There are several opinions that I could share with you ranging from how I believe that the $2.5 million in tax revenue that Eagle will purportedly receive from Eagle River Station is not sufficient for such a large project, to how we should not fear Gypsum drawing a national retailer to their town, to how ERS will increase our traffic problems and will cause congestion at the round-about, to the environmental degradation caused by acres of parking lots, to how low-paying retails jobs do nothing for our economy especially when in most years we have a labor shortage, to how I believe a “lifestyle center” is an antiquated business model, and how business after this recession will be far different than business we are familiar with, to how the money spent at ERS will not stay locally but will be funneled to corporate headquarters in another state.

But instead, I want you to think about what you value about Eagle and what you think about our community.

I ask you to imagine where you lived growing up, what made you decide to move to Eagle County and what made you move to Eagle. What lifestyle were you seeking? What kind of environment? What size of town? What kind of people?

I suspect that you valued the recreational activities — the skiing, the biking, the hunting and hiking. You probably value open space and wildlife, community, family, friends and neighbors, and you have a sense of pride in where you live.

You attend the Show Down Town in the summer where you talk to your neighbors and local business owners. Your kids safely ride their bikes from home, to school and back. You watch the fireworks and the Twelfth Night Bonfire in the Town Park.

You value a small town. You have values that reflect a small, close-knit community, so it would be an affront to those values to bring in a big city development like Eagle River Station.

If we truly value a small, mountain-town community, then we can not vote for ERS. It would be antithetical to our value system. ERS would erode all of those special qualities that make Eagle the unique place that made you move here in the first place.

Eagle River Station is a big city development, with big city stores, with big city traffic, with a big city attitude that does not belong here in Eagle.

I implore you to vote “no” on ERS and to ensure that our small mountain town is not unalterably changed forever. I implore you not to approve this development. It is an affront to your and my values and in no way characterizes the reasons why we moved here.

Thank you for your consideration.

Jaime Walker