All The News Fit To Print

I feel like Bill Murray in the movie Ground Hogs Day. Run out get your self a copy of today’s Trail.

Oh please give me strength; my high school paper even got the front page right!

What’s going on in newspaper land? The boys and girls over in town hall forget to tell you its Wednesday, or you couldn’t find any other way to avoid printing the real news.

What happened downtown one hundred yards from the newspapers front door between the two out door freezers last week? Never happened, not news?

What happened by the CVB parking lot the other day? Never happened, not news?

But I bet my last good pair of Chuck Taylors you run an in depth article on how the new transport bus program was a smashing success. Thousands a day in rider ship bla-bla-bla, lie-lie-lie.

We need this transport program like we need the Trail Gazette, both a mockery.

WHICH OF THE MONKEYS DRIVES THE BUS?

One would have to wonder who works for whom around this burg. Who develops town priorities? What are town priorities? Is a town priority the same as an area priority, a subdivision priority, and who is the overlord of the area?

Whatever happened to the town policy of equalization?

Every time the mayor or the town administrator make a public statement they refer to some mysterious intergovernmental agreement that obligates us to finance something or other outside town limits. What are the limits to intergovernmental agreements that are obligating our money all over the county?

There is an agreement with the Holiday Inn that obligates the town to finance the operation of the Convention Center.

There is an Agreement with Loveland to provide engineering expertise for the electric utility.

There is an agreement with RMNP to provide emergency services, and transportation.

There is an agreement with Larimer County obligating Estes Park to provide building inspection services to the surrounding unincorporated communities. Yet there are buildings through out Estes Park that meet “Blight” or “slum” standards

There is an agreement with Larimer County that obligates Larimer County for emergency services to surrounding areas.

Of course we have the state highway running smack dab through the heart of town and CDOT is responsible for that.

There is an intergovernmental agreement with the EPURA.

There are two agreements with two separate sanitation districts. What’s that cost us?

Then of coarse we have a myriad of land trusts; Parks and Recreation District, Stanley Historic Districts and Stanley Park Trust agreements.

Now a proposed agreement with a proposed new fire district body outside of town limits that would be some funky buy the cow and stop getting free milk logic.

Our water and electric utility is obligated to providing water and electricity to the area well beyond town limits. This fact in unto itself has driven our electric utility bills sky high. Simply explained, the number of users per mile of electric line is minimal in rural areas as electricity is driven through the lines there is a drop in efficiency so it takes more electricity per mile to get the power to the extremities. This loss must be paid for so our rates in Estes Park have been raised to account for the electricity lost providing unincorporated developments electricity. That’s real friendly of us don’t you think?

Millions spent on entertaining and hand holding visitors from around the world.

When do our town employees and trustees start looking to the interests of the people that live in Estes Park?

We have real issues inside town limits that the trustees ignore. What is the real advantage of living in town limits? Who is looking after our welfare? Would you be better off being a visitor, living outside town limits, or being a citizen of Estes Park? This is a quality of life issue for Estes Park citizens.

We have issues, someone please help us our elected officials and over paid town employees are to busy somewhere else:

Toxic mold throughout the downtown business district
Asbestoses throughout the business district
Noxious weeds.
Air pollution.
Traffic congestion.
No Parking
Fire hazards all throughout downtown
Rampant ordinance violations
Drug problems.
Ozone
Lead based paint chips peeling off old buildings
Trash in the river ways
Cigarette butts everywhere
Dog crap everywhere
Rusting transformers, saggy electric utility lines crisscrossing all over gods creation
Abandon vehicles
Animal carcasses
Filthy sidewalks
Empty store fronts
Deteriorating asphalt roads
Inadequate sewage collection systems

We can go on but we have made the point.

Who is attending to our town of Estes Park? Why in gods name would the mayor and town administrator be concerned with the insurance premiums of the YMCA and Wind cliff, Rockwood, Carriage Hills?

