JOURNAL SUMMARY 01/01/06

Here, without any further ado: the first Journal of the new year, and the
first one in at least two months. And only four days late! Look at me go.

Your topics this week:

1) RE-1J Update
    Jaclyn covered this comprehensively in her report, bless her, so I'll
just remind folks that the next board meeting is Monday the 9th in Crested
Butte (at the school?), 5:30 p.m. work session and 6:30 p.m. regular
meeting. The school board does not publish its agenda anywhere, and we would
like it to.

2) EDC and Other Economic Issues
    Butch brought word Tuesday night that Mike Darnell submitted his
resignation as EDC director at the county commissioners' meeting.

3) City Council
    Council had a busy and productive work session Tuesday night that
included an acrimonious discourse with Restorative Justice folks, assistance
for another economic impact study, a concern about police staffing, and
electric rates.

4) City Planning Commission
    The commission hasn't met since mid-December, but will convene again
next week. For council, Steve Westbay detailed his vision of the schedule
for the master plan, which everyone agreed seemed overly optimistic.
Hopefully work will move forward in earnest this month. The master plan was
last updated in its entirety in 1994.

5) County Issues
    I didn't get any other report on how the commissioners' first meeting of
2006 went, but should have that information for you next week (or maybe the
highlights will be in the local media today). Topics we want to keep an eye
on include land development issues inside the three-mile area, and the
Whetstone Business Park south of Crested Butte, which is wanting to offer
retail space that would not provide any sales tax to the town of Crested
Butte.

As an aside, I read in the CB News a few weeks back that while sales tax
collection was up healthily this year in CB, town officials are keeping a
wary eye on a trend. The town lost a net of four retail businesses this
year, and fears the loss of more. Town Manager Frank Bell wants the council
to start looking at other funding mechanisms beyond sales tax.

6) Immigrant Integration Issues
    We all reiterated our appreciation to Mary Burt and Ellen Pederson for
visiting us, and are still wanting to meet with Police Chief Greg Anderson.
I did not detail Mary and Ellen's presentation very well, and it won't
happen again today, but we did note that many groups are stepping up to
oppose the national legislation that pretty much targets Mexican
immigration.

Leading the charge right now in Colorado is the Catholic Church, although
many industries are now starting to speak out as well. In some other paper I
read, 23% of Wyoming's total workforce is foreign. The percentage of
illegals, or the countries of origin, were not provided. But that's a lot of
jobs to try to fill.

7) Coming events
    Patrick mentioned to me the other day his wish to conduct a second chili
benefit for the 9 Health Fair, and Karen brought up the idea of sponsoring
some event this spring to measure the walkability and bikeability of our
community, as well as encouraging both modes of transportation.

8) Library Book Reviews
    The Ann Zugelder Library has acquired several new titles and is looking
for folks who might want to write paragraph-long reviews of the books that
the Times has offered to publish. For more information, contact Karen Jensen
at your friendly neighborhood library.

9) Housing and Jails
    Butch has been encouraging people to participate in two sets of meetings
being hosted this month and next by the county. The county has scheduled
several meetings both in Gunnison and CB to take input on the proposed
affordable housing regs (the 30% requirement has Bill Nesbitt, for one,
pretty hot under the collar). And I believe there's going to be some sort of
roundtable discussion, perhaps in Almont, to brainstorm about new proposals
for a county detention center. For more details on these meetings, you'll
have to check with Butch or the county.


Some details on a few of the topics:

2) EDC and Other Economic Issues
    Other than that Mike Darnell tendered his resignation, I don't have any
other information. The EDC was scheduled to meet yesterday (Wednesday) to
discuss disbanding and other possible options.

Leslie Jones of Region 10 either has already or is planning to tender a
proposal for the use of some of this area's funds for economic development,
but I don't know the status or the nature of her proposal.

The city tried to call Jim Kidd, director of the Small Business Development
Center, on the carpet, but bad weather kept him in Delta and they'll try
again on Jan. 24. The SBDC lost its federal funding and went scrounging
among member communities (similar to Region 10's area), including from
Gunnison, which offered $5,000 provided he would agree to make at least
three contacts monthly with the Gunnison business community. That was last
summer, and so far no one's seen or heard from him -- at least as far as
city council is aware.

The other economic issue belongs to the arts center, and I'll put it in my
city notes just below.

