I found this news hilarious on so many fronts. As the tempestuous tennis great John McEnroe used to shout at line judges on questionable calls, “you have GOT to be kidding! The move begs the question, is there so little support for the project in its own backyard that proponents have to cast a wider net in search of supporters? Are we to believe that the wishes of distant observers would trump those of the people more proximate to the project? What political heft are we expected to presume former Presidential hopeful Richardson may bring to the project. Why stop at just contiguous states, perhaps there could be a national popularity poll. Why not seek support farther afield. There are 194 countries in the world; surely there are a few less-than-scrupulous dictators who would welcome payment for their endorsement. What does the Pope thinks about it? Is Lindsey Lohan contemplating it from her jail cell?

If so many people in New Mexico are so in love with this Christo project, I say let them host it. If relocated to the Rio Grande’s Taos Box, then the project could benefit from the skippier sounding title Over the River in a Box and any opposition group could modify the name Rags Over the Arkansas to simply Rags Over A River so it could still be ROAR . . . in a Box. If local opposition develops, would the ensuing din of contention drown out the legendary Taos Hum?

Ten days after he penned his letter of support for OTR, Richardson announced he’s considering pardoning Billy the Kid (I kid you not) before he leaves office. Apparently, the Gov has too much free time on his hands, surprising when his state is $160 million in the hole just three weeks into the new fiscal year.

Back in this neck of the woods, at this protracted stage in the process, I don’t care if OTR is approved or denied. Locals can read the draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Project and comment on it until the Aug. 30 deadline for comment. Download the Executive Summary of the Over The River Draft EIS by clicking here, or download the full document on the BLM’s website (please note that the full document is over 2,000 pages long). Hard copies are also available for review at several places in Salida, Cañon City, and Denver, and you can click here to view the exact locations.  You can also request a compact disc containing the file by calling the BLM office in Cañon City at (719) 269-8500.

I just want the incessant droning and nitpicking to end so that maybe our citizens could re-focus their activism on issues that really matter. Like how about starting WAR – Water in the Arkansas, that is. If WAR leaders could marshall the passion of those for and against Christo, and focus it instead on creating a unified voice to repel all future attempts by the Front Range and more Nestles-in-waiting wanting to take water out of our basin, out of our river and out of the aquifers that replenish our river, then we might have something really substantive to roar about.

Noticeable though have been a caravan of certain 18-wheelers.  The tractors vary in make and model and the cabs are lettered “Eco Express”, sometimes blue on white and other times, blue on black.  The trailers however are subtly distinctive and uniform.  Approaching them in profile, one sees a slight “bread loaf” curve to the rig, while the rear features a significant tapered slope, widening at the tail.  The trailer’s grey sides have protruding vertical ribs and the rear carries a large blank metal plate – no markings there at all, where normally a large, multi-colored logo would boast of the contents.

We have counted as many as a dozen in a single passing of South Park.  Many are seen on Trout Creek Pass and Red Hill and on through the Park but others seen as far north as Conifer.  One was just spotted on Hwy 50 at G Street – perhaps in search of a decent coffee at Sacred Ground or merely a replacement tire?  What does it all mean?

At first we suspected this might bear the hand of Nestle Waters, but these are not tanker trucks and that project does not yet (fortunately) appear to be complete.  Perhaps  these carriers are destined for a secret Area-51-like military base beneath the ground near the Four Corners area?  (For many years, the  rich lore of our neighbors in the San Luis Valley)

Despite repetitive searches on Google, the only close hit there returned a start-up “eco-friendly” logistics and trucking firm, trolling the ports of the East Coast from NJ.  Next time, we’re sure to pull over behind one catching forty winks on Red Hill Pass and see if the driver will give it up.

Readers?  Any clues?  Is this a portent of what we can expect with Nestle?

