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Tipsline

328-TIPS

If the work on Highway 6 is for the Village at Avon’s bridge, why are they screwing up Highway 6 in Eagle-Vail when they have 1,700 acres to be doing it on their land? Why is the state allowing this?

Virtual blame

Perhaps a tiny part of the reason that tourism is down this summer in Vail is Vail Resorts.com Web site. If you click on it, it suggests on the Vail page that visitors go to Jackson Hole for the summer. There are no summer events listed at all in Vail. Good going Adam Aron, business man of the “80s that you are, or rather, who do you think you are? And who are we?



Print their names

Just a thought. Maybe all those water violators up valley should have their names published in the paper like they do for all the other criminal and DUI’s and speeding tickets, stuff like that. Maybe the hall of shame will take care of the water increase.

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Just build it

This is in response to the Middle Creek housing development. It sickens me that some of these second-home owners and Vail Village Homeowners Association people are against this that it would be an eyesore, a blight for the residents of Spraddle Creek to look at. It’s not a blight for us to have to look up at 10,000-square-foot houses lining the ridge that people don’t even use for most of the year? I think that anything where people are actually going to live, be year-round residents is a good thing no matter where it is, even in the middle of Vail Village. They should go ahead and build it and not listen to people who are not even here and don’t really have a stake in this community.

Out of touch

I’m calling regarding the story about George Gillette and 30 other second-home owners and members of Vail Village Homeowners Association condemning the 142-unit Middle Creek development. It’s interesting that he has empty rental properties but there is no need for affordable housing in the valley. With 242 ads in the paper, are there any studios for $540? I don’t think so. Or $1750 for a 3 bedroom? They’re so out of touch, they should just go back to their second homes elsewhere.

Charge “em more

It’s terrible that we have a drought and of course we should be conserving water here in the Vail Valley. But come on, you guys, let’s get real, it’s the spring that the Eagle Valley water supply system decided to, instead of charging people for a minimum of 3,000 gallons a month, charging for 5,000 gallons a month. It gives absolutely no incentive to save water to somebody with a small household that doesn’t even use 3,000 gallons a month and it’s sort of enraging to think that you’re conserving water so that other people can waste water, and you’re paying for the water that other people are wasting when you’re paying for that minimum. Get on a program where maybe you decide to charge people for a minimum of 500 gallons a month or something, some realistic number that encourages conservation and escalate what you charge for water depending on the usage. California went through a drought a decade ago, and when they were having that in L.A., they escalated the price. There was a certain amount you paid for the first thousand gallons and there was more you paid for additional gallons, or however they structured it. Have a price for the first thousand and another price that’s higher for the next 2,000, and so on. Let’s have something realistic instead of something stupid.

Tragic place

I’m reading Wednesday’s article, “Vail Middle Creek Faces Uphill Battle,” and it says here the 142-unit Middle Creek development is too big, too massive, too tall and in the wrong place. Well guess what? In the “70s I used to take my dirt bike up Spraddle Creek there, and I thought that was Forest Service land there. I’m sick and tired of you people kicking locals out of here. I watch the sunset every day and I have to see those ugly houses on the top of Cordillera sitting there, just ruining my sunset and I’m tired of second-home owners ruining my community. You build them with undocumented workers, you kick and force longtime locals out of this community. It’s been happening for 15 years, and I’m the next person that’s going to go. But I don’t have enough money to go yet, so I’m going to have to bide my time. It’s really a tragic place, this place was the best place in the world, but it’s going to be a ghost town. Let’s keep having the second-home owners’ greed run everything. That is sickening.

