pagosa springs blog

Opiate of the masses

2009-05-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

Has the “tea bag” has become a modern day opiate of the masses.

The April 15th “tax revolt” was based upon a premise that the budget of the federal government is paid for by public tax dollars. As with all opiates, the feeling may have been great but no true journey was taken.

The Federal income tax collected in 2008 totaled $1.2 trillion. The October 2008 Bank Bailout alone cost $0.8 trillion.

The total cost of collecting these income taxes is estimated to be $68 billion.

Our expenses related to maintaining the defense of our military empire costs about $1 trillion per year.

So, let’s add up the numbers above. Income taxes collected in 2008 came to about $1.2 trillion. The expenses for 2008 noted above come to almost $1.9 trillion.

Did I leave anything out? Oh yeah -- the cost of operating the federal government, social security, social programs, and interest on our debt.

So…..wait a minute. The federal government spends a whole heck of a lot more than it takes in? How does that work?

Let’s go back to 1971. President Richard Nixon signed an executive order stating that the currencies of the world would no longer be tied to the value of gold sitting in their vaults. From that point on, the value of most of the currencies of the world became “pegged” or tied to their relative value compared to the U.S. dollar.

In short, that meant that the U.S. no longer was restrained by the amount of gold sitting in vaults in Fort Knox. Now we could create money out of thin air. A measure of the amount of money being “created” was a Federal standard known as “M3”. Don’t worry about what “M3” means because as the US money supply continued to grow exponentially, President Bill Clinton simply decided that the Federal government would no longer report the “M3” measure of how much money we are “creating” out of thin air.

So, here is the “opiate” part. Daily public conversation about the national economy is punctuated by extensive arguments about who is good or bad -- the Democrats or the Republicans. Who are the good people who require less taxes from the population and who are the bad people that require more taxes from the population?

But the “conversation” about the philosophical differences amount to watching TV and drinking beer and fighting over the remote while your house burns down. It doesn’t really matter who has the TV remote in their hand, now does it?

The fact of the matter is that each and every year, our Federal government “spends” far more money than it takes in from income tax.

Here are a couple of facts to ponder. Federal spending has increased steadily since 1965 regardless of Congressional leadership. Since September 11, 2001, nominal Federal spending has increased 97.6 percent. Since 1965, Federal spending has increased 334% but the median income has only increased 35%. (source: The Heritage Foundation)

Historically, if you look at the fate of currencies over thousands of years, two points stand out. Number one is that all currencies fail and go away. (The US dollar will be no exception.) Number two is that the primary purpose of income tax is to give to the prevailing currency the illusion that the currency has some intrinsic value to it.

So go ahead and argue about whether the remote control should be in the hands of a Republican or a Democrat. Meanwhile, do I smell the house on fire?

Steve Saville, The Speculative Investor, wrote recently that, “Based on traditional lead times, the substantial monetary inflation that has occurred over the past seven months probably won't start to become evident in the prices of everyday goods and services until 2010.”

“The effects of monetary inflation will work their way through the economy over the next few years, but the theft is happening right now. We suggest that the deflationists stop going on about how the amount of money created 'out of thin air' is small compared to the declines in asset and debt prices (and thus encouraging the Fed to counterfeit money at an even faster pace), and start emphasizing the problems inherent in the inflation.”

Here is the link to the full Steve Saville article: http://news.goldseek.com/SpeculativeInvestor/1240898820.php

James Turk (author of “The Coming Collapse of the Dollar”) recently wrote an article entitled “A Short History of the Gold Cartel”. It makes for a long quote here but you really should read his entire article.

“Governments want a low gold price to make national currencies look good. Gold is recognizable the world over as the ‘canary in the coalmine’ when it comes to money. A rising gold price blurts the unpleasant truth that a national currency is being poorly managed and that its purchasing power is being inflated.”

“This reality is made clear by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker. Commenting in his memoirs about the soaring gold price in the years immediately following the end of the gold standard in 1971, he notes: “Joint intervention in gold sales to prevent a steep rise in the price of gold, however, was not undertaken. That was a mistake.” It was a mistake because a rising gold price undermines the thin reed upon which all fiat currency rests – confidence. But it was a mistake only from the perspective of a central banker, which is of course at odds with anyone who believes in free markets.”

“So how does the US government manage the gold price? They recruit Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank to do it, by executing trades to pursue the US government’s aims. These banks are the gold cartel.”

“There was an abrupt change in government policy circa 1990. It was introduced by then Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan in order to bail out the banks back then, which like now were insolvent. Taxpayers were already on the hook for hundreds of billions to bail out the collapsed ‘savings & loan’ industry, so adding to this tax burden was untenable. He therefore came up with an alternative.”

“Greenspan saw the free market as a golden goose with essentially unlimited deep pockets, and more to the point, that these pockets could be picked by the US government using its tremendous weight, namely, its financial resources for timed interventions in the free market combined with its propaganda power by using the media. In short, it was easier to bail out the insolvent banks back then by gouging ill-gained profits from the free markets instead of raising taxes.”

See the full article by James Turk here: http://news.goldseek.com/JamesTurk/1241449200.php

So what does all this mean? In short there is the conversation that you and I have on the street about money, free markets, and taxes. Then there is what is really going on behind the black curtain known as the Federal Reserve and the United States government. The single, lone voice of truth about these matters inside of Washington is Congressman Ron Paul. You can easily search on-line for videos of Ron Paul speaking at length about this topic.

The current economic crises in the United States can only resolve itself one of two ways. Either the banking system (and the Federal Reserve) is allowed to collapse or else free market capitalism will disappear. Restated, either we stand behind a “free market” or we allow the US government and the Federal Reserve to own the financial system.

While we waste our time drinking tea and arguing about who is a “Democrat” and who is “Republican”, our free market economy is disappearing before our very eyes. And, the economic structure determines the political structure. A state run economy can not allow a true democracy. Which is why our big-picture financial planning occurs behind a black curtain.

It is time for us, the citizens, to recognize that our currency, our economy and political system has been completely taken over by an elite group of bankers and profiteers. Rather than blindly go along with the quick fix “bandaid” of trying to create another credit bubble, we need to let the banking system collapse and let the Federal Reserve collapse with it. Our only other option is to let those very same elite bankers and our Federal government complete their decades-old scheme of a state-run economy. If we the people do not demand the short-term pain of financial collapse right now, we will have handed away the keys to our free market system and our historic republican form of democracy forever.

