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Mountain News:

Park City investigates buses to Salt Lake City

 

By Allen Best

PARK CITY, Utah Ð Although only 25 miles apart, no buses run between Park City and Salt Lake City Ñ somewhat surprisingly, given how many of Park CityÕs employees and customers come from the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. That could change.

Park City officials have launched a study about the cost and ridership of such a route, but donÕt expect any buses to start rolling before December 2006. If the bus service begins, notes The Park Record, the federal government would likely pay for at least part of the buses.

 

Traffic to get worse

ASPEN, Colo. Ð Highway 82 heading toward Aspen and Snowmass Village is already jammed with traffic most mornings, and a new study suggests it will get much, much worse.

That study predicts that the number of commuters will more than double in 20 years. At the centuryÕs turn, Pitkin County imported 8,400 commuters, but that figure is projected to swell to 20,500.

Drawing more commuters will be more jobs. The study projects more than 19,000 new jobs, while the population is expected to grow by only 10,330, owing primarily to growth-control measures and an absence of affordable housing.

As a result of this daily flux in and out of Aspen-Snowmass, Highway 82 is expected to increase in traffic by 50 per cent. The silver lining for that increase is that it will make mass transit more attractive to commuters.

What kind of mass transit will that be? Mostly likely buses. After spending years and years of work trying to get hold of the old railroad line from Glenwood Springs into Aspen, local authorities have basically given up hope that trains will be used on those tracks anytime soon Ñ if ever. Recently, the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority voted to tear up and sell the unused railroad tracks, to allow a portion of the railbed to be used for a pedestrian trail.

Something of a similar situation exists in the nearby Eagle Valley. There, a much larger population growth is projected, but the job growth is expected to increase even more. While only 800 people per day commuted at the centuryÕs turn, a daily flux of 33,000 commuters is expected within 25 years, unless more is done to build lower-end housing.

 

Transportation next

SUN VALLEY, Idaho Ð The town council in Sun Valley has adopted a law that requires affordable housing in conjunction with additional development. While commending the council for taking the action, the Idaho Mountain Express says the next task in Sun Valley and Ketchum is to create a major public transit system to ferry workers to jobs at the resorts.

 

Crime, housing linked?

TRUCKEE, Colo. Ð Do affordable housing projects breed higher rates of crime? That has occasionally been the fear in ski towns, as well as elsewhere, when clustered and dense housing for lower income workers is proposed. A symposium in Truckee addressed the issue, but found no compelling evidence that this is true.

Tony Lashbrook, TruckeeÕs director of community development, pointed to several affordable housing projects built in the last 10 years that have no crime rates different than elsewhere in Truckee. The key, he indicated, is effective on-site management and steady maintenance.

Truckee police reported a slightly higher number of calls to the police from mobile home parks and other older, lower-income areas, but those areas have neither on-site management nor are they well maintained.

A local womenÕs services agency said that cases of domestic abuse and sexual assault are found equally in affluent and poor neighbourhoods.

Academics have also studied the issue, although presumably not specifically at resort areas. The Kirwan Institute on the Study of Race and Ethnicity found that in areas where more than 40 per cent of a community lives below the federal poverty level, crime is more common.

Jianling Li from the University of Texas at Arlington School of Urban and Public Affairs studied high-density projects, and found a less than clear chain of causality. ÒI think it is too simple to say directly that low income and high density will lead to high crime rates,Ó she told the Tahoe World. ÒThere are many other factors.Ó

An effort was also made to equate ski town affordable housing projects with the massive Housing and Urban Department projects found in inner-city Chicago and San Francisco. Lashbrook termed the comparison Òlaughable.Ó

 

$1 million for a name

PARK CITY, Utah Ð Most big cities sell the naming rights for their stadiums and arenas, so why not ski towns?

ThatÕs the plan in Park City, where ground has been broken on a recreational complex that will feature an Olympic-sized ice rink, soccer and softball playing fields, and other inducers to sweat and rapid heart beats. As planned, the project will cost $9.5 million, but city officials think they can get up to $1 million from sale of the complexÕs name, reports The Park Record.

 

Real estate orgy continues

EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. Ð The real estate orgy continues in the Eagle Valley. Echoing recent news from Aspen, the Vail Daily reports that March was another record month, the 11 th consecutive for the Vail-dominated Eagle County market.

Transactions during the month totalled $202 million, which is a 21 per cent gain over last yearÕs barn-burner.

Notable were slope-side properties, including a 10,000-square-foot home in Beaver Creek that sold for $11.5 million, which works out to $1,110 per square-foot. In Vail, a condo sold for $2,655 per square foot. More sales are almost assured, as 66 properties priced at $3 million or more are currently under contract.

 

Anticipating drought, growth

DURANGO, Colo. Ð Preparing for population growth ahead, Durango city officials are buying storage space in a major new reservoir being built nearby on the Animas River. They are getting 1,900 acre-feet in storage for what ultimately will cost $5.9 million.

