Scott: Maybe it should be Sunshine County

Opinion Opinion | Aug 3, 2023

The three part editorial written by Tim Cooney in Aspen Journalism let the cat out of the bag along with the greed, racism and cruelty of the man for whom Pitkin County is named.

Frederick Pitkin was a pitiful and despicable man, and we insult ourselves and the former and current Ute inhabitants of the valley by continuing to allow his name to disgrace maps, county vehicles and our minds.

I grew up hearing about a “Ute curse” on this valley, but maybe it’s really the curse of Frederick Pitkin. The original name of Aspen is Ute City. Why the name was changed is open to debate, but there is one similarity that the current city of Aspen has with a grove of Aspen trees — their predominant whiteness.

Being outstandingly white myself, I fit right in (when I’m not dressed up in my clown costume), but I’ve never lived in a place that didn’t benefit from diversity, nor suffer from its lack thereof.

Just a few varieties of restaurants, if not to say people, that are missing from our tiny little mountain enclave: soul food, a Greek spot, Middle Eastern fare, the Uncompahgre Utes!

I’m not sure we can blame the decision-making of the last 50 years or so that has led to a massive housing crisis, inflated real-estate prices and a preponderance of mansions dotting the hillsides, while tax dollars are swiped from every transaction for the county to buy up “open spaces” on Gov. Fred Pitkin himself. But do we really need any more reasons to change the name?

The Pitkin County line runs right through the middle of Old Town Basalt. One can’t quite imagine that the people who live in this quiet, traditional, little mountain hamlet would want Aspen-like traffic backing up on the way into or out of town, or that the folks from up and down the valley who use the recreation area and reservoir up the Frying Pan Valley would want a bottleneck in the downtown core with a bunch of big-city-like, fancy, urban planning and architectural features that don’t suit the character of old-town, but that sure looks like what the current Basalt government is attempting to build with $18 million that voters most definitely did not allocate to ripping up and remodeling Midland Avenue.

This grand and out-of-character expenditure is not what the people voted for. They approved an initiative to “improve essential town infrastructure and beautify downtown Basalt,” according to the Midland Avenue informational section on the official Basalt website (letstalk.basalt.net/midland-avenue-streetscape). The authors engaged by the city also write: “In 2021, 71% of Basalt voters approved the streetscape project.”

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’d sure appreciate at least a touch of honesty from my elected leaders and public servants employed by taxpayers. Alas, this claim on the Basalt website does not hold up. Let’s look at the ballot language from the 2021 vote:

“3AWITHOUT IMPOSING ANY NEW TAX, SHALL THE TOWN OF BASALT’S DEBT BE INCREASED BY $18,000,000, WITH A MAXIMUM TOTAL REPAYMENT COST OF NOT MORE THAN $23,065,450, FOR THE PURPOSE OF FINANCING THE ACQUISITION, DEVELOPMENT, CONSTRUCTION, REPAIR, IMPROVEMENT, AND PROVISION OF THE FOLLOWING PROJECTS AS PART OF THE BASALT FORWARD PROGRAM:

-INCREASING THE SUPPLY OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN THE TOWN MASTER PLAN’S URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARY, SUCH AS THROUGH PURCHASING REAL PROPERTY, PARTNERSHIPS WITH PRIVATE, NON-PROFIT, AND GOVERNMENT SECTORS, ACQUIRING DEED RESTRICTIONS, AND SUPPORTING HOUSING PROGRAMS;-STREETSCAPE, SIDEWALK, AND RELATED INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS ON MIDLAND AVENUE IN DOWNTOWN BASALT; -“GREEN” PROJECTS, SUCH AS SOLAR DEVELOPMENT, VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS, AND OTHER IMPROVEMENTS….” (https://basaltchamber.org/2021-election-the-spirit-of-3a/)

As anyone with operable eyes and an ability to read can see, the top item of the ballot language is “increasing the supply of affordable housing.” The people voted for “improvements,” and they voted for affordable housing.

Was that election line-item just a well-planned vote getter and nothing more? It now appears that what was defined as an improvement (i.e., the tearing up of Midland Avenue, the Main Street of Basalt and a thoroughfare that connects communities like Thomasville and Meredith to shopping and the people of the Roaring Fork Valley to recreation in the Frying Pan Valley) is going to take the entire budget that the voters allocated.

Where is the housing? The Basalt River Park is Exhibit A in why we should not trust this government to manage budgets. What did they accomplish with $1.5 million? A bandstand, with a “climbing wall” built into it that the designers call “art,” made out of foam and some kind of synthetic exterior made of who knows what that will last who knows how long before it becomes litter and looks a lot like a safety hazard for the climbers; yet another water-wasting lawn instead of a wildflower meadow; more imprisoned real rocks built into a bus stop to match the rock prison “Basalt Welcome” sign at the intersection of Highway 82 and Two Rivers Road; lots of concrete and some more fake rocks shaped like odd-shaped sausages that look like bike jumps with landscaped landings we don’t want bikes landing on, still unfinished.

There are some nice views of the river. People voted for housing, and the Basalt River Park used to be a trailer park full of affordable housing, but it looks like all we’ll get with the current plan is the continuation of overpriced bad taste spread across Midland Avenue.

There is room on the current sidewalks for people to pass each other and give gentle salutations, to push a wheelchair if necessary with the parking accessible, if not plentiful, in front of the businesses where it should be.

Not so with the fancy design rendering that cost taxpayers $800,000 to a firm that one of the council people at the time of the vote (She recused herself) was employed by. When will they notify us that paid parking is coming to old town, one wonders?

On the Midland Avenue Project website, a mother and child in a stroller take a video stroll around the sidewalks and crosswalks of Midland Avenue, illustrating a number of improvements in Old Town Basalt that could be made for maybe $200,000. It appears that all that’s needed are some minor alterations and updated asphalt and concrete work, which could be constructed while the sewer system is updated.

Look at the 1,000-year-old streets of Old Town Geneva Switzerland, with historic cobblestones that were somehow preserved while modern plumbing was also installed. How much could it actually cost to move four crosswalks and update a couple of concrete ramps?

In short, it seems clear that the people demand that Old Town Basalt not be further landscaped.

Here’s an idea we can all get behind: Let’s change the name of the county that bisects Basalt instead of changing the thoroughfare that runs through the Old Town itself. Some history is worth preserving (current parking and curbs), and some is worth leaving behind (The pitiful Pitkin name).

Andrew Scott, of Snowmass, is the manager of KSNO radio and director of operations of the Open Mind Project.

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