medical Excellence, Valley Wide Health Systems, Mercy Medical Center, United Way of Southwest Colorado, San Juan Basin Health Department, the League of Women Voters, Rocky Mountains Health Plan and the La Plata County Medical Society, has just released the results of two surveys and a local health fair poll on health care and insurance issues in La Plata County.

The surveys reveal:

• Eighteen percent of residents have no health insurance.
  
• Twenty-one percent have no regular primary-care provider.
  
• Practitioners of internal medicine and pediatrics are in short supply.
  
• Cost is the most common barrier to seeking medical help.
  
• Forty-three percent would support a tax increase to widen medical coverage.

The 11-member task force wants to identify local needs and local solutions and find local funding to implement the solutions. Some of the Primary Care Access Study Group's recommendations include:

• Create a health-service district that would be funded by a property-tax increase. The tax revenue or financial support public or private groups could subsidize primary care, for example at San Juan Basin Health Department or the community health clinic currently operated by Valley Wide Health Systems clinics.
• Urge La Plata County Medical Society members to devise a fair-share plan so no single practitioner has a disproportionate number of indigent, uninsured, underinsured, Medicare or Medicaid patients.
• Establish a challenge fund through which business groups, charitable organizations and government agencies could match dollar donations from private physician groups, Mercy Medical Center or Valley Wide Health Systems to recruit health-care providers in deficit categories.

A health-care district would require approval by elected officials and a judge before it could go on a ballot. The earliest the proposal could be put to voters would be May 2006.

Read the full article in The Durango Herald . . .

Durango home costs jump 19% in a year

The median price of a home within Durango city limits increased almost 19 percent from $299,999 in the second quarter of 2004 to $355,752 in the second quarter of 2005. Meanwhile, county homes saw an increase from a $262,000 median price to $291,000, about 11 percent. The median price of county homes near Durango is $369,900, near Bayfield $254,000 and near Ignacio $208,000.

Read the full article in the Durango Herald . . .

Health care and global competitive advantage

Paul Krugman's July 25 article on Toyota locating a new car factory in Canada rather than the U.S. because of the educated Canadian workforce and its national health insurance system highlights the differences the public sector plays in the two countries. He writes,

"Pundits tell us that the welfare state is doomed by globalization, that programs like national health insurance have become unsustainable. But Canada's universal health insurance system is handling international competition just fine. It's our own system, which penalizes companies that treat their workers well, that's in trouble."

Maybe treating people well is a competitve advantage in the global economy after all.

Can US health care learn something from Canada?

Ian Morrison's opinion piece makes it clear that no country has the perfect health system - not even Canada, but the U.S could learn a bit from its neighbor to the north when it comes to administrative efficiency. As he writes,

"Estimates are that 25 percent of American health care is administrative waste: Armies of clerks are upcoding, downcoding, adjudicating, faxing, scribbling and kvetching over payment. In Los Angeles County alone there are 1,900 people who do nothing but fill out forms for Medicaid eligibility with a productivity target of two such forms a day. In Canada, all doctors in each province are paid based on a standard simple fee schedule. There are no discounts, no pay for performance, not much utilization review and very little faxing."

With GM announcing that their second quarter losses of $1.1 billion are due primarilty to increasing health care costs, you'd think there would be more private sector demand to eliminate such waste.

One step forward on global warming, but ...

It is good to see that U.S. Senators are publicly agreeing with the overwhelming scientific evidence that global warming is fact, not fiction and that the federal government should quickly act to address the issue.

Unfortunately, senators cannot seems to agree on what to do. In the words of Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.). "I'm looking for a solution, but I'm not going to join the crowd that thinks it's simple."

Including incentives for energy efficiency rather than for oil and gas development (in the current energy bill) and reinstituting vehicle efficiency standards don't seem to make the grade despite growing concern about US security and our dependence on foreign oil.

Check out www.setamericafree.org and www.oilendgame.com.

Community organizations seek support on Routt County Ballot

Three organizations hve come forward with proposal for property tax increase to help fund their programs. Combined, the tax increase would add 4.56 mills, or $32 for every $100,000 of assessed residential value. For the average home in Steamboat Springs -- valued at $560,000, the three tax increases total an extra $180 a year.

• The East Routt Library Board is asking for an estimated 2.56-mill levy to be used for the construction and operating expenses of an expanded library facility. The mill levy would be applied to properties within the Steamboat Springs School District.
• Horizons Specialized Services is requesting a countywide 1-mill levy to help fund programs for Routt County residents with developmental disabilities.
• The PDR Citizens Advisory Board asked county commissioners to approve a ballot question to renew a mill levy dedicated to preserving agriculture land and open space in Routt County. The board also requested to increase the levy from 1 mill to 1.5 mills.

With the Purchase Development Rights tax ending in two years, Citizens Advisory Board members said they wanted to ask voters now to renew the tax. They hoped an additional half-mill would help them fund projects.

In 1996, Routt County voters became the first in the intermountain West to establish a tax dedicated to a county-funded Purchase of Development Rights program.

At present, the tax generates about $700,000 a year. The additional half mill would raise a little more than $1 million and would help fund more of the projects that come before the board.

Currently, the cost to a Routt County homeowner is $7.96 a year per $100,000 of assessed value. The tax would increase to $11.94 a year per $100,000 of assessed value if voters approve a 1.5-mill levy.

Read full article by Christine Metz in the Steamboat Pilot

Wages lag in Grand Valley

A recent study conducted by the city of Grand Junction shows Mesa County ranks last in average annual wages among Colorado’s seven most populated communities, even as it steadily becomes more a more place expensive to live.

