Articles for Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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by
Curtis Wackerle, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Simmering tensions between some Aspen City Council members and a community activist boiled over at Tuesday’s council work session when GrassRoots TV, unbeknownst to council members, showed up to record the public meeting.
It turns out that the public access camera crew was there at the request — and at the financial backing — of Marilyn Marks, who has been requesting for the last year that the council pay GrassRoots to broadcast its work sessions, which are not formal meetings, but often are the venue for important policy discussions and decisions.
by
Curtis Wackerle, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Aspen Music Festival and School is ready to partner with the city on the development of more seasonal housing on city-owned land, but some council members aren’t quite comfortable with the deal.
At an Aspen City Council work session on Tuesday, Aspen Music Festival and School President Alan Fletcher told the council his board was prepared to move forward “in short order” with an arrangement in which the music school would help finance the construction of up to 35 dorm-style seasonal housing units at 488 Castle Creek Rd., which the city purchased in 2006 for $5.4 million. Although no one from the Aspen Skiing Co. was on hand at the meeting, the deal presented would include SkiCo as a partner, with mountain employees occupying the units in the winter and music students in the summer. No numbers were discussed, but the city is looking for a deal where the construction of the units would be financed by the music school and SkiCo and would not require public money. In this scenario, the city would offer long-term leases for the housing to SkiCo and the music school.
by
David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
GRAND JUNCTION — Oil and gas supporters overwhelmed state regulators as they met in the midst of western Colorado’s gas patch on Tuesday and warned them that new rules proposed to rein in the industry could spell doom for one of the state’s biggest economic drivers.
All but a handful of more than 1,000 people who filled the Two Rivers Convention Center were either energy industry workers or supporters, and they roared with applause as speaker after speaker called for doing away with proposed rules that would curtail the industry.
by
Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
A new exhibit on “Aspen’s Transportation Dilemmas” at the Aspen Historical Society shows it has never been easy getting to Aspen.
The Utes walked on ancient trails alongside rivers and over high passes, but they also avoided traveling to the valley altogether in winter.
Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
A celebration honoring one of Aspen’s most colorful characters takes place tomorrow in the West End.
Freddie Fisher Day kicks off Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Aspen Historical Society’s Wheeler/Stallard Museum with a barbecue, refreshments and the live music of longtime Fisher collaborator Walt Smith. In honor of the witty and irreverent letters that Fisher would often write to the newspapers, the “Freddie Fisher Irreverent Wit Prize for Letters to the Editor” (aka the “Fishwit” prize) will be awarded to one letter writer from the past year’s worth of letters to the editor, possibly between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.
Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Two pool maintenance men were overcome by fumes at a Red Mountain home yesterday and rushed to Aspen Valley Hospital, where they recovered.
The Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office responded to the midday call of “semiconscious” workers with an ambulance and two firemen.
by
Brent Gardner-Smith, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Basalt Town Council voted five to one Tuesday night to enact an emergency development moratorium that will last until March 10, 2009.
The adopted ordinance says the moratorium is necessary because “the curent rate and character of development activity in the Town of Basalt is having a negative impact upon the peace, health, safety, and the general well-being of the residents of Basalt.”
The moratorium took effect as of Tuesday night’s vote.
Business
by
Damien Williamson, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
As Aspen prepares for its most opulent annual festival - the Food & Wine Classic - it has become even more apparent that this particular mountain town exists in a wealthy bubble that just refuses to burst.
While the rest of the country struggled this year with a 30 percent increase in bankruptcy filings over the 12-month period ending March 31, 2007, Pitkin County fared well with just 15 total filings, up from eight, in the 12-month period ending March 31, 2008, according to figures released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
by Rachel Beck, Mountain Business Journal Columnist
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
NEW YORK - Spam's back on the menu at American homes. That says a lot about the state of the economy.
