The bottom line is that developers inebriated by the Aspen Idea come in here without doing enough research and pay too much for an over-flipped piece of property. Then they grind down government into fudging principles and changing the rules so that investors can recoup their losses. Next they lockstep the vested interest crowd and hypnotize the gullible with specious campaigns.
The “courtesy photo” pictures in both papers are an example. The artists coyly angle up a bucolic Aspen Street, shrinking to a pea size the family-monument at the top that would disproportionately dominate the landscape like Coors Field.
The new lift should have been built first, which was what the World Cup initially wanted. Then development could have sorted itself out around the lift. This can still happen with patience.
All the reasoned arguments against this inflated project have more merit than capitulation. I’m voting “no” to the current 1A proposal.
Tim Cooney
Aspen