When we look around our beautiful Estes Valley we should see all of the nice things first. We see glorious blue skies, snow-capped peaks, wildlife and a generally friendly group of citizens. These are wonderful things to celebrate and we should do so each and every day.
We should also look at our beautiful Estes Valley for what it could be. We have not reached our full potential, but we are being given a platform for change that we must not ignore. What changes would make Estes Park a better place to live?
Home Rule. Please remember that the Town has been opposed to Home Rule for ever. The simple facts are that they now have total control over every aspect of spending, legal or not, as a Statutory town. The Mayor makes most of the appointments for committees and forms partnerships with citizens that waste money but give profits to their special partners. These partners then give approvals for the Town proposals as members of the committees on which they serve. It is expected that if you are appointed to a committee you can bring an agenda. This agenda seems to include a basket full of items to sell the Town, such as publications, web addresses, photographs and the like. This is not made up, it is fact. We are unique in this regard and it must be stopped. How do we stop it? Vote for Home Rule and elect independent citizens to the Charter Commission.
The Town will cry out that putting the Mayor, Trustees and their friends on the Commission will insure good oversight. The opposite is true. We know their agenda and it has crippled our town, businesses and those of us who just want to live here in quiet enjoyment. It's oversight that we want.
What the Town wants to do that will further cripple Estes Park.
Shuttle service with the Park. This is perhaps the stupidest idea ever. Our biggest problem for the downtown businesses is parking. The Town brags about the visitors, but they truly can’t park in Town which means they can’t shop or spend money here. The Town suggests those people instead of parking and shopping, simply park their cars in town for the day and take a shuttle into the Park to go hiking. If the Park wants more parking they can plow up a few acres in the Park and provide their own shuttle service. After all, what’s the Park going to do, get mad and move to Utah?
Partners with YMCA as opposed to downtown businesses. The YMCA pays no tax and has now been exempted from any property tax. They sit on committees and strongly influence Town decisions. Very seldom do people escape the Y to shop in town. The Y is generally supplied from services out of town and what we usually see are huge strings of busses negotiating our town streets. This is old school thinking. We need to support our tax base. Help them thrive so we all benefit. More sales tax dollars helps us all. Instead, the Mayor and Trustees blame the stupid business people for their failures and the residents for buying out of town.
Wasted expense on town salaries. Estes Park has the highest salaries for employees for a town of this size in the State. This is not because they work so hard, it is because there is too much money available without proper oversight. This is the same as theft, especially when the EPURA funds are used to pay part of the salaries. Bet you didn't know that. Can't wait the hear Al and Will deny it. The Town is stealing from us twice. Once in bloated salaries, a second time in taking money from a project fund.
Competing events. The Town continually approves events that take money away from local business. This gives some minor support to charities, but is horrible for local business. The worst of it is that they don’t pay tax for the sales. The Town loses sales tax dollars, the businesses lose income and the sponsor groups get a few bucks. The businesses have begged the Town to stop this type of function, but to no avail. Why? Because the marketing department uses the downtown counts to increase their budget. Their budget goes to support higher saleries. That money could go to legitimate marketing, but it doesn't. A better solution would be to help fund the art groups and collect more sales tax dollars from local businesses.
Please continue to watch for more on this. We can make a difference.
