The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
One sign of good writing is getting a reaction from the reader. Roger Brown must be the new Hemingway.
To be able to convey an overwhelming sense of frustration to the point a reader can hear the writer screaming at a group of people is truly impressive. I appreciate the ability to start a conversation with words and believe me, there is no shortage of conversations going on about the letter in last week’s issue. In fact it could paraphrase a similar title from one of Hemingway’s novels—The Haves and Have Nots.
Let’s touch on the content of the correspondence addressed to the local residents of Crested Butte. I am sure Mr. Brown voiced some valid frustrations being discussed between some second-home owners in the valley. My guess is that most feel it was more than a tad overdone.
The thing that irked me, and most everyone I know, whether they are residents or second-home owners, was the overwhelming sense of “us versus them” embodied in the Brown diatribe. One of the appeals of Crested Butte has always been its sense of egalitarianism. The bank president would buy the lift op a beer; he in turn would head up 401 with the school teacher. The wealthy guy from Tulsa would be seen sharing a blanket and bottle of wine at Alpenglow with his friend who lives here and drives a bus. It isn’t a classless society but there is less class distinction in Crested Butte than in some other resort communities.
Brown’s letter asks why “we [second-home owners] should pay for music, your arts, and the open spaces you enjoy when you, who have the vote, don’t seem to care about the future and prosperity of this town…We pay taxes that support your schools, we patronize the local businesses that provide jobs that generate more taxes, and we contribute to the charitable organizations and events like the Musical Festival gala which raised tens of thousands of dollars…The problem is YOU!”
That’s quite an outburst, Ernest. To use another word from the letter, it is also “myopic.” It’s really our arts and our open space and our music. All of us, including you, like and appreciate all those things.
Look, most who live here understand the contributions of the second-home owners. Most understand that the visitors ultimately are major contributors to many of the quality attributes we have in this valley. But this letter seems to call out those living here as being a blindly stupid homogenous blob full of disdain and unappreciativeness. We’re not.
And while some residents might be jerks with a false sense of entitlement, most are decent folks who have chosen a life off the traditional beaten path. It is oftentimes hard for those on a more typical life path to understand the kooks who live here. But let’s be very clear, we are no one’s serfs.
We too pay taxes and patronize local businesses and donate to local charities with either time or money or both. We also choose to live here and deal with the plusses and minuses of raising our children in a high mountain village far from just about everything. And because we like where we live and choose to bring up our kids in Crested Butte, we do indeed care about the “future and prosperity of this town.”
Now, for many of us, prosperity means more than a higher income. Prosperity means clean air and clean water. It means good schools and educational opportunities. Prosperity means access to outdoor adventure, music, art and small-town relationships. It is interacting constructively with our friends and respecting our fellow citizens—including the second-home owners.
Believe it or not, the people who live here aren’t all the same. We disagree about a lot of things. We don’t all like each other all the time and we certainly don’t agree on everything. It ain’t all Happy Valley in Crested Butte. But while we sometimes fail at it, we try to understand differing viewpoints and accept differences of opinions, even when those differing opinions result in a direction we don’t always like. Hey, I’m a big fan of keeping more lights on downtown, but the majority of the council disagrees with me. No doubt “the volunteer” could have chosen a more tactful way to express appreciation for the donation, but one bad joke should not tarnish a whole town.
More money in our individual pocketbooks is nice and makes our lives easier, but it isn’t the most important thing for anyone living here. If it were, they’d be somewhere else. Money isn’t always easy to come by here but access to the mountains is—and that’s why we act the way we do. It takes a certain type of individual to live in a place like this. It isn’t always July bluebird days or February powder mornings. We aren’t here just to serve you, but we’re happy to have you and you will receive the respect you earn. But you have to earn it. That’s part of the egalitarian ethic in this place.
So congratulations on the ability to write and get a reaction. I wish I could do it every week. Well done. I might suggest going back and reading that effective piece of writing with a broader perspective and a bit less portentousness. Next time perhaps, throw in a bit more “we” and a lot less “us versus you.”
As to the admonition about the local residents being able to “afford it”—rest assured that they’ll be fine. To paraphrase another Hemingway title, The Sun Also Rises— whether you and I are here or not.