More to story

It is Aug. 14 today and I am calling in regards to the idiot who wrote about a good friend of mine, Jose Clara. The idiot doesn’t even know Jose to be saying who cares about girlfriend problems. He needs to not judge a book by its cover. He doesn’t know the true facts, and just because the newspaper put it was about girlfriend problems, no it wasn’t just that. There were many other issues. Yeah, maybe he didn’t need to do a carjacking and stuff like that. I just want to let the idiot know that Jose was a very good guy and yeah, he was under the influence. Maybe if he was in his straight mind this wouldn’t have happened. So I just wanted to let this idiot that wrote this that he doesn’t even know Jose to be saying anything about him, and nobody deserves to die. So for him to say he got what he deserved he can eat … and die because nobody deserves to die. I’m just calling in regards to Jose Clara and to let him know we all miss him and may he rest in peace and hopefully all this … will stop. He does have a wonderful family here, disregarding the ex-girlfriend who we don’t need to talk about right now. He was a very nice guy. He had an affectionate heart.

None deserves this

I’m a cousin of Jose Clara’s and I really feel upset about this whole thing that’s going on about my brother, our cousin, our family, our uncle, our nephew. I was just reading this and I can’t believe people can be so cruel to say he deserved to die. I don’t think nobody deserves to die and what happened to the little girl was sad that she happened to be there. But just knowing that this valley is saying stuff like this I thought we could all come together and just let things end and be thankful that this little girl is alive.

More coverage

I’m calling regarding a hearing today at the Eagle County Courthouse at the Justice Center for Karen Kaska. That hearing involves three businesses in town which I think should be listed in the paper, Summit Habitats, The Inn at Riverwalk, The Wildhorse Bistro. I think there was a short article about that hearing, but it involves several hundred thousand dollars of alleged theft, and I would think that would need to be reported and named as far as what businesses that affects. Wish it would get a little bit more coverage.

Try speaking clearly

I’m calling because you put one of my Tips in Wednesday titled “What losers.” It seems to me that when people call in Tipsline and they make statements they ought to be able to count on the fact that you guys don’t edit what is said. There was another line on the bottom of mine, and I said, “And another thing, what have these losers done for the community? I’ll take Ferry any day.” I put Ferry in there on purpose, because she does do things and the rest of these guys just bitch. I think it’s really wrong that you would edit out one of the key statements of any of these things, and I think if we can’t have confidence you’re going to print what we think we just don’t need to say anything at all. I think you should issue a correction on that, too.

Editor’s note: The Tipsline typist explains that when are talking so fast, and so incoherently that she cannot catch everything you say. She asks that callers understand that they need to speak slowly, clearly and concisely, while spelling out names that might have unusual spellings. In short, follow the instructions of the Tipsline format.

Rest in peace

I was calling in regards to the Tipsline today about Jose Clara. I’m related to little Shania Pena that was in the car, and I don’t think that that was right of anyone to say that Jose died. Unfortunately he was just as young, and whether it would have been Shania that would have died, that would have been awful, too, and I think we all need to have a heart for everybody. My heart goes out to their family, and I want to say that all their souls rest in peace.

Open space irony

There was an ad in the Vail Daily for a get-together for the Eagle Valley Land Trust called

the Shindig, and it’s being held at Red Sky Ranch. Two of the sponsors for the Shindig are Red Sky Ranch and Slifer, and it is to benefit the preservation of open space in Eagle County. Does anyone else see the irony of these two particular organizations, Vail Associates and Slifer, Smith and Frampton sponsoring an event to preserve open land when they have been the organizations that have benefitted the most from taking open land, developing it and selling it? Very, very interesting.

Overuse of water

Last week I observed a considerable amount of sprinkler water running off into the drainage ditch at the Riverwalk Plaza.

Tossing butts

Somebody needs to tell the moron that drives a Nissan Pathfinder with Colorado plates 240DVY to stop throwing lit cigarette butts out of his window. Gee, moron, there’s a drought on.

Waste of space

I’m calling about housing in Vail. Having been burned out of my condo building back in May and having to go around and look for a place to stay out here, I was appalled at the very shabby condition of some of the rental properties I looked at. They’re run down and not worth the amount of money that they’re paying for them. Gay Steadman’s letter is a waste of space for your paper. It shows a stupid, selfish and arrogant attitude of the haves trying to keep the have-not people from getting something good here in Vail, something we can rent at an affordable price, and like I said, it was a waste of space to print their letters in your paper.