We need to stop arguing amongst ourselves about the petty topics of “national politics” and start talking about the real problems of a free market capitalist democracy on the verge of permanent death.

Do No Harm

2009-04-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

Either I am totally lost or I am on the verge of some great personal discovery. You make the call.

I’ve been a little bit quiet lately. For about eighteen months, I had a lot to say about land use planning, the growth of our town, and our plans about how it all should happen. Make no mistake -- I still have a lot to say -- but I’m just not sure how to say it.

I spend a large portion of my day on the internet. That gives me access to lots of points of views, news stories, videos and opinions.

Yesterday for example, I ran into a YouTube video of a college event on a big field. Lots of students and partying going on. It looked like a sports event. For some reason, a guy decides that it makes sense to take off his clothes and hang out naked.

Three uniformed police officers respond -- as professionally as possible -- to encourage the guy to put some clothes on. It escalates to the point where the naked guy says that he is not going to put clothes back on and that there is nothing that the uniformed police officers can do about it. Of course, the officers have no choice but to “enforce the law” and you end up watching a video of a naked guy getting “tasered”, tackled and handcuffed by the three police officers. (A taser is an electronic gun which sort of electronically stuns.)

I was unable to watch the second half of the video. It’s just too painful for me. Everywhere I look, I am seeing the violence that goes with our current notion of being human beings.

It’s not the police officers. It’s not the naked guy. I mean, it’s just us. I’m talking about all of us. I’m talking about me.

The very last piece that I wrote here in the Post, was an article where I took the Town Council to task for rejecting attempts to unify some Planning and Building services of the Town and the County. I accused -- point blank -- the Town Council of actively reinforcing the mentality of “division” within our already functionally unified community, That somehow there really is an “us” downtown and a “them” uptown.

I mean, maybe that is how it was once upon a time. But the fiction of a “tale of two towns” is not the reality on the ground today. It’s just not.

But of course, the real problem is that my language and my speaking about “the problem of divisiveness” was clearly divisive and harmful in and of itself. I was complaining about the harm someone else was inflicting but I was doing it by inflicting harm.

Ouch.

So, now I am wondering about what’s it going to take for me to communicate in a way that “does no harm”. At the same time I want to completely tell the truth (as I see it). How do I share my perspective with the community without turning it into another opportunity to hit somebody over the head?

That goes back to my feeling of either being totally lost or just on the verge of some great personal discovery.

If I didn’t know any better, I would just become comfortably numb. But, I do know better. It’s a bit of a challenge for me but somehow effective communication has got to be an option. Like most people, I spend a lot of time staying distracted, being off point, and generally not being focused on what is really going on here and now.

Right now, there is almost nothing that our community leaders can do without provoking an outcry or attack from the “public”. There is almost nothing that the public can say without attacking the leadership.

It is fascinating to watch the gut level, visceral attacks that come upon a new president of the United States. When a “Republican” becomes president the attacks come from people who say that they are “different thinkers”. When a “Democrat” becomes president the attacks come from people who “think differently”.

Never mind the fact that the liberal and conservative points of disagreement actually all exist in a fiction from the past and have absolutely nothing to do with what is going on right now -- today.

For example, the federal government is not really run on “tax dollars”. The United States budget is primarily funded by money literally printed out of thin air. And that, my friends, is neither a “liberal” nor a “conservative” problem. It’s a very much bigger problem. (More on that topic, later.)

But of course, it is entertaining to distract ourselves with heated banter about who’s a liberal and who’s a conservative. That’s a whole lot easier than talking about the end of free market capitalism and the looming destruction of our currency. Our supposed “two-party” system of government in the United States and all of the chattering of the talking heads “is a tale … full of sound and fury; signifying nothing.”

Our current community dialogue must be what Don Miguel Ruiz (author of books including “The Four Agreements“) was talking about when he said that humans all live in a dream. We all live in a collective dream that we call “reality”. But actually the dream is a nightmare called “hell“.

Apparently, this problem has been around for a while. I like this 2500 year old verse from Lao-tzu:

Governing a large county
is like frying a small fish.
You spoil it with too much poking.

Approach the universe with the Tao
and evil will have no power.
Not that evil is not powerful,
but its power will not be used to harm others.
Not only will it not do harm to others,
but the sage himself will also be protected.

If only the ruler and his people would
refrain from harming each other,
all the benefits of life would accumulate
in the kingdom.

Empires rise and empires fall. National currencies get stronger then they collapse and disappear.

Vibrant communities are led by vision and hope. Communities contract underneath the weight of their own fear.

Sometimes I can communicate and help lead the community forward. Sometimes my opportunity to lead gets lost in my reptilian instinct to attack, defend, and become numb.

In my speaking, I am a painter with a brush. My carefully chosen words, consciously placed upon the canvas of the community conversation have the power to create something new. I can paint a positive vision of tomorrow or I can kick the canvas in frustration.

Being a "leader" instead of a "caretaker"

2009-02-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

The Town Council held a workshop Tuesday afternoon to discuss ways that the Town and County could merge Planning and Building services. Also discussed by some was why it could never really happen. With a total of five members of the Town Council and the Mayor, there appeared to be an even three to three split over the idea of doing some kind of merged planning versus doing very little to nothing to change what we have got.

From my seat in the audience of a packed house, here is what I saw. No I won’t pretend any personal objectivity or neutrality on this topic at all.

The County’s spokesperson Rick Bellis appeared to be offering everything that the County possibly could to entice the Town into combining staff.

What I saw was some people attempting to form a more unified and more streamlined way of managing future development. I saw some other people so afraid of the details and the possibility that “something might go wrong” that they were completely unable to see the bigger picture here.

Imagine that large aliens from outer space came with a huge vacuum cleaner and sucked away both the Town Hall and the County Hall of Justice. Imagine that we were then left to replace the government of our community with a new structure.

Given a clean slate, would we build two separate governments to manage our small community or would it be logical to only install one government for our unified community of less than 10,000 residents?

Would it make any sense at all to install two building departments and two planning departments for a small community organized around a single seven mile strip of commercial development?

It can only make sense with the statement “well, but that’s just the way it has always been done”.

The heart of what I want to write about here is the difference between being a “caretaker” and being a “leader”. Most of the time, it is adequate for elected officials to be caretakers. Once in a while -- at critical junctures in our history -- true leadership is necessary.

Sometimes that leadership comes from elected leaders. Often times it must come from somewhere else.

