What happens when you put controversy, problems, issues, concerns and questions behind closed doors and let only a few control the outcome?
Same thing as what happens when you censor, ban and quash the human voice and spirit.
The 800 lb. gorilla in the room gains tons more weight and your "secret" becomes the worst kept secret in the land.
Funny how that works.
How many more media outlets listening in to all news chatter is it going to take to get the folks transparency issues in all regional counties dealt with properly?
Good take on the 'other side of paradise' by Kari Lyderson. Somewhere out there on the very popular and well followed publication 'In These Times'.
Kari Lyderson:
"The Slums of Aspen details the controversy over a proposed immigration detention facility in the town of Glenwood Springs 40 miles east of Aspen, a relatively more affordable area where many immigrant workers live. (In Glenwood Springs the median home value is a still pricey $400,000, compared to $4.3 million in Aspen.)
The debate over the detention center highlighted the fact that many ski resorts employ large numbers of young European, Australian and New Zealand immigrants who come on work visas but frequently overstay them – becoming "undocumented" like their Latino counterparts. Yet they draw little scrutiny or antipathy from native residents or government officials, and resorts often highlight their internationalism by listing European and Australian/ Kiwi employees’ home country on their name tags....."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Showing posts with label Aspen Skico pays poverty level wages. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aspen Skico pays poverty level wages. Show all posts
May 1, 2012
April 23, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "County demand for food stamps continues on its four-year climb"
Andrew Travers:
"Demand from Pitkin County residents for federal food assistance has increased more than five-fold in recent years.
The number of low-income locals using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) continued its dramatic rise in 2011, demonstrating continuing economic hardship for some area residents. Since 2007, the number of clients has gone up 558 percent, while the funds used have risen 836 percent.
A total of 171 county households took part in the program in 2011. They were granted a total of more than $453,000 in food vouchers.
“We are deluged,” said county health and human services director Nan Sundeen. “The demand for public assistance has grown, and staying on top of it is our biggest challenge.”
The SNAP program — which no longer uses actual stamps, but debit cards instead — allows participants to purchase bread, vegetables, meat and other food products. It blocks purchases of non-food items like vitamins, tobacco and liquor.
Due to the historically scant number of Aspenites using food stamps, the county has not typically devoted many resources to the program. The county partners with Eagle County to oversee food cards for the mid- to upper-Roaring Fork Valley. Demand has stretched both governments’ resources thin. Pitkin County paid to add a new staff position in 2010 to meet the unprecedented demand.
While the feds pay for the benefits, local governments pay to administer the program...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
"Demand from Pitkin County residents for federal food assistance has increased more than five-fold in recent years.
The number of low-income locals using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) continued its dramatic rise in 2011, demonstrating continuing economic hardship for some area residents. Since 2007, the number of clients has gone up 558 percent, while the funds used have risen 836 percent.
A total of 171 county households took part in the program in 2011. They were granted a total of more than $453,000 in food vouchers.
“We are deluged,” said county health and human services director Nan Sundeen. “The demand for public assistance has grown, and staying on top of it is our biggest challenge.”
The SNAP program — which no longer uses actual stamps, but debit cards instead — allows participants to purchase bread, vegetables, meat and other food products. It blocks purchases of non-food items like vitamins, tobacco and liquor.
Due to the historically scant number of Aspenites using food stamps, the county has not typically devoted many resources to the program. The county partners with Eagle County to oversee food cards for the mid- to upper-Roaring Fork Valley. Demand has stretched both governments’ resources thin. Pitkin County paid to add a new staff position in 2010 to meet the unprecedented demand.
While the feds pay for the benefits, local governments pay to administer the program...."
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
April 3, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Homeless group aims to reform ‘broken’ local housing rules"
"They are treated like chattel."
Yes, they most certainly are. Think about that angle of the current conversations on "deed-restricted" land use codes, "affordable" housing and "employee housing" from the construction, development, government and surrounding neighborhoods end.
"Anonymous" tips, indeed. Who benefits the most if those housing units go empty?
Great question.
Andrw Travers:
"The Regional Homeless Coalition, which focuses on homelessness from Aspen to Parachute, addressed the issue briefly Monday at its biannual meeting. Members discussed whether the housing authority may be contributing to homelessness in the Aspen area.
Aspen- and Pitkin County-based members of the group will meet again next week, in the hopes of formulating specific proposals for changes in the housing authority rules.
“I think we can articulate what our concerns are and productively move them forward to APCHA and the city and the county,” said Nan Sundeen, Pitkin County’s director of health and human services.
The Aspen City Council and Pitkin County commissioners oversee the housing rules, which are then administered by APCHA.
In February, the housing authority served Truscott resident Susan Johnson with an eviction notice for not being employed, and later upheld the eviction. In the second case, against Heidi Mines, who owns an APCHA home on East Hopkins Avenue, the board opted last month to grant a four-month eviction delay to give her time to find a job.
Both cases arose from anonymous tips to APCHA, which enforces compliance with housing rules through complaints. To qualify for local government affordable housing, residents must work a minimum of 29 hours per week in Pitkin County.
“That’s probably why people choose to break them, because the rules are broken,” said Vince Savage, director of the Aspen Homeless Shelter.
Savage expressed frustration with the housing rules and their narrow focus on housing employees.
“Is it a community for rich people and people willing to work 29 hours a week to serve them? Or is this a place that people can come to live?” Savage asked the group.
He compared the housing system to a college campus, where one can’t keep housing without staying in school, and characterized it as an exploitative 21st century feudalism.
“They’re treated like chattel,” Savage said of APCHA tenants......"
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Yes, they most certainly are. Think about that angle of the current conversations on "deed-restricted" land use codes, "affordable" housing and "employee housing" from the construction, development, government and surrounding neighborhoods end.
"Anonymous" tips, indeed. Who benefits the most if those housing units go empty?
Great question.
Andrw Travers:
"The Regional Homeless Coalition, which focuses on homelessness from Aspen to Parachute, addressed the issue briefly Monday at its biannual meeting. Members discussed whether the housing authority may be contributing to homelessness in the Aspen area.
Aspen- and Pitkin County-based members of the group will meet again next week, in the hopes of formulating specific proposals for changes in the housing authority rules.
“I think we can articulate what our concerns are and productively move them forward to APCHA and the city and the county,” said Nan Sundeen, Pitkin County’s director of health and human services.
The Aspen City Council and Pitkin County commissioners oversee the housing rules, which are then administered by APCHA.
In February, the housing authority served Truscott resident Susan Johnson with an eviction notice for not being employed, and later upheld the eviction. In the second case, against Heidi Mines, who owns an APCHA home on East Hopkins Avenue, the board opted last month to grant a four-month eviction delay to give her time to find a job.
Both cases arose from anonymous tips to APCHA, which enforces compliance with housing rules through complaints. To qualify for local government affordable housing, residents must work a minimum of 29 hours per week in Pitkin County.
“That’s probably why people choose to break them, because the rules are broken,” said Vince Savage, director of the Aspen Homeless Shelter.
Savage expressed frustration with the housing rules and their narrow focus on housing employees.
“Is it a community for rich people and people willing to work 29 hours a week to serve them? Or is this a place that people can come to live?” Savage asked the group.
He compared the housing system to a college campus, where one can’t keep housing without staying in school, and characterized it as an exploitative 21st century feudalism.
“They’re treated like chattel,” Savage said of APCHA tenants......"
(Read more? Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
March 14, 2012
SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Daily News "Pitkin County self-sufficiency standards presented to BOCC"
In easier to grasp terms, that works out to at least $13.00 per hour. Low and mid-tier Skico employees make less per hour than that. In fact, low tier make under $11.00 per hour. In fact, one has to be in a management position at Aspen Ski Corp. to make that bare minimum. And that bare minimum? Is for a single person. If you are single with one child you need to be making between $28 and $29 per hour.
Remember now, Aspen's largest employer is seasonal. So double or triple what you need to earn in order to get that made in 6 months or less.
Remember now, your 'perks' like health insurance, free ski pass and bus pass lower your expenses which translates out to a great point that Tracey Stewart makes in this article. 'You make too much' to qualify for most all subsidies to help out. Now there is a very interesting thought considering Aspen's blue blood runs liberal. Good 'ol fashioned capitalism is sounding better by the day, isn't it?
Still think Lee Mulcahy's voice should have been quashed by $Big Money$? Or that he should still be enduring the wrath of $Big Money$ for exposing them?
Before personally judging Mulcahy and supporters, please read up on all of the facts and get familiar with all of the story.
While you're at it, please read the entire article by Dorothy Atkins today. Up on the Aspen Daily News.
Dorothy Atkins:
"In order to be self sufficient and live in Pitkin County, an individual needs to make at least $27,000 a year, according to the Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP), while a single parent with three young children needs to make $103,607 annually to get by on their own.
The nonprofit agency presented the statistics and others related to self-sufficiency standards to the Board of County Commissioners in a work session on Tuesday.
The study is an income measurement tool that determines how much money families of various sizes and compositions living in specific geographic locations need to earn in order to make ends meet without public or private assistance. The nonprofit produces the study every three years.