The study includes April data from the Economic Research Institute and 2003 data from Colorado’s Occupational Employment Statistics Program. The data show Mesa County, with an average annual worker salary of $35,500, ranks anywhere between 2 and 14 percent below the other six metro areas. The OES Program data reveal virtually the same figures.

In years past, employers have been able to respond to gripes about comparatively low wages by pointing out the Grand Valley’s equally low cost-of-living. But ERI data appear to deflate that argument. A federal report released earlier this year showed home prices in the Grand Junction area increased 6.71 percent in 2004, more than any other metro area in Colorado and 2.5 percent more than the state average. Gasoline, utilities and groceries are usually more expensive in the valley than the state’s metro areas. Experts say it’s because more competition for those services on the Front Range drives down prices, and some cities, such as Colorado Springs, own their own utility companies.

Read the full article by Mike Wiggins in the Daily Sentinel . . .

Massachusetts builds support for 'green' housing

State officials recently unveiled the Massachusetts Green Communities Initiative, a multimillion-dollar collaborative effort designed to encourage more affordable and energy-efficient public housing.

The new program brings together three organizations -- the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and the Enterprise Foundation -- to provide about $209 million in incentives, including loans, grants, and tax credits, for developers to build 1,000 ''green" homes for low-income families across the state.

Read the full article . . .

Universal health care push being revived in Ohio

The soaring cost of health care and the lack of political support in Washington for federal changes has Ohio, doctors, union officials and religious leaders gathering signatures to get a single-payer health system placed on a ballot next year.

Advocates of a single-payer system — where the government would collect taxes and cover everyone, similar to programs in Canada and across Europe — have introduced bills in at least 18 state legislatures.

Not since Oregon in 2002 has a state voted on a single-payer health system. Voters there soundly rejected it, as did Californians in 1994. Both times, the proposals came under fierce assault from the medical, insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

Across the nation, the number of uninsured is 45 million and rising, and 16 million lack enough insurance to cover all their medical bills.

Read the full article

Eagle Valley entering new era of collaboration?

During the 1990’s, Eagle County was one of the fastest growing places in the U.S. The County's population almost doubled (21,928 to 41,659) and it moved from rural to micropolitan according to the US Census. (Montrose and La Plata Counties also entered this new category - see map.) Recent developments may point to a new area of planning and cooperation in Eagle County to address the rate and location of development in the future, namely:

• Eagle County is teaming up with business leaders to fund a $50,000 study meant to determine the direction of Eagle County's economy and its population, among other issues.
• The Towns of Eagle and Gypsum approved a sales tax revenue sharing agreement to level the playing field when dealing with potential big-box retail developers. Under the terms of the agreement, if a major retailer lands on specified parcels of land in either town, half of the sales tax revenues will be shared in a 60-40 split. The "host" town would get the larger percentage of the sales tax.
• The Town of Eagle rejected a large commercial annexation, which would have included a large retailer, because the proposal didn’t meet the town’s needs.
• Recently elected Eagle County Commissioner Peter Runyon wants the county and towns within the county to work together to be more choosy about what they approve and where they approve it.

Business leaders and regional cooperation

Business leaders throughout the U.S. are getting increasingly organized to improve the economic fortunes and the quality of life of the regions they live and do business in. They, along with colleagues in the public and nonprofit sectors, are realizing that the scale of the challenges facing U.S. communities are beyond the ability of any one sector to solve -- collaboration has become a practical necessity.

MetroBusinessNet is a new resource for business-civic leaders interested in working collaboratively to support sustainable and inclusive economic development on a metropolitan scale, however, community leaders at any geographic scale can find useful information on their website.

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Community internet

When Glenwood Springs created its own wireless internet service infrastructure a couple of years ago, it was hard to imagine such an act would instigate national debate. But last year, when Philadelphia attempted to follow Glenwood Springs and other communities across the U.S. by becoming an Internet Service Provider (ISP), it ignited a heated debate that has resulted in new legislation across the country.

This debate took place in the Colorado this year. The Legislature passed SB 05-152, which as a compromise requires communities to put the ISP option to a public vote. Fortunately, communities such as Glenwood Springs are grandfathered by the legislation.

For more information on community internet access and broadband as a public service visit Free Press.

Making Better Places

City planner Jeff Speck, director of design at the National Endowment for the Arts, offers advice -- in the form of ten City Design Resolutions -- for elected officials who want to build better places. His advice is aimed at larger cities, but I think his points apply to smaller communities as well. (See the full article here.)

His ten points include:

1. Design Streets for People

2. Overrule the Specialists

3. Mix the Uses

4. Hide the Parking Lots

5. Small is Beautiful

6. Save That Building

7. Build Normal (Affordable) Housing

8. Build Green / Grow Green

9. Question your Codes

10. Don't Forget Beauty

I think #9 (Question your codes) is a particularly promising approach since most people don't even know what is in their town codes (and really, why should they?). The growing interest in form-based codes (or smart codes), which focus more on location, height, design, and parking rather than function could make it easier for communities to connect their comprehensive plan (the vision) with their zoning (the rules). Speck's recommendations also match the areas of smart growth covered in HMC's Colorado Smart Growth Scorecard.

Why a blog?

Field Notes is an attempt to share information, new ideas and stories about community development that catch my attention. The idea for Field Notes comes from Stephen Denning's The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations in which he tells an impressive "story" of how storytelling can serve as a tool for organizational change and knowledge management.

"By a springboard story, I mean a story which enables a leap in understanding by the audience so as to grasp how an organization or community or complex system may change."
- Stephen Denning

Hopefully, some of these notes (stories) act as a springboard for improvements in your community. This blog compliments Healthy Mountain Communities' organizational newsletter and webpage.

Thanks for your interest.