Tourism
a fatality waitng to happen
Safety at May and 13th
When I was asked to write an article to go along with this cartoon, I immediately searched for traffic statistics and research on the effectiveness (and ineffectiveness) of traffic controls. Then it occurred to me that you don’t need to be an expert to realize there’s a problem at May and 13th.
Instead, I ask anyone familiar with this Hood River intersection to take this brief quiz:
1. As you drive south on 13th Street—on your way to Rosauer’s—how often do you pause to watch for pedestrians at May Street?
2. As you drive west along May Street, how often do you pause to watch for pedestrians as you turn left onto 13th?
I’ve spent more than five years teaching and conducting research on pedestrian issues, and even I don’t do well on that quiz. There are just too many other things to be paying attention to—like whether or not you’re about to get sideswiped by an SUV.
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bring nature alive on the page
Writers Workshop Reborn in ‘07
Eileen Garvin is this year’s Beargrass coordinator. She lives, plays, and writes in the Columbia Gorge.
Beargrass Writers Workshop 2007 - Voices From Nature
We are pleased to present the Beargrass Writers Workshop at the Northwest Service Academy Mt. Adams Center in Trout Lake, Wash., from March 30 to April 1, 2007. Located just 20 miles north of Hood River, Ore., Trout Lake sits under the majestic gaze of the Northwest’s second highest peak.
This year marks the revival of the Beargrass Writers Workshop, which has been dormant for several years. The workshop takes its name from the hardy native grass, Xerophyllum tenax, which thrives in the alpine forests of Mt. Adams. Like the dramatic flowering stalk of the Beargrass itself, we are pushing out strands of new growth and energy.
Beargrass 2007 brings together a host of talented regional and local writers whose craft is informed by the voice of nature. Following our welcome session and readings on Friday night, workshop attendees will participate in three different sessions on Saturday. Saturday evening will take us to the Trout Lake Country Inn for an evening of reading, performance and celebration.
Featured writers will include the Columbia Gorge’s own Bill Weiler and Leigh Hancock.
Stick around on Sunday morning for a choice of different nature hikes (weather permitting) or a bonus workshop on how to combine art and poetry...
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Fraser Valley Blizzard Dept.
Skiing Apres le Deluge at Winter Park
When we woke up at 7 a.m. on Friday morning, looked out the window of our rented condo in Fraser, and saw nothing but horizontal blowing snow, we knew our plans for skiing Winter Park that day were off. When we tried to drive the two miles into Winter Park later that morning and found ourselves in total whiteout conditions on Hwy. 40, we knew were in the teeth of a classic Fraser Valley blizzard – and that we would be lucky to avoid crashing into a truck emerging from the opaque wall of windblown snow.
We made it, barely. The snowstorm that hit the Fraser Valley that day, closing Berthoud Pass plus long stretches of I70 through midday on Saturday, totally cut off Winter Park and Fraser, causing many unfortunate motorists to sleep in their vehicles and making us feel lucky that we'd gotten up there on Thursday afternoon, before the blizzard hit. We had comfortable lodgings, a couple of rented DVDs (including Warren Miller's extreme skiing video Higher Ground), and dinner picked up at the Fraser Safeway – which on stormy weekends like this one tends to run low on essentials.
This storm was the latest and harshest of what has become a ridiculously brutal winter in northern Colorado.
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DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR DINNER CAME FROM?
Bison Nation: A Way To See Value Of Local FoodWhen the idea was circulated last fall at a North American conference on buffalo in Denver sponsored by the Wildlife Conservation Society, "bison nation" had a ring of sounding like it came from the mouths of counterculturists. Indeed, the document being passed around was titled "A Manifesto by Gary Nabhan and Kelly Kindscher." And the question could be asked: Counterculture to what? The answer is the way we've grown our food since the end of World War II. Suddenly, consumers in the Rockies find themselves at the center of a delicious rebellious movement. [more]
Monday Business Roundup
Corporations Nix Big Sports SponsorshipsFor the second time in less than a year a big sporting event has said "No, thanks," to Denver. The International golf tournament, a fixture on the PGA tour for two decades, will not be returning to Castle Pines in 2007 and it's not certain that Denver will get another PGA tour stop for years.
The demise of the International follows the announcement that the Denver Grand Prix has ceased operations.
The problem comes down to corporate sponsorships: no major sponsors were willing to underwrite the costly sporting events. The International, in fact, has gone without a "title sponsor" since 2003. Local officials and sports marketers were quick to point out that Denver is still a major sports market; the luxury suites at Invesco Field and the Pepsi Center, for instance, have no problem selling out year after year.
