I’m voting for Torre for mayor in the runoff. That’s right, Torre, who has served eight years on the Aspen City Council, but since then has never been very far away from civic involvement. His causes have included conservation and the issue of providing affordable housing. He’s run for mayor and lost several times; but he never gave up on Aspen. And he’s stayed involved with the community despite rejection at the polls. That’s the kind of resilience I think Aspen needs in its leadership going forward.
Far from giving up, he’s now running once more for the most thankless job Aspen has to offer. Now that’s tenacity! And he’s not running blindly. Having observed how the city has been run in recent years, he’s still willing to serve. Amazing!
Both of our very competitive newspapers endorsed him when he threw his hat in the ring for the first round of today’s contest. They cited, among other attributes, Torre’s ability to make decisions and not to fear being on the losing side of an argument.
What about his competition? Well, Ann Mullins is certainly a nice, caring, civic-minded lady. But in her case the good news is that if she loses, she’ll be able to serve us on council. Hopefully, under Torre’s leadership she may learn the governing skills that would qualify her for the top job in the future; so this story could have a doubly happy ending!
Alex Biel
Aspen