General George Washington and his ragtag band of rebels almost starved to death in Valley Forge in 1778 because the vast majority of the citizens were too afraid to “change the system” and couldn’t be bothered to dig into their personal pockets to finance the rebel army. It was only a handful of men and women who led the vast populace of the American colonies towards forming a more perfect union.

After a bitter debate, only 7 out of the 13 colonies voted to approve the new constitution in 1787 which formed the unified republic. This result was the achievement of a small handful of leaders.

On its face, as an outside observer, obviously one planning and building department to manage our one small community makes more sense than having two departments do the same work. It’s obvious from the outside.

The real estate and building community has articulated clearly why a “one stop shop” is better than two separate departments. One thing is for sure. The current system of two planning and building departments does not work to grow our community as envisioned in the Comprehensive Plan.

For myself, it was a little painful to sit in those Town Council chambers and watch some random remarks about how a merged Town and County Planning and Building staff would be less efficient than two separate departments. It was a little painful to watch some make claims that the best interests of Town residents were served by continuing with a divided administration of our single little community.

So to those few adamant voices who argue against merging redundant Town and County services, I ask you this. What is your vision for the future of the community? I have heard your fears. I have heard your rejection of the logic of the merger proposal based upon small details that have yet to be worked out. I heard what might go wrong.

But, I don’t believe that I heard any vision for the future. I don’t believe that I heard any guiding plans or principles. Where are you leading us to?

Fear is not a future.

This disfunctionalities of the past do not inform a positive road map for tomorrow.

In life you always end up with one of two things: What works or the reasons why not.

The "conversation" that we are

2009-02-12T06:28:00.000-08:00

I like to read the Pagosa Daily Post almost every day. The regular writers keep me up to date with what is going on in Pagosa Springs.

What particularly fascinates me is the "conversation" that the community of Pagosa Springs is.

Sometimes -- actually more often than not -- we as a community are a "conversation" that looks something like: everyone who ever takes on any position of leadership in our community needs to be destroyed.

It really is fascinating to watch and explore. Well, unless the news story of the day involves "you". When the "you" (that would be the "I" in your mind) gets involved then all of a sudden it is not so much fun and interesting but all of your painful whatevers are there ready to get triggered.

It looks like this might just be a local Pagosa Springs "conversation". But actually it is a national and an international conversation.

What happens every second day of a new U.S. presidency? The "impeach so-and-so" bumper stickers come out.

So, actually, this "conversation" is not local. It is the conversation that all of humanity is mired in.

But, like fish in water who do not know that water exists......almost none of us humans are aware that we "swim" in a "conversation" not of our own making. Most of us think that we are thinking the negative, critical thoughts. But actually the negative, critical, back stabbing thoughts are thinking us.

That is not just a poetic flourish. The greater conversation of humanity actually "thinks" for the individual. That is to say that we "individual" humans are born into and show up into an already known way of thinking and communicating.

So, here is the good news for you if you are the "target" of a critical story. It is actually not personal.

The critic thinks that they are thinking and writing a critical story about you. The gossip thinks that they are saying something unique. But, notice that most of the letters to the editor are also from the same school of "thinking"......about how other people are wrong and jerks and whatever. And, so, by necessity, the writer must be right or something.

Or at least, for sure, the "leader" must be destroyed or exposed or something.

The good news is that the "conversation" really isn't about you. The "conversation" was in place before you were even born. You were born into it.

This conversation permeates all aspects of human life. This is the conversation that you are with yourself (you know, that ugly chatter in your head). This is the conversation that we are as an intimate relationship. This is the conversation that we are as a town. This is the conversation that we are as a nation. It is a conversation of "no possibility". Roughly, it could be called the conversation of "everything, everywhere is hopeless".

But, the greater human conversation can be altered. Great leaders can do that. That is the fun part.

What I am writing about here is a call to personal responsibility. On any given day, in any given situation, the opportunity is to personally take full responsibility. I did not say "to take blame". To take full responsibility is to claim it. To take full responsibility is to claim and to be a stand for your own personal power. To "blame" is to give away your power. To "criticize" and to talk about the mistakes of "the leadership" is to pretend that you do not have any power to influence your community from whereever you are.

Just because the County Commissioners wear fancy hats or because the Town Councilors wear fancy badges does not mean that they have any more "power" to affect change in the community than either you or I. The true source of the "power" of a County Commissioner or of a Town Councilor comes from the fact that they show up every week and try to get something done. Showing up and taking action is the source of personal power.

But as a people, on this planet, we swim in a conversation that goes something like this. "I have no personal power. Someone else has the power. I can't really do anything to improve my situation and the situation of my community."

As a people, we reinforce the mistaken theory that power exists outside ourselves by "blaming" and finding "fault" in the "leadership". Finding fault and blame are the narcotic that keeps us each, individually, asleep to the power that we each have inside of ourselves.

What power did Rosa Parks have when she stepped onto a bus in a segregated south and demanded to sit where "the white folks" sat?

What power did Nelson Mandela have from the jail cell in South Africa where he was incarcerated for 25 years?

What power did women have to demand the right to vote?

What power did the American colonists have against a Britain which was the greatest military power in history at that time?

What power do you have to alter the shape of the local economy in Pagosa Springs?

What power do you have to influence an efficient merger of redundant County and Town services?

You have whatever power that you claim for yourself.

If you say that the power to run the community is outside of yourself, then you are right. If you say that you claim personal responsibility for the future of our community, then so you do.

More often than not, true vision, leadership, and change in a community comes from somewhere other than the "appointed leadership". True leadership comes from one or two people who take a stand.

True power comes from somebody showing up and taking action week in and week out.

So, to the critical, the naysayers, and the voices of doom I ask "so what?" Now, what exactly are you going to do about it?

Martin Sexton at Woodstock

2008-11-20T16:37:00.000-08:00

Sprawl is as American as apple pie. I love pie. But I hate sprawl.

2008-11-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

Recently, the County has been trying to wrap up a new Urban Services Area map which hints at where new development and maybe higher densities will go in the future.

Some have argued that the people who come to Pagosa are looking for a lifestyle of 3 to 5 acres -- a sort of semi-rural aesthetic. But consider that other people who prefer walkable communities and higher density have not arrived in Pagosa -- yet -- because there is nothing here for them to arrive to.

We currently do not have a solid example of newer mixed-use development in our community. Under the “I know it when I see it” standard, a mixed-use development is characterized, in part, by people walking around. Walking from the house to the coffee shop. Walking from the house to a store to buy a loaf of bread. Walking from the house to a job.

