I was very pleased to see the article in Sunday’s Aspen Daily News about how well the new Snowmass employee housing project is going. As residents of Aspen bristle about cost overruns on Burlingame, Snowmass simply went back to tried-and-true construction methods that are simple, fast and durable.

When I first moved to Aspen, I rented an apartment in Silverking Apartments, which is now Hunter Creek. When I looked out my window, I saw forms scattered all over the property, which I considered blight, but which were in fact the forms that created Silverking.

It’s so simple: You position the forms so they can be filled with cement, and when the cement dries, you have an apartment. All you have to do is stack it on top of the previous form. Not only is the construction simple, but I can assure you that in the event of a nuclear attack, the only buildings left standing in Aspen will be at Hunter Creek.

And this type of construction has to be much quieter than conventional construction: Take a look at the cover photo of yesterday’s paper and tell me how much banging and hammering was saved by building a form off-site and trucking it here.

The article claims that type of construction is unique, but drive through Hunter Creek and tell me we couldn’t have used it on most projects here.

The only problem with Silverking was the lack of foresight on the part of the county commissioners back then. The owners of Silverking doctored their books to make it look as though they were losing money renting the units, and then, in a survey littered with fraud, made it appear that virtually every resident was prepared to buy the unit he or she was living in.

Every unit was sold, but the process left a lot of employees out on the street, looking for housing the survey said existed that in reality did not. Virtually all of the units were short-term housing, like rooms at the Jerome, and were available for big bucks if you were willing to pay an outrageous daily rate and stay a minimum of a week. And the commissioners bought this hook, line and sinker. “No problem,” they said. “Plenty of places for these people to move.”

Meanwhile, City Council was rezoning the West End, forcing people to buy several lots and allowing only one home to be built on the bigger lots. If it weren’t for that, most of the employees in town would be living in the West End.

Then, in another genius brainstorm, council decided to let owners build even bigger homes if they attached employee units to them, but failed to give the new policy any teeth by failing to make any provisions for enforcing it. Employee units became offices and dens, and employees still had no new places to live.

I mean, when you have the kind of money West End homeowners do, why would you want to rent out part of your home to an employee? You wouldn’t.

So, I expect this front-page news to reverberate as we discuss Burlingame and cost overruns. Yes, there are cheaper ways to build, but that doesn’t mean the place you build is cheap.

When the vote to throw more money at Burlingame comes up, I think we should all be looking towards Snowmass Village as we make our decisions.

I couldn’t help but laugh when Aspen started looking into a dog park. First of all, every park in Aspen is a dog park. Not officially, but they are. And then to read that the public wanted this to be a dog park for small dogs only? What a joke.

We have segregated the working class from the wealthy more and more since I’ve been here, and this is just another example of that.

Let’s be honest: I would bet more wealthy people have small dogs than large dogs, so, much like the exclusive club at the top of Aspen Mountain, this is just another example of the wealthy not wanting to socialize with the rest of us.

Hell, they don’t want to eat with us, so why would they want their dogs playing with ours?

Right now I’m taking care of my girlfriend’s dog while she’s out of town. He’s a cute little Westi, but according to what I read in the paper, I’m not sure if he’d make the weight cut. So, poor little Miles has to watch the rich dogs play and is not welcome to join them.

Dogs learn from their owners and children learn from their parents. I know it’s a stretch, but if these dog owners want to segregate their dogs, what are they doing with their children?

Just a thought.

Sheldon Fingerman welcomes your comments at sheldon@sopris.net.