While we all haven't turned into couch potatoes, some recent corporate news from the likes of Hormel Foods Corp., Jo-Ann Stores Inc., TiVo Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. provides mounting evidence that more Americans are entertaining themselves with backyard barbecues, craft projects and lots of television watching. Why? Gas costs $4 a gallon nationally on average and it's stopping people from traveling far unless they need to.
by Curt Brandao, Mountain Business Journal Columnist
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Message to the Recording Industry Association of America regarding the prospects of free ad-supported music downloads: Told you so. Told you so. Told-you-told-you-told-you so. I'm not usually this smug, but rarely am I this close to being right.
Years ago, when RIAA lawyers began bankrupting 12-year-old girls for sharing music online to stem the tide of Internet piracy, I asserted their efforts were in vain. The Digital Age had already set in motion a new, inevitable economic reality: Things that can be transported through the Internet will be free, and used to sell everything else that can't.
Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
VAIL: PROFITS SET RECORD
Broomfield-based Vail Resorts Inc. reported an 11.3 percent net income increase in the third quarter compared to a year ago. Still, on Wall Street the company's stock fell more than 5 percent as its results still came in below forecasts. Ending on April 30, Vail Resorts netted $87.3 million, and its overall revenues increased 14.7 percent to $423.8 million, the Rocky Mountain News reported. A 26 percent increase in international visitors is thought to have helped offset the decline in U.S. skiers as the nation's economy continues to falter.
Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
NEW FACES AT ANDERSON RANCH
Two new program directors have joined Anderson Ranch Arts Center, taking on different branches of the organization's education classes just as it approaches its summer workshop season. Andrea Wallace has beennamed the digital media and photography program director, and Paul Collins is an interim program director of painting, drawing and critical studies.
Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
SKICO RECEIVES AWARDS
Aspen Skiing Co. took home three awards during a recent National Ski Areas Association convention. The first award, for marketing at resorts with 500,000-plus skier days, recognized SkiCo's program which distributed 40,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs to company customers and saved 10 million pounds of CO2 emissions - the equivalent of taking 910 cars off the road each year. The second award was for SkiCo's environmental marketing campaign, which most prominently ran "Save Snow" ads in major magazines such as Outside and Freeskier. And the third award they received is for their safety program, which had the best employee involvement and education. It's the sixth year SkiCo has been given the safety award for their initiatives both internally with employees and externally with guests.
Aspen Daily News Staff Report
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Doug Desenberg
Director Sales and Marketing, Hyatt Grand Aspen Residence Club
Columnist
by
Lynn Burton, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Watchdogs wanting to sniff around Colorado Mountain College’s proposed budget are finding the tax-dollar trail pretty cold. That’s because:
— The annual budget hearing is far away in Breckenridge, in the middle of the day (on June 30);
by
Ted Rall, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The U.S. has rivals and competitors, not enemies
PHILADELPHIA — “A Gallup poll,” Libby Quaid wrote for The Associated
Press on June 2, “found that two-thirds of (Americans) said they
believe it would be a good idea for the president to meet with the
leaders of enemy countries.”
Letter to the Editor
Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Editor:
This is a response to the letter by Jack Spencer and Nicolas Loris of the Heritage Foundation printed in the June 10 Aspen Daily News.
Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Editor:
During my last run for City Council I opposed Burlingame. I opposed Burlingame at the time because the 237 units represented a 15 percent increase in population. As a result of that kind of growth we would need larger schools, water treatment facilities, roads department, hospital, and a truly convenient RFTA route. All these things were not included in the cost of Burlingame then and are really not attributed to the Burlingame project now.
Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Editor:
When I was a child, California was almost broken into two states over water. An aqueduct was built to divert the Feather River to southern California. Not only were northern Californians left with an ecological disaster and water rationing, but they were taxed to help pay for the aqueduct.
Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Editor:
The Wilderness Workshop would like to thank all the many volunteers who helped make our fifth annual Wilderness Picnic a wonderful success.
Aspen Daily News Staff Report, Aspen Daily News Columnist
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Editor:
The reason they fix the problem and not the blame in Japan is that in Japan, those at fault have enough integrity to admit they are at fault and step aside.
