Sarah, did you read the article from the NYT Sunday Magazine on housing issues in Berkeley? The issues are similar. I think you’d appreciate the piece. The author did a good job grappling with both sides of the issue, as you’ve done here. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/magazine/housing-berkeley-yimby-fight.html
When I spoke with Jeremy Ashcroft (he does the cool trail maps of the 14ers, you’ve probably seen one) he explained that in Europe, it often takes days of hiking to reach mountain peaks.
Colorado is so accessible, there are parking lots within half a mile of some peaks. At the top of Loveland pass... you can walk up a staircase in a parking lot and be in one of the highest places in the country.
Accessibility is wonderful, but it’s forcing us to come up with new ways to ration beauty.
Jun 8, 2023·edited Jun 8, 2023Liked by Sarah Lavender Smith
Those growing pains are ... like tectonic plates bashing about I suppose. The west and land squabbles draw out lots of neurotic behavior and angst. People are apt to push boundaries, butt heads, and converge in more ways that break with common sense and act in ways that are...disappointing. Even when the root cause is superficial. I remember (growing up in Scottsdale, AZ) watching the larger Phoenix area being "stressed" in the '70s and it has not weathered the expansion well. Can you imagine, we had store entrances sporting the ubiquitous carved wooden Indian (or worse) "Injun" mannikins propped up on patio chairs at places hawking tourists souvenirs? Not cool. But cultural awareness was not in fashion. The city motto "West's Most Western Town" was in full display back then when Scottsdale had rodeo grounds in the city center. It is a far cry from what that area looks like now, a faint memory. And though the quaint(?) western kitsch & touristy Scottsdale was, in some ways, a profligate relic of some insensitive stereotypes, it was more open and casual, the population less influenced by the libertine masses. Bad actors that stake a claim and want to expand fast and furiously , whether legacy residents or new arrivals, can bring a culture that is more fraught. Or at odds with a journeyman existance that is practical in a place that benefits from simplicity instead of opulence.
Scottsdale was like that, with the snow birds, tourism, and temporary spring training baseball teams, what have you. That influx of people could blend into the community without the divisiveness. Fun fact, when I was in middle school, I could cut classes in the afternoon, walk two blocks and watch the Chicago Cubs play for free in March before the regular season kicked off. They opened the ballpark admission gates after the seventh inning, as the game was winding down. They actually shared the park with the SF Giants in those halcyon days. Baseball was a tad more fraternal back then, I guess. More growth, more needy attitudes? Who knows, but to the point, players would hang out and casually chat with the spectators out of uniform before strolling to the same parking lot as anyone else without fanfare. Manners were, oh boy, dont get me started...Anyway, year round living in idyllic places is at odds with keeping things simple, quite a paradox when you think about it. Influences that come with crowds and economic priorities. People detonate and that cringeworthy behavior online, it makes you nostalgic ...
I had friends that lived in Pagosa Springs (their dad sold developed and sold property, Ponderosa Hills or Estates, cant remember exactly) located just outside the city limits so I am somewhat familiar with the San Juans from the good old days. As a teen, I skied Wolf Creek Pass '79-'81 on several occasions and went for summer's to visit Pagosa Springs from '72 on sporadically until I was out of H.S. Back then when I was a bit older and a teenager, I skied that area before enlisting in the Navy, I stayed for about 30 days each season right after the New Year. I bunked with a friend of the family and felt like I had quasi local status for those brief stints. Becoming a regular or familiar face around town and being "normal" helped be gain the locals confidence and world view of Archuelta county or at least the viewpoints of everyone I routinely encountered in Pagosa Springs or working the lifts at Wolf Creek. I skied in jeans with a couple of cans of scotch guard applied so that helped to fit in. Gore Tex, not a thing yet. But the locals back then shared...they were all grateful that Telluride (and Purgatory) got the bigger, albeit seasonal crowds and that Pagosa could be free of that heavy influx that Telluride was courting (and counting on for $$) and it's growing status via attention from the Film Festival. No one was riding ski lifts with full-on suspension kitted mountain bikes in the off season in those days.. Telluride did seem to have a reputation as a less glitzy and affluent Aspen vibe/connotation but it offered accessible dbl black diamond skiing acreage which was putting Telluride on the map. That drive up the continental divide made Wolf Creek less likely a candidate for what Telluride was to become. The resort owners in Telluride were surely not content to allow Breckenridge, Vail, etc. to get all the press and market share when the skiing boom was ongoing. When I was paying more attention to Telluride so many years ago that tipping point (to recruit more seasonal swanky folk) to get more people to partake in the bounty of that region was occurring only 4-5 yr.s after the Film Fest inaugural in 1974 I would guess. I suppose Tom Luddy had his fans and detractors back then too, which I say with no disrespect. It just must have been a controversial topic to those that forecast the end of the wild west and more complexities that come with developers. Only locals would know insider gossip on that point but it can be a peculiar mix of emotions to witness the "good, bad and the ugly" competing interests (to appropriate an apt film reference) when you live in a place where prosperous heavy hitters are mingling with folks that are scaling life to combine the thrifty essentials of living with pursuits that require open spaces. It's a rarity to be living in the mountains and acknowledging that is what good, genuine people do but it shouldn't be a rarity or aspiration for some civility in the grand scheme of it all. That is in short supply these days. Like real estate in the mountains ...great post per usual and sorry about the lengthy response. Cheers.
