News
Transforming opportunity
I write to you today to thank the Vilar Guild for the invaluable experience they recently provided several of our Celebrate the Beat dancers by purchasing tickets for them to attend the performance of the dance company Pilobolus at the Vilar Performing Arts Center.
It was truly a life-changing opportunity for the seven fifth-grade dancers from Avon Elementary School. The show filled them with excitement, amazement and inspiration. They could barely contain themselves throughout the show, as they were so full of wonder and awe.
It was beautiful to literally watch them transform before my eyes because of the experience the guild provided them. Please know that your kindness and generosity is truly changing children's lives.
Heather Kratz
Director-Lead Teaching Artist, Celebrate The Beat Program
Schools chief overpaid?
Why do I get to see so many distressing stories about major education funding cuts, while our superintendent gets paid more than $180,000? This salary is asinine when that amounts to 200 or so students in our community that could be covered.
School administrators need to be held accountable, and if they are comfortable pulling massive salaries while our children are negatively impacted because there's not enough cash to go around, then it's pretty clear cut to me.
There's some major housecleaning that needs to be done, starting at the top.
Collin Thompson
How to fix I-70 congestion
“Like bees to honey ...”
as the saying goes. How about some good-old common courtesy out there on I-70 to alleviate traffic congestion? I found the Jan. 31 article reflecting the ineffectiveness of the State Patrol “pace car” attempts at freeing up traffic ironic due to claims there was just too much traffic.
Here's a novel approach: How about we simply stay right except to pass?
Most will probably say that's a pipe dream in today's narcissistic society. I say have a little faith. I can recall traffic studies (in another state) many, many years ago reflecting the effects of simple roadside distractions such as a flat-tire pull-over and how that caused huge traffic back-ups, starting with a simple lift of the accelerator by a passing motorist.
Just imagine what the ramifications are from a left-lane camper. Add to that a Sunday night return-to-Denver commute traffic load. Throw in multiple self-proclaimed speed monitors, in the left lane, and voila! You've got major traffic congestion when otherwise there wouldn't be any, or much less, in any event. It's not rocket science.
I would suggest the State Patrol expend their resources more wisely by using those fancy signs, educating good driver etiquette, as well as step up ticketing those left-lane, passive/aggressive types! (Remember the “road rage” fad? It's still here.) Make some lemonade from those lemons.
Instead of all the hand-wringing as to costs to bore more tunnel, adding lanes, etc., how about a simple approach utilizing existing resources that would actually generate revenue?
The undisputed fact remains that no matter how many lanes you have, if drivers don't move over, there will always be unnecessary congestion.
Tom Beck
Eagle
Lorenti fires back
I read with great interest the response of Johnie Rosenfeld, Minturn Council member and candidate for Eagle County commissioner, to my last letter.
First, Johnie claims the Minturn house in question was built to code. This is false because as I have already stated, our town planner, Chris Cerimele, admits in writing and at council meetings that the house's lot coverage exceeds Minturn code.
Johnie was at these same meetings and received same paperwork I did.
If the house was built to code, then why did the council apologize to the Minturn citizens for the house being too big? The council also gave disciplinary action to the town planner for selective code enforcement.
Johnie then admits, a little later in his letter, that mistakes were made. So Johnie seems a bit confused.
Johnie then claims that bonuses were given to staff because we have 11 employees instead of 15.
With that logic, every employee still left in the Eagle County School District should get a bonus after the district fires the 100 employees.
How many Eagle County residents think that will happen?
Minturn has nothing big going on now, so we do not need 15 employees.
Johnie then tries to argue that the increase to our water and trash rates were justified.
I can argue against this increase in a few ways.
First, if Minturn truly needs more money for the water fund, maybe they should follow code and collect the tap fee from the house in question.
Second, in a recent interview, Johnie claims he wants to help build businesses in Eagle County. By raising Minturn's water rates again and trash rates, he is making it more expensive and, therefore, harder to run a business in Minturn.
Third, Minturn has contracts with Dean Adler, owner of the Battle Mountain project, that state that he will build a water and a sewer plant and that Minturn's water and sewer rates will not go up. Building these plants would also help create local jobs.
