ISSUE #79: ANTidisestablishmentarianism
June 11
"... as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
-- Marianne Williamson, from the Aspen High School Class of 2012 Baccalaureate Service program, May 20, 2012
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Part of taking a foreign vacation is cutting ties with home and getting away from it all, especially when crossing the international dateline and waking up 14 hours ahead of Aspen time. But springtime and off-season in Aspen predictably enable governmental nonsense and shenanigans at City Hall, and spring 2012 has been no different. But it was somewhat amusing, a wee bit frightening and certainly ironic, amidst Politburo member Bo Xilai's corruption scandal and political activist Chen Guangcheng's "asylum" mess, to be checking in on our very own People's Republic over the internet from China, the communist motherland. SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER There's a notable new wave of public activism alight in our midst, and frankly, The Red Ant is elated. Citizens from Aspen and throughout the Roaring Fork Valley have organized, formed coalitions, and articulately expressed their views on a variety of perceived concerns, injustices and/or governmental over-reach to encouraging levels of publicity and outright success. This is a promising trend on many levels. An American's right to disagree with, speak out against and petition the government is a Constitutional right, protected by the 1st amendment. In the close quarters of our small community, this right has long been suppressed by intimidation and fear of all-too-real reprisals. The chutzpah of the following "activists" is to be commended, regardless of your stance on their missions. (And authors of letters to the editor are to be equally championed.) Speaking truth to power is necessary and highly valuable to our democracy. To those of you involved, welcome to the neighborhood. I've been looking forward to your arrival!
ANOTHER TAXPAYER-FUNDED BOONDOGGLE FOR MICK Mick's abuse of power and council's fear of stopping him has netted him yet another taxpayer-funded vacation. It worked last year, so he did it again. Mick just spent your tax dollars (amount t.b.d., it was just last week) on an off-season junket to California to see the Tour of California professional bike race in person. Technically, he really didn't ask; he simply announced his plans. That's how much control he has over the other 4 yes-men at the council table with him. His justification for the trip? Officials from the police and special events staffs went on a similar fact-finding trip last year for the USA Pro Cycling Challenge (which returns to Aspen for year #2 in August), but Mick wasn't there. "It's always best to check the facts out for yourself and go to the scene," Mick told the Daily News. Somehow his desire to know how other communities "pay for" similar events warranted a personal trip by our mayor. How about an email? The Red Ant recently received a note from a frustrated subscriber who pointed out that "the Tour of California is in May, after Aspen's (2012) plans are already set. And Mick's term ends next June, before the 2013 race in Colorado. Even if the race stops in Aspen next year, his term will be up (and he will be gone). How is the city going to benefit from Mick's newly acquired wisdom?" The answer: It won't. Are you kidding? ASPEN TAPS YOU FOR FILTERED WATER Our local greenies have gone "limousine" on us. Look for 3 new public "filtered-water" stations in town this summer. Installations at the municipal golf course, Francis Whitaker Park and Koch Lumber Park will join last year's stations at Wagner Park, Conner Park next to city hall and at the skate park near the Rio Grande Trail. The "Aspen Tap Program" is designed to "wean residents and visitors off water sold commercially in plastic bottles made from oil products," according to the city's environmental health department. This year's 3 installations come at a cost of $44,600. "Aspen Tap" is a pretty lame name for the program. After all, the stations don't provide "tap" water at all, rather filtered water for our persnickety greens. What ever happened to good old-fashioned drinking fountains? The funds for this folly come out of the city's "water department enterprise fund," yet another bucket of cash the city dips into to indulge its wacky ideas. This is the fund into which all water utility service fees are deposited and out of which all operating and capital improvement costs of the water are supposed to come. And it's also the source for the millions of dollars of cost-overruns incurred by the city on the ill-conceived and mismanaged construction of the yet-to-be-federally-approved hydro plant on Castle Creek. In 2012, the city plans to spend about $3M more than they take in. They've been burning cash from this fund for quite a while. At the end of 2008, the cash balance was $9.6M and in 2009 it was $9.9M. Since then, the balance has been sliding downward to $7.9M in 2010 and further to $6.8M last year. The budgeted balance for 2012 is $3.8M. We clearly have too much "funny money" in slush funds at city hall - an endless supply of slush from what they see as an endless supply of other people's money. And to think, they are looking at raising water rates yet again. |
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VELOCI-RFTA & THE NATURAL GAS HYPOCRISY Public transportation advocates (read: our local government) are caught between a rock and a hard place ("fracking" pun intended) in their attempts to balance their enthusiasm for environmentally friendly natural gas-powered buses in the Roaring Fork Transit Authority (RFTA) fleet with utter disdain for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) drilling in general. In the Roaring Fork Valley, the green light is on for a revolution in local bus transportation. The $46.4 million "Veloci-RFTA" project broke ground recently, and by September 2013, will offer bus riders from South Glenwood Springs to Aspen a bevy of new conveniences, including warm, dry bus stations with WiFi, bathrooms and public art, electronic ticketing and real-time bus arrival information. The Federal Transportation Administration kicked in $25 million for the project, and a year ago, voters in Pitkin County (and other RFTA jurisdictions) approved bonds to cover the balance. Ugh. But the crazy part is, the 18 new buses will run on compressed natural gas (CNG). This has our local greenies in a tailspin. On one hand, CNG is far less expensive than diesel fuel and far better for the environment, but locally, there is a huge brou-ha-ha over CNG drilling leases in the Thompson Divide area near Carbondale. Greenies can be NIMBYs too; they want the benefits of a smaller carbon footprint by RFTA of course, but don't want the "cost" of nearby CNG drilling nor any indication of their support for CNG drilling anywhere. Leave it to Aspen's environmental initiatives manager to tell the RFTA board, "My concern is seeing environmental benefits erased in the name of cost savings." Typical. Note how she neglects to acknowledge the (significant and obvious) "environmental benefits" of switching from diesel fuel to CNG! Can't have it both ways, folks! Some would call it hypocrisy, but in Aspen, remember, it's always "green" at ANY cost! (Note: The CNG-powered buses have been ordered.) ASPEN SCHOOLS: A TAXING DILEMMA There's a quick way to "fix" the local school district's funding problems. And - surprise - it does not involve yet another tax for a change! (The Aspen School District has received voter approval for many bond measures and mill-levy increases in recent years. The community loves its schools but is sick of getting taxed and taxed again.) I have a solution. It will take some elbow grease, but collecting approximately 1500 signatures at the Saturday Market this summer is certainly not a tall order. There is no question that the school district faces future budget cuts and the Aspen Education Foundation (AEF) is actively looking at viable solutions to the inevitable financial shortfalls. To ask voters for a 0.35 percent sales tax increase on retail sales within the school district boundaries is simply taking the easy way out. And taxpayers might just reject another tax increase, regardless of the beneficiary, especially when they learn that there was better option presented. Instead, The Red Ant has presented and is championing a "reallocation" of one-third of the existing Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) revenue that currently goes to the Wheeler Opera House. Sitting on a nearly $30 million endowment built up by the RETT, the Wheeler has no upcoming development plans, and still receives $1.5+ million in operating subsidies (and counting) from the city every year. This won't change. To "relieve" the Wheeler of its RETT revenue for the next 5-10 years (at which point the reallocation would revert back unless extended by the voters) in favor of the Aspen schools is certainly a viable proposition. And voters will surely prefer the reallocation of an existing tax to a new one! I encourage the Aspen Education Foundation to actively pursue this route instead of a sales tax increase. My early indicators (through the grapevine) are extremely favorable in terms of voter approval. But there is one sticking point. AEF leaders met recently with mayor Mick and his sidekick Torre to see about putting such a measure on the November ballot. Both said no. (Ya think?) Mick of course expressed his support for an increased sales tax, however. But this is not the end. AEF must realize that with a little work and some boots on the ground, they can circulate a citizens' petition and get their "reallocation" measure on the November ballot. Let's hope they do. AEF: please don't simply take the "easy way" out and ask for a sales tax increase with such a solid solution close by! Check with hydro petition leaders Ward Hauenstein and Maurice Emmer! It's really not that hard! COMPARED TO WHAT? A big shout-out to Aspen High School, recently ranked #1 in Colorado and 59th nationally by US News and World Report. This incredible recognition is for our local students, educators and frankly, the taxpayers who foot the bill. As columnist Roger Marolt recently noted, this award benefits property owners in Aspen as well, due to a "substantially large" non-linear relationship between real property owners and school quality. To quote Marolt, "Cha-ching!" But before we let such an accolade go to our heads, and perhaps lead us to justify and blindly support any and all new taxes to support the schools, there are some important thoughts on the newsmagazine's methodology for bestowing this honor. (I do not mean to diminish this recognition in any way, but want to acknowledge several determining criteria for this exceptional ranking.) Please take a moment to read this week's column by Paul Menter entitled "We're Number One." The former city finance director and father of two graduating seniors at Aspen High (congratulations Jordan and Alex!) thoughtfully examines the news weekly's three-step process that sent Aspen to the top of the class. In short, Aspen High, based on its 2010 CSAP test scores (step 1), ranks 17th in math and 12th in reading out of the 40 Colorado high schools considered in the ranking. Step 2 measured the performance of its "least advantaged" students, reported by Aspen as "N/A." The strength of Aspen's Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) participation and passing rates served to generate a "college readiness" measure (step 3). This is clearly what put Aspen on top. Keep up the great work, Aspen. But rest not on your laurels. As Menter concludes, "In education, it's not about how a newsmagazine compares you to thousands of other schools, it's about how successful you are in helping students achieve individual academic success."
MY RIDDICU-LIST: THE "YOU CAN'T MAKE IT UP" FILE The latest installment of complete buffoonery at City Hall was the transportation department's April 11 "free beginner cycling class." No, this class was not a primer on how to conserve gears for your ride to the Bells, nor was it a valuable lesson on how to change a tire. Rather, it was "an effort to inspire people to commute via bicycle," including a "refresher" on "rules of the road and basic cycling skills." Puh-lease. I was airborne over the Pacific during this nutty event, so sadly, I cannot comment firsthand, but to have observed our municipal employees teaching the merits of "bunny hopping over curbs, balance and turning tight corners" to Aspen's biking-uninitiated in hopes of turning them into bicycle commuters would surely have been a sight. Ahh the lengths our government will go in their (mayoral-driven) efforts to eliminate cars in Aspen. IN THE BREEZE: LOCAL TOPICS BLOWING AROUND
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