Thorns go to the businesses that always forget that bears wake up in the spring. Trash cans are already being destroyed around town and trash is everywhere from the library to the alleyways. We can do better, especially since some of these instances involved city trash cans that don’t latch properly and trash containers at municipal offices … what’s that saying we all like to repeat to visitors — “a fed bear is a dead bear?” Applies to locals, too.
A rose goes to each and every citizen who spends his or her time participating in local politics. It is their involvement that keeps the city and county in check, and makes development projects better than when they came in. We appreciate their countless hours sitting in City Council and county commissioner meetings holding their elected officials accountable. Nowhere is the saying “the squeaky wheel gets the grease” more true than in Aspen and Pitkin County politics. Keep giving them hell!
A thorn goes to the city of Aspen for once again not communicating properly with the public on what it’s up to. Yes, we understand there is a $700,000 bunker replacement project going on at the golf course and that it’s needed. But we would have expected to be told that the full golf course won’t be open until June, so when people bought their season passes, they could have made an informed decision before shelling out several hundred dollars. When will the city understand that it needs to be transparent all the time, not just sometimes? Yes, we know how inconvenient the truth can be. We also know how inconvenient it is to not be told the full story.
Roses go to our cannabist friends in town who kept it to themselves on 4/20. You do you, but thanks for not trying to hold some public event at the park to show off that you’re not afraid to smoke weed. After Colorado’s legalization, that public-display-of-pot-affection train has come and gone.
A thorn to the Aspen Police Department for repeatedly refusing to honor the public trust and release details concerning Chief Richard Pryor’s abrupt firing last month of officer Walter Chi, who spent the last 26 years with the department. Department and city of Aspen officials determined that it would be “contrary to the public interest” to release those details because of concerns over Chi’s privacy and because the report, inexplicably, concerns “victims,” “suspects” and an ongoing investigation. It’s worth noting that APD would not have been able to suppress the internal investigation report under a new law signed earlier this month by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis that’s designed to make police departments accountable for their officers’ behavior.
Roses to the organizers of this year’s pond-skimming at Snowmass. While the event has moved around Aspen’s four mountains the past few years, having it along with the party at Elk Camp was pretty cool. But a half-thorn on the set up: Next year, you gotta get a steeper approach instead of backing up skimmers about a half-mile up the hill to get their speed.