Vail Daily Hits and Misses
Got a quick Hit or Miss about issues, decisions or goings-on in the valley? Send yours to editor@vaildaily.com to be included.
HIT: To Colorado Gives Day on Tuesday, a great chance for donors to provide more dollars for their donation. It appears that the giving day was a big hit with donors, too. Congratulations to the organizers of the event and to the community service groups that raise our standard of living and standard of community spirit so high.
HIT: Big, huge, awesome one to Lindsey Vonn coming back from two knee surgeries in her trademark form — winning at Lake Vonn, er, Louise last weekend. So good to see her come back through a long, uncertain physical, emotional and no doubt even spiritual journey that included a setback requiring a second knee surgery. You know there had to be some dark days in there before this triumph.
HIT: To Vail’s leaders thinking ahead. 2015 is not the end of a long effort but a beginning. The puzzle for Vail is moving along to the era after the boomers play out. A key to this is leaders 50 and younger who emerge and take the torch.
HIT: To Eagle County investing in regional solar energy projects expected to each pay themselves off in 11 years. The value of solar is only going to grow from here.
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HIT: To the Birds of Prey positively flying as the World Cup stop for the men tests out the new stands and such as a dress rehearsal for the 2015 FIS Alpine World Championships in February. Organizers claim a $4 million impact on the economy, along with hundreds of millions of television viewers. Sounds maybe a little rich, but it’s a great event and valuable to the valley whether counting PR dollars or real.
HIT: To the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek celebrating 25 years. Yes, another great idea among many, Harry Frampton. Of course, ideas are worth the air into which they are uttered. What counts is the hard work in turning ideas into reality, which turned out brilliantly. Congratulations as well to Patty Eckert, Becki Phelan and Rhome Bumpas, who have served with the Park Hyatt all 25 years.
HIT: To a potential land trade between Vail Valley Medical Center and the neighboring Evergreen Lodge that would result in the hospital’s entrance moving to the frontage road and lodge parking behind the hotel. Just makes sense.
HIT: To the excellent, er, epic adventures of Mort the red moose and a kid named Eli at Beaver Creek. This is a book by Ken Nager and Elyssa Pallai that captures the Beaver Creek experience as seen through the eyes of local kids, who know the place like no one else.
MISS: To The USA Pro Cycling Challenge skipping the Vail Valley this year. Their loss. Harrumph.
MISS: To, well, anemic marketing efforts for the Pro Cycling Challenge compared to Summit County and Aspen in particular. Going cheap sometimes has consequences.
MISS: To the 14 percent or 15 percent effective unemployment among the millennial generation. Only thing worse is the unemployment rate among baby boomers who happened to lose their jobs during the downturn.
HIT: To Rod Slifer, who will have to endure being celebrated Friday by the Vail Leadership Institute as the inaugural Torch award is bestowed upon him. Slifer is one of Vail’s pioneers who stayed engaged with the town into the 2000s, serving again as mayor during another crucial period in Vail’s history.