{"id":2456744,"date":"2020-04-03T22:32:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T04:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/infante-a-great-opportunity-for-basalt\/"},"modified":"2020-04-04T08:39:55","modified_gmt":"2020-04-04T14:39:55","slug":"infante-a-great-opportunity-for-basalt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/infante-a-great-opportunity-for-basalt\/","title":{"rendered":"Infante a great opportunity for Basalt"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We have an enviable situation in Basalt in that we have three good candidates for mayor, but I\u2019m urging all Basaltines to vote for William Infante. As a writer for the Roaring Fork Weekly Journal for the past year I\u2019ve closely followed the Basalt government, and I can attest that Infante has basically redefined the position of town councilman. Unlike some other council members, he\u2019s not trying to serve two masters whose interests may be in conflict, and he doesn\u2019t just show up Tuesdays for the meetings. He lives the position 24 hours a day to an extent that no other council member comes close to.<\/p>\n

More than that, though, he\u2019s shown a direct responsiveness to his constituents that has been otherwise lacking from the Basalt government. In response to one RFWJ column, Infante organized meetings to encourage more people to run for Town Council, and when I\u2019ve talked with him about issues, he doesn\u2019t just nod and recite some platitude; he starts working the phones, calling Eagle or Pitkin county officials, the Forest Service, Sen. Michael Bennet\u2019s office, the Northwest Council of Governments, or whoever might be part of a solution.<\/p>\n

As a longtime employee of the State Department and Foreign Service, Infante knows what good governance entails and will insist on it being done in Basalt (where, let\u2019s face it, good governance has not always been a strong point \u2014 witness the $2 million TABOR fiasco and the rescinding of the mostly unfollowed \u201cOne Percent for the Arts\u201d ordinance). He also feels as strongly as I do that our town is not truly represented while the trailer parks and neighborhoods like Blue Lake, Sopris Village and Holland Hills are excluded from the town limits.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve heard a lot of grumbling about our town government the past few years, and now we have a chance to make a definitive change and inject some much-needed new blood. I feel this is a great opportunity to set Basalt on a stronger course for the future, and as much as I like Bill Kane and Rob Leavitt, too, I think we\u2019d be doing ourselves a disservice if we elect anyone but Infante.<\/p>\n

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