One critic said the water will be unnecessary unless Durango grows to become a city of 40,000, and only then in a drought year. The population is now more than 14,000, although Durango has been busy annexing homes in adjacent areas that had previously been approved by the county commissioners.

 

Slow for grizzlies

LAKE LOUISE, Alberta Ð Come May, when bears emerge from hibernation, the speed limit on the Trans-Canada Highway through Lake Louise is lowered from 90 km/h to 70 km/h.

Grizzly bears cross the highway in that area, and vehicles or trains have killed six in the last several years. The grizzly population near Lake Louise seems to be sinking, despite growth of the bruins in the broader Bow River Valley. No wildlife crossing structures have been built yet across the highway near Lake Louise, nor is there fencing. There are plans to do so, however.

 

Dust in the snow, again

SILVERTON, Colo. Ð Everybody who skis the backcountry or who has dug a Òhasty pitÓ to study the stability of a snowpack has seen layers of dust left by winter storms. The dust can look like the layers of frosting in a cake.

Where does it come from? Scientists studying snow in the Silverton-Telluride area as well as near Crested Butte and Aspen say that dust from six of seven storms was traced to the nearby deserts in Utah and Arizona. What is causing the dust is still uncertain. Scientists speculate cattle and sheep grazing, as well as off-road vehicle use and other disturbances to the soil.

But whatever the source, more dust could mean earlier runoff. Thomas Painter, a research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, explains that as the snow melts, the exposed dust layer forms a dark surface crust, somewhat like a dirty roadside snow bank. This crust soaks up nearly twice as much sunlight as uncontaminated snow.

Computer models predict the dirty snow melts 18 days earlier than white snow, although that has not yet been proven.

Why does any of this matter? Well, if temperatures warm in the West, as is predicted by global warming theory, conditions may become drier. If they are drier, that means more dust Ñ and more dust means snow disappears more rapidly in high-mountain snowpacks.

If snow disappears more rapidly, then the bare ground will soak up and absorb heat more readily, further increasing the temperature Ñ and in turn affecting local vegetation, from trees to alpine wildflowers. And if the vegetation changes, then the animals that browse them willÉ Well, you get the idea.

 

Riding the wave

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. Ð New research suggests the potential for major earthquakes at Lake Tahoe and in the nearby region near Reno and Carson City, Nev., is much higher than previous studies have shown.

Seismologists have found evidence of three earthquakes with a magnitude seven or higher. Models predict that if such an earthquake hit, waves of 10 metres could result. This compares with the highest waves of 14 metres that hit Indonesia last December, notes the Tahoe World.

 

Silverton takes stock of changes

SILVERTON, Colo. Ð Dave Erickson, SilvertonÕs town administrator since 1992, is leaving to take a similar job at Copper Mountain, offering the town cause to take measure of where it has come Ñ and where it is going.

When Erickson arrived in Silverton, the town was still reeling from the closure of the Sunnyside Mine and the exodus of jobs and people. The town was struggling to Òfind both a new economy and maybe even a new identity,Ó observes the local newspaper, The Standard.

ÒPortends of doom that were thrown around during the 1990s, fears that Silverton would simply dry up and blow away as a ghost town, have proven false,Ó observes the newspaperÕs publisher Jonathan Thompson. ÒOur summer economy threatens to overwhelm us with its strength, and we have begun to see glimmers of something resembling an economy in the winter. Houses are being built at a rate not seen since the 1920s, and growth Ñ even if not necessarily in a stable year-round population Ñ is happening.Ó

Erickson has often been at the centre of controversy, and The Standard seems to think that both Erickson and the town will gain from this separation. Still, the newspaper thinks he has on the whole done a good job. ÒHeÕs been a major player in bringing our governmental system up to date, as painful and as ugly as that sometimes may have been, and we think that history will thank him for that,Ó the Standard explained.

 

Bilingualism in middle school

EDWARDS, Colo. Ð A dual-language program is moving into one of the two middle schools that serves Vail and its closest suburbs. Some 200 students at Edwards Elementary School were enrolled in the dual-language program during the last four years, and the oldest of them in August will become sixth-graders at Berry Creek Middle School.

The Vail Daily talked with several students, parents and administrators who seem to think the dual-language program has proven a success. One reason is that when they can speak each othersÕ native languages, the kids hang out with each other. ÒThe greatest thing to see is when the two cultures can mingle,Ó said one parent, Curt Nash. ÒYou donÕt see kids hanging out like this in schools that donÕt have dual language.Ó

The program has students doing academic work in both English and Spanish. Spanish-speakers spend about half their school year learning only in English, while English-speakers spend about half their time working only in Spanish.

The Eagle Valley, like most of the larger ski resort valleys, has a large and still growing population of recent immigrants. Edwards Elementary has 70 per cent Hispanic students, most of them immigrants. Berry Creek Middle School is 60 per cent Hispanic, and again many are native Spanish speakers.

