SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News "More fines for riding bikes on malls, sidewalks"

Hmmm....let's see.

The City of Aspen goes crazy wild in favor of supporting  a bike-share company and backs that support up with a whole lot of seed money.

The bike-share startup  comes back with a plan that shows each bike costing $6,000 EACH.

And now, the same city ratchets up the rules, laws and fines for breaking either by seriously stepping up enforcement within the City of Aspen.  With 60% of the folks supporting that.

Hmmmm....exactly how does this add up to a good deal for the folks?

Chad Abraham:

"...Open space ranger Brian Long of the city’s parks and recreation department said in the summertime, he and police officers are on “the receiving end of a lot of citizen comments and complaints.” The input concerns cyclists biking in spots where they’re supposed to be walking their bikes.

Long estimated that he received 300 or so comments last summer about wayward bikers (the pedestrian malls fall under the responsibility of the parks department). Pedestrians, some of whom are walking their bikes, often complain about narrow misses with rule-breakers, Long said Friday.

Blair Weyer, police department spokeswoman, said that roughly 60 percent of the 600 respondents to the survey indicated they want moderate to strict enforcement of the current code prohibiting bikes on sidewalks and the malls...."  (Read more?  Click title)
"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBox Comments; Aspen Times "Pitkin County lifts cap on child-care program"

There is so much wasted public spending in Aspen.

Wonder how much the eating out for city employees would help fund childcare?

Wonder how much letting go of private (public funds) funding of the now infamous "$6,000 per bike cost" bike sharing enterprise would help fund childcare?

Do you think that the "overwhelmed with applicants" concern could possibly be because there are that many low-income, struggling parents in Aspen, Colorado?

Or maybe so many families finding it really, really hard to live in Pitkin County on slightly above poverty level wages?

Ah, the 'Slums of Aspen' and "The other side of Paradise" issues that just never seem to 'go away'.

Wonder why?

"ASPEN — A cap on the number of Pitkin County families that can receive child-care assistance under a state-mandated program will be dropped, county commissioners agreed Tuesday despite lingering fears that the program could be overwhelmed with applicants as a result...."
(Janet Urquhart)

(Read more?  Click title. Comment to discuss)

SandBox Comments: Aspen Daily News/Sheldon Fingerman "The Aspen money hole"

"Want to know where your tax money goes. Well, some of it is going into a hole in the ground thanks to Mick’s love of geothermal energy. You’ll also be pleased to know that in order to accomplish this, the city’s noise ordinance was increased to 80 decibels. Not terribly loud, but I wouldn’t want to be living near that site at 7 a.m. Yup. Let’s get rid of plastic bags and increase the noise.

And we’re also throwing money at attorneys. Mick seems so incensed that Marilyn Marks almost beat him he’s willing to take this ballot thing all the way to the Supreme Court on our dime. Mick, anybody who watched Grassroots TV already saw the ballots as they flashed by. I’m more concerned the mail-in ballot I just received has my name and address on the envelope. Whoever opens it can easily see who and what I voted for.

And Marks is right. What if the ballots had to be hand counted (remember Florida)? The money we’re spending on this is nuts. Anyway, you go girl.

We also lost money on the bicycle race, and now we’re prepared to spend more on the next one. As far as I’m concerned the episodes of the Bold and the Beautiful, featuring Aspen, did far more to help Aspen’s image than the bicycle races.

While I’m not a fan, I did watch some of the “Aspen” episodes and the town looked fantastic.

And speaking of bicycles: I can’t believe our money is also going to a bicycle-sharing program. According to the Aspen Daily News, the startup costs are going to be between $500,000 and $600,000. $600,000! That’s for eight kiosks and 100 bicycles. That’s $6000 per bike! You’ve got to be kidding! Can you say Solyndra?..."
(Sheldon Fingerman)

(Could Sheldon possibly have more to say?  Click title)

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