Money can't but U.S. health

Hot off the presses is a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which compares the health of residents of the United States and the United Kingdom.

One of the key findings in the comparison is the differences between the two countries. The United States spends $5274 per person, per year, on health care and the United Kingdom spends $2164

The study made sure to have 'apple to apple' comparisons given the different demographics in the two counties, so the comparison is between 45-55 year old non-Hispanic white men and women.

The findings are brutal. By basically every standard, Americans are sicker than the Brits. Diabetes, for instance is roughly double in the US than it is in the UK. The rates of other common ailments - hypertension, heart disease, heart attacks, stroke, lung disease and cancer - are also all higher in the United States. And oftern a lot higher, despite the fact that the Brits smoke about the same amount and drink twice as much as Americans. So much for the best health system money can buy.

See the full article in the JAMA . . .

Aspen bus lane to get crunch time test

Aspen began its effort to get buses out of town faster by testing the new bus lane on Main Street heading out of town. The city will restricting parking along Main Street from 3-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, to create the new bus lane.

The new lane is working as expected, but the real test comes in another week or two, when high season really kicks into gear. During the offseason, roughly 21,000 cars drive in and out of Aspen on a given day. In July and August, that number jumps to 29,000, which can translate into cars backed up for six or seven blocks.

Although city officials are grateful for the chance to move buses through town faster, they know the new bus lane isn't a solution to the city's traffic problem. The hope is that anything that improves the bus-riding experience will encourage more people to get out of their cars and onto the bus.

"[The new lane] wasn't intended to solve traffic congestion at all," City Transportation Director John Krueger said. "It's to help buses that have 40, 50, 60 people on them get out of town quicker."

Read the full article in the Aspen Times . . .

Optimism about Cdale's Marketplace after design charrette

Citizens reviewing new conceptual plans for the controversial 22 acre Crystal River Marketplace development site were a lot more positive than they have been in a long time.

The "draft conceptual program" has yet to receive the blessing of the town's board of trustees, but even opponents of the development proposals were upbeat about the current planning effort.

The new plan calls for a total of between 160,000 and 175,000 square feet of retail space, including a 60,000-square-foot space for the "anchor" store; between 150 and 175 housing units (15 percent of which must be "affordable" under town codes); three "junior anchors" at about 20,000 square feet apiece, and a mix of commercial and office space scattered around the site.

An earlier proposal, defeated in a referendum in 2003, called for 252,000 square feet of commercial space, anchored by a 125,000-square-foot site for a big-box retailer.

The next public meetings about the Marketplace plans will be a Community Open House, with "completed drawings and economic information," from 6-9 p.m. on July 5. Town trustees and the planning and zoning commission have scheduled a joint meeting to take a first formal look at the plans at 6:30 p.m. on July 19.

The design charrette idea grew out of Carbondale's Economic Road Map process, which has focused on better understanding and directing the town's future toward a more "diverse and sustainable economy."

Read the full article in the Post Independent . . .

Garco study finds housing values only temporarily reduced from gas drilling

Ford Frick of BBC Research in Denver recently presented the results of a land values study commissioned by Garfield County. The study looked at the factors that drive land values and the the impacts of “rural industrialization” including gas well drilling and gravel pit operations in the county.

Frick and his team analyzed 7,600 property transactions from 1987 to 2004 as well as drilling data. There are 5,010 well drilling permits currently held in the county and 2,675 operating gas wells.

The gas industry ultimatley contributes to housing appreciation. The value lost during initial drilling activity is more than recaptured a few years later by the increasing demand for housing so don't sell your property at the first site of a drilling rig!

Read the full article in the Post Independent . . .

Yampa Valley Housing Authority looks at funding options to meet needs

The Yampa Valley Housing Authority is looking for ways to meet the growing need for affordable housing in Routt County. YVHA currently relies on funding from Steamboat Springs and Routt County to fund projects. The Housing Authority was formed in early 2004 and is composed of a variety of community members.

According to state statute, there are three options for dedicated funding sources: a sales tax of 1 percent or less; a property tax of 5 mills or less; or an impact fee of $2 or less per square foot. An impact fee charges a dollar amount for every square foot of a new building. If the Housing Authority chooses an impact fee, it must also have a tax. All three of the options require a vote by the residents who live within the Housing Authority's boundaries.

