{"id":2445949,"date":"2019-07-02T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T03:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=308840"},"modified":"2019-07-02T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T03:00:00","slug":"aspens-electeds-zero-in-on-child-care-environment-and-housing-as-priorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspens-electeds-zero-in-on-child-care-environment-and-housing-as-priorities\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen\u2019s electeds zero in on child care, environment and housing as priorities"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Aspen City Councilwoman Rachel Richards and Alissa Farrell, the city’s human resource director and interim assistant city manager, post ideas under different work categories during a council retreat on Tuesday<\/strong>
Carolyn Sackariason\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

After meeting for 11 hours over two days as part of an annual retreat<\/a>, Aspen City Council set its priorities for the upcoming year.<\/p>\n

They include addressing the child care crisis in the community and moving forward with a citywide composting program that could be mandatory for restaurants.<\/p>\n

Reducing single-use plastic consumption is another priority that was set.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everyone on this council wants to reduce,\u201d said Mayor Torre, who was elected in April and sworn in less than a month ago.<\/p>\n

He, along with newly elected council members Rachel Richards and Skippy Mesirow, hunkered down with incumbents Ward Hauenstein and Ann Mullins on Monday and Tuesday to set goals for the community for the next year.<\/p>\n

Torre noted that composting can be done easily and would make a big difference in the preservation of the life of the landfill.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of what we used today is compostable but we threw it in the trash,\u201d Torre said of the food and related products consumed during the retreat.<\/p>\n

Hauenstein said the environment rises to the top in his decision making.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lens for everything I do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The plethora of initiatives and ideas coming from council members fell under several strategic focus areas, which include protecting the environment; smart, customer-focused government; economic vitality; fiscal health; a safe and lived-in community of choice; and community engagement.<\/p>\n

Council members and city staff members were asked by facilitator Kathie Novak to put their ideas on Post-It notes under each category to see what themes emerged.<\/p>\n

Under \u201ceconomic vitality,\u201d addressing child care needs for working parents is a priority that council agreed to move up to this year as opposed to next.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have frustrations around this issue,\u201d Torre said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about it for years. \u2026 My concern is that we are not going to do anything about this soon enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, the child care issue has multiple impacts,\u201d including the ability for people to continue living in the valley, he added.<\/p>\n

Also with the local economy in mind, the council agreed to set a work session for later this year to work on how to support local businesses with government-owned buildings and spaces.<\/p>\n

Later this summer, council will be making decisions on design standards for development on the pedestrian malls in advance of the underground infrastructure and brick being replaced in the coming years.<\/p>\n

As far as a \u201csafe, lived-in community\u201d is concerned, a broader conversation about what the affordable-housing program means to the community must be had, council members agreed.<\/p>\n

Or in Mesirow\u2019s term, \u201ca new social contract\u201d with the community around housing should be redefined \u2014 who does it serve and who is it for? Is it \u201cworkforce\u201d or \u201caffordable\u201d housing?<\/p>\n

Richards said council needs to recognize that people are in different places of their tenures in Aspen, and following the rules of the subsidized housing program has its stresses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more fear about affordable housing and the affordable-housing program than people realize,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we need to look at issues around housing holistically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richards also said growth and change coming to the upper valley should be addressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you talk to people about it? How do you deal with it?\u201d she asked. \u201cWe have more growth and change in front of us perhaps now than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torre said he wants to zero in on wider community conversation, and create more connectivity among residents.<\/p>\n

That means doing more things that bring people together, expanding mental health resources and knowing your neighbor better.<\/p>\n

Under \u201ccommunity engagement,\u201d Mesirow got support from his fellow council members to add the goal of 100% voter participation among Aspen registered voters.<\/p>\n

Under \u201csmart government,\u201d implementing a work order system for staff was important, as was the design of council chambers so it is citizen friendly.<\/p>\n

Richards added at the end of Tuesday\u2019s session that it didn\u2019t go unnoticed that the group did not discuss transportation issues, which are so large that an entire day and more will be devoted to them.<\/p>\n

But overall, the former mayor, council member and Pitkin County commissioner said it was a worthwhile exercise with her new colleagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a good retreat when no one cried,\u201d Richards laughed.<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen City Councilwoman Rachel Richards and Alissa Farrell, the city’s human resource director and interim assistant city manager, post ideas under different work categories during a council retreat on TuesdayCarolyn Sackariason\/The Aspen Times After meeting for 11 hours over two days as part of an annual retreat, Aspen City Council set its priorities for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2445949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 17:17:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2445949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2445949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2445949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2445949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2445949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}