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Vail Daily letter: Ignoring the facts

In response to Carl Luppens’ Monday letter to the editor, perhaps it would be helpful for the good folks of Eagle-Vail to get the truth. Mr. Luppens’ desperate attempts to try and convince the voters that he is a worthy candidate for a board seat on the Eagle-Vail Metro District is really beneath any of us, including him. Mr. Luppens starts his letter out factually: “It takes complete honesty and full disclosure” to manage a $1 billion enterprise. He goes straight downhill from there.

So, let’s start with honesty and full disclosure both of which Mr. Luppens blatantly and conveniently chooses to ignore.

False statement No. 1 “There are big financial problems looming that have been created improperly and hidden from the public.” Complete falsehood. There is nothing improper and nothing hidden. Period.



False statement No. 2 “Eagle-Vail has spent too much for goods and services, typically paying double what others pay for the same thing.” Complete falsehood. How naive does he think Eagle-Vailians are? This is beyond preposterous.

False statement No. 3 “The current Eagle-Vail Metro District board has wasted millions of dollars paying big fees to cronies.” This is a complete falsehood. I have been on the Property Owners’ Association board working hand in hand with the Eagle-Vail Metro District board for eight years, and there are no cronies nor have we paid anyone millions in fees. Again, beyond preposterous.

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False statement No. 4 “Current board members have expressed a desire to sell off some of the public recreational land for 500 units of new housing …. (with their buddies).” Complete falsehood. What Mr. Luppens fails to tell you is that the 500 unit suggestion was made by ULI and never embraced by anyone on the board now or then. What Mr. Luppens further fails to disclose is that when it’s in his best interests he brags about being the driving force behind getting ULI to come to Eagle-Vail.

Misleading statement No. 1 “An example of prior malfeasance includes the trade of 250 acres of metro land (or land) for 9 acres.” What Mr. Luppens fails to include in his attack on prior upstanding, honest fellow members of his community is that the 250 acres were land locked on a 45 degree hill; read, virtually useless, and the 9 acres were National Forest land under Holes 16 and 17 of the golf course. If this swap had not been made, Eagle-Vail ran the risk of losing two of the best holes on the golf course, thus virtually destroying one of its most valuable assets. The then-board members acted in the best interests of the Metro District and the members of Eagle-Vail and there were no cronies involved.

So if you want an acrimonious bully on the board, Mr. Luppens is your guy. If you want reasonable people who are truly interested in giving credit where credit is due and working together to further improve Eagle-Vail, vote for anyone else. If you doubt me, ask anyone from Brightwater.

Mike Kieler

Eagle-Vail Property Owners’ Association board member


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