I’m guessing all y’all know what happened down here last week, and the heart pounding love for the City and the comeback that is contrasted by this absolute catastrophe in the Gulf. People are crying and disgusted and it’s like a hurricane, slowly getting bigger and worse every day. Animals that aren’t covered in oil are dying and washing up on beaches already.
I haven’t seen the beaches yet, but you could smell the test oil burn the other day all the way up here. There are photos around online of the oil getting to shore even though they put out booms which are inflated long surface chains that tries to keep the oil contained, but not very effective due to the high winds these past few days.
They only saved one oily bird yesterday; 11 men died in the rig explosion. They are paying people to get out and do work, but BP and the Fed waited like a week before launching help, doing PR first as always. There is supposed to massive movement now but I  haven’t checked on it.
Everyone’s motto is to eat as much seafood as possible in the next couple weeks because of the possibility of the death of all the oyster beds and seafood industries on the coast. President Barack Obama showed up yesterday to placate but is still going ahead with massive offshore leases along all the Gulf and east coasts. “Spill, baby, spill.”

Like Katrina, it was all PR first and then slow action, and then Band-Aids and studies. People down here can only take so much, and you see it in their eyes. There’s not much hope or coastal restoration or hurricane buffer marshes being built now. We’ll see how the tides turn with 220,000 gallons a day spewing undaunted.
I’m sick about it as so many are… I have a friend who is an avid coastal fisherman and he is getting his family together to get down to Grand Isle to do what he’s done or decades before the oil completely covers the Louisiana coast. After my political shows of 2003-2008, and then the Inaugural Ball art show, I was trying to put the dark political art behind me but now, it’s all Soylent Blackness as inspiration. The comparisons of Nestle and BP go hand and hand corporate and politician wise, though this is catastrophic right now. I feel so let down, by Obama especially, but he’s a bought and paid for politician and shows it, looking like Bush when he came months after Katrina, hugging and kissing and promising, and then saying that he will go ahead with all oil leases he just okayed, and HOPE that the oil co.’s will provide safeguards, but that may take years and we have to have energy so there’s no teeth to it. Sen. Mary Landrieu said it’s not the time to back away from more drilling. Seems they want to destroy everything then say well, it’s not worth anything at all anymore so let’s just exploit it to the ninth degree. The Governor just a couple months ago cheered the opening of a new GIANT Monsanto plant on the river above New Orleans. All about jobs, not about deadly pollutants. More severe art to come, but I’m trying to balance it out.

When the Citizen asked Descant what good he hoped could come in the aftermath of this travesty; here’s his reply.

More intelligence? More changeover to renewables? More disgust from the public? After Katrina I drove people away with my ranting, but geez, what else does it take for the general public to say enough? I guess it hasn’t gotten bad enough yet. The comaraderie here of the locals with the coast Cajuns and everyone else who isn’t making the fortunes on these tragedies is astounding in a good way. Some realizations of what is actually going to happen to the Louisiana coast is good, that the destruction is exponential, and the care and restoration is just a fingertip.
My people are still here and still keeping up the life and the fight and the soul albeit some through blinders so they don’t hurt themselves or anyone else, while they’re being treated as serfs who slowly die of cancer. Watch the TV show Treme on HBO to get the most real show about New Orleans and the Katrina aftermath too. To be clear, Katrina didn’t flood New Orleans, it was the Corpse (sic) of Engineers and every other fat cat who sucked the blood out of what could have been.

But Jazz Fest was so great it was if if people decided to suspend think about the spill until after this festival that is such a shining light of goodness and soul.

Note: This Huffington Post article lists ways you can get involved and help.

On Thursday January 28 the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced that it was removing the geothermal parcel near Mount Princeton. BLM representatives’ said that the parcel will undergo additional environmental review and analysis. The BLM said that it “… received several substantive comments in writing after our Jan. 14 public information meeting in Buena Vista that caused us to decide to further review the current stipulations on the parcel.”

Thanks go to the many concerned citizens and also to Senator Gail Schwartz. Senator Schwartz sent a letter to the BLM expressing her concerns about the lease.