Estes Park for Estes Parkians, shouldn’t your elected officials take care of us first and foremost inside town limits? After all we pay the bills.

Hip Hip Hurrah!

There seems to be frenzy over the prospect of some do good organization purchasing Hermit Park. So, the Estes Valley has Rocky Mountain National Park, Roosevelt National Forest, 5,000 additional acres of dedicated open space and now this. Land use in this part of the county is in favor of everyone from somewhere else. Next, the Town will try to get a fire district to cover that area and local residents can pay for fire protection on an additional 1300+ inaccessible acres.

Of course if the Town were in charge they’d give it to Ed Grueff so he could develop it. He wouldn’t have to buy it until and if he shows a profit, using some secret formula.

Or maybe the school district could put it in their plans with the bond issue. It could be an outdoor learning center for all the Mexican children enrolled in our schools. They could learn about the rare Chlamydia growing there.

It might also be possible for the Fine Arts group to buy it and finally get a performance center. Raising $7.5 million is about as likely as getting $1 million as the Town wishes they would.

Or maybe the Town should buy it and make it their own personal Wilderness area and then nobody could ever go there (except the trustees).

So many choices, what to do, what to do.

Health of the Town

How does one measure the health of a town? One measure is surely the attitudes of the people that live there. Another measure is the standards of a community, looking at such issues as schools, roads, activities, health care, environmental, parks and recreation, financing and a myriad of other common elements that make up a community.

Let’s look at some of these things singly:

How are our schools? Apparently not too good, as there is constant turnover in personnel, supervision and teachers. The total student population is dwindling and there is a move for consolidation of classes which would eliminate one of the buildings. The board has a difficult time with former board members who still think they run things, or should do so. They have a history of employee embezzlement and they want more money. All this for fewer students, who some say are weighted to strongly with our Hispanic population. If this state immigration program takes hold the school population will immediately drop by 30%, the estimated number of illegals in Estes Park. Then they could hold classes in one building and talk about the good old days.

How about our parks and recreation? It seems that the rec district can’t run the pool, the fair grounds are a mess with unsafe stables that no longer attract, or soon won’t attract, shows with expensive horse flesh. The rodeo is a shambles, another mess run by former trustee Barker, who shows no more sense than his delinquent kid that tortured the raccoon. The rodeo committee absorbs the money raised for their friends and doesn’t re-invest in the program. They shouldn’t only be fired, they should be jailed.

Activities? Well, there are surely lots of activities, but mostly in the summer for the amusement of the tourists, but not enough to keep people here year-round. In the winter we get wind.

Financing is the one thing that the Town uses to measure our success, and theirs, and it is the most obscene imaginable measure that they could use. Why obscene? Because this Town has way too much money. They have MILLIONS! They measure their success by how close tax collections are to their projected budget, with no thought to WHERE DOES THE MONEY GO! The Town likes to brag that we have a $28 million, or as Repola says, a $30 million budget. In this little berg with no sense of how to spend the money, except to use it up.

There are dozens of communities of our size that thrive and grow on budgets of less than $5,000,000. Money in this town gets shuffled from committee to committee, drain one and put it into the general fund to use for our inflated salaries and personnel. This is shear lunacy and the voters need to hold them accountable.

If the money was properly budgeted we’d have a performance center, healthy rec district and creative year-round activities for locals and visitors alike. But, that won’t happen here. The money that goes to the Town gets absorbed and is not returned to the people. The people get in the way of re-modeling Town Hall four our five times, building a kayak course, starting a transportation district that is obscene! Next they’ll have people park downtown and drive them out to the Y. Those folks at the Y are beginning a complete restoration to make them a great resort. All without paying a lick of tax dollars to the Town or to the County. And Baudek and crew kiss their asses. They are out of towner’s John. They shouldn’t sit on committees John. They don’t pay their way, or that of anyone else’s, who the hell cares what they think John?