Right now in our community, every “trip” is done in an automobile. Mixed-use, done well, eliminates the need for some automobile trips because a variety of activities (living, shopping, office) are all mixed together on the same site.

The old downtown commercial core does provide some mixed-use living. Economic stimulus is missing at the moment. A more vibrant downtown would lead to more people walking downtown.

I have argued previously that we have to choose now whether future development is going to lead to sprawl or if we going to commit to density. But for Pagosa Springs, my argument was really not quite on point.

We have already let sprawl happen in Pagosa Springs. Drive from Ace Hardware on the west end of Town all the way to Day Lumber on the east end of Town. That distance is seven miles. Drive from Highway 160 to Hatcher Lake. That distance is five miles.

Too late folks. We already let the “sprawl” genie out of the bag.

Now, let’s get out of our car and walk around a bit. Everywhere. If we look long enough and close enough, here is what we see. Almost every trip to a house, from a house, to a restaurant or to City Market is a vehicle trip. Every trip from Lake Hatcher to a coffee shop or City Market is a five mile vehicle trip also impacting Highway 160. Even downtown, most trips are vehicle trips. Under our current plan (or lack of real plan), when our population doubles again, the number of vehicle trips will also double.

So what is this “small town character” that people say that they want to “keep” for Pagosa Springs? In my dream of a small town, people bump into each other on the street. Some trips are done in the car and some trips are done on your feet. Isn’t that what “Main Street” U.S.A. is supposed to be all about. My dream of small town is not bumper to bumper traffic heading up and down Highway 160 from the east side of town to the west side of town.

Sprawl is as American as apple pie. I love pie. But I hate sprawl.

Does anyone doubt that the population in our community will double again in size sometime in the foreseeable future? You might not like it. You might not want it. But can you stop it?

When I was born in 1962, the world population was about 4 billion people. Now the world population is fast going on 7 billion. I will live to see 8 billion people on the planet. Maybe a whole lot more.

I live in the heart of downtown Pagosa Springs. But given my “lifestyle”, I also head up to the west end of town (currently the commercial center of town) every day. In my truck. At least once per day. That’s a five-plus mile drive from my house in the heart of the downtown to the functional commercial center of town.

Is this the “small town character” and lifestyle people are trying to preserve?

I know that some of the downtown folks never venture up to the west end of town. Some of the Pagosa Lakes folks never venture downtown. What does that tell us about the future of Pagosa Springs? Nothing.

We all live in a one town, small county. We are one unified community. Even if we don’t quite believe it yet.

Eventually, downtown will be restored as the vibrant commercial center of our community. Take a roughly 8 block radius and draw a circle around the downtown core. If we get this downtown core right -- a must see tourist destination and a walkable civic center where locals actually walk -- then the rest of the county will successfully ride on the coattails of this socio-economic heart of the community. (Hat tip to the new Overlook spa and the new Springs hotel.) If we blow it on growing the downtown core properly then we will always have non-descript sprawl, anywhere USA. And, indeed, we will have blown it for the future generations of our community.

We need a heart and soul to this place. Sprawl, by definition, has no heart. Continue to create the heart in the downtown. Then create some satellite mixed-use centers that are also pedestrian in use; not just theory. Then, the best that we can, try to tie the whole thing together along Putt Hill.

I have one single litmus test for all future development in our community. Does it attract new, young families? If new development attracts new families then, by definition, it attracts new jobs.

Second home owning retirees -- we love you. Tourists -- we definitely want you. But new, young families will be the life blood of the future generations of Pagosa Springs.

Which brings me to this new Urban Services Area map that the County Planning Commission has just passed on to the County Commissioners.

For someone as interested in land use planning, you would think that I would have spent a lot of time analyzing the details of the current version of the map. But I haven’t. I’ve got my letter-size piece of paper with a printout of the current draft of the map.

Is it a good map for our community? How many people have actually been involved with the process so far?

There are three things that I really like about this draft USA map. One is that it shows, conclusively, that Archuleta County/Pagosa Springs really is a one town, small unified County. I’m not ignoring Arboles or Chromo. They need their own special community plans. But that does not detract from the fact that we really are a single, unified community.

Here is a County map, showing an oval outline, with the “Town” in the middle and the “County” together as single bubble of people and houses.

The second thing that I really like about the draft USA map is that I trust the people who put it together. I trust the County Planning staff and I trust the County Planning Commission. They put a lot of time and energy into making that map the best that they possibly could.

Is someone going to complain about too much potential density in their back yard? Yes. Is someone going to complain about not enough potential density on their own acreage? Yes. Would I have done some parcels differently? Maybe.

But the point is that the Planning Commission did the best they could to represent all of the thousands of people who did not show up at the meetings. They did their best to represent all of the thousands of people who don’t live here yet but will live here some day. This map is a stand against future sprawl.

Is the map perfect? Maybe not. Is it a very good draft? Definitely. The draft Urban Services Area map is a picture of the future growth of our community and where it should be located. Should growth continue haphazardly all over the place or should growth be limited to inside of the oval bubble?

Pagosa Springs is currently defined by a seven mile stretch of commercial sprawl along Highway 160. And by miles of perpendicular residential growth arms.

The entire City of San Francisco, California sits on land just about seven miles by seven miles square. The Urban Services Area of our “small town” looks to take up as much space as that large city.

To the extent which the Urban Services Area map will establish the idea that we are not expanding this community out any farther into our open space, I applaud it. I hope that this map becomes a “line in the sand” over which future subdivisions will generally not cross.

So, here’s my personal nod of support and appreciation to the work of the County Planning Commission and Planning Staff on the new map.

Patriotism is Born

2008-10-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

When the greatness of the Tao is present,
action arises from one's own heart.
When the greatness of the Tao is absent,
action comes from the rules
of "kindness and justice".

If you need rules to be kind and just,
if you act virtuous,
this is a sure sign that virtue is absent,
Thus we see the great hypocrisy.

When kinship falls into discord,
piety and rites of devotion arise.
When the country falls into chaos,
official loyalists will appear;
patriotism is born.

18th Verse of the Tao

The End of the World as We Know It

2008-10-13T21:15:00.001-07:00

Will the new economy destroy freedom, democracy and capitalism in the United States? As the federal government intervenes heavily in the financial markets and buys up financial institutions, we are witnessing a fatal collision of “free market capitalism” with “state-run corporate capitalism“.