YVHA staff and board members said it is too early to say what type of funding the board may go for. Funds that are gained from a dedicated funding source would be used for more affordable housing projects.

The median sale price of a home in Routt County -- the price that falls in the middle of prices for all home solds -- rose from about $270,000 in 2000 to $370,000 in 2004. In April, only one single-family home in Steamboat Springs area listed at less than $300K.

Read the full article in the Steamboat Pilot . . .

Voters reject creating health district in La Plata County

Voters said "no" twice to a proposal to create and fund a health district in La Plata County.

The district was defeated by 6,040 votes (53 percent) to 5,290 votes (47 percent), while the tax levy was defeated by 6,869 votes (60 percent) to 4,538 votes (40 percent). The district would have been funded by a 1.7 mill tax levy, which would have raised about $4.2 million in its first year. A seven-member board, including two members from each of three districts and one at-large member, would have overseen the use of the district's funds.

The proponents' service plan would have focused money on primary and mental-health care. Funds would have gone to Valley-Wide Health Systems, the San Juan Basin Health Department, the Southwest Colorado Mental Health Center and others.

The 11,539 votes represent about 43 percent of the ballots mailed.

Read the full article in the Durango Herald . . .

The West's big landscape demands big vision

Western author Wallace Stegner wrote about the goal of creating a society to match the scenery of the region. To get there, the West will have to formulate a vision to match its views, an expert in regional planning and conservation told a Glenwood Springs audience Friday. "We need to articulate a broad vision, a bold vision for a more sustainable, more benign society," Luther Propst of the Sonoran Institute said at the State of the Valley Symposium, presented by Healthy Mountain Communities at the Hotel Colorado. Propst is executive director of the nonprofit institute, which he said promotes decisions that respect the land and its people. It's based in Arizona, but recently opened a satellite office in Grand Junction.

The West has a unique competitive advantage in the global economy, Propst said. Besides its economic opportunities, it offers its residents easy access to vast amounts of public lands where they can find recreation and solitude. The result has been a population boom that is expected to continue. Under one estimate, 40 million more people will live in the intermountain West by 2040, and Colorado's population will grow to 7.1 million then, from 4.7 million now.

"The question is how do we accommodate those people while still protecting what we all value about the West," Propst said.

That growth is threatening the quality of life on which the Western economy now depends, he said.

"The changes are occurring faster than the structures for dealing with them," he said.

Propst said that to achieve Stegner's goal, "we have to tap into the proclivity of the West for thinking big, the proclivity of America for thinking big."

Negative thinking won't cut it, he said.

Among other attributes, such a society would be less reliant on cars, would protect landscapes and watersheds, and would have well-planned communities with attainably priced housing, he said.

Examples of that big vision already can be found around the West, Propst said. Among them:

• Pima County, Ariz., undertook the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, originally to address conflicts over endangered species. Voters approved a $275 million bond issue to purchase open space, and other bonds for public transportation and other needs.


• Cities such as Denver and Phoenix are turning extensively to passenger rail transportation.


• Wyoming created a wildlife trust fund from energy development revenues.


• Residents of Custer County, Colo., realized they didn't have the tax base to conserve ranch lands themselves, so they talked to ranchers and state and federal agencies and came up with a plan to protect 20,000 acres from the kind of fate that has met a lot of agricultural lands in the nearby Front Range.

Another speaker Friday, Tim Watkins of the nonprofit organization Envision Utah, described how the Salt Lake City area and surrounding counties jointly agreed on their vision for the future of the region, where 1 million more people are expected to live by 2020. Some of their goals are protecting air quality, boosting passenger rail, making communities more walkable, promoting infill development, and deciding how much land is needed for development and what land should be protected.Propst believes Healthy Mountain Communities provides an example of forward thinking in western Colorado. Based in Carbondale, it promotes regional collaboration and innovation on issues such as affordable housing, transportation, economic development and human services.

"The work you have done in this region is an inspiration for people all over the West," Propst said.

Article by Dennis Webb, Post Independent Staff
May 7, 2006