There is no doubt in most folks minds that it is long overdue for the City of Glenwood Springs City Council to come down off their high dais and work nicer with Garfield County Commissioners.
There is an obvious uptick to that happening since the folks put Todd Leahy in his seat....(yes, sometimes the best strategy is to leave a race with a much needed seat as uncontested. There was at least one more besides Dirk Myers who would have run if needed)...even if Todd is on the outer fringes of becoming a good 'ol boy's club member. Leahy's doing a great job and is perfect for the seat he's in. Let's all hope he has more terms in front of him.
There has been no doubt for many years... (remember back to the inception of DDA and then Downtown Market and then Downtown Partners and who knows how many private collaborations there are to help the disenfranchised promote downtown 81601)... that downtown merchants and numerous other small businesses in Garfield County... (remember back to the inception of Randi Lowenthal's enterprise and the more recent Rifle Economic Development Corp)...need a number of capital and infrastructure improvements alongside a lot more attention paid.. (thank goodness for the entrance of Leslie Bethel!)...to tourism promotion that hits everybody and not just a select few.
But here's a point that just keeps getting missed by our esteemed leaders.
You have to listen to everybody.
If they won't come to you for whatever reason? (..from the sound of things out here they have very valid concerns..) then it is your job not theirs, to get communication flowing in to you.
John Martin will likely lose his seat this time around. Not because he hasn't done a good job, he has. He will likely lose it due to the last two years of almost unbridled chest thumping from that infamous Garfield County 'good 'ol boys club'. The folks have given (even conservative folks) BOCC a full sweep of political power for two years now. Going deaf was not part of the deal.
There is a balance of sorts on council now, if Dave Sturges keeps on showing signs of remembering who he really is rather than taking the power at face value, there might be even more balance between now and the time 2013 council races hit.
What does all this have to do with alleys in downtown?
Jankovsky would be wise to cease the chest thumping and pushing of a tourism promotion agenda and sit back and listen to his county first. The next two posts today give some insight into the real world of the folks <less> the view from the Lion's den.
John Stroud:
"Glenwood Springs City Councilman Todd Leahy said it makes sense for the city, the DDA and the county to partner on some of the downtown projects.
“One of my main goals when I decided to run for council was to work on the relationship between the city and the county,” said Leahy, who is also city council's liaison to the DDA board.
“The more we can work together to enhance that area the better,” he said.
County Commissioner Tom Jankovsky agreed.
“The face of the downtown is changing, and we have an interest in what goes on there,” Jankovsky said, noting that the county's main government campus is also a major part of downtown Glenwood Springs.
The county is also increasing its stake in downtown. Earlier this week, it signed a $2.5 million contract to purchase a large portion of the 700 block of Colorado Avenue from local attorneys Stephen Worrell and Anthony Durrett. The deal, which is scheduled to close June 1, would include the law office building at the northeast corner of Eighth and Colorado, and a building that now houses an auto glass shop.
Though there are no immediate redevelopment plans, the county eventually may create more public parking and expand its government office facilities on the site....." (Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
1 comment:
last thing we need right now is a pretty alley way boosting the Italian Underground family business. Better times, maybe. where we really need alleys boosted into permanent infrastructure draws is to get rid of the "SeaWorld" concept we blew over $200,000 on outside architects on and get the Cooper Street and 7th street situation dealt with. There's the alley between Grand and Cooper that has huge potential.
what we need for this land is county government and courthouse expansions. or at bare minimum we need parking. this new parking structure finally forced out because the library finally threatened to leave downtown if council didn't get off it's dime is not going to hold much. It will be overflow all the time and we need more. if we do not get our out of control justice and clerk overflow dealt with and get county seat expansion in place we don't have a lot of hope of getting smarter about how we're spending county money. it's a perpetual problem that's only growing.
leahy's alright. fair to good is the grade level I'd give him at this point. John I think needs to let go. Samson I'd like to see hold. Leslie Bethel? if that girl could be hired in a role that holds real power to pull all the disenfranchised together we would all benefit.
for now let the Durrett family stay entrenched in the good 'ol boys club and the "european flavor" take a back seat. put the money to use where it benefits everybody.
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