Economic structures determine political structures. In the classic model of the United States, free market capitalism led to the freedoms of democracy. In fascist Germany of the 1930s, corporations gained control of the economy and, in exchange, supported the political dictatorship of a corporatist Germany.

In her new book, “Give Me Liberty”, Naomi Wolf offers the view that the United States is rapidly becoming a “closed society” and that our constitution is being destroyed before our eyes.

Step one: hyping an external threat that is terrifying.
Step two: creating a secret prison system that is outside the rule of law where torture takes place.
Step three: a paramilitary force not answerable to the people.
Step four: an institutional surveillance apparatus imposed on the citizens.
Step five: infiltrate and harass citizen’s groups.
Step six: engage in arbitrary detention and release.
etc…

Do these steps describe the rise of fascist Germany in the 1930’s or changes currently occurring in the United States? Both.

Germany in 1932 was a parliamentary democracy with political parties, newspapers and human rights organizations. In the 20th century, every rise in dictatorship has followed the same exact “blueprint” for closing down a democracy. They all follow the same ten steps according to Naomi Wolf. Think Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. Petty dictators in Latin America, Thailand, Burma have also followed the blueprint. She claims that these same ten steps are under way in the United States right now.

According to Wolf we are now in a crises because the rule of democracy is crumbling and is rapidly being replaced by the foundations for a dictatorship.

“I want to go back to what are the core principles that America is supposed to give us because we are being manipulated and brainwashed so far away from that; with fake democracy and fake patriotism.”

“A coup has taken place. And people need to know how to fight back.” (Naomi Wolf)

I have to say that I do not disagree with Naomi Wolf. The “free marketplace” and the historic structures of capitalism have now been destroyed. This process has actually been slowly accruing since the last Great Depression but has taken an accelerated pace in 2008.

The federal government’s wiretapping of US citizens is clearly a breach of traditional constitutional rights. The US president now claims the power to arrest and torture anyone he deems to be an “enemy combatant”. There are reports of a US Army Division about to be deployed from Iraq to US soil.

If the financial markets are no longer “free” then how will we the people be “free” in any meaningful sense? If fear and false “security” have replaced our constitutional rights then the US constitution is dead. Looking in the rear view mirror, our “American” way life has been left behind, dying on the side of the road.

However, concurrently, we are living in a time of tectonic social and technological upheavals never before witnessed in history. The collapse of the institutions of free market capitalism occurs precisely at a time of emergence of something new.

Steven Johnson published a book called “Emergence” right at the time of the September 11th, 2001 attack. The book was about the power and creative potential of urban density; of connecting people and putting them together in one place and sharing ideas together. Johnson lives in New York City in close proximity to the site of the destroyed Twin Towers.

Johnson was able to observe that in the days immediately following the Twin Towers attack, the streets were vibrantly alive with people. He reports that his neighborhood, the West Village, had never seemed more lively. Despite the enormity of the “terrorist” attack 20 blocks to the south, the City was working and vibrant. The “system” of the City was thriving.

Although cities are centralized in space, they are decentralized in function. They don’t have an executive branch upon which the entire city operations rely. Who builds a City? Who builds a neighborhood? Johnson notes that it is “everybody and nobody”. Everybody contributes a small little part. No single person is in charge.

This is increasingly what we are experiencing with the World Wide Web -- the internet. The internet is a global brain.

We are on the brink of truly global social organization, according to another author Robert Wright. Originally humans developed hunter-gatherer villages. Early agriculture led to chiefdoms of local control. With the invention of writing you started getting cities. Eventually social organization led to empires.

Robert Wright, notes that social organization can extend beyond political boundaries as in, for example, the Silk Road which connected the Chinese empire to the Roman empire. So, you had social complexity spanning an entire continent even though a single political structure did not. Today, we have nation states. This is a growth in social complexity over time.

Social organization has now reached the global level. So…how do we all get along now? Are we heading to a one-world government? Do we have any choice?

Of course, you and I resist the idea of unified, world-wide government the same way the agrarian chiefdoms resisted being merged into nation states, But the natural flow of ten thousand years of history points towards a single global economy and, therefore, a single unified political structure.

Some people will rightfully be concerned about having economic and political power of the entire planet increasingly concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. History is filled with stories about a power elite taking control over the masses. Looking into the rear view mirror of history, further concentration of political power sure seems like a bad idea.

But the future we are heading into may not actually be fully informed by the past.

Clay Shirky writes about the internet and talks about a growing distinction between “institutions” and “collaboration”. The historical, classic way to get something done in the world is to start an institution. You get resources together, you start an institution (either public or private), and you use the institution to coordinate the activities of the group.

But as Shirky points out, most recently the costs of communicating with other people -- of coordinating activity -- has become vastly cheaper. The internet now allows us to communicate and to coordinate activity easily and cheaply without the need for classical institutional structures.

Equally as important, the internet allows the general public to participate and cooperate with projects without becoming hired professionals and without the limitations of traditional institutions. Shirky provides the example of the website Flicker which allows total strangers to provide photos of an event that they have all attended and to have them tagged in such a way that a collection of photos taken by many, “unorganized”, unprofessional photographers can be viewed by anyone on the planet.

Similarly, the lack of “institution” can be observed in today’s use of cell phones which reduces the need for established planning in exchange for something like “I’ll just call you after work and we’ll figure out how to hook up then”. Shirky says that this is a replacement of “planning” with “coordination“. “We are now able to do that kind of thing with groups.” Instead of having a five year plan for the website Wikipedia, we can now just say that we will coordinate the effort as we go. We are now well enough coordinated that we don’t have to decide in advance what to do.

As Shirky notes, “the tension is between institution as enabler and institution as obstacle. Institutions hate being told that they are obstacles. One of the first things that happens when you institutionalize a problem -- the first goal of the institution immediately shifts from whatever the nominal goal was to preservation. So, when institutions are told that they are obstacles and that there are other ways of coordinating the value, they go through something like the Kubler-Ross stages: denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance.”

A good example is how Microsoft develops operating system hardware and how Linux develops operating system hardware. Microsoft is a closed private institution. Linux is an “open source” collaboration model. The fact that a single programmer can move into a non-professional relationship with Linux, offer one software improvement, and then never be heard from again, is the kind of value that is unreachable in classic institutional systems.

“This is a revolution. This is a really profound change in the way human systems are organized. It is a revolution in that it is a change in equilibrium. It is a whole new way of doing things. As with the printing press, if it is really a revolution, it doesn‘t take us from point A to point B. It takes us from point A to chaos.” The printing press precipitated 200 years of chaos, moving from a world where the Catholic Church was the organizing political force to a new world order in 1648 of the nation state with the Treaty of Westphalia. (Shirky)

Yochai Benkler, a professor of entrepreneurial legal studies, has additional insights into the value of “open source” economics. Benkler notes that in the year 1835, James Gordon Bennett created the first mass circulation newspaper in New York City for a cost of about $10,000. in today’s money. By 15 years later in 1850, doing the same thing would come to cost 2.5 million dollars in today’s dollars. This is the critical change that is being inverted by the internet today -- the emergence of “social production“.

The contrast is that previously, classical producers had to be able to raise substantial money to initiate a new product -- they were market-based or publicly-owned. But with the rise of the internet we have a radical change in the way that information, production, and exchange is capitalized. The way that the capitalization now happens is radically distributed instead of concentrated into a few hands.

What this means is that for the first time since the industrial revolution, the most important components of our information economy are now in the hands of the population at large. Communications and computations capability are now in the hands of the entire population. And human creativity is encouraged. Rather than the institution deciding who gets “hired” and which ideas get promoted, all individuals can promote their own ideas.

The internet server software Apache was created by a loose collection of volunteer writers. Again, the institutionalized competitor was Microsoft. But now the open source Apache software controls 70% of the market and the private institution Microsoft software controls only 20% of the Web server market.

This sort of open source collaborative, cooperative approach to projects on the Web has become a dominant means of getting things done. For example, search engine Google “outsources” to the Web community as a whole to decide which websites are the most relevant which, in turn, directs other people to those so chosen websites.

It used to be too expensive to have decentralized social production out in society. What we are seeing now is the emergence of this economic system of “social sharing and exchange”, according to Benkler.

“A new social phenomenon is emerging. It is creating a new form of competition. Peer to peer networks are assaulting the recording industry. Free/open source software is taking market share from Microsoft. Skype potentially threatens the telecomms. Wikipedia competes with on-line encyclopedias. But it also opens new sources of opportunities for businesses.” (Benkler)

Economic structures determine political structures. New technology is creating tools for a “collaborative” economy in direct competition with the historical, “closed” institutions.

The traditional high cost to enter the market place is being replaced by the internet which makes the tools of communication, coordination and marketing potentially available to anyone.

While the United States political structure is clearly experiencing pressure to become less “democratic” and less “free”, the competing force of “open source”, social production could ultimately lead us towards a more free worldwide economy with possibilities for a revival of true democracy.

Yochai Benkler: Open-source economics

2008-10-11T17:47:00.001-07:00

Clay Shirky: Institutions vs. collaboration

2008-10-11T17:29:00.001-07:00

Naomi Wolf -- Give Me Liberty

2008-10-11T13:13:00.001-07:00

Robert Wright: How cooperation (eventually) trumps conflict

2008-10-11T12:57:00.001-07:00

Steven Johnson: The Web and the city

2008-10-11T12:44:00.001-07:00

The Speed of Money

2008-09-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

Trying to explain to my 12 year old daughter why the local economy is weak and how money works. Little does she know that most of us adults can’t figure out how it works either.

People are not selling real estate and making commissions any more. People are not building houses and receiving weekly salaries. Since those people don’t have any money or have left town, they don’t buy as many lunches at the deli; they don’t buy a beer down at the brew pub.

The deli workers have less money to spend at the local stores. The brew pub workers don’t have enough money to buy new jackets to ride the mountain this winter.

So, if you follow the trail of a dollar bill throughout Pagosa, it starts to slow down; it doesn’t move from as many hands to the next. The “speed of money” is slowing down in Pagosa.

Less money moving through our hands means we tighten our budgets and our belts. Town Hall has to slow down the number of capital improvement projects it can do. The County can forget about serious road improvements. Just about the only entity on the planet that can live without budgetary limitations is the federal government of the U.S.

The Federal Reserve can just print as many dollars as it needs on any given day. Of course, it is a lot more complicated than that but, then again, it really is that simple.

First confusing piece of trivia: the “Federal Reserve” is not part of the federal government. In 1913 our U.S. government decided to give away the power to “print money” to an elite group of bankers. To make it sound official, the bankers took on the name Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve can print money. The Federal Reserve through the “fractional reserve” system allows banks to lend out their money several times over which creates a “money multiplier” of up to twelve times more money to lend out than the bank actually has.

However, the US government itself can create "money out of thin air” by borrowing money from other countries like China and Saudia Arabia. It works like this. The United States says, “you give me your stuff -- products and oil -- and we will give you green pieces of paper”. Those other countries end up with a whole lot of our green pieces of paper and we get the stuff.

Because the other “trade surplus” countries have so much of our green pieces of paper, they need a safe place to store it. Historically, a very safe way to store US dollars was to buy US Treasury notes. Essentially, the United States says “hey, look at all those green dollar bills. Let us borrow them and we’ll give you interest.”

So actually, we get the products and oil from other countries and they get a “promise” from us to get green pieces of paper “later”…….much later. Although sometimes politicians and economists say trade deficits are bad for our country, most of us have enjoyed getting all the stuff.

We get the stuff and they get a promise for lots of green pieces of paper sometime later. We get well over $1 billion of stuff every day this way.

Now, when the US government needs to actually pay up on a Treasury note, we can create (out of thin air) more green pieces of paper by selling somebody else more Treasury notes. Imagine that you are living off of credit cards and new credit cards keep coming in the mail, allowing you to pay off the old credit cards and even have additional dollars to spend. The only difference between the US government and the individual with credit cards is that, eventually, no one will send the individual any more credit cards.

It used to be that governments had to back up their money with gold bars sitting in a vault. But in 1971, Richard Nixon was able to tell the entire western world that currencies would no longer be backed up by gold. Instead, all western currencies became tied to the US dollar. Little green pieces of paper began to back up world currencies; not gold.

So, you can imagine how attached all the western governments are to making sure that the US dollar does not fail.

Second confusing piece of trivia: inflation. Everybody knows that “inflation” is caused by the cost of goods and services increasing. But that is not what inflation is. Actually, inflation is a “deflating” dollar. If both the Federal Reserve and the US government can “create money out of thin air” then it makes sense that, over time, a dollar bill will be worth less and less and that it will take more dollar bills to buy a bushel of wheat and a barrel of oil than it used to.

On average, a bar of gold will buy the same number of bushels of wheat that it did 2000 years ago. In other words, a bar of gold doesn’t experience inflation. Only a dollar bill (or other paper currency) experiences inflation.

Eventually, all paper currencies become worthless. (No, it is not different this time.)

If the United States borrows 100 billion dollars from Saudia Arabia at a time when a barrel of oil costs $100. and if later the United States pays back Saudia Arabia when a barrel of oil costs $200. then, effectively, the US has borrowed one billion barrels of oil but only has to give back half of what it borrowed. That sounds like a good deal for us, eh? In other words, the US government uses inflation to shrink its debt.

Wall Street has also been allowed to “create money out of thin air“. And, guess what, us folks on Main Street, USA have also been allowed to create money out of thin air. Think of it this way: since the Federal Reserve has wanted to “print” a lot more money to keep the system afloat, it makes sense that Wall Street and individual homeowners would be encouraged to help “create” the money.

The basic premise to the whole game is this. If one person holds on to a dollar bill all day, then it is only one dollar. But if, instead, that person spends her one dollar first thing in the morning, and then another person spends that same dollar, and then another person, etc………..by the end of the day, if ten people have spent that dollar bill, then the economy would feel the effects of ten new dollars of spending on that day. But the catch is that if the first person keeps the dollar in her pocket then there is zero dollars of spending on that day.

The “speed of money” is a gauge of how fast that dollar bill is moving from hand to hand and being spent.

Foreign countries now own about 25% of US government debt. Since foreign companies kept buying US debt and kept giving us their goods and services, the Federal Reserve has been able to keep interest rates low for us folks here at home. Lots of countries like China and Saudia Arabia were happy to loan us money because it was a safe place to store all of the US dollars they were earning selling us products and oil. In turn, the low interest rates made it easy for Wall Street and for Main Street to borrow money from the banking system.

Money was moving fast and this “money multiplier” effect has kept many here at home fat and happy. Unless you were on a fixed salary and inflation destroyed your buying power. The speed of money is also the speed at which "the rich get richer" and "the poor get poorer".

By using something called "derivatives" and other creative financing schemes, and by making commissions on the speed of money, Wall Street had been able to "create money" as well.

But what happens to the money multiplier party if foreign governments stop buying our debt and Main Street stops borrowing money to buy houses and goods and services? You get an incredibly fast shrinking of the effective money supply.

As the money supply contracts, the “lines of credit” shrink. Soon it becomes very difficult to borrow money and the effective money supply continues to shrink. People are unable to pay back their debt to the banks and then the banks start to fail.

I have read that there is a silent bank run going on. Large investment funds and corporations are very quietly emptying out their bank accounts because they don’t trust the banks to hold their money.

Tier 1 commercial (loan) paper is how many medium and large size businesses finance their day-to-day operations. I have read that the amount of commercial (loan) paper being issued is down 15% from last year and half of that drop occurred within the past few weeks. Very soon, businesses all across the country will be unable to run their businesses as usual.

So the federal government and the Federal Reserve and Wall Street can each, in their own way, create money out of thin air. But how have we the citizens on Main Street been able to create money out of thin air?

During the first five years of this new millenium, the excess cheap credit has allowed speculation in the real estate market. A buying frenzy occurred in real estate and prices shot through the roof. Individuals on Main Street have seen an enormous growth in the value of their homes and, therefore, have been able to borrow more and more money from banks only too eager to lend.

By pulling out cash from their increasingly more “expensive” houses, folks on Main Street have had a new source of cash that didn’t require any more work than filling out loan application forms. Folks on Main Street have helped fuel the growth of credit encouraged by the Federal Reserve and have bought increasingly higher levels of personal debt. They took the equity in their homes and bought other things. Although we all thought that we were some kind of smart investors, really this new found cash from our homes has turned out to be money created out of thin air.

All of these sources of “cheap” cash are what drove the huge real estate boom and construction boom in Pagosa Springs over the first five years of the new millenium.

What is happening today is the exact opposite. The speed of money has slowed way down. It is difficult to borrow money. The “speculators” have left Pagosa Springs. Some investors have left Pagosa Springs. Some young families who need jobs are leaving Pagosa Springs.

As we experience the exact opposite -- when the speed of money slows way down -- our local economy slowly begins to grind to a halt.

This is the purpose of the “bailout” plan being fought over in Washington D.C. Many politicians do not want the “money created out of thin air” party to end. Another name for a very slow speed of money nation-wide is “recession”.

Many of us in this country have become comfortable with an economy kept afloat by “money created out of thin air”. But, like a hot air balloon with no more propane, our local economy and the national economy are dropping from the sky.

Notes from Noe Valley

2008-09-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

I pulled out of San Francisco with a U-haul truck and trailer for the last time in June 2006. Made it to Pagosa Springs for good a few days and exactly 1200 miles later.

This is the first time in the San Francisco Bay Area in over two years. Seems like I know every square inch and still have lots of friends. Needless to say, the thing that has changed the most is me. Change is the one constant. Like our San Juan River, it might look like a permanent "thing" but it is always never the same.

I lived much of my years in a southern portion of The City called Noe Valley. In the mid-1800's, a fellow of Mexican descent starting farming the valley. And, yes, his last name was Noe. By the end of World War II, the hills and flats of Noe Valley became populated by modest small houses and blue collar baby boom families. By the 1980's, Noe Valley's housing stock and population had begun to age.

Of course, what I'm going to get to here, eventually, is the parallels between the Noe Valley of San Francisco, California and Pagosa Springs, Colorado. A lot of things in this world, I'm not so good at. But I like to think that I have some expertise in the area of "stop, look and listen".

Sitting in front of a by-the-minute computer terminal on Market Street in the heart of the Castro District -- yes, that Castro District -- I am both pleased to be back in The City and thrilled to be leaving again. In the 1960's, places like the Castro District and the Haight-Ashbury area contained older poorly-maintained victorian buildings with an aging population. The Castro district saw an influx of new money and renovation in the 1970's.

Over the steep hill of Castro Street heading south, Noe Valley's new dawn began in the late 1980's. While the Castro District has always had large quantities of historical victorian buildings to boast, overall, Noe Valley had a more modest, inexpensive post-WWII box-like architectural quality.

In the 1990's, in particular, young new families were looking for a cheaper part of The City to call their own. A place with houses that could be improved as their financial situation matured. A place where other young families would begin to congregate around a commercial hub like 24th Street a few blocks walk away. A place that increasingly enjoyed hip new restaurants, a little night life and the overall feel of an upwardly-mobile young white new generation.