Sarah, did you read the article from the NYT Sunday Magazine on housing issues in Berkeley? The issues are similar. I think you’d appreciate the piece. The author did a good job grappling with both sides of the issue, as you’ve done here. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/magazine/housing-berkeley-yimby-fight.html
Don Henley lyrics in “The Last Resort.” Nuff said.
Good piece Sarah. I spent part of the 80s and all of the 90s in Vail (snarkily known as a wide spot in Interstate 70), and it has seen a similar fate)
When I spoke with Jeremy Ashcroft (he does the cool trail maps of the 14ers, you’ve probably seen one) he explained that in Europe, it often takes days of hiking to reach mountain peaks.
Colorado is so accessible, there are parking lots within half a mile of some peaks. At the top of Loveland pass... you can walk up a staircase in a parking lot and be in one of the highest places in the country.
Accessibility is wonderful, but it’s forcing us to come up with new ways to ration beauty.
Those growing pains are ... like tectonic plates bashing about I suppose. The west and land squabbles draw out lots of neurotic behavior and angst. People are apt to push boundaries, butt heads, and converge in more ways that break with common sense and act in ways that are...disappointing. Even when the root cause is superficial. I remember (growing up in Scottsdale, AZ) watching the larger Phoenix area being "stressed" in the '70s and it has not weathered the expansion well. Can you imagine, we had store entrances sporting the ubiquitous carved wooden Indian (or worse) "Injun" mannikins propped up on patio chairs at places hawking tourists souvenirs? Not cool. But cultural awareness was not in fashion. The city motto "West's Most Western Town" was in full display back then when Scottsdale had rodeo grounds in the city center. It is a far cry from what that area looks like now, a faint memory. And though the quaint(?) western kitsch & touristy Scottsdale was, in some ways, a profligate relic of some insensitive stereotypes, it was more open and casual, the population less influenced by the libertine masses. Bad actors that stake a claim and want to expand fast and furiously , whether legacy residents or new arrivals, can bring a culture that is more fraught. Or at odds with a journeyman existance that is practical in a place that benefits from simplicity instead of opulence.
Scottsdale was like that, with the snow birds, tourism, and temporary spring training baseball teams, what have you. That influx of people could blend into the community without the divisiveness. Fun fact, when I was in middle school, I could cut classes in the afternoon, walk two blocks and watch the Chicago Cubs play for free in March before the regular season kicked off. They opened the ballpark admission gates after the seventh inning, as the game was winding down. They actually shared the park with the SF Giants in those halcyon days. Baseball was a tad more fraternal back then, I guess. More growth, more needy attitudes? Who knows, but to the point, players would hang out and casually chat with the spectators out of uniform before strolling to the same parking lot as anyone else without fanfare. Manners were, oh boy, dont get me started...Anyway, year round living in idyllic places is at odds with keeping things simple, quite a paradox when you think about it. Influences that come with crowds and economic priorities. People detonate and that cringeworthy behavior online, it makes you nostalgic ...
I had friends that lived in Pagosa Springs (their dad sold developed and sold property, Ponderosa Hills or Estates, cant remember exactly) located just outside the city limits so I am somewhat familiar with the San Juans from the good old days. As a teen, I skied Wolf Creek Pass '79-'81 on several occasions and went for summer's to visit Pagosa Springs from '72 on sporadically until I was out of H.S. Back then when I was a bit older and a teenager, I skied that area before enlisting in the Navy, I stayed for about 30 days each season right after the New Year. I bunked with a friend of the family and felt like I had quasi local status for those brief stints. Becoming a regular or familiar face around town and being "normal" helped be gain the locals confidence and world view of Archuelta county or at least the viewpoints of everyone I routinely encountered in Pagosa Springs or working the lifts at Wolf Creek. I skied in jeans with a couple of cans of scotch guard applied so that helped to fit in. Gore Tex, not a thing yet. But the locals back then shared...they were all grateful that Telluride (and Purgatory) got the bigger, albeit seasonal crowds and that Pagosa could be free of that heavy influx that Telluride was courting (and counting on for $$) and it's growing status via attention from the Film Festival. No one was riding ski lifts with full-on suspension kitted mountain bikes in the off season in those days.. Telluride did seem to have a reputation as a less glitzy and affluent Aspen vibe/connotation but it offered accessible dbl black diamond skiing acreage which was putting Telluride on the map. That drive up the continental divide made Wolf Creek less likely a candidate for what Telluride was to become. The resort owners in Telluride were surely not content to allow Breckenridge, Vail, etc. to get all the press and market share when the skiing boom was ongoing. When I was paying more attention to Telluride so many years ago that tipping point (to recruit more seasonal swanky folk) to get more people to partake in the bounty of that region was occurring only 4-5 yr.s after the Film Fest inaugural in 1974 I would guess. I suppose Tom Luddy had his fans and detractors back then too, which I say with no disrespect. It just must have been a controversial topic to those that forecast the end of the wild west and more complexities that come with developers. Only locals would know insider gossip on that point but it can be a peculiar mix of emotions to witness the "good, bad and the ugly" competing interests (to appropriate an apt film reference) when you live in a place where prosperous heavy hitters are mingling with folks that are scaling life to combine the thrifty essentials of living with pursuits that require open spaces. It's a rarity to be living in the mountains and acknowledging that is what good, genuine people do but it shouldn't be a rarity or aspiration for some civility in the grand scheme of it all. That is in short supply these days. Like real estate in the mountains ...great post per usual and sorry about the lengthy response. Cheers.
I can relate to the issues inTelluride. We have the same struggles here in Steamboat Springs. Especially affordable housing!