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Vail’s tired old ways

Geraldine Haldner

If Vail is facing a new dawn, why can’t the Vail town council be roused from its tired old ways?

After four decades of taking one hesitant step ahead and promptly hurrying two steps back when faced with something new, this council needs to break out of the Bavarian box and allow this town grow up.

While the ski resort has thrived, the town has stumbled from the start, always uneasy with its borrowed identity.



The Vail we know has little personality and still sinks into a sad off-season slumber in spring and fall. Locals have to look hard to find a reason to bring life to town, as most of the businesses close the cute cutout shutters to places only tourists frequent.

Yes, visitors should find Vail an inviting place, but what they shouldn’t want ” and think of yourself here for a minute ” is to stumble from one tourist trap to another inside an all-inclusive theme park.

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This is Vail ” not a cruise ship, not Disneyland, not Austria.

It’s ironic that the name of a recently reviewed project that has a chance to bring about much-needed chance is identical to the place this town has come to yet again ” Crossroads.

And sure enough, the council is doing the same tired three-step dance. The complaints are painfully familiar. It’s too big, it’s too bold, not Bavarian enough.

Could a large entertainment complex attract crime? ” Sure, but so could fur boutiques, secluded mansion and expensive cars ” of which Vail has plenty.

Let’s make Vail a lived-in friendly town that invites tourists to come and play alongside the locals. A town that is not fake, doesn’t know an off-season and doesn’t float from tourist trap to tourist trap.

This is Vail, Colorado ” people live here.


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