SandBoxBlogs: Summit Daily News "Summit County families struggling to get by"

Sort of makes you wonder how our lawmakers here in Colorado can justify spending any taxpayer dollars funding illegal foreign nationals post-secondary education while the number of our working family households living in poverty grow higher.  

Kathryn Corazzelli:

"While much of this year's data concerning children's health and well-being in Summit County is similar to last, there was an increase in the number of children living in poverty, and those belonging to families relying on assistance such as free-and-reduced lunch at school.

The Kids Count in Colorado! is an annual report measuring children's health, education, family and community across the 25 counties in the study (the counties represent about 95 percent of Colorado residents under 18). It is a publication of the Colorado Children's Campaign, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and advocacy organization focused on improving the quality of and expanding access to child health, K-12 education and early childhood experiences. Information is taken from numerous data centers like the United States Census Bureau, so the 2012 report contains information from 2010, while last year's chronicled 2009.

The most stand-out changes for Summit County in the 2012 report is the number of children qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, and those living in poverty, according to Lucinda Burns, director of Early Childhood Options, a Summit nonprofit agency that works to improve the quality and availability of local early childhood programs. This year's report listed 34.9 percent of Summit children as qualifying for one of the lunch programs, compared to 30.7 in last year's. Children under the age of 18 living in poverty rose from 11.6 percent in 2009 to 12.9 in 2010.

“That's a little concerning because it's not going in the direction we'd like it to go. It really has impacts across the board,” Burns said. “When you think of the cost of living in Summit County and what it takes to live at an average or low-paying job, it's pretty significant, and it has a significant impact.”...."

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"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times "Midvalley real estate sales surge"

The big question is who is doing the buying.  It sure isn't the folks because they're still feeling deep financial pain in this valley.  See related story and public commentary here.


Scott Condon:
"BASALT — The good news in the midvalley real estate market is the incredible amount of sales that already have occurred in 2012. The bad news is that the furious pace has been spurred by foreclosures and short sales, according to real estate agents.

“The midvalley is just on fire right now. It's almost a feeding frenzy,” said Ted Borchelt, a real estate agent in Basalt with Aspen Snowmass Sotheby's International Realty.

The residential market for property priced under $350,000 is incredibly active. There were 25 sales completed in 2012 through mid-March in that price range in the Basalt and Carbondale area, according to research by Borchelt and Garret Brandt, another real estate agent in Borchelt's office. That compares with 11 closings during the same period in 2011 and just three in 2010.

In addition, there are 46 residences prices under $350,000 under contract, according to Brandt's research. That compares with eight in 2011 and four in 2010.

Activity is also ahead of pace in the $350,001-to-$550,000 price range. Fourteen properties have sold this year through mid-March compared with 11 in the same period in both 2011 and 2010.

The midvalley has been a buyer's market since the recession struck in late 2008. Given how severely the recession hit and how far prices fell, it will take time for a recovery to occur, Borchelt said. He is cautiously optimistic that could change this summer if current trends continue..."
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"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

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."

SandBoxBlogs: Aspen Times "Discussion to focus on Pitkin County poverty"

Wonder if Lee Mulcahy's 'People4alivingwage' quest will be further vindicated when this new report comes out?  

What do you think?

Will the new standard still show higher need than what the Aspen Ski Corp. pays?

"ASPEN — How much must an Aspen worker earn to pay for the basic necessities of life?

The figure might be open to debate, but it and other data related to the cost of living in Pitkin County will be unveiled at a free community presentation at the Pitkin County Library from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Tracey Stewart, family economic security program manager for the Denver-based Colorado Center on Law and Policy, will give the presentation. The organization is a legal-advocacy group that works on behalf of low-income residents across Colorado.

She'll reveal the latest “self-sufficiency standard” for Pitkin County based on a study that is done every three years. The latest data, from 2011, were released recently.

The figures reveal the cost of living in the county and the kind of jobs and wages that are necessary to keep people above the poverty level locally, she said. Identifying the obstacles and opportunities that exist in creating a more self-sufficient community is the greater goal.

Her ultimate purpose is engaging communities around the state in the Take Action Challenge — finding innovative solutions to cut poverty in Colorado in half by 2019...."  (Read more? Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

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..." 
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Here's to the little guy.

Let freedom ring.

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBox Comments: Aspen Times "One year later, Mulcahy still banned"

Let's see.

Very publicly exposed in a negative light on inner handling of employee operations.  Loss of business, guests and most importantly, community and peer respect.

Deterioration of worker environment to the point that caustic email and dissolving of group relationships are thrust into the public eye, including gossip fodder of the day.  Pretty much every day and anywhere.  

And those are just the effects the Aspen Ski Corp. and Crown family go through and are responsible for as a result of this 'ban' 'on the infamous Lee Mulcahy'.

And then there's the small issue of literally being mocked in the public eye by their 'landlord':

Scott Condon:

"...Stark said he felt the dispute probably had a simple solution. He didn't see how Skico could prevent Mulcahy from having a friend purchase a day ticket, dress so he couldn't be easily identified then hit the slopes. Skico officials said if Mulcahy did that, they would eventually catch him, according to Stark.