A singe parent with one child needs to earn at least $59,400 a year to be self sufficient in Pitkin County, while a two-parent, two-child household needs to make over $87,500 a year here, according to the study.
Those statistics include federal tax credits that families would theoretically receive like the child care credit and the earned income tax credit.
The study also addresses the increase in costs of basic needs since 2004. Of the six categories, all costs have gone up in Pitkin County except transportation. The costs of housing, child care, food, health care and taxes have all increased. The cost of health care showed the largest jump, increasing by 121 percent, which is consistent with the rest of the state, said Tracey Stewart, self-sufficiency project coordinator with CCLP.
Of a sampling of various common working and middle class lines of work, only two occupations in Pitkin County pay enough for a single parent with one preschooler and one school-age child to be self sufficient, according to the study. Those are registered nurses and operations managers, the latter of which theoretically includes people in management positions at Aspen Skiing Co., Stewart said.
Commissioner Rob Ittner questioned Stewart on whether or not the study took into account benefits that residents receive — like affordable housing and food stamps — which can do a lot to offset the high cost of living in Pitkin County.
Stewart countered that there is often a gap between the amount of money individuals would have to earn on the lower end to qualify for receiving benefits from the government and the amount one would have to make to be self-sufficient...." (Read more? You should. Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Remember now, Aspen's largest employer is seasonal. So double or triple what you need to earn in order to get that made in 6 months or less.
Remember now, your 'perks' like health insurance, free ski pass and bus pass lower your expenses which translates out to a great point that Tracey Stewart makes in this article. 'You make too much' to qualify for most all subsidies to help out. Now there is a very interesting thought considering Aspen's blue blood runs liberal. Good 'ol fashioned capitalism is sounding better by the day, isn't it?
Still think Lee Mulcahy's voice should have been quashed by $Big Money$? Or that he should still be enduring the wrath of $Big Money$ for exposing them?
Before personally judging Mulcahy and supporters, please read up on all of the facts and get familiar with all of the story.
While you're at it, please read the entire article by Dorothy Atkins today. Up on the Aspen Daily News.
Dorothy Atkins:
"In order to be self sufficient and live in Pitkin County, an individual needs to make at least $27,000 a year, according to the Colorado Center on Law and Policy (CCLP), while a single parent with three young children needs to make $103,607 annually to get by on their own.
The nonprofit agency presented the statistics and others related to self-sufficiency standards to the Board of County Commissioners in a work session on Tuesday.
The study is an income measurement tool that determines how much money families of various sizes and compositions living in specific geographic locations need to earn in order to make ends meet without public or private assistance. The nonprofit produces the study every three years.
A singe parent with one child needs to earn at least $59,400 a year to be self sufficient in Pitkin County, while a two-parent, two-child household needs to make over $87,500 a year here, according to the study.
Those statistics include federal tax credits that families would theoretically receive like the child care credit and the earned income tax credit.
The study also addresses the increase in costs of basic needs since 2004. Of the six categories, all costs have gone up in Pitkin County except transportation. The costs of housing, child care, food, health care and taxes have all increased. The cost of health care showed the largest jump, increasing by 121 percent, which is consistent with the rest of the state, said Tracey Stewart, self-sufficiency project coordinator with CCLP.
Of a sampling of various common working and middle class lines of work, only two occupations in Pitkin County pay enough for a single parent with one preschooler and one school-age child to be self sufficient, according to the study. Those are registered nurses and operations managers, the latter of which theoretically includes people in management positions at Aspen Skiing Co., Stewart said.
Commissioner Rob Ittner questioned Stewart on whether or not the study took into account benefits that residents receive — like affordable housing and food stamps — which can do a lot to offset the high cost of living in Pitkin County.
Stewart countered that there is often a gap between the amount of money individuals would have to earn on the lower end to qualify for receiving benefits from the government and the amount one would have to make to be self-sufficient...." (Read more? You should. Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
February 10, 2012
SandBox Comments: Aspen Times "Skico backs employee"
Maybe the phrase "intensely dislike" is better to use than the word "hate".
Locals "intensely dislike" the way the Aspen Times is attempting to bring back commentary in their hub. So much so, they continue to boycott and ignore the Times.
But every now and again, there comes a topic they are so passionate over; they step in and make sure that spin is straightened out and truth is seen.
Does Aspen Skico do good things for the community? Of course.
Do they still prey on the same communities as they line their bank accounts? Of course.
That is the enigma of the Aspen Ski Corp. Is it "vulture capitalism"? Some think so. Are their actions misleading? Maybe. No one can argue with their actions showing in the public eye as blurred and lacking in transparency.