Then the idiots, without one iota of information as to what the social or economic impact of becoming a Wilderness area would be, complain because the Park is just a National Park. We want wilderness designation! We want wilderness designation! We want wilderness designation! Why? DUH! Don’t know, not sure, sounds good, why not?

It is time for all new people!

When will the voters get a clue and fix this. You’ve got work to do people. And don’t anyone say “sure, but what do we do?” It’s been spelled out on this site time after time. Your homework for the day is to re-read prior blogs relating to this issue and then to ACT!

Dazzled, Baffled and Befuddled

The Estes Parkian has been following this Wilderness designation for RMNP drama for its entertainment value - mostly - and the comic relief provided by the inept local players.

Our local elected officials, those local political bullies, whose tactics are grounded in the philosophy, “if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance than baffle them with bullshit” just don’t get the outside town limits world. They become dumbfounded when people follow the rules and insist on making carefully considered decisions based on the best information, data based decisions, carefully studied and considered.

Locally your elected officials just do things, flounder around stuffing their own pockets, seeing to personal needs, hooking up with developers for personal gain, simply by controlling the local press and smacking anyone that disagrees with them on the butt with a board.

This is very well demonstrated with the town’s response to the demise of the RMNP wilderness designation bill. Hizzoner was rabidly pursuing this designation, but never explained it to us why, what town goal was behind this and what would be the benefits to our community, short term and long term? Your town officials have fallen in love with a mass transit program and somehow they see wilderness designation as a way to further that agenda. That is the Estes Parkian opinion anyway but we are trying to connect the dots because no one in town hall is saying.

“I quite frankly don’t understand,” said Suzy Blackhurst, communications coordinator for the Estes Park Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. “Every local authority has said they want it. Why are they discounting that?”

(because they know you didn’t talk to us “we the people” and they want to talk to us “we the people”) (Note: Susan Blackhuust is a town employee - the CVB is a town department - Eric Blackhurst, husband of Susan Blackhurst, is a town trustee I guess he has no opinion, being an elected official and all)

“When you’re making a monumental decision it’s always best to go slowly,” said Congresswoman Musgrave. “We need to gather information on how many tourists come, how would wilderness designation change their activities, and look at trends.”

Local officials are baffled.

“Why in God’s world would you do that?” said Estes Park mayor John Baudek.

“I don’t see any indication that’s necessary,” said Randy Repola, Town Administrator. “It would seem to me that would add a couple of months, a couple of years. It seems just a bit after the fact and it is not necessarily consistent with the steps we’ve taken this far.”

But plans for the economic impact study of wilderness designation for Rocky Mountain National Park on Estes Park and surrounding communities are already underway, though nobody talked to the Town first.

“First I’ve heard of it. Don’t know anything about it,” said Baudek.

State elected officials want more economic impact data and local resident input before they proceed and Hizzoner Baudic didn’t see a need for the study.

Lets sum this article up, Hizzonor and Randy do not see the need to do an economic impact study on their own community and they do not see the need for local citizen input, and Susan Blackhurst is just baffled, that’s about it, that’s about par for the course.

Here is what they do not know about their own town:
How many more people can we handle?
What is the ratio of Park visitor to money spent in Town?
Can campers park their RV’s in a designated wilderness area?
How many square feet of retail exist within Town limits?
How does all the RMNP traffic through Town impact business?
What is the environmental impact of all the traffic that comes through Town?
Why do businesses fail so regularly in Estes Park?
There hasn’t been a conversion or intercept study conducted since before 1996. Who comes here - why do they come here - what do they do when they come here - what did they think of their visit - what improvements would enhance their stay – how much money do they spend - would wilderness designation influence them one way or the other – how long do they stay – do they hike – do they shop – would they come back – would they come back in the winter – where are they from – what influenced them to come here – did they ride the bus -
What will wilderness designation do for business development from September to May?

How do we become a more responsible gateway community to a proposed wilderness area, exactly what is expected of a gateway community anyway? Estes Park has been beat to a pulp in national publications as blight on RMNP the offenders are uncontrolled condo development, noise, air and visual pollution. How will that change?