Chaffee County has posted the following:

PUBLIC NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that the Chaffee County Planning Commission will hold a Special Meeting and Public Hearing at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, February 19, 2010 at the Chaffee County Office Building–Meeting Room, 104 Crestone Avenue, Salida, and the Chaffee County Board of Commissioners will hold a Public Hearing at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, February 22, 2010 at the American Legion, 338 Railroad, Buena Vista, Colorado 81201 Colorado for the purpose of considering certain amendments to the Nestle Waters North America, Inc.’s Special Land Use Permit (“SLUP Permit”), granted pursuant to Chaffee County Resolution 2009-43. The proposed amendment would allow for the installation of pipeline under the Arkansas River by trenching rather than boring. Interested persons may attend the hearing, or if unable to attend, submit a statement further expressing his or her opinions and comments regarding the proposed amendment.

PUBLIC COMMENT WILL BE LIMITED TO THIS ASPECT OF THE APPLICATION.

Copies of Chaffee County Resolution 2009-43 and copies of the application for the proposed amendment to the Special Land Use Permit are available at the Chaffee County Administrative Office, 104 Crestone Avenue, Salida, Colorado, during business hours. The application for the proposed amendments to the Permits is also available on the Chaffee County website at www.chaffeecounty.org.  Additional information may also be obtained by calling 719-530-5561

Nestle is proposing to install the water delivery pipeline under the Arkansas River by trenching rather than boring.

The documents recently filed for the application can be found by clicking on this link http://www.chaffeecounty.org/Page.aspx?PageID=4056

Please look at these documents to see if there are concerns that need to be voiced.

John Graham
Salida

The board told the water group to choose its primary representative from two members with notably dissimilar backgrounds.

This influential representative will be either a conservationist or a rancher.

The choice is between Buena Vista resident Reed Dils and Frank McMurry of Nathrop. Dils serves on the Colorado Water Conservation Board, the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservation District and the Arkansas River Basin Roundtable.

Frank McMurry is a fourth-generation rancher who owns water rights, and sold some with property to Nestlé Waters North America. Nestle will draw 65 million gallons a year from an aquifer, pipe it to Johnson Village, then truck it to a Denver bottling facility.

The motion passed 2-1 to accept a slate of focus group representatives to serve on the committee. Commissioner Tim Glenn, District 3, and Commissioner Dennis Giese, District 1, voted in favor and Chairman of the Board Commissioner Frank Holman, District 2, dissented. “I would really like the water committee to make their own decision,” Holman said, as to who should be on the short list of representatives.

The position of primary rep, or spokesperson, carries some weight. A spokesperson and alternate will represent each group, ranging from real estate and development to heritage. Alternates are encouraged to attend meetings but their involvement would be minimal compared to the spokesperson’s.

The eventual committee will be composed of Chaffee County Citizen’s Land Use Roundtable focus group representatives. The committee’s purpose is to implement the roundtable’s recommendations and revise the code, creating workable planning and zoning regulations. The roundtable’s work took more than two years to come to consensus.

County planner Kim Antonucci urged the board on Tuesday to formalize code-advisory committee members. “There is some urgency here,” Antonucci said. “From a planning perspective, our code is horrendous. I’ve been here two years and I still have questions that I cannot answer with 100 percent confidence.”

Water group leader changes multiple times

Jeanne Foster, a member of the water group, said that there wasn’t a clear consensus as to who should be representatives, and that she, McMurry and Dils were all interested.

Glenn spoke in favor of Dils, noting that Dils was the only member who applied by the Aug. 12, 2009 deadline to be a representative. Dils brings a useful perspective with his conservation work and involvement on a state water conservation board, Glenn said. Other members of the commission, specifically Nancy Roberts and Bruce Cogan, could adequately represent agricultural interests, he said.

The water protection group has seen some flip-flopping as to who will be spokesperson. The name listed first on the county’s website is the spokesperson expected to be confirmed. In the fall Dils was listed first as spokesperson on the website. Then McMurry was listed first in early December. Now Dils is listed again. At this point, it’s unclear who will eventually speak for the water protection group.

Seven months, so far, to form committee

Commissioners have been criticized for taking too long to formalize this committee, seven months so far, with the decision tabled at the December board meeting.