Will the Aspen Ski Corp ever again enjoy unbridled freedom to do as they wish in the Roaring Fork Valley?
Not if the communities within that valley have anything to say about it.
"Intensely dislike" local media's attempts to censor, or no.
Click title to read Mongo's Letter to the Editor today. Up on the Aspen Times.
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Locals "intensely dislike" the way the Aspen Times is attempting to bring back commentary in their hub. So much so, they continue to boycott and ignore the Times.
But every now and again, there comes a topic they are so passionate over; they step in and make sure that spin is straightened out and truth is seen.
Does Aspen Skico do good things for the community? Of course.
Do they still prey on the same communities as they line their bank accounts? Of course.
That is the enigma of the Aspen Ski Corp. Is it "vulture capitalism"? Some think so. Are their actions misleading? Maybe. No one can argue with their actions showing in the public eye as blurred and lacking in transparency.
Will the Aspen Ski Corp ever again enjoy unbridled freedom to do as they wish in the Roaring Fork Valley?
Not if the communities within that valley have anything to say about it.
"Intensely dislike" local media's attempts to censor, or no.
Click title to read Mongo's Letter to the Editor today. Up on the Aspen Times.
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
February 2, 2012
SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "Fewer local tourism jobs than in 2000"
Or, maybe Lee Mulcahy doesn't have to build his own public stocks and place himself into them after all.
Maybe PitCo commissioners will lend a hand by retaining an intensive study into 'why' Aspen and Pitkin County are sliding so noticeably over the past decade from one of the most affluent and thriving on multiple levels counties in the nation to:
Andrew Travers:
"The travel and tourism piece is something that you do very well,” Ben Alexander, an economist from the Montana-based Headwaters Institute told the county commissioners by phone Wednesday. “But it’s something you haven’t grown in in some time — and that’s surprising to me.”
Commissioners noted that growth in jobs and the overall economy was fast paced here through the first two-thirds of the last decade, but quickly fell off with the recession.
The institute’s report, based largely on 2010 census data, found that travel and tourism jobs make up 53 percent of employment in the county, or roughly 8,700 jobs. But that number has declined by 560 jobs since 2000, Alexander found.
“To me the big story is that travel and tourism have not been a job creator for you over the last decade,” he said. “Travel and tourism has been a source of job loss.”
Over the same period, retail jobs shrank by 10 percent, from 912 to 819. Hotel and food services likewise shrank from 5,421 to 4,556 jobs — a 16 percent decrease.
However, jobs categorized in arts, entertainment and recreation grew from 2,728 to 3,148 here — a 15 percent increase, owing largely to ski- and sports-related business. That sector, Alexander reported, was the only part of the local economy that continued creating jobs through the onset of the recession in 2008 and 2009, when employment went up by 85 jobs.
Less surprising to county officials was that economic growth in the county was more gradual here over the go-go 2000s than in other ski resorts, owing largely to strict local land-use codes..."
(Read more? Click title)
Here's to the little guy.
Let freedom ring.
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
Maybe PitCo commissioners will lend a hand by retaining an intensive study into 'why' Aspen and Pitkin County are sliding so noticeably over the past decade from one of the most affluent and thriving on multiple levels counties in the nation to:
Andrew Travers:
"The travel and tourism piece is something that you do very well,” Ben Alexander, an economist from the Montana-based Headwaters Institute told the county commissioners by phone Wednesday. “But it’s something you haven’t grown in in some time — and that’s surprising to me.”
Commissioners noted that growth in jobs and the overall economy was fast paced here through the first two-thirds of the last decade, but quickly fell off with the recession.
The institute’s report, based largely on 2010 census data, found that travel and tourism jobs make up 53 percent of employment in the county, or roughly 8,700 jobs. But that number has declined by 560 jobs since 2000, Alexander found.
“To me the big story is that travel and tourism have not been a job creator for you over the last decade,” he said. “Travel and tourism has been a source of job loss.”
Over the same period, retail jobs shrank by 10 percent, from 912 to 819. Hotel and food services likewise shrank from 5,421 to 4,556 jobs — a 16 percent decrease.
However, jobs categorized in arts, entertainment and recreation grew from 2,728 to 3,148 here — a 15 percent increase, owing largely to ski- and sports-related business. That sector, Alexander reported, was the only part of the local economy that continued creating jobs through the onset of the recession in 2008 and 2009, when employment went up by 85 jobs.
Less surprising to county officials was that economic growth in the county was more gradual here over the go-go 2000s than in other ski resorts, owing largely to strict local land-use codes..."
(Read more? Click title)
Here's to the little guy.
Let freedom ring.
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
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