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.”
“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.