Is everbody a fan of this dual-language program? Obviously not, as many parents who are worried that their children will be slowed down by schools trying to teach classes in two languages have instead sent their children to the four private or charter schools in the Vail Valley. Just how many children are being diverted in that way was not reported.

And what about the test scores in these dual-language schools? Do the kids learn math and reading, in addition to a second language? Again, no evidence where this new, dual-language approach might lead, although anecdotally, one instructor, Adam Schmucker, seems to think that bilingual kids have a leg up on jobs in the future.

School officials report difficulty finding enough teachers who are bi-literate, knowing both languages well enough to teach in both. Also lacking are sufficient textbooks in Spanish.

 

New ski area far from done deal

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. Ð Do not think that the new ski area being talked about at Crested Butte is a done deal, says the communityÕs primary environmental group.

After several rough years, elected officials and others seemed to have reached consensus that Crested Butte needs to become just a bit bigger to become competitive with other destination resorts. The new ski area, located on Snodgrass Mountain, would be across the road from the existing ski area and would offer more expansive intermediate terrain than Crested ButteÕs existing double-black-diamond fare.

But Larry Mosher, president of the High Country CitizensÕ Alliance, says thatÕs not the case. A community group ended up essentially ambivalent, he recalled in a letter published in the Crested Butte News.

Is it possible for Crested Butte to become bigger while remaining essentially a small town with working ranches, open spaces, clean air and so forth? he asks. It sounds like the debate will be heating up, as the High Country CitizensÕ Alliance has proven in the past it has much vigor when it bites into an issue.

 

U.S. West continuing to grow

THE WEST Ð The U.S. Census Bureau has issued revised population projections, and to nobodyÕs particular surprise, the new predictions look much like the old ones. Seven of the 10 fastest growing states in the United States will be in the West, led by Nevada, Arizona, and Utah.

Bill Travis, a geography professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, says he does not see the environment putting limits on growth. While the common perception is of the West being a parched landscape, the West actually has such water available for population growth, he points out. That water is used currently for agriculture, but farmers want to retain their right to sell the water.

 

Survival produces questions for ages

YAMPA, Colo. Ð The story of Charles Horton, the cross-country skier from Steamboat Springs who spent eight nights on the edge of the Flat Tops after breaking his leg, is one for the annals of wilderness survival.

A massage therapist in Steamboat Springs, the 55-year-old Horton had set out for an afternoon ski, getting no more than three miles from his car. He caught an edge and suffered a severe break that made it impossible for him to make more than small movements. He could move only by lying on his back and digging in with his right elbow. Early in his ordeal, he tried, but only made 200 yards in a day. His only hope was that somebody would find him.

There was little to nourish that hope. He had told nobody of his plans, and most everybody who would have immediately noticed his absence were themselves gone from Steamboat.

In an interview with Brent Boyer of the Steamboat Pilot & Today, Horton talked about his connectedness with the natural world surrounding him during his ordeal. From such moments of absolute peace and comfort he swung, as hypothermia and dehydration set in, to bouts of shivering. Somebody who meditates a great deal, Horton tried his best to quiet his emotions but the hypothermia prevented him from maintaining his focus. He was at times scared, but never panicked, he said.

It was a profoundly existential experience. ÒIt made me question why IÕm here,Ó he told the newspaper. ÒWhat have I done since IÕve been here? Do I have a right to walk away from this alive? Have I touched other peopleÕs lives? Have I made a difference?Ó

These are questions of the ages.

Horton had taken wilderness survival classes from Tom Brown, the New Jersey-based wilderness survival instructor. One newspaper contacted Brown, who said that Horton had stood out from among his many students in his attentiveness.

 

California catching on

TRUCKEE, Calif. Ð More evidence yet is arriving about how California is, in some ways, far behind the intermountain states in various trends. At Truckee, work has just begun on a set of dual-lane traffic roundabouts adjacent to Interstate 80.

The Sierra Sun reports that town officials had a hard time selling California state traffic engineers on the idea. In fact, there seems to have been comparisons to flying pigs. The town carried the day after offering to chip in city money that would have otherwise gone to directional lights. Such multi-lane roundabouts first showed up in Colorado 10 years ago.

 

School uniforms considered

GRANBY, Colo. Ð A middle-school principal in Granby is pushing for adoption of school uniforms.

Nancy Karas said both girls and boys were disrupting the learning environment by the sort of clothes they wear or donÕt wear. She reported too much cleavage, too many exposed mid-riffs, and lots of exposed underwear, as well as see-through clothing, hats, and markers, plus piercings and more.

Will uniforms really make a difference? Karas could report no studies that confirm that uniforms do improve learning, although she had anecdotal reports. Parents at the meeting where this idea was rolled out were divided in their support, reports the Sky-Hi News.