3) City Council
    A) Restorative Justice
        Jackie Devore, Mr. Connell (is it Chris?) and Virginia Jones, after
getting rebuffed during the budget process for direct funding, were back
Tuesday night with a request for matching funds for a grant the program
received last October.
    It took a lot of time, but Rick Miller finally got the city's position
across: council members (at least two of them) do support the Restorative
Justice Program, and would be happy to write a letter of support, but they
are only interested in considering matching funds for a new grant, one that
could possibly bring more dollars into the city and aid economic
development.

Ellen Harriman voiced her concern about the city's fiscal responsibility,
noting that council only has $12,000 available to offer any entity seeking
fnds from now until December. She did not want to spend all of it in the
first few months of the year.

Jackie Devore several times asked both the council as a group and
individually if they support her program, because she didn't want to
"keeping wasting people's time" if the council doesn't support the
Restorative Justice program.

Ken Medina told her he's not in favor of it because he believes in the
present justice system, but that people in the community have asked him to
approach the program with an open mind.

Ellen and Rick both voiced their support for the program without committing
any funding; I don't recall if Stu offered his position other than to say
he'd be inclined to support matching funds if the grant brought money into
the community.

Jackie accused Bill Nesbitt of not caring for the program, although he never
did respond directly. Bill did tell Mr. Connell that what stuck in his craw
from the previous meeting with them was Connell's use of the word "paltry"
to describe the city's previous contribution ($5,000?). Jackie fired back
that she didn't care to listen to council tapes to find out Bill had
referred to their program as a "dog and pony show." That one stayed with
Bill throughout the rest of the meeting, as it came up in every other topic
he covered.

So, daring to jump into that heated breach with yet another request for
funding, Paul Edwards and Maryo Gard of the arts center came forward to ask
for $500 to help fund an economic impact study of the arts on the Gunnison
Valley.

A study funded exclusively by the arts center or arts communities locally
would have cost about what Civic Economics charged the city of Gunnison:
$25,000. However, Americans for the Arts conduct just such a survey in areas
across the nation, and the Gunnison Valley (including Crested Butte) is
going to be part of the study that will commence this year and end in May
2007.

The town of Crested Butte granted $500 without any arts person having to
make an appearance, and the county is providing $1,500 to help toward the
$3,500 cost to participate. Americans for the Arts awarded a $1,000
scholarship, and Western State is in negotiations to provide in-kind
services for data collection. Richard Karas offered to assist with the data
analysis.

Maryo detailed the money generated in other areas, including Chaffee County,
by the arts, noting that Homer, Alaska, a town of 3,900, had 85 jobs and
over $1 million generated by arts organizations, without including sales tax
contributions. In North Carolina, the crafts industry generates three or
four times the income of the tobacco industry.

Paul noted that this study could ultimately cut down on local requests for
funding from the Gunnison Arts Center. It would like to start looking
regionally and nationally, but to acquire any of that funding, the arts
center has to have a needs assessment and an economic impact study in place.

Ellen Harriman did note that she had asked Wendy Hanson if this project
might be eligible for the city's economic development dollars, rather than
the $12,000 pot, and Wendy had answered affirmatively.

This was just a work session, so no decision was made, but it looks like the
arts center will get its requested $500.

The electric rate discussion was less conclusive, but rates are going to
have to go up. Residential uses more than commercial, so there was a
discussion about increasing residential rates on a slightly higher
percentage, perhaps 7%. At the top increase, it will mean a $4/month
increase for an average household, which uses 700 kWh monthly.

Council asked Tex Bradford to come back with a concrete proposal, utilizing
their input. The city is targeting the increase to begin in March, and Rick
noted that because the increase didn't go into effect at the start of the
year, customers are essentially get a two-month respite, during two very
expensive months for heating.

The council will meet with county commissioners for breakfast on jan. 24 as
part of an effort to better coordinate communication between the city and
county.

And Ellen invited everyone to the public presentation hosted by the League
of Women Voters at about 12:15 p.m. Monday. Tyler Martineau, this area's rep
to the state water roundtables, will give an update on that. I forgot to
note where the presentation is taking place.

I'm sure there are other things, but i need to get on with my day. Oh,
except for this "book report" from my history of the Confederacy: J.D.B.
DeBow, editor of the influential New Orleans Review, was conditionally in
favor of granting women's rights, but these were his conditions: "They could
willing postpone  their urges to marry and have children, but as to
politics, the law, the ministry and other assertive professions, Southern
women had no business attempting to participate. Those in the North who did
so 'are not women,' claimed DeBow; 'they are horrible abortions,
nondescripts, utter perversions of human nature.' "

And this was the man in support of women's rights. You don't even want to
know what his thoughts were on black people.

Have a good day, everyone.

TL