Just a reminder

We’ve seen so much in our little town and allowed ourselves to be run over by our local government. It has often been stated that the salaries are not commensurate with the work, and those numbers have been published (review older blogs). How do you suppose we got this way? What happened to lead us down the path of letting an overpaid staff run the town and has the Trustees “working” for the staff? What communities let this happen?

Locally we have seen where those outside town government promote their favorite people to positions in the town where they can do the sponsor the most good. It is well known the relationship between David Taylor and Randy Repola. Who wouldn’t want a sponsor like that?

A forward thinking town would have trustees that would review hiring practices, long range planning and staff capabilities to insure that the best people are in the positions and that we are getting good services for the pay. Remember, Estes Park pays about 30% over salary for benefits.

First, what is the long range plan? Don’t have one! Long range planning would include the basics such as what areas are going to be used for future commercial use, how we revitalize the downtown area and bring the businesses into compliance for fire and safety, what services are not now but should be a part of the town.

To any observer of our current “planning” we can see that there isn’t real plan. We need to hold our politicians responsible for developing and implementing a plan and with their failure to do so should eliminate them.

A couple of observations, some previously discussed:

It is not a plan to build sidewalks outside of town limits, spending valuable resources where we get no benefit.
It is not a plan to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on property outside of town limits to preserve as open space, when it was a valuable resource and could have been a world class resort, be annexed into the town and provided lots of tax benefits. Those of you who think everything in the area should be preserved as open space are out of control. It is, in some ways, the thing that brings people here, in others the thing that most hurts us. We are long on open space and short on good sense.
It is not a plan to renew EPURA. They are misusing funds and not doing the job they were intended for. Get rid of them and the corruption they breed.
It is not a plan to say – “look what we did after the flood.” Get over yourselves. There has been very little done sense then except re-direct money into the general fund to pay the inflated salaries to people that make their own salary requests. What corporation in America would allow that to happen?
It is not a plan to keep yanking the chain of the arts groups with the “possibility” that there might be a performance center. It won’t happen and the discussions are tedious and intended to keep them quiet.
It was not a plan (although it was well planned) to put the Chamber out of business so that town staff could be protected and put into high paying permanent positions. Sad.

A Tale of Two Cities

December 21,2006, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper (a quote concerning the holiday snow storm) : “ My major concern is not the additional burden on the budget for snow removal or the loss of sales tax to the City of Denver, but the effect this is going to have on the thousands of small business owners at this important time of year”.

December 20, 2006, Estes Park Trail Gazette: For the year, the Town is still on track to surpass the $6.7 million planners budgeted for. “We look to come in really close to what we forecast,” said McFarland, town finance director. (There are no quotes from hizzoner other than the one where he justified the expenditure of $400,000.00 dollars on Hermit Park because he hopes some “day hikers” may eat lunch in Estes Park, he hopes).

Please explain to me why anyone would want to open a new business in Estes Park. I have racked by brain for ten reasons why opening a business in Estes Park is a potentially profitable act and I couldn’t come up with ten. So then I tried coming up with bits of advice to assist a potential business.

Listed are some realities of doing business in Estes Park. If you are looking to start or locate your business in Estes Park this is the Estes Parkian Christmas present to you.
Estes Park is a seasonal business environment, June to August; July is the only good month.

If you are a potential retailer do not rent a space in The Church Shops, everyone that I have ever talked to that opened a business there moves out as soon as they can.

If you are a potential retailer the north side of Elkhorn between Moraine and Riverside are the preferred spots. Its dog eat dog to get those spots.

Bond Park fills up with retail tents every weekend all summer, so there is no use opening up your business until noon. There is no use paying an employee to keep you doors open after 5 PM, the majority of people that come in after 5PM have been drinking in the local bars all day.

Do not enter into a contract to run a local television commercial, locals do not watch the local station and local people do not shop here. The very first people through your door will be the local advertising sales people to take your money before you catch on. Running an ad in the local papers does not work; the local people will not shop here. Ignore this piece of advice if you just like watching your self on TV or seeing your name in print.

Forget joining the Chamber of Commerce they target new business until the new businesses catch on. The Chamber is broke, what can they tell you about business?

Forget being involve in community activities you will be to busy in the summer and to poor in the winter. You will not hike, you will not fish and you will not visit the Park.

Your neighbor businesses will resent you opening a business because you represent competition, they will come in to say hello initially, but only to check out your lines.

If you purchase a motel the profit will be in selling the motel in four years, you will need customer leads and those can be purchased from the towns CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau) or the Chamber. You should belong to one of the various lodging associations; they seem to work together well.

There is no work force that speaks English so you are on your own if you depend on customer service, how do you say “Smiles Above” in Spanish?

You must have a web presents.

You must bring your own parachute, pack it yourself and wear it every day. You are on your own.

You will not get a loan at a local bank. They will process your credit cards though.

Open a second store somewhere on the Front Range, before all your savings run out.

Learn the word NO: No we do not give a local discount, No we do not stay open in the winter, No we do not have a public toilet, No we do not know where you parked your car, and No we will not be here next summer.

Thank you

Merry Christmas

EXCUSESTES PARK

An interesting local story that we continue to follow is the Stanley Hotel verses Town series of law suites. The Town is once again finding itself in court for not following the law, a concept that continues to elude them. This all speaks to the Town attitude toward Home Rule “if its not broke don’t fix it”. Lets be truthful here, broke is relative, what they mean is, it’s not broke for them! The Estes Parkian believes it’s broke for the citizens and businesses of Estes Park though. Hence the citizens and businesses fight back with the only tool available and that is the court system. That’s why we believe this Stanley story is important. Private enterprise having to compete against the tax money we collect and contribute for services we cannot provide for our selves.

The owners of the Stanley Hotel have personally invested heavily in this community icon; weddings are the foundation of its cash flow. The Town has partnered with a developer to build a wedding pavilion next door to wedding central. The Town is touting the buzz that a little competition is good for everyone; the Stanley doesn’t see it that way and is fighting back.

All the business owners’ in Estes Park should watch this story closely, because it is exactly what the rest of the business community should have done collectively several years ago and of coarse did not. The Stanley owners understand something all you little business owners do not, more businesses in Estes Park will not add anything to your bottom line, more businesses only divide up the existing pie into ever smaller individual slices. This is not free enterprise it is competition for your business funded by your own money. Of course this a EPURA issue, EPURA could team up with existing businesses and enhance what already exists, but they have not and did not, they have contributed to all that retail sprawl east of Riverside that has done in so many small business owners along Elkhorn . Creating what amounts to cramming ten pounds of potatoes into a five pound sack.

TIF money should be spent on a tourist attraction that fills the town with people every day from December to May, not more retail outlets to compete with existing enterprises.

The second local story to watch is of coarse EPURA and the towns trumped up desires to keep this cash cow alive. Haven’t they squeezed all the spin out of the 1982 flood already? The Town did publish a list of properties they intend to blight, which is not the same as a project and the bottom line is urban renewal authorities are project authorities created to eliminate economic blight areas.

Please refer to the Amoco project that remains empty. Empty unproductive square footage on Elkhorn is nothing new, but an urban renewal project that remains empty and unproductive is provocative and telling, an economic blight times two. Lacking any slum areas in Estes Park EPURA will only have one tool in their tool box to blight a property and that is economic blight and that would mean they would have to include one of their own projects, the Amoco site. Show me on going comprehensive economic impact studies monitoring the effects of how the town spends this TIF money? Of course there are none.

Here is one more example; EPURA invested our money on a kayak course, would some one, anyone, please demonstrate the economic impact that kayaking has had on our economy? Of course kayaking has made a zero impact and besides economic impact studies would be a form of accountability, not a strong suite of hizzonor or EPURA. Why provide us with real tools when the citizens of this town will accept excuses.

The Estes Parkian is just bored with all the excuse making and sophomoric local spin doctoring crap. Town Hall spends real dollars our real dollars, and we must demand real results, not excuses.