{"id":2458880,"date":"2020-05-27T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=326378"},"modified":"2020-05-27T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T11:00:00","slug":"snowmass-economic-task-force-making-progress-pursuing-short-term-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/snowmass-economic-task-force-making-progress-pursuing-short-term-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Snowmass economic task force making progress, pursuing short term solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"669\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/businesses-svs-051320-2-1024x669.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/businesses-svs-051320-2-1024x669.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/businesses-svs-051320-2-300x196.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/businesses-svs-051320-2-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/businesses-svs-051320-2-1536x1003.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/05\/businesses-svs-051320-2-2048x1338.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Christy Sports tells passersby that they\u2019re closed with a sign in the window on the Snowmass Village Mall on Monday, May 11, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/Snowmass Sun)<\/strong><br \/><em>Kelsey Brunner\/Snowmass Sun<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">After two virtual discussions, the Mayor\u2019s Economic Recovery Task Force is moving forward with several initiatives to help local merchants and businesses as they begin to reopen their doors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">From a more robust \u201cshop local\u201d marketing campaign to expanding the legal areas for where existing restaurants can serve food and alcohol, the 10-person task force is working through a list of ideas it soon hopes to make reality.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOur discussions have been targeted along the lines of what can the town, merchants and landlords do to collectively get things going as we start to open up,\u201d said Greg Smith, a longtime financier, town Financial Advisory Board member and now chair of the new economic recovery task force.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019ve come up with a pretty good list of actionable items I think can be implemented quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Over the past two meetings, Smith said the main theme for the task force has been coming up with short-term actions town government, merchants and landlords can collaborate on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Some of those actions include creating designated \u201cpick-up\u201d zones and parking spaces where people can drive up and grab their ordered food, beverages or other merchandise; establishing a sort of \u201cpicnic area\u201d on Fanny Hill where people can enjoy food and beverages from local eateries; putting sanitation stations around the village to promote a safe, healthy town environment; launching a \u201cshop local\u201d marketing campaign, including a voucher program that supports Snowmass merchants; and expanding legal liquor license areas so restaurants can provide more outdoor seating and easier align with county public health requirements.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As the task force is spearheading these initiatives to support economic recovery in Snowmass Village, Clint Kinney, town manager, said town staff is working hard to respond and figure out the logistics of making them happen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">So far, Kinney said Snowmass Tourism is working on the specifics of the \u201cshop local\u201d marketing campaign, and staff also is looking into the potential for the other initiatives to bring back to the task force for feedback, hopefully making them a reality over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cAs Ronald Reagan said, \u2018The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I\u2019m from the government and I\u2019m here to help,\u2019\u201d Kinney said. \u201cWe (town staff) can\u2019t just show up with solutions, we have to talk with businesses to see how best we can help, which really is the beauty of this task force.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">As of May 26, Kinney said town staff had made the most progress with allowing for an easier liquor license area expansion process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">These premise expansions require local and state approval, usually taking quite a bit of time, Kinney said. However, town staff is prepared to process applications as fast as possible and the state has expedited its approval process, allowing for restaurants and eateries to move forward with expansions and create additional outdoor seating\/operations in a more timely fashion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe haven\u2019t received any applications yet but we\u2019re prepared to get them through as quickly as possible,\u201d Kinney said May 26.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Through a more long-term economic and recovery lens, Kinney and Smith said the task force also has discussed creating some sort of \u201csurvival fund,\u201d what would be made up of town money or private money or both to ensure Snowmass businesses make it through the coming months of expected hardship and setbacks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Specifics for the fund and how it would work haven\u2019t been nailed down yet, Kinney and Smith said, but will continue to be discussed over the next several task force meetings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThere\u2019s a great collective wisdom among all of the members which brings real value to these discussions,\u201d Smith said, \u201cand I\u2019d also say there\u2019s a sense of urgency there; we all feel it and we are all doing our best to see what we can do quickly in a practical way that will effectively help our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But while task force members like David Dugan, co-owner of the Base Camp, Sake, State 38 and Slice of Italy restaurants in Base Village, feel the group is a positive thing and is coming up with good ideas, none of them are \u201csilver bullet\u201d solutions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Because Snowmass Village is so dependent on tourism \u2014 and has a much smaller local community than Aspen and other Roaring Fork Valley municipalities \u2014 Dugan, who is on the task force, said he feels the only way to really recover is to bring in visitors, which he recognizes will look differently and be harder to do as a result of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cA lot of the (task force) ideas are helpful but by what degree? The only thing that will really help us is to get people here and how do we do that? Can we do that?\u201d Dugan said. \u201cWhile any and all local support is good we don\u2019t have enough locals here to fully support our businesses. If we did we wouldn\u2019t have offseasons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Dugan went on to say he is certain Snowmass Village will be hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis for months to come due to the various canceled Aspen-Snowmass events and lower anticipated number of visitors, but that he thinks the task force is a great group to have in place and has a lot of potential to help provide some really good community supports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He also said he feels businesses will need to come up with their own creative strategies and business model changes to adapt to the pandemic, which his team is working to figure out for the Base Village restaurants they decide to open this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing a lot of menu work and trying to come up with creative ideas,\u201d Dugan said of his four Base Village restaurants. \u201cBut you have to weigh the costs versus the benefits. \u2026 Anything extra we do means extra people we have to pay or extra materials, and it\u2019s hard to know what to expect this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">However, while there are many unknowns and question marks going into the months ahead, Dugan and Bob Sirkus, the ex officio council member on the task force, said implementing the task force\u2019s initial idea list and really encouraging all village residents and visitors to shop locally is a good place to start.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cFrom my personal perspective, I\u2019ve found myself shopping locally more without necessarily trying to do so,\u201d Sirkus said, noting that it seems to be his natural response to the county public health orders. \u201cIf we all work as best we can to shop locally, I think that can really support businesses early on and be of help to the entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\"><a href=\"mailto:mvincent@aspentimes.com\">mvincent@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/snowmass\/snowmass-economic-task-force-making-progress-pursuing-short-term-solutions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christy Sports tells passersby that they\u2019re closed with a sign in the window on the Snowmass Village Mall on Monday, May 11, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/Snowmass Sun)Kelsey Brunner\/Snowmass Sun After two virtual discussions, the Mayor\u2019s Economic Recovery Task Force is moving forward with several initiatives to help local merchants and businesses as they begin to reopen [&hellip;]<\/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-2458880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 23:46:01","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&#039;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\/2458880","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=2458880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458880\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}