In reality, the corporate sports sponsorship market is becoming a top-heavy deal, with huge corporations willing to spend big on the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, and the NCAA's Final Four, but unwilling to blow millions on second-tier golf tournaments like the International. Even as sports sponsorship has exploded from less than a million dollars annually to a $28 billion-plus business in the last two decades, several studies have questioned the real value of corporate logos on what are essentially meaningless tournaments and races. Especially since the naming-rights fiascos of the early 2000s, when several pro stadiums found themselves named after bankrupt technology firms, corporations in the West may simply have found better things to spend their money on.
In other business news: Brewing-empire scion Michael Coors wants to be a ski-resort entrepreneur; Coors' ads scrape the bottom of the keg; and judge in Nacchio case blows his top.
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Ontario and San Diego, No LAX
ExpressJet Will Fly Boise to Southern CA
ExpressJet Airlines will begin commercial nonstop flights from Boise to two southern California airports this spring.
We'll be able to fly to either San Diego or Ontario, California for a roundtrip fare between about $240 and $300, according to company president and CEO Jim Ream, on planes which seat 50.
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WILL PARK COUNTY BE PARADISE LOST OR FOUND?
A County Near Yellowstone Falls Apart Over Planning
Park County exists in a high-profile neighborhood. With its county seat being Livingston, the Sangri-la for anglers and literati set hard against the banks of the Yellowtone River and its southern reaches stretching into Yellowstone National Park, Park County, Montana derives enormous pride from the fact that its geographic heart is a dell known as Paradise Valley. But no paradise in the modern world -- certainly none in the West -- has remained intact without human efforts to protect it. In this county, many observers claim, there remains a gaping intellectual disconnect between planning and stewardship with the definitive wedge being a largely laissez-faire approach to real estate development.
Park County could be considered a model for how planning efforts across the West have crumbled into hostility and lawsuits. In the comprehensive and insightful story that follows, David Nolt, senior editor for the Livingston Weekly, examines how the topics of growth and land subdivision have caused fracture lines to emerge, leading its residents to engage in some long-overdue soul searching. -- Todd Wilkinson
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READING TEA LEAVES IN THE TETONS
Are Trends In Jackson Hole Applicable To Other Western Towns?Jackson Hole has been largely insulated from many of the economic hiccups swirling in the outside world around it. The Tetons, though, also have served as a bellwether for assessing how ultra-wealthy communities relate to the landscape and neighboring towns, creating their own ripple effect. In this piece, ace economic commentator Jonathan Schechter looks into his crystal ball for the coming year and makes some predictions about what might lay ahead for his home valley. Will the bursting national real estate bubble have an impact on Jackson Hole and what might the popping portend for other similar outdoor-oriented economies in the Rockies? Realtors, take note. Something else: Jackson Hole's economy is going green. [more]
Monday Business Roundup
We’re All Employers NowThe federal raids last week that netted some 1,300 undocumented workers at Swift & Co. meatpacking plants across six states clearly demonstrated two facts: the INS is more serious than ever about busting laborers at American companies without targeting those companies themselves; and we are all complicit in the continued hidden-in-plain view hiring of illegal immigrants.
On Sunday the Post published a terrific feature by staff writers Elizabeth Aguilera and Greg Griffin, underlining in the clearest possible terms through interviews with businesspeople in Greeley, where 261 people were arrested, just how pervasive -- and accepted -- the underground economy is. The key quote: "It's really just accepted, the immigrant workers and the illegal immigrants. And why? Because they are needed," said Steve Mize, owner of Jerry's Market in Greeley. "It's not an argument; it just is."
Until it was sold in 2004, Swift & Co. was 46 percent owned by ConAgra Foods, which is a huge publicly owned company with a $13.5 billion market cap. Even after the sale, plenty of us including me are consumers of Swift products. The Greeley townspeople interviewed by Griffin and Aguilera had sharply differing views on illegal immigration, but they all agreed on one thing: our economy depends on these workers.
On his evening show on CNN Lou Dobbs rants against unimpeded immigration every night. I wonder if Dobbs, a multimillionaire ranch owner, uses products from Swift -- or any of the hundreds of other U.S. companies that routinely employ undocumented workers.
In other business news:
Political insiders in Denver start to lose hope of landing the 2008 Democratic Convention; Colorado restaurants reach all-time highs; and Vail Resorts on a roll going into the high season.
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Mountain Resort Signs Contract with Film Company for Another Four Years
Teton Gravity Research and Jackson Hole Mountain Resort: Partners Until 2010By signing another contract with the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Thursday, Teton Gravity Research hopes to continue as the brand for ski films across the country. Resort officials announced Thursday that it signed a four-year, six-figure contract with the film company that will last until 2010.
Officials say the contract reflects a commitment to the "big mountain, high testosterone experience JHMR provides and the confidence in this Teton Village, WY based company." ...
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