Johnie, in his letter about me, says, “It is truly a privilege to exercise ones First Amendment right to free speech.”
Folks, you should watch the council meeting where a visibly shaken and upset Minturn Mayor Hawkeye Flaherty points his finger at me and tells me what I can and cannot say when I stand up to exercise my freedom of speech. Johnie just sits there and agrees with the mayor.
Johnie needs to be careful what he says and promises because in his letter he said that Minturn will get the entire $180 million that Dean Adler promised Minturn in exchange for approval of his Battle Mountain project if lawsuits are finalized in Dean Adler's favor.
This is another huge mistake by Johnie. I have gone into more detail on my website, www.minturntimes.com, but suffice it to say for now that we were promised that money four years ago, regardless of any lawsuits.
Johnie flat out refuses to drug test Minturn's employees. Most towns have policies in place to test employees. They especially drug test when an employee is involved in an accident. I think Minturn needs to drug test employees.
Eagle County citizens, we cannot afford to have Johnie Rosenfeld representing us as an Eagle County commissioner. In closing, I enjoy a spirited debate based on facts. When Johnie gets his facts straight, I would enjoy a debate.
Frank Lorenti
Minturn
Why meet on holiday?
When I decided, last year, to move to Colorado to be closer to family, I had a choice of Boulder, Pueblo or Eagle. I chose Eagle because it is small, walkable and has a rural feel.
A short while ago, as I was riding with my daughter back from Avon, I commented on how much more welcoming Eagle was with the open expanses instead of building after building in the valleys.
My daughter told me that the lovely land with cattle and horses on it might soon be a huge development, and I was concerned enough to go to the town meeting on Feb. 1.
The developers gave a good, optimistic presentation, which was to be expected, though evidently there were some errors.
What really bothered me was the dismissive, condescending and sometimes downright rude attitude of the trustees toward those who spoke against the project.
Since not one citizen spoke for the project, I sort of wonder who the trustees are representing.
As I said, I am new to Eagle but expect to learn more about this Eagle River Station. It's too bad the next meeting is on Valentine's Day, which means many of us won't be able to attend.
Katherine Delanoy
Eagle
I write to you today to thank the Vilar Guild for the invaluable experience they recently provided several of our Celebrate the Beat dancers by purchasing tickets for them to attend the performance of the dance company Pilobolus at the Vilar Performing Arts Center.
It was truly a life-changing opportunity for the seven fifth-grade dancers from Avon Elementary School. The show filled them with excitement, amazement and inspiration. They could barely contain themselves throughout the show, as they were so full of wonder and awe.
It was beautiful to literally watch them transform before my eyes because of the experience the guild provided them. Please know that your kindness and generosity is truly changing children's lives.
Heather Kratz
Director-Lead Teaching Artist, Celebrate The Beat Program
Schools chief overpaid?
Why do I get to see so many distressing stories about major education funding cuts, while our superintendent gets paid more than $180,000? This salary is asinine when that amounts to 200 or so students in our community that could be covered.
School administrators need to be held accountable, and if they are comfortable pulling massive salaries while our children are negatively impacted because there's not enough cash to go around, then it's pretty clear cut to me.
There's some major housecleaning that needs to be done, starting at the top.
Collin Thompson
How to fix I-70 congestion
“Like bees to honey ...”
as the saying goes. How about some good-old common courtesy out there on I-70 to alleviate traffic congestion? I found the Jan. 31 article reflecting the ineffectiveness of the State Patrol “pace car” attempts at freeing up traffic ironic due to claims there was just too much traffic.
Here's a novel approach: How about we simply stay right except to pass?
Most will probably say that's a pipe dream in today's narcissistic society. I say have a little faith. I can recall traffic studies (in another state) many, many years ago reflecting the effects of simple roadside distractions such as a flat-tire pull-over and how that caused huge traffic back-ups, starting with a simple lift of the accelerator by a passing motorist.
Just imagine what the ramifications are from a left-lane camper. Add to that a Sunday night return-to-Denver commute traffic load. Throw in multiple self-proclaimed speed monitors, in the left lane, and voila! You've got major traffic congestion when otherwise there wouldn't be any, or much less, in any event. It's not rocket science.