Keith Baker, primary representative for the sustainable growth focus group, said: “Mr. Dils met the application deadline and has unrivaled credentials on water issues. It isn’t as if the only applicant was unqualified and the deadline needed to be extended. Under my personal value system, Mr. Dils should be chosen for the water position. Mr. McMurry, who is indeed well-qualified on water topics, should be appointed if he was the only applicant who had applied on time.”

County planners will write an initial land-use code draft based on the Colorado Department of Local Affairs model template and incorporate their interpretations of the roundtable results. This work is expected to be completed in mid-February. The land-use advisory commission will then weigh in, and the hope is the work will wrap up by June.

Forming the committee is the last step in an almost 10-year process to revise the land-use code. Currently, the land-use code is unclear, conflicting and hinders smart development. The committee will work with the Planning Commission and county staffers.

Until a decisive land-use code is finalized, the subdivision review process presents the greatest challenge. There are conflicts going back to previous zoning and subdivision regulations that stood alone but referred to each other. Basically, the two were treated separately and as subdivision requirements evolved and changed, the zoning did not.

County land use Articles 3 and 7, zoning and standards, are the most controversial. “Those two articles are the ones that we want the committee to review carefully,” she said.

Much of the land-use code is self-referential as language in one section cites language elsewhere. The entire code needs to be examined as part of the same process, Antonucci said.

Code Advisory Committee

Real Estate & Dev: Karin Adams, Mike Allen
Production Agriculture: Bruce Cogan, Nancy Roberts
Water Protection: Reed Dils, Frank McMurry
Sustainable Growth: Keith Baker, Kathy McCoy
Commercial & Industrial: Rick Shovald, Tom Eve
Heritage: Cheryl Brown-Kovacic, Melanie Roth
Government: Dara MacDonald, Dee Miller

Trey Beck contributed to this article.

The battle over water, really, has been a part of the West for decades and in Southern Colorado for years.

It’s no surprise, then, that the legal tussles over water rights and the flow of the liquid gold in Southeastern Colorado has been the dominant story in Pueblo for practically the entire first decade of the 21st century.

The article doesn’t mention the recent Nestlé scuffle in Chaffee County, and we’re a little skeptical that a smoking ban or the length of the state fair are really top stories of the decade, but whatever.

Hat tip: Coyote Gulch.

As the first year of the second decade of the 21^st century dawns I’d like to see the Chaffee County government agree to a new year’s resolution whose time is past due. In 2010 I’d like to see the Board of County Commissioners make a resolve to lead county government to greater heights of democracy through the implementation of policies and tools to instill transparency throughout county government. To riff on a line from OpenTheGovernment.org: If the saying ‘Information is the Currency of Democracy’ has meaning, then the taxpayers of Chaffee County are being pick-pocketed.

No-bid contracts and conflicts of interest are standard operating procedure here. Most recently, as last year drew to a close the commissioners approved a budget which included allocating $30,000 to a fledgling economic development group comprised of a handful of local Republican business leaders appointed by Republican Commissioners Frank Holman and Dennis Giese. Commissioner Tim Glenn, a Democrat, cast the dissenting vote over concern for the composition of the inaugural board, not its purpose. Subsequently, a short-term startup business plan, to be funded by the county, was put forth by appointee Mike Allen, who also serves as Nestle Waters North America’s local development liaison. Allen’s a bright guy and a savvy businessman so the plan is likely very intelligently laid out. However, when the county spends that much tax money on an issue so many concur is vital to our future, it would be prudent to issue a formal request for proposal to explore other approaches to creating a sustainable effort for an issue that enjoys widespread non-partisan support. From a public relations perspective, though I have the utmost respect for the individual members of the fledgling economic development corporation I personally know, the semblance of backdoor politics as usual and the aura of secrecy casts an unsavory pallor over the group that was entirely avoidable. Unless this group is able to quickly get off its feet and become self-sufficient before the next regime change in the commissioners’ chambers, this latest chapter in the county’s economic development saga is doomed to failure as its many, equally well-intentioned, predecessors.

