Have you ever read that human interest story about the Bubble Boy? There was a movie about one, staring John Travolta. The story goes something like this; the boy has a dysfunctional immune system and any germ can kill him, so he must spend his entire life in a germ proof bubble. His entire world is enclosed and because he has no contact with the real world, he develops dysfunctional behaviors. Slowly he blocks out any real world semblance of normalcy, choosing to live in his world of make believe. Isolation is not good for people or communities they get stagnate and stale inward looking apposed to outward thinking.
Overtime Estes Park has developed a polarized population; locals on one side (when does one become a local?) retirees, business owners, building owners, seasonal residents and town government. Each faction enclosed in its own version of self serving reality. Oh you do love to fight amongst yourselves, as the rest of the world passes by.
The evolution of Estes Park as a retirement community has proven to be amongst the most negative of the polarized factions. They only vote one way, NO. The town government has had to find funky ways to get things done, as the retirees and part time citizens predictably turn everything down. The way things have operated in the past decades have been shady politics in town hall and you have stolen our future.
- No community center
- No discovery center
- No home rule
- No concerts
- No performing arts center
- No fire district
There is no future in providing the amenities that the retirement community needs here in Estes Park, ever. Break out of your bubble for a minute and journey with me down highway 34 to the intersection of highway thirty four and I-25. You will notice two gigantic construction projects going on. On the West side of I-25 you will find a regional medical center and on the east side of I-25 you will find a huge regional shopping complex, including a gigantic automobile dealership. What retired person on a fixed income would not travel the hour to this ultramodern - fully equipped medical facility and then do ones necessary shopping? I know several long term locals that have sold their Estes Park homes and moved to the Loveland area, commuting to Estes until their business sells. There are year around things to do, places to eat and you are not always fighting town hall.
The business community is hopelessly up to their chins in a sewer swamp, standing on their collective tip toes, hoping no one makes waves and hoping the sewage levels don’t rise any higher. GULP! Help your businesses community, they are about to be drowned!
The Downtown Business District (Haberville) is a collection of old buildings infested with toxic mold, asbestoses, ancient and frayed electrical wiring, raccoon droppings and old telephone poles with transformer pots and rusted droopy wires going every which way. The town leaders enthusiastically will tell you everything they did after “the flood”. THAT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO, your urban renewal needs urban renewal. My study shows that are no more dams to burst, we are not prone to tornados, earth quakes are a long shot, but a fire in downtown is a real and frightening prospect.
Five years ago, the then town administrator Richard W. had an article in the Chipmunk Gazette how the town was on a five year plan to compete with Aspen, Vail, and Steamboat. Richard your five years are here, you fell a little short - in fact you back slid a might. Richard where are you? I see your pay stub every two weeks, but you are no where to be seen.
If you want a good “show and tell” take a field trip to Manitou Springs Colorado. An old summer resort (statutory government) that went to seed and now it’s just a dump, with a few shops people pass on their way to somewhere else. You know all the traffic counts the town is so proud of? About twenty thousand vehicles a day and we only have one thousand parking spaces. The traffic peaks when there is a big concert or festival in Winter Park, Breckenridge or Steamboat. Those people are sitting on their wallets, backing up traffic and polluting our air, on their way to somewhere else.
Here is a road map, print it and paste it to your refrigerator:
- Break out of your Bubble Boy Bubble and join the real grown up world Estes Park
- Look ahead not behind, your head follows you eyes and if you keep looking behind that is where your head goes ...in your behind
- Clean up town hall and the parks and recreation district - be careful who you elect
- Home Rule
- Hire a town administrator/planner/town attorney with proven records of success in a successful resort town
- Become a forward looking and vision based community
- Pass a bond and make some community improvements
- Remake your image
- Become a year around community
- Discourage through taxation part time residence, they are the bane of Colorado
ESTES PARK “PROUD OF OUR TOMMORROW”