I would suggest the State Patrol expend their resources more wisely by using those fancy signs, educating good driver etiquette, as well as step up ticketing those left-lane, passive/aggressive types! (Remember the “road rage” fad? It's still here.) Make some lemonade from those lemons.
Instead of all the hand-wringing as to costs to bore more tunnel, adding lanes, etc., how about a simple approach utilizing existing resources that would actually generate revenue?
The undisputed fact remains that no matter how many lanes you have, if drivers don't move over, there will always be unnecessary congestion.
Tom Beck
Eagle
Lorenti fires back
I read with great interest the response of Johnie Rosenfeld, Minturn Council member and candidate for Eagle County commissioner, to my last letter.
First, Johnie claims the Minturn house in question was built to code. This is false because as I have already stated, our town planner, Chris Cerimele, admits in writing and at council meetings that the house's lot coverage exceeds Minturn code.
Johnie was at these same meetings and received same paperwork I did.
If the house was built to code, then why did the council apologize to the Minturn citizens for the house being too big? The council also gave disciplinary action to the town planner for selective code enforcement.
Johnie then admits, a little later in his letter, that mistakes were made. So Johnie seems a bit confused.
Johnie then claims that bonuses were given to staff because we have 11 employees instead of 15.
With that logic, every employee still left in the Eagle County School District should get a bonus after the district fires the 100 employees.
How many Eagle County residents think that will happen?
Minturn has nothing big going on now, so we do not need 15 employees.
Johnie then tries to argue that the increase to our water and trash rates were justified.
I can argue against this increase in a few ways.
First, if Minturn truly needs more money for the water fund, maybe they should follow code and collect the tap fee from the house in question.
Second, in a recent interview, Johnie claims he wants to help build businesses in Eagle County. By raising Minturn's water rates again and trash rates, he is making it more expensive and, therefore, harder to run a business in Minturn.
Third, Minturn has contracts with Dean Adler, owner of the Battle Mountain project, that state that he will build a water and a sewer plant and that Minturn's water and sewer rates will not go up. Building these plants would also help create local jobs.
Johnie, in his letter about me, says, “It is truly a privilege to exercise ones First Amendment right to free speech.”
Folks, you should watch the council meeting where a visibly shaken and upset Minturn Mayor Hawkeye Flaherty points his finger at me and tells me what I can and cannot say when I stand up to exercise my freedom of speech. Johnie just sits there and agrees with the mayor.
Johnie needs to be careful what he says and promises because in his letter he said that Minturn will get the entire $180 million that Dean Adler promised Minturn in exchange for approval of his Battle Mountain project if lawsuits are finalized in Dean Adler's favor.
This is another huge mistake by Johnie. I have gone into more detail on my website, www.minturntimes.com, but suffice it to say for now that we were promised that money four years ago, regardless of any lawsuits.
Johnie flat out refuses to drug test Minturn's employees. Most towns have policies in place to test employees. They especially drug test when an employee is involved in an accident. I think Minturn needs to drug test employees.
Eagle County citizens, we cannot afford to have Johnie Rosenfeld representing us as an Eagle County commissioner. In closing, I enjoy a spirited debate based on facts. When Johnie gets his facts straight, I would enjoy a debate.
Frank Lorenti
Minturn
Why meet on holiday?
When I decided, last year, to move to Colorado to be closer to family, I had a choice of Boulder, Pueblo or Eagle. I chose Eagle because it is small, walkable and has a rural feel.
A short while ago, as I was riding with my daughter back from Avon, I commented on how much more welcoming Eagle was with the open expanses instead of building after building in the valleys.
My daughter told me that the lovely land with cattle and horses on it might soon be a huge development, and I was concerned enough to go to the town meeting on Feb. 1.
The developers gave a good, optimistic presentation, which was to be expected, though evidently there were some errors.
What really bothered me was the dismissive, condescending and sometimes downright rude attitude of the trustees toward those who spoke against the project.
Since not one citizen spoke for the project, I sort of wonder who the trustees are representing.
As I said, I am new to Eagle but expect to learn more about this Eagle River Station. It's too bad the next meeting is on Valentine's Day, which means many of us won't be able to attend.
Katherine Delanoy
Eagle