Facts we don’t need no stinking facts. Hizzoner just wants it and he is willing to hold his breath until he gets it . Do we want it?

Responsible stewardship making informed decisions or Foghorn Leghorn smacking the barnyard dog in the butt with a board when he’s sleeping? I say, I say so you wana be a chicken hawk son, pass me that casaba.

08/08/06 7:00 PM

ACTION ITEMS:

5. REQUEST TO ENTER EXECUTIVE SESSION:

24-6-402(4)(E), C.R.S. - For the purpose of determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations, and/or instructing negotiators and 24-6-402(4)(B), C.R.S. – Conference with Town Attorney White and Attorney McCargar for the purpose of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions regarding the sale of Lot 4, Stanley Historic District.


Motion: I move the Town Board go into Executive – For the purpose of determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations, and/or instructing negotiators, under C.R.S. Section 24-6-402-(4) (E) and for a conference with Town Attorney White and Attorney McCargar for the purpose of receiving legal advice on the items listed above under C.R.S. Section 24-6-402(4) (B).

Your elected officials will not let you know what is going on with your property and what kind of arrangements they are cooking up with your money so the Estes Parkian will fill in the blanks while your elected officials palaver in the back room, with one more attorney (McCargar) hired to get Greg White out of one more law suite. Greg apparently has made a habit of ignoring Colorado State Statutes except, obviously, the C.R.S. (Colorado Revised Statute) that allows him to go into the back room out of our sight to palaver his mistakes.

You would have to wonder what gives in Town Hall. It seems they are going in circles, chasing their tails. Actions that would have gone on as business as usual are now being challenged at every turn. This speaks to an erosion of credibility within Town Hall; a conflict of personal gain verses community good has fogged the rolls of this government.

This Stanley Hotel Historic District Lot 4 quagmire is one more example.
The on going Chamber suite is another.

The town purchased Lot 4 of the Stanley Hotel Historic District using a cloudy combination of EPURA funds and “community reinvestment funds”.

Why would the town purchase this piece of property, open space, open space and view preservation (similar to the Knoll property), future development, was it a business investment, or political control of the property? The questioning of motives and procedures are play here. When members of the community suggested Lot 4 be used as an ideal location for a community theater a cold "NO" was the only response from town hall. A plan was in the works but it was not a public plan.

When Lot 4 was put on the market for sale three offers were received but two were dismissed by the town administrator (what were those offers we deserve to know it’s our property) and a purchaser was selected, Estes Winds, LLC, a limited liability corporation established in January 2003, Edward Grueff registering agent. He apparently really didn’t purchase the property; he negotiated a back door deal. Were the other two interested parties offered this same sugar deal?

Cardinal Properties, LLC, was established in July 2004 to develop the Conoco property through EPURA, also Mr. Edward Grueff as one of the principles. Cardinal Properties really didn’t purchase that property either, apparently.

Did Estes Winds, LLC purchase Lot 4 out right? Apparently not, there was a deal negotiated that made you and me a principle investor in Estes Winds, LLC. Apparently Eddy gets to use public property as collateral to get a loan at First National to finance construction; he sells off portions of the development to pay for the lot and his wedding center. Pretty good deal for Eddy, except look at all the commercial properties Eddy has developed that are empty.

Did Cardinal Properties, LLC purchase the Conoco property out right?
No. We still own those empty properties, apparently. (Trustee Eric B. needs to get his butt in gear here and get those properties sold. Come on Eric your not pulling your end of the load).

How did these newly formed limited liability corporations get the funding to make these improvements? Randy R. is on the board of directors of First National and good buddies with the president David. Hummm.

Good stewardship? Hummm.


The Standley Hotel has filed suite against the town questioning the town’s authority to sell Lot 4 without going to the electorate to ask permission to do so (one more of those annoying laws that requires the trustees to be accountable to you that is ignored as a matter of routine). That’s why the town had to hire one more attorney, McCargar.