Under pressure

Ah, the strange beauty of politics.
Political decisions almost always come about slowly and involve a lot of meetings, but the process can be interesting. The politics of Snodgrass is raising its head and it’s getting downright exciting. The county is mad. A United States senator is diving in deep. The town of Mt. Crested Butte is where you think they are and the Crested Butte council is entertaining the idea of shifting positions.
Speaking of entertaining…
You know it is a different kind of meeting when Pete “the Gadfly” Giannini shows up with 200 people covering his back… but he doesn’t say a word. The jugular went untouched. Such was the case as hundreds packed a Crested Butte Town Council meeting Monday to express their opinion.
At 6:45 Monday evening, there were those in the Town Council chambers making jokes about pitchforks and torches marching toward the town hall. Remember the scene in the movie Young Frankenstein? A loud crowd appeared fired up at the doors of the building. A bullhorn overwhelmed the work session in progress. People tapped their protest signs on the windows of the council chambers. As a newspaper guy, I smelled blood.
Ten minutes later, the work session was completed and the crowd moved inside, filling the chambers until the room overflowed. Some sat on the floor inches from the council table. Others were outside on the steps looking down into the council room. There were protest signs. Someone was holding a baby. More than a few grey hairs stood shoulder to shoulder and every demographic in between packed the room.
And then silence as Mayor Leah Williams opened the meeting. She laid out some ground rules. The group was respectful, sometimes emotional and ultimately impactful. Democracy in action was on display as people politely followed the rules laid out, listened to the speakers and gently (for the most part) asked the new council to reconsider an action from the previous council that sure seemed to play a part in Forest Supervisor Charlie Richmond’s decision to not allow the Snodgrass expansion plan into NEPA.
The council listened… even the members of the old council. Even councilman Reed Betz, who has shown no inclination to re-engage the Snodgrass discussion, admitted putting the issue on the next agenda was “warranted.”
And so the democratic process worked… at least the first stage of the process. A large group of people got what they wanted, which was another chance to be heard in a couple of weeks. Democracy is nothing if not another meeting. But, I’ll bet the next time there will be at least a few people speaking for the other side. “Paging Dotzler, Gary Dotzler… Mr. Shaw, Mr. Chuck Shaw, please pick up the white courtesy phone… Hello, Glo?”
The voice of FOSM was conspicuously and intentionally quiet at the Monday meeting. While a few FOSMs were at the Monday session, they didn’t speak to the issue. I bet they felt a bit like the pro-Snodgrassers felt at the Center for the Arts meeting a year and a half ago when the vast majority of the crowd spoke passionately against lifts on Snodgrass.
Chuck Shaw commented Tuesday that the Friends of Snodgrass Mountain have deliberately made the choice to maintain a low profile while this process unfolds. “Friends of Snodgrass Mountain made the decision to maintain a low profile while this process plays out a bit. We will continue to participate in a friendly discussion of this significant issue,” he said.
While the group may or may not formally comment at the December 21 meeting, I’ll be surprised if no one steps up to speak. The democratic process is not over by any means.
The owners of CBMR are working another angle of that democratic process, and this week they are meeting with those in Washington, D.C. who might have some direct influence on getting the Snodgrass expansion proposal into the NEPA process. United States senators, congressmen and the top echelons of the Forest Service are being contacted directly. CBMR is officially preparing a formal appeal of the Richmond decision as well. It will be filed in a week if not sooner.

Now, part of moving the democratic process involves applying pressure. In March of 2008, those against lifts on Snodgrass packed the Center for the Arts and the council felt the pressure as speaker after speaker argued against the expansion. The council sent a letter reflecting that point of view. Last Monday, a different council met face-to-face with a different group of people. The new town representatives felt the pressure and will consider sending a different type of letter to the Forest Service. Elected officials at all levels and Forest Service bureaucrats across Colorado and in D.C. are feeling the pressure from the huge public outcry over Richmond’s decision to reject the expansion going into NEPA. They are reacting.
U.S. Senator Mark Udall has sent a letter to Richmond’s boss, Rick Cables, asking “What the heck?” He strongly suggests the Forest Service should conduct a NEPA review process. Think Mr. Cables is feeling the pressure? How the pressure is applied counts for something as well. Passionate crowd beats mob mentality every time.

And so it goes.
I may have been a bit premature in smelling blood at the council meeting Monday night. What sounded at first like a Vinotok mob just after midnight, turned quickly into a mature gathering of citizens exercising their right to petition the local government. Civics in action.
And it worked. As a newspaper guy, seeing effective democracy in action might even have been more heartening to witness than the Gadfly going for the jugular.