Gut punches

The 2024 election will be over in less than a week…at least the voting part. Does anyone not think it will take a loooong time to sift through the results and see what it means after this Tuesday at 7 p.m.? Things used to be so much simpler, now everything feels like it has to be a punch to the gut. 

Locally, 4,636 ballots have been returned to Gunnison County as of Tuesday afternoon. That’s after 12,973 were sent out, so a pretty low return rate so far. If everyone here is waiting for election day, it could be a long couple of days, even in Gunnison County.

If, as the ever-shifting polls seem to suggest, we get four more years of Donald, I will at least be glad for the CB bubble. His apparent vision of an America where every true-blue citizen is afraid to shop for bread at a convenience store for fear of getting shot by a murderous, Ebola-infected thug just released from prison in a third-world country is to me, disheartening. 

Yeah, there are issues in this country…but it is still a land of great hope and promise for people. While Kamala hasn’t effectively communicated how recent government actions relate to individual middle class families and their very real struggle to grab a cart of groceries for under 100 bucks, Donald’s incessant complaining, negativity, victimization, and us vs. them attitude will make it a long four years if he does indeed pull off the ‘W’ next week. 

Frankly, it’s not so much Donald I dread. I see him as a sometimes-entertaining but thin-skinned, mean, vindictive political vessel in love with WWF-type hype that obviously touches certain chords with certain people. I sort of get why some family and friends will vote for him. It is America, after all. Personally, it is the sinister characters behind the scenes pulling strings that worry me. The villans in this weirdly unfolding movie like Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon and Don Jr. are the threats throwing punches to the country’s gut.

To my friends who think I am overreacting – I hope so. I’d rather overreact than give a smug “I told you so” as the Miller roundups begin, and the Bannon brown shirt silencing starts. It will be nice to be living in the CB bubble where I doubt a county deputy will come looking to lock up all those living here that express disdain for Donald. But you never know in these weird times. 

Speaking of weird times and a punch to the gut — Crested Butte councilperson Kent Cowherd described a recent town government initiative as a “punch to the stomach. It’s a reason why people hate government.” He is not wrong. 

The situation basically centers on an “error” that has retroactively added more restrictions to existing CB rental ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) and residential rental units in commercial buildings. When an update to the town code was made in 2022, it mistakenly required that all renters in ADUs had to be participants in the local workforce. In a memo to council, the staff admitted that the change at the time was presented to the council as a requirement going forward…and the 2022 ordinance “inadvertently applied the new requirements” to all units that include a long-term residential rental, including 94 existing ADUs and 63 other long-term rental units.

With the error, a lot more rentals require tenants to be a member of the local workforce. By adhering to the intent of the 2022 update, fewer units would require that restriction. While staff indicated the interactions they’ve had with owners of such properties have been good, and the owners have been open to including the ‘workforce’ requirement, it’s not what current owners agreed to. 

Look— a deal is a deal. ADUs in Crested Butte are a great deal with private owners getting a break on tap fees in order to rent out the units to locals. It was a great and successful innovation in the 1990s and fills an affordable housing niche. 

If council and staff think it’s worth changing the rules, do it with integrity, not under the shadow of an error that resulted in an end result you prefer. Go to every ADU owner and see if they’ll add the restriction. If they do, great. If not, a deal is a deal. Put the restrictions on new ADUs so people know what they’re getting into, but don’t make it retroactive.

The means used to get to an end, matters. How people and governments do things, matters. There are better ways to achieve that end. Don’t throw a punch to the stomach of people with ADUs providing good outcomes. Oh, and if I recall, the last time town tried such a sucker punch move it ended up in a couple of lawsuits, which in hindsight, I totally understand.

After the paper is printed, the Gunnison County MetRec board will be talking about two big topics on Wednesday — how to address over-the-air television going forward and a Conceptual Plan for the two ends of the valley. I can’t get real intel on the TV discussion, but we’ll have a story on that next week after the board discussion. I do know people are upset at the idea of free TV going away.

 I did click onto the proposed Conceptual Plan and Lordy, Lordy if it isn’t dominated by an $82 million+ recreation center in the North Valley. That price tag is a huge gut punch. Dream big people! Smoke more dope people! The schematics and pics of such a facility look sweeeeeeet. There’s a track, a gym, sports courts, a swimming pool, teen zone, a senior lounge, multi-purpose classroom, climbing wall, indoor turf field and I’m sure everything else you can think of if you live in downtown Aurora and go to the rec center. 

Of course, the 71,000-square-foot facility on six acres with a couple hundred parking spots that goes to 15 acres with outdoor amenities like a playground, more fields and outdoor sports courts, would cost about $3.6 million annually to operate. The current estimate is that user fees and program fees will offset $2.1 million of that. 

Dream big and smoke more dope people! Not sure what having two recreation centers within 30 minutes of each other would mean to both facilities but for some, a building with a swimming pool where troubled teens can gather to do charity work and figure out a clean life is their number-one dream. Heaven forbid you send them outside to the world’s biggest natural rec center.

The MetRec conceptual plan is dominated by the idea of a North Valley rec center but also has things like recreation path connectors (yeah!) and an outdoor amphitheater. We’ll have a story on how that discussion goes in next week’s paper as well…

I have been asking my US Postal Service contact for weeks now if there is any word about progress with the town of Crested Butte to relocate a Post Office on town-owned property after the current Elk Avenue PO lease expires in early 2026. He apparently hasn’t been able to track down any progress. 

After consistent nagging from the town and the newspaper, Crested Butte received this response this week from the real estate division: “USPS Planning is working on adjusting their requirements to see if they can fit a new build on this piece of land. They are looking for ideally 1.5 acres which is making this challenging. If anything larger than the current site becomes available please let us know. Planning is working with design & construction to see if we can shrink the size requirements and make this work.”

 Good grief. They apparently aren’t aware of Crested Butte building seasons. Frankly, not having a post office in CB would be a punch in the collective gut.

In theory, unless the new owner of the current PO location extends the lease, who the heck knows how you will get any mail. And while that might be a bit of a relief after a box full of political propaganda crap that fills the garbage bins this time of year, it really matters to a lot of folks who depend on the US mail for things like health care items, bills, checks and other necessities. It’s hard to even start a plan when the information is so muddy and ill informed. 

The developer of the Paintbrush affordable housing project, Gary Gates, has taken a few swings to the county’s gut over the cost of the proposed Whetstone housing project through letters in the paper and comments at the county planning commission meeting. He claimed he could do it all for a lot less than the current estimate. The county has responded with their own punch to the stomach making clear that Gary’s company, Gatesco, bid on the Whetstone development and had the “weakest commitment to affordability” of the five finalists. The county is reminding everyone that Gatesco was given the chance to do Whetstone and didn’t make the cut. Gary has not formally reached out to the county since. Gunnison County, the Whetstone developer, is now under contract with another development company, Servitas, that they feel confident can help bring in Whetstone at a reasonable cost given current pricing and in a timely manner given the need.

Our CB neighbor and overlord of half the local restaurant spaces on Elk Avenue, Mark Walter, is on a World Series run. It’s been quite the LA Dodgers series so far and I guess in the spirit of community support, we should be supporting the team owned by the quiet neighbor in the valley. Go Blue!

On Tuesday morning I saw a rare winter rainbow on my regular morning stroll. As the low angle sun peaked out from behind the snow cloud, the colorful vision appeared against Gibson’s Ridge. It was light. It was colorful. It was hopeful. It provided a flash of optimism instead of a punch to the gut. 

Let us hope next week provides more rainbows than punches to the gut. 

In the meantime, fill out your ballot and drop it in one of the county drop boxes or vote early at one of the open polling centers. Give your friends at the local election office a rainbow message instead of a punch in the stomach.

—Mark Reaman