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Quick Takes " No to subsidy for East West

Don Rogers

Avon’s answer to the Confluence developer’s request for $3 million in tax breaks should be a swift and emphatic “no way.”

If East West can’t make its shops, lodging, homes and gondola work on their own, the project isn’t worth doing. Period.

Besides, Avon has already gone down that rabbit hole, needlessly giving away the farm to the Village at Avon.



Developers require no government subsidy to keep building up the Vail Valley. It’s not as if development were exactly rare around here, after all.

In this case, Avon ought to take note of Minturn. There, at least the would-be developer is the one who comes bearing gifts for the opportunity to build. Not hat in hand asking for help adding to the already swarming, sprawling population growth of the valley.

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Are they kidding?

If East West can’t afford a gondola over the river to Beaver Creek, well, maybe they should figure out something else. It’s not Avon’s job to maximize the profits that the developer thinks such transportation might bring from buyers.

If the financial risk is that great, then maybe the developer should go back to the drawing board rather than trying to drink from a government trough. East West isn’t exactly a candidate for welfare, after all.

And Avon would hardly suffer for not buying the developer a gondola to spare their clients a two-minute bus ride to Beaver Creek. Quite the opposite, actually.

Vail, Colorado


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