The Forest Service also concluded that Mulcahy couldn't access public lands of the ski areas without crossing Skico's private property at the base areas and private lands mixed in on the slopes.

“I think it's within their rights” to ban Mulcahy, Stark said...."  (Read more?  Click title)

All this for the sake of bruised egos and continued power over one man who simply desires to ski in his local area.

One has to wonder how much more needs to be given up by Mulcahy.  Maybe erecting a set of public stocks somewhere in downtown Aspen (that isn't Crown owned) and placing himself into them.

Maybe that will be enough.

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBox Comments: Aspen Times "Labor pains in Aspen"

Dear Editor:

I read with interest the conclusions a pair of papered pundits drew in their recently published “The Slums of Aspen.” They bear witness to what Aspen's workforce has become. But things were not always so.

Back when I first moved to the valley more than 30 years ago, there were very few illegal immigrants working in Aspen. The landscapers, the maids, the cooks and the rest of the working class were U.S. citizens.

My first job in Aspen was doing maid work with my wife at one of Aspen's finer hotels. We averaged more than $10 per hour and got to take home all the food and booze left in the rooms, and at season's end we each got a $450 bonus.

Thirty years later, the same job at the same hotel pays $8 per hour, you don't get any guest leftovers, and as a bonus you don't have to speak English. The authors' liberal bent must have prevented their distinguishing between legal and illegal workers.
(Bruno Kirchenwitz)

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SandBox Comments: Aspen Times "Recession snuffs Aspen Skiing Co.'s need for foreign workers"

(See related op-ed piece from Johnny Boyd here)

It's embarrassing. Laughed at in private and a true joke.  Who would you trust to have your back in a fight for life or death? A self-proclaimed elite pillar of society in Glenwood Springs, Carbondale or Aspen?  NO WAY!  Would be a totally worthless proposition.

Spend enough time interviewing the common folks up and down the valley and that is what they're going to end up telling you.

What a wagon load of manure this article is, Mr. Condon.

The Skico has the heat of the changes NLRB forced them to make through the portions of Lee Mulcahy's lawsuit that he did win.

The Skico has unrelenting bad PR, respected opinion columnists and avatars all over the region keeping up the chatter over their alleged illegal immigration practices including under investigation abuses of J1 Visas and H2B Visas.  Give Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colorado) a call and find out where all that is at, won't you?  Thanks.

Reality, is that the Skico has never pushed for locals to work for them.  Never.  They pull in the much cheaper foreign workers long in advance of hiring time and leave no room for local workers.  They make money off all that housing they own and fairly worthless benefits they use to entice those workers.  If not revenue then in all kinds of tax and asset breaks.

These aren't wild conspiracy theories, Mr. Condon.  They're facts based on decades of locals 'living with the Aspen Ski Corp'.

They can't blame anything on the 'Great Recession', 'George Bush', 'Lee Mulcahy', 'bitching locals' or that Ullr probably isn't coming around much this year.

Paula and Jim Crown and the Skico have only themselves to blame for all their problems, including flat sales a couple years in a row. 

What a wagon load of manure this article is.

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SandBox Comments: Pueblo Chieftain "Suddenly a lot more Americans in poverty "

"U.S. Census Bureau's new assessment of poverty:

- For all groups, poverty would have jumped to 18 percent — or 6 million more people — if it weren’t for the earned income tax credit,

- Without food stamps, the poverty rate would have risen to 17.7 percent, which translates to about 5 million more people.

- Poverty for Asians increased to 16.7 percent from 12.1 percent under the official measure. Among non-Hispanic whites, it rose to 11.1 percent from about 10 percent.

- Children's poverty rate declined to 18.2 percent from 22 percent — largely a reflection of families receiving food stamps.

- By region, the West had the highest poverty rate at 19.4 percent. Then comes the South at 16.3 percent; the Northeast at 14.5 percent; and the Midwest at 13.1 percent...."
(via Pueblo Chieftain)

(Read the article?  Click title.  Comment to start discussion)

"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "I will champion Mulcahy's crusade"

Here's to the little guy.

Let freedom ring.

(See who's champion of a crusade?  Click title and comment to start discussion)

"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily New "City’s available affordable housing hits new heights"

We have been saturated with housing inventory for a lot longer than just a year.

And yet there's always a new affordable development  on the table that gets higher consideration by the powers that be than projects that would bring jobs and put stronger cash flow back into the community.

Such irony those same powers that be disregard the commons needs for the most basic of assistance programs and continually push the cost of living ceiling higher.

Not to mention there are few to no jobs except the ones paying less than a living wage.

By all means, Mayor Mick.

Let's just keep forcing every development to build "affordable" housing and pushing those out-of-reach, not needed projects like Burlingame.

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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."

SandBox Comments: Aspen Times "Aspen Skiing Co. envisions easy time finding help with job fair"

Has to be tough, relying on a foundation of partial truth and reality.

One's footing would never be secure.

The best question to be asked of this article is, "Why?"

Why does the Skico and Crown family all of a sudden have all these job openings?

BTW, how's Senator Udall doing in his quest to dig into J1Visa and H2B Visa use by the Skico?

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"Truth goes through three stages. First it is ridiculed. Then violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident."