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.
MISS: From reader Jackie Cohen to the Vail Daily for a photograph depicting “a man surfing Glenwood wave on the Colorado River without a life jacket. So far this year there is one reported drowning on the Colorado River. This photo promotes irresponsible river recreation.”
MISS: From reader Bartholomew Longworth to “the Vail Resorts loading dock crew in the Arabelle who, despite the law and the best efforts of Brian Rodine and his green team, continue to arrogantly throw major amounts of cardboard in the trash because they are ‘too busy’ to walk 25 yards to recycle it.”
HIT: To community theater, greatest of communal arts. Lots of heart and soul and laughter has gone into the Vail Valley Theater Company’s one-act plays “The Actor’s Nightmare” and “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All For You” this weekend at Montana’s Smokehouse in Avon.
HIT: To Montana’s, providing a nice, intimate venue.
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HIT: To Father Bob, a bright soul who knows how to laugh in the good times and steer his congregation through the hard ones with equal aplomb. He is off to Lakewood and St. Jude’s Parish there after a decade of shepherding much of our valley’s Catholic flock.
HIT: To the farmers markets making their return now. They may well replace the Fourth of July as the kickoff to true summer.
MISS: To the name “Bustang.” Nice enough idea for a bus from Glenwood to Denver. But really, Bustang? Seriously?
MISS: To rockfalls in Glenwood Canyon. Interstate 70 is one dangerous road through there, and not just for the idiot speeders who just have to get through the stretch three minutes faster than anyone else.
HIT: To Eagle resident — well soon to be a Front Range resident — Luis Benitez becoming the first director of outdoor recreation for the state at Gov. John Hickenlooper’s behest. He’ll need a replacement on the Eagle Town Board, but we imagine there are a few pretty capable candidates for that post.
HIT: To home sales perking up in deed-restricted Miller Ranch. One more step along the way to economic recovery.
HIT: To Avon earning a certificate of excellence for financial reporting for the 23rd year in a row. Not bad.
MISS: To only 11 percent of us bothering to recycle. That’s truly pathetic.
HIT: To better understanding of the spending habits of those precious “destination” visitors who fly in to Eagle Country Regional Airport. As you might expect, these visitors boost our economic fortunes significantly. A survey of actual spending this year found this group accounted for $200 million in spending. What was noteworthy was there was none of the BS “multiplier” effect of how much a dollar spent might roll through the community, a piece of speculation too often employed to wow investors and governments in presentations about this event or that demographic.
HIT/MISS? To idea of swapping Battle Mountain, currently private and sized up for development, for Meadow Mountain, currently part of the national forest. Early buzz suggests a MISS to this one, but it’s a more intriguing idea than it might seem on the surface.
HIT: To Walking Mountains’ growth in service to Eagle County schoolchildren, helping get our kids more interested in science and the natural wonders.
MISS: To no comprehensive or consistent means of reporting ski accidents. Also, ski resorts, and too often public agencies as well, seem to make secrets of fatalities on the slopes — leaving this information to rumors and all that comes with that instead of duly reporting publicly when the worst happens. These habits can only lead to unwarranted distrust.
HIT: To Eagle-Vail’s new pump track, a bicycle park where only a dirt lot took up space near the community pavilion.
HIT: To the town of Vail stepping toward better enforcement against private encroachments that degrade Gore Creek. The town has done a very good job of raising awareness about the creek’s water quality. No one should be able to plausibly express surprise if a little extra muscle becomes necessary for the right thing to happen in the future.