JOURNAL 10/30/05
It's Wednesday already; I have a cold; and election outcomes are the topic
du jour.

But I have a little time, albeit less patience, particularly after watching
(on TV) a very lengthy city council meeting in which Bill Nesbitt seemed
compelled to argue against and question absolutely everything, including a
draft version of a form for evaluating funding proposals to the city on an
equal footing, and the timeline for putting a new planning commissioner in
place.

So, without doing any more complaining of my own, here is your Quick-Pick
Journal.

1) GVCA Goes Formal
    Don't forget: our first official general membership meeting is called
for this Sunday, 4 p.m., at 322 N. Wisconsin. Anyone attending will get to
vote on our proposed by-laws and help elect our first official officers (no
more interim status). We aren't expecting it, but we are encouraging
increased attendance.

If the by-laws are passed (Richard has sent a draft copy, and Don has it
posted on our website. I am totally blanking on that web address this
morning, Don: could you please post it in case others are in the same fix?),
we will be able next week to tell you what is required to be an official
member of the GVCA. For those of you who are interested.

2) Essential Housing
    We can't even agree on what to call it (affordable, attainable,
community and local were some of the terms suggested), but the county
Housing Authority staged an excellent forum on the topic last week.
Attendance was about half of what the authority had expected, but the GVCA
and the City of Gunnison were both well-represented, with four people
apiece, plus Ellen, doing double-duty. I saw one CB council member, but I
didn't recognize a lot of people in the room and there wasn't much
opportunity for mixing and mingling, so the only other attendance report I
can tell you for sure is that all three county commissioners were there, and
at least two folks from GS&L, including one beneficiary of the county's
affordable (self-help) housing project.

What I ought to do -- but it won't happen this morning -- is write up a more
complete report. Toni Todd of the Times was present for at least a portion
of the day, so you can probably read about it tomorrow. And if you're at all
interested, I would strongly encourage you to take Richard up on his offer
to copy Mick Ireland's excellent presentation. His delineation of trends,
while told entertainingly, is quite sobering. Shortly put, if you've got big
money, you're likely on track to get more, and if you don't have it, well,
good luck to you, then.

It was an excellent conference that deserves more exposure, so I'll see what
I can do about offering a digest of the day.

3) Headwaters
    Scheduling -- and the subject matter -- prompt me to throw in a little
commercial for this annual conference at Western State, which starts this
Friday evening and runs through Sunday noon. The topic this year is
immigration, both from south of the border and the second homeowner influx.

All I know for sure is that Friday's presenters include Luke Danielson of
Gunnison and something from Su Teatro (Your Theatre), an hispanic group from
Denver. Saturday is supposed to offer a "World Cafe," which I keep touting
as a means of broad community communication on divisive issues, so here
might be a chance to experience one in person. I have no idea what time
that's scheduled for -- I've been quite remiss this year.

4) City Council
    Council spent over an hour on a $2,000 request for Restorative Justice
last night, with council members trying to explain that it was not about
endorsing the project (which most of them did), but more about a
philosophical discussion of what types of projects to fund. Historically,
the county has funded human services, councilors said. I'm not sure anything
got resolved to anyone's satisfaction.

Council also spent a brief amount of time on the Hartman Castle retail sales
request. The council does at least seem leery of setting any precedents, but
there does seem to be a distinct leaning toward granting this request. They
said Rod Landwehr had been consulted on the precedent aspect, but I never
did hear what his response to that was. I guess we might find out next week,
when it comes up in regular session.

I don't know what the status of city manager finalists is. The council did
meet in executive session, but if there was an outcome, I missed it
(possibly while channel-flipping for election results -- good thing Channel
9 was interested, since no other Denver station was).

And everyone but Bill seemed to like the draft document Wendy Hanson offered
to being evaluating funding requests in 2006. Wendy and the council thanked
Richard for all his assistance with the form.

5) Planning Commissions
    The county didn't meet last week, and the city looked at a couple of
issues, but in the interest of time and space, I think these topics can wait
a week.

6) C and D
    Others have provided better, more complete results, but I'd like to echo
all those offering their thanks today to Pat, who organized a successful
local effort. You could even see her out on All Hallow's Eve, bedecked in C
and D paraphernalia, encouraging trick-or-treating parents to vote.

7) RE-1J
    It turns out we're a little confused on how many applications have been
turned in for vacant school board seats, and I don't think any of us have
taken the time to go to the district office and ask. Jaclyn's big concern is
that this will be the sixth consecutive year in which the board is appointed
rather than elected. Perhaps a long-term objective for the GVCA might be to
induce more candidates to run, so that actual elections could be held, with
candidates' views exposed to the general public prior to votes on specific
issues.

8) WSC
    Someday, I promise -- but not today -- I will report on how the
college-business community initial brqainstorming went. WSC has already
moved into action on a couple of the suggestions. Maybe I'll check with
Celeste for an update -- or perhaps she'll just provide it on her own to
this list.

Lastly, Karen is collecting old greeting cards for a Willows resident who
recycles them into new greeting cards, should you have any you'd like to
donate. And Karen is also willing to take the wire from C and D yard signs
off your hands for use in her gardens. Reduce, reuse, recycle!

Okay, that's what you're getting from me. Don't forget the general
membership meeting on Sunday.

TL