The Chaffee County Visitor’s Bureau provides another example of how little regard the county holds for transparency. Board members enjoy no-strings-attached contracts and grants ranging from $500 for videography to some $40,000 for advertising for a company of which one board member is a shareholder, albeit that the company is hugely important to the winter tourism economy,. Meeting minutes indicate CCVB Chair Michael Varnum seems to consider financial oversight micromanagement. Meanwhile, the CCVB’s contract marketing director is using tourism tax dollars to pay for office supplies and equipment totaling upwards of $3,000 that, according to the terms of her contract with the county, she should be paying for out of her own pocket. No bid contracts and overly cozy relationships between board members, vendors and contractors with a near complete lack of accountability mean conflict of interest in decision making and budgetary matters is inevitable and considerable.

When public funds are on the table there is a compelling responsibility to conduct business with the utmost transparency and integrity. Where there’s smoke there’s fire. The likelihood that the CCVB is the only enterprise or department in the county guilty of financial and ethical conflicts is slim. Transparency benefits the entire community by building trust, and making government more accountable to the taxpayers funding it. As OpenTheGovernment.org maintains: “The public’s right to know promotes equal and equitable access to government, encourages integrity in official conduct, and prevents undisclosed and undue influence from special interests.”

Thankfully there is a way to help the county shine a light on its finances, operations and political appointments. The advent of social media and its associated technological advances make real-time information sharing easier and more affordable than ever which has, as a result, contributed to elevating the people’s right to know as a central social value.

However, the simple fact is that government at every level will only become transparent when we demand it of them and hold our elected officials accountable for it. That’s why I resolve to join with the Sunlight Foundation to bring to the local level their campaign to let government know that what it does is public information, and today, “public” means online and in real-time.

I am encouraged about our chance for local success by organizations like OpenIllinois.org, OpenMinneapolis.org and even our own federal government as they make strides toward greater transparency.

To that end the county needs to provides a complete, itemized, clear and searchable online description of all expenditures, including but not limited to all contracts, vendors, and grants. All expenditures must have a detailed account of the payment’s purpose and who authorized the payment. The information already exists in the county finance office, it just needs to be organized for sharing online.

The same goes for political appointments, which if transparency were already the norm, would have mitigated the political wrangling going on over the appointment of the land use code advisory committee. In this technological age there is no reason why the criteria and deadlines for application for posts, credentials of appointment seekers and broader community dialogue on candidates and appointees – as well as proposed land use code revisions and other matters of public interest – can’t easily be made public for all to see and comment on, not just those with the ability to take time off work to attend mid-day public hearings or make personal phone calls and visits to the commissioners.

In that vein, recently the Obama Administration began to publish online the names of everyone who visits the White House offices; provide online access to White House staff financial reports and salaries; disclose and limit lobbyist contacts; publish the membership of Federal advisory committees in downloadable form; and create unprecedented ways to track how the government spends taxpayer dollars. From online listening tours and chats to web-based brainstorming by government officials with the American public, the White House and federal agencies are opening up the way they work to improve accountability in government and deepen the roots of democracy. Last month, to mark the publication of the Open Government Directive every one of the White House Cabinet Departments launched a brand new open government initiative.

If a giant bureaucracy like the federal government can do such things, we Chaffee County taxpayers can and should demand parallel action in our own local government. By following the White House’s lead and making government data available in real time and inviting greater public collaboration in developing new products and tools for the public good, the county could take the values of openness and transparency and translate them into practical ways to address local priorities.

Together we must join in demanding less secrecy and more democracy of our local elected officials, their appointees, contractors and transparency and accountability in the operations and services they provide.

And while we don’t want to minimize the truly awful effects of the crisis, the downturn has encouraged many families to take a closer look at their needs and values, sparking increased interest in conversations about community, sustainability and self-reliance.

We look forward to a recovery in 2010 along with everyone else, but we hope that people continue to think and talk about many of the issues that have been raised and, importantly, actively participate in the public sphere and local decision-making. Government is another word for what we do together, it’s been said.

We’ve picked just a few — certainly not all — of the stories that captured our attention in 2009.

2B

It’s not every day that an initiative so transparently invites a literary interpretation and for that reason alone we’re predisposed to regard 2B with affection.

