{"id":2456688,"date":"2020-04-02T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T03:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/the-right-mayor-for-basalt\/"},"modified":"2020-04-03T07:23:20","modified_gmt":"2020-04-03T13:23:20","slug":"the-right-mayor-for-basalt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/the-right-mayor-for-basalt\/","title":{"rendered":"The right mayor for Basalt"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Basalt is such an interesting and wonderfully complex midvalley historic and new town, \u201ca tale of two cities.\u201d It stretched its tentacles a couple of miles up the road a few years ago and started up Willits.<\/p>\n

It is also a town of two counties, Pitkin and Eagle. It also has two business centers, one on the south side of the highway from the historic town, and a second center near the river just south of Willits. The historic town is located at the confluence of the Frying Pan and the Roaring Fork with dramatic river frontage with free-market development and needed community opportunities. The historic downtown suffered a bit economically from the array of start-up businesses and restaurants in Willits.<\/p>\n

It feels like the old town is gathering steam again. To retain its character, charm, almost dual personality and still grow carefully, means electing a mayor with gumption, creativity, experience and personality.<\/p>\n

Though all three candidates have different and positive qualities, Basalt\u2019s unique challenges would be best met by giving the nod to Bill Kane on election day. He served the Aspen City Council in the late \u201880s as the council then developed a master plan for the largest private parcel in the city\u2019s limits, the Aspen Meadows, where the Aspen Institute, Aspen Center of Physics, and the Music Festival are located. His intelligence, his diplomacy and his savvy helped the city save the most important parcel of land in the entire upper valley and protect it from rapacious developers. He was a master guide for the city at that pivotal juncture. He is the person again for Basalt\u2019s pivotal juncture.<\/p>\n

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