Drug Truce
Commission to Voters: Lee-Guh-Lyze ItJust over five weeks ahead of the mid-term elections the news out of Aspen is, uhh, dazed but not confused: This week The Pitkin County Board of Commissioners unanimously endorsed Amendment 44, the ballot measure that would allow adults to possess up to an ounce of marijuana legally. (One commish reportedly responded to the vote by exclaiming, "Dude, I'm so stoked!")
This cannot be good news for Ricky Magnuson, “community resource officer” for the Aspen P.D., who is running against five-time incumbent Bob Braudis, who's taken a pragmatic approach to enforcing laws on recreational drugs in the resort town, on a clean-up-the-county platform.
“There are a lot of drug issues here,” Aspen Police’s community resource officer Ricky Magnuson told the Denver Post recently. “There are a lot of substance-abuse problems, and I don’t think he’s addressing them.”
Tell it to the commissioners, Ricky boy. You might have to shout, though -- they've got Massive Attack cranking on the headphones.
GHOST GRIZZLIES?
Colorado Hunters Report Seeing Grizzlies, Long Believed Extinct in StateGrizzly bears have long been considered gone from the mountains of Colorado. Reports of suspected sightings in southern Colorado have sounded like Bigfoot sightings: fleeting glances, unusually large footprints, no evidence.
But state wildlife officials are taking seriously a recent reported grizzly sighting in the San Isabel National Forest near Independence Pass, which connects Aspen and Leadville.
Division of Wildlife officials say two hunters, both with experience with grizzlies and black bears, spotted a female grizzly and two cubs in a clearing about 80 yards away on Sept. 20. They watched them through binoculars and a spotting scope for about a minute until the bears moved on. They found no tracks or scat left behind.
A trio of DOW officers searched the site on foot on Sept. 23, but found no evidence. They’re planning to make another round.
The sighting is unusual, but DOW officials say they can’t rule out that what the hunters saw really were grizzlies.
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‘SEE THE STORY, AND KNOW IT’
Aspen Filmfest Returns for 28th YearWe begin soaring over the Arafura Swamp, a vast wetlands in Australia’s Northern Territory. Soon we hover just inches over the water, as if we are in one of the canoes of the Yolngu people depicted in this unusual film, “Ten Canoes.”
“Once upon a time in a land far away …” begins narrator David Gulpilil, Then he laughs. “No, not like that. But I am going to tell you a story.”
Directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr, the film presents an Aboriginal tale mixing Western film techniques and Aboriginal storytelling techniques, hopping back and forth between black-and-white real time and technicolor Dreamtime. “Then you can see the story, and know it,” Gulpilil says, as we wind through a labyrinth of trees that rise above the swamp.
So begins the 28th Annual Aspen Filmfest, a much-anticipated celebration of film that returns to Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley each year. If it lacks the star-power of Sundance or the Telluride Film Festival, it never lacks for quality. Offering a mix of commercial films, documentaries and often offbeat foreign flicks, Filmfest has a tradition of turning the silver screen to gold.
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CLEARING THE AIR
State Report Links Gas Industry to Air PollutionLocals have long suspected it, but a recent state report confirms it. Those western Colorado blue skies are a little hazier thanks to the booming natural gas industry. A recent report by the Colorado Air Quality Commission points to oil and gas development as the main source of air pollution in Garfield and Rio Blanco counties.
The report points to compressor stations and vehicle emissions as the main sources of carbon monoxide in the region, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, which writes about the report.
The Rocky Mountain News is predicting another year of record revenues to the state from the oil and gas industry. Property taxes, royalties, rent and other bonuses are expected to be up 19 percent from last year, to $342 million. The state has already pocketed a record $202 million in severance tax – up almost 50 percent.
That’s good news for state coffers, but critics say it doesn’t weigh the hidden costs of drilling.
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WILD BILL | column by bill schneider
Beyond the Roadless RuleAs I said two weeks ago, you gotta feel for Forest Service employees. In addition to the frustration of being pawns in the political chess game played out in the Beltway, they must feel like tennis balls at Wimbledon.
I say, let's get out of the courthouse and beyond the Roadless Rule. We have work to do! Here are a few thoughts on what needs to be done.
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THE OTHER HOUSING COST
As Real Estate Prices Soar, Resort Workers FleeIt used to be, Aspen and Vail could rely on workers to trudge uphill from Garfield County to do the resort areas' dirty work. But those days are disappearing. With a high cost of living spreading through the resort area, the region's workforce is dwindling, and workers are finding jobs closer to home. That has officials worried about a looming worker shortage crisis across the region.
"We've never encountered anything quite like that, where there are not enough workers to fill the demands, and that becomes an economic cataclysm," says Don Cohen of the Economic Council of Eagle County, home to Vail Resorts.
Cohen shard the stage on Tuesday with County Commissioner Dorothea Farris, of Pitkin County, home to Aspen, and County Commissioner Tresi Houpt, of Garfield County, home to what has long been a reliable supply of resort workers. They were addressing the annual business conference hosted by the chamber of commerce in Carbondale, once a worker's hangout, now increasingly a redoubt for wealthy retirees.
It's a "perfect storm," Houpt said, that has caused Garfield County home prices to skyrocket. There's the "Pitkin County influence" as Aspen's wealth spreads downhill, raising land values and the cost of materials. And there's the booming natural gas industry, with an influx of workers snatching up any affordable home or apartment they can find.
"We've run out of stock," Houpt said.
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CRASH PAD CRASH
Aspen’s Filling Up FastWinter hasn't even arrived yet, and Aspen's affordable housing options are close to selling out.
Aspen Skiing Co.'s apartments are full. So are three of the city's seasonal housing offerings. A fourth is expected to fill up by mid-October.
Kim Keilin runs the city's Centennial affordable housing property. Usually, she tells the Aspen Daily News, she has about 15 apartments for rent this time of year. This year, she has four, and they're spoken for.
"In 20 years of doing this job, I've never seen the market this tight," she told the Daily News.
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DOWNSIZING DREAM HOMES
Another Western Resort Town Mulls Limits on House SizeAspen, Telluride and Pitkin County in Colorado all have them. So does Jackson, Wyo. And now Sun Valley planners want them, too.
“They” are limits on the size of homes built in the Idaho resort town.
An Associated Press article published today in the Twin Falls Times-News says Sun Valley’s planning board gave initial approval to an ordinance that would cap home sizes at 12,000-square feet — and impose even smaller limits on homes on hillsides.
Sun Valley’s Mayor Jon Thorson said the new limits are needed to preserve the scenic integrity of the mountain community.
But a developer, whose company is building new homes around a golf course, called the new rules a “travesty.”
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Networking the West with Liz Ryan
Ellen’s Network LessonSince we post a lot of how-not-to-network stories here, it's nice to be able to recount a Best Practices networking lesson. Here is one straight out of New West territory. Back in the early summer, I wrote a blog post here on New West called Big Tent Networking. One of the New West readers called me after reading that article, and we ended up meeting for coffee, and turning into networking buddies and friends. Her name is Ellen. [more]
WILD bILL
Time to Re-Think Glacier’s Bicycle RestrictionsI've ridden the Going-to-the-Sun Highway up to Logan Pass many times, and it might be the best bike ride in the New West. But every time I travel up to Glacier to enjoy this premier bike ride, I struggle with trying to understand the regulations imposed on cyclists by the National Park Service (NPS).
It's easy to understand the basis for most regulations. Good examples in Glacier would be prohibiting large mobile homes on Logan Pass because there's no room for two of them to meet or limits backcountry camping permits to reduce overuse of fragile landscapes. But I can't see any reason for these restrictions.
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