Start with an impolitic approach on the part of elected officials, add a mistake by the City attorney and shake well with a decidedly uncharitable and adversarial response by the local lodging community to create a noxious, explosive brew of an occupational lodging tax.

2B money has been collected since March and has been funding improvements to local trails and renovations to the hot springs pool, amenities used and appreciated by visitors and residents alike.

There’s an outside chance that the City could still lose the court case filed by lodgers as part of their scorched-earth political strategy, in which case the ordinance might be overturned. For the moment, though, it looks like 2B is here to stay.

Buena Vista annexes the Meadows, again

You’d think with all the poor examples of development in the valley, a project that implements all that John Cogswell promises — open space, a senior center, smart planning — would find calm seas, fair skies and consistent winds.

Not so in Buena Vista, where opponents for the second time in as many years are attempting to force a referendum on the Town’s annexation of the subdivision. Opponents point to a perceived lack of specificity in development plans and raise questions about water. Proponents point to enduring protection for Weathervane Farm as well as unambiguous support by the planning commission, Board of Trustees and Town Administrator.

As of now, it appears that the issue will be on the ballot in April, giving voters another chance to weigh in.

Pat Alderton resigns, sort of

In what was one of the oddest political moves of the year, the Poncha Springs Town Administrator didn’t actually resign, she leaked a memo to the press saying that she would resign if her salary demands weren’t met. We’re tempted to side with those who argue that this can’t possibly have been primarily a salary dispute, since her action immediately eroded much of her support, but we’ve overestimated people before.

Regardless, the real story here isn’t the salary issue or even the resignation, it’s that the Poncha Springs Board of Trustees allowed Ms. Alderton to serve as administrator while her husband served as Town Attorney. We’re not saying that the wastewater dispute between Poncha and Salida, which has lasted years, would have been resolved any sooner if the Aldertons weren’t benefiting financially from its perpetuation, because there’s no evidence that we know of to suggest this. (Also, we understand that Bill Alderton is an attorney.)

Nonetheless, the arrangement projected an appearance of impropriety from day one. We’re glad to see it pass.

Salida Mountain Trails

One of the unmitigated success stories of the year has been the ongoing development of trails on Tenderfoot Mountain, championed by Salida Mountain Trails. Under the leadership of Tom Purvis a remarkably dedicated crew of volunteers have constructed a slew of new trails for non-motorized use on and around Tenderfoot. Supported by Absolute Bikes, the City and Arrowhead Trails, among others, this largely-grassroots effort is creating a practical amenity for use by residents and visitors alike. Well done.

Local agriculture takes root

While the days when we shipped “Buena-Kist” lettuce to Chicago are decidedly gone, relative newcomers like Weathervane Farm, Cottonwood Creek Dairy, and Jumpin Good Goats have helped to create a renaissance of local agriculture not seen since the 1930’s according to amateur historian Ann Ewing.

The Central Colorado Foodshed Alliance produces a guide to our “foodshed” and organizes the Salida Farmers Market and Shedfest. Eric Belsey’s Backyard CSA is an innovative approach to growing food. And Guidestone’s Land Link initiative, matching young farmers with arable land and experienced mentors, is a promising new development.

Nestlé Waters obtains County approval

Doing anything with water in the West is guaranteed to piss someone off, but this chapter brought a new, and in some ways audacious, twist to the chronicle of local water wars. Nestlé Waters proposed to pump 65 million gallons of water annually from an aquifer below a property adjacent to the Arkansas River, pipe it to a facility at Johnson Village and ship it to Denver for bottling. Lee Hart provided exemplary coverage of the issue.

For proponents, this was a story about private property rights and entrepreneurial spirit meeting for drinks and dancing. For opponents, this was a story of a multinational corporation performing the moral equivalent of a bank heist, or worse, aided by local elected officials.

Frankly, we weren’t surprised by the outcome. But the process raised problematic questions about the nature and exercise of power in the valley and the ability of residents to play a meaningful role in shaping local development.

Without question, our collective future has more controversies like this one in store.