Aspen mayoral race heats up

Although there is still time for other candidates to enter the race, the current candidates for Mayor of Aspen began their first debate in the media by sparring over the city's affordable housing program. Candidate, and former City Council member, Tim Semaru recently suggested increasing the appreciation cap to 5% annually on deed restricted units . The current cap is 3 percent or the national rate of inflation, whichever is lower.

Candidates Mick Ireland and Torre both discarded the suggestion. Ireland, who lives in deed-restricted affordable housing, said Semaru's suggestion would be a negation of the deal between the city and citizens more than 20 years ago. Torre commented that he didn't think the change was neccessary since people "who are in employee housing aren't using it to make money, just to get in the door."

Tom McCabe, director of the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority, said he is worried that the Semaru's plan would hurt local government's ability to prevent the conversion of some 224 housing units into free-market condominiums in the future.

Learn more about Aspen's Affordable Housing Program . . .

Carbondale's educational challenge

Combine a diverse student body, two charter schools, a well known private high school, a number of private elementary schools, and a statewide open enrollment policy and you get a number of challenging educational and community issues in Carbondale.

A couple of weeks ago, Town Trustees heard various opinions about a proposed state bill to create more accountability for state approved charter schools, which brought up issues of segregation in Carbondale's elementary schools, and now parent concerns about enrollment and academic standards at Roaring Fork High School has reached public attention again.

Perhaps, as an editorial in the Valley Journal suggests, it is time for a meeting of the minds on the Carbondale's school.

Your mission: Create proposal to address health care crisis

Imagine that you have one month to create a proposal to address healthy care in Colorado, and if it's a good proposal it could be presented to the State Legislature in November.

Well, there is no need to imagine, you can be busy putting your ideas to paper.

The Colorado Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform ('the Commission') has just released a call for Health Reform Proposals due to the Commission by 5:00pm on Friday, April 6, 2007. Prospective proposers should submit, by mail or email, a 'Notice of Intent to Submit a Proposal' by 5:00 PM March 13, 2007.

The purpose of the Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform is to 'study and establish health care reform models to expand health care coverage and to decrease health care costs for Colorado residents. For any questions regarding proposal, contact Sarah Schulte, Technical Advisor to the Commission, at sarahschulte@mindspring.com.

And you thought no one would listen.

Basalt wrestles growth

When you are the first town downvalley from Aspen and Snowmass Village, and stradle the boundary between Pitkin and Eagle Counties, you would expect some challenging planning and community development situations.

Nowadays, just about every where the Town of Basalt turns presents another significant challenge. For example:

• Last month, one Basalt's two downtown affordable hotels, The Green Drake Inn, sold for $4.4 million to an investment group that could repeat the trend in Aspen of converting small lodge and hotel rooms to fractional ownership luxury units;


• The town is working to connect the older part of town to the newer south side with an underpass, since the 6-lanes of State Highway 82 presents a formidable barrier between two parts of town;


• The booming second-home market is creating a shortage of affordable housing and every undevelopmed parcel in Basalt's urban growth boundary has a development proposal in the review process; and,


• The town hopes to complete the update its of 1999 urban growth boundary and master plan by this summer.

No wonder a recent Aspen Times Weekly article by Scott Condon asked 'What's happening to my small, quirky town?'

Housing prices continue upward

The national housing market may be stagnant, but housing in the mountains continues on an upward trajectory. According to a recent article in the Aspen Times, the average price for a three-bedroom home jumped, often substainally, throughout the region in 2006.

Basalt: $694,880 (up 21%)

Carbondale: $476,000 (up 4%)

Glenwood Springs: $383,932 (up 21%)

Rifle: $231,851 (up 14%)

The median income for a four person household in Garfield County was $62,300 in 2005.

System versus Silo Thinking

Neal Peirce writes about the the "green revolution" happening in America's cities and towns in the January, American Prospect. 

Peirce describes a number of cities (Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle) that are re-connecting the commons (parks, roads, rivers, and everywhere there is public investment) through public infrastructure investments to create heatlhy places.  The projects are bold, exciting, and hold promise for state and national policy.  But, he points out, the work ahead requires a change it the way we think and approach problem solving.  He writes,

"[...] there's the challenge to the professionals -- the architects, planners, designers, engineers, builders, utility representatives, city and county housing officials, and others engaged on the front line of building and reshaping communities. Historically -- and often, still today -- they have worked sequentially, first doing the land planning, then the underground pipes, then roadways and buildings and so on.

In a smart 21st century, that won't do. It costs too much and it misses opportunities for better aesthetics, energy efficiency, and quality of life. The time's at hand to move from silos to systems [emphasis added]. It's the right moment to ask the professionals to start thinking more broadly, to work closely with colleagues from the other disciplines from start to end of any project."

Deja vu commuting in the Roaring Fork Valley

A decade ago, writing about the hellacious commute many put up with to get into Aspen, was almost a daily occurance. It looks likethe region is heading into another similar cycle of concern

As Charles Agar writes in the Aspen Times Weekly,

Perhaps the most obvious human cost of the upper valley’s stratospheric real estate market is the ever-longer commutes from affordable homes to higher-paying jobs in or near Aspen. Long commutes cost time and money; they pollute the environment and erode people’s sense of community. Most of the those who spend hours of each working day on Highway 82 have accepted the commute as a necessary trade-off, but it’s getting harder for upper valley employers to find the help they need . . .

More and more Aspen workers are commuting over the Grand Hogback, an area named for a ridge along Interstate 70 west of Glenwood Springs, to towns like New Castle, Silt and Rifle.

“Ridership is going through the roof,” said Dave Iverson, operations manager with Roaring Fork Transportation Authority. Statistics for city transport in Aspen and Glenwood have increased sharply, and the number of riders traveling the length of the valley and along the Hogback are rising steadily. In December 2006, nearly 23,000 riders made the round trip to Carbondale, and nearly 6,000 made the trip through the Hogback area, he said, a rise of 13 percent since 2005 . . .

Aspen faces a shrinking labor market, and even Aspen’s affordable housing program, which provides the option of lower-cost home ownership in Aspen, is not enough to entice many to the area. Many home-buyers choose the free market, even if it means moving to western Garfield County, over the 3 percent appreciation caps on employee-housing units in the upper Roaring Fork Valley.

Read the full article . . .