Get over it

Your editorial on Aug. 14 said Al Gore, and I quote, “but for an archaic method of counting the nation’s vote for president he would have won, of course.” You need to look at the facts. Al Gore counted and recounted the votes in Florida three times. First just a few highly Democratic counties, then a few more overly large percentage of Democratic voters, and then tried to void all military votes, not allowing people who are overseas to make their vote count. Come on Don Rogers, your guy lost, fair and square. He couldn’t even win his home state. Get over it, move on, salute your president, George Bush.

Editor’s note: Didn’t vote for Gore, who did in fact win the popular vote by some 200,000 votes nationwide. Voted for Bush, but that doesn’t change this fact.

Vanished

This Panorama Fire, says it could top $400,000, it was in the Vail Daily on Friday, and it says some of the suspects in the Panorama Fire disappeared. Imagine that. And I guess the workers … were cutting rebar and the rebar ignited the fire and people disappeared. Gee, how diverse a society we have here. I really feel sorry for our community. What a tragedy.

No right to judge

Whoever told you that the guy who made the carjack in West Vail was because of his ex-girlfriend? No one knows, the only person that knows is him and his not here anymore, so no one has the right to judge him for his actions, the only person is God. You should just leave him alone, he paid his bad action with his life and there’s no another worst way he could of paid. So, for the people that wrote those comments about him that he deserved to die, they don’t have a heart because nobody, not even the worst enemy deserves their death.

The man

No more free beer in Vail? What will they take from us next? Not that I mind paying $2 for a beer and frank, but why does someone always have to rain on my parade? The fact that it was the Vail restaurants who petitioned to stop the VCBA from handing out beer to locals, and also the fact that most business owners in Vail are from outside of Vail points to the cold hard truth that this is just one more instance of the man (no offense ladies) keeping us down. … Too bad for him I’ll be heading down to Wolcott where local business people embrace the locals rather than drive them out. I guess he’ll just have to enjoy that concert by himself, because I for one have lost my love for a lifestyle that once combined community involvement with respect for the local population. Friday evenings will never be the same. Damn the man, where’s my free can??

Also, is the tourist who’s having dinner at Vendetta’s with his family going to say, “Hey, honey, forget dinner at Terra Bistro. Tell the kids we’re having beer and dogs for dinner, Then we’ll go back to our $500 a night hotel room and wash it down with a free before-bedtime mint”? Come on, get real. This affects the local’s perspective more than anything else.

Not buying it

Mr. Gillett’s efforts to clarify that he speaks not in the spirit of NIMBYism, but out of concern for “Vail’s front yard,” is completely insulting and patronizing. What is Vail, anyway, Mr. Gillett? Does it consist of tourists and second-home owners? Or does it consist of the people who work, garden, cook, serve, make friends, volunteer, hike, fish, go to church, meet their spouses, and raise their kids here; essentially, those who live here? Could Vail possibly consist of both? Apparently, Mr. Gillett would have us all believe that those of us in the second group do not deserve to live in “Vail’s front yard.” Back to your Avon ghetto, waitress! Back to your 80-square-foot, two-bedroom apartment, ski instructor! We’re content to partake of your services, and we’ll tell you in meetings you are the reason the tourists keep coming back, but don’t try to live near us!

Let’s call a spade a spade, Mr. Gillett, and recognize that your property values are far more important to you and your cohorts than where the people who serve you as you go about your day can afford to live. The bottom line is, you and your Spraddle Creek homeowners are entitled to your “values,” but don’t pretend to have “Vail’s” best interests at heart. This place would not work without the tourists or we menial laborers that struggle with two jobs so that we can live in such a beautiful place. You may speak for the first party, but don’t pretend to speak for us!


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