By the beginning of the new millenium, the young upwardly mobiles (remember the term "yuppies") had begun to take over Noe Valley and, increasingly, the forces of economics have driven the older remaining population away. The older fixed-income seniors were unable to afford properly maintaining their older houses, and the new population was more than willing to fix up or tear down and build up modern housing in their place. Increasingly, baby strollers, expensive cars, visitors and expensive houses came to dominate Noe Valley; all in about a fifteen year time frame.

Downtown Pagosa Springs can, perhaps, breathe a sigh of relief because there is no economic engine driving the "X generation", "Y generation", "yuppies" (or whatever they are called now) to take over downtown Pagosa Springs. The forces of "no growth" and "keep Pagosa Pagosa" can, for a brief moment, believe that the "river of change" doesn't apply to our little Town and that, somehow, things can just stay the same.

In our Town, the only way that an influx of young, new families will make Pagosa Springs their new home is if we consciously and intentionally invite them in. Otherwise, they will not be coming.

But, here is the bad news. Young, upwardly mobile families are only one class of "People with Money". Like I said, I'm sitting here in the heart of the San Francisco Castro District. There are a whole lot of "People with Money" walking around and expensive cars driving by but almost no baby strollers.

Without any evidence other than my so-called "stop, look and listen" skills, I am going to make a bold assertion here. The weak hands of older Pagosa residents is getting shaken loose right now. People are loosing jobs. Fixed income seniors are going to find it increasingly difficult to maintain their lifestyle in our little "resort" town, and new young families will find better opportunity elsewhere.

Much to the chagrine of the "keep Pagosa Pagosa" people, that is not the end of the story. There are economic forces that will continue to drive the "weak hands" Pagosa landholders to sell to the stronger hands of a new class of "People with Money". For lack of a better word, the economic forces could be called "gentrification". But it might be more to the point to say that we here in Pagosa Springs have what some "People with Money" want. It is the simple force of economics.
Sometimes those forces cause a place to decay. But in a case like Pagosa Springs, take a look at the entire Colorado Western Slope and you will see what is about to happen here next.

So, this is my big question. If the economic forces of gentrification don't drive new, young families to buy up downtown Pagosa Springs over, say, the next 20 years......then exactly who are my predicted "People with Money" who will buy up Pagosa Springs? That, I think, is a question worth examining by those of us with an interest in the future of downtown.

The second question that is dear to my heart is this: what can we do, now, to attract new young upwardly mobile families and have them be a large part of this new influx of "People with Money"?

Taking Responsibility

2008-07-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Bill Hudson in the Pagosa Daily Post wrote about being called a “naysayer” by the mayor.

I paused to pick over Bill’s paragraph “The problems we face are not going to be solved in Town Council meetings or in PAWSD board meetings or in BOCC meetings. But we can all play our parts, in our own small ways.” It’s a logical statement and one that many of us know to be true.

Different interest groups or separate boards are not going to fix the bigger picture, “each in small little ways”. The politics of separation and division don’t get us there. The problems are awaiting community-wide leadership, vision and a plan.

As Bill notes, “the whole planet is in a struggle.”

Our Pagosa Springs community is facing an awesome array of challenges: insufficient funds which plague County government, the vacant storefronts downtown, the shifting of the commercial heart of town away from the downtown core to the uptown sprawl, the crumbling Town sewer system, the crumbling water systems, lack of jobs and lack of affordable housing. Opportunity to learn is abundant.

Its fascinating -- how will we learn to work together?

I’m trying to be a writer. I’ve enjoyed writing several stories in the Pagosa Daily Post over the past year. But, there is a book inside of me and I’ve been wanting to get it out for a couple of years now. I’ve never written a book and don’t know how.

A good friend wisely pointed me to the classic “Bird by Bird -- Some Instructions on Writing and Life” by Anne Lamott. The title of the book comes from the author’s childhood. Her father was also an author. Anne Lamott’s ten year old brother had put off for three months a major book report on birds which was now due the next morning. The brother was at the kitchen table with piles of unopened books and in tears over the enormity of the task. The father sat down, put his arm around him and said “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

I love books like this. A story or information that I’m deeply interested in and buried along side of it some operating instructions for life.

Anne Lamott notes that if you are having trouble completing stories as a writer, “it may be that there is nothing at their center about which you care passionately. You need to put yourself at their center; you and what you believe to be true or right. The core, ethical concepts in which you most passionately believe are the language in which you are writing.”

“Telling these truths is your job. You have nothing else to tell us. But needless to say, you can’t tell them in a sentence or a paragraph; the truth doesn’t come out in bumper stickers.”

Further on in the book, Lamott continues with “We are all in danger now and have a new everything to face, and there is no point gathering an audience and demanding its attention unless you have something to say that is important and constructive.”

“The issue now is how to take care of one another. Some of us are interested in any light you might be able to shed on this, and we will pay a great deal extra if you can make us laugh about it.” (Anne Lamott in “Bird by Bird”).

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, there lived a community of people who worked together for the shared common good. There was a common vision of the best of what their lives could be. There was a vision and leadership to provide for the next generation.

Back here on our planet, for the better part of 5000 years, human beings have been able to operate with a degree of “success” by forming opposing groups of people and destroying the others. It has always been us against them.

In classical Greece, ruling caesars were removed from office by actual assassination. Modern evolution now has us resort to “character assassination” of community leaders that we don’t like.

What if we found out that in July 2008 we could now learn how to empower our leaders? Yes, some of us still think that the solution to every problem is to “throw the bums out”. I’ve tried that approach myself. But self destruction of our own community leadership is not a solution……it is self destruction. Time to learn partnership.

Is it possible to guide and encourage and support our community leaders to build vision and unity? Kind of like shifting from “nay saying” to “way finding”.

My favorite teacher, author and speaker Caroline Myss talks about a higher level of human interaction. “Service through empowering another person changes the situation. Because at this point you have to negotiate power.”

“To be of service to another person, that says,
‘I’m going to empower you now by telling you that you have gifts that you haven’t touched and I am going to help you develop those gifts….because you were born to develop those gifts. I am going to serve you in that way. And I can see that you don’t have the courage to do that. I am going to mentor you. Because I know how to bring that out in you.’”

“Now, that is an act of service a lot of people simply can’t do. It’s too much for them. Their soul does not yet have the stamina to empower or mentor another person. They still have to do power plays because they still don’t know how to survive in the physical world.” (Caroline Myss; YouTube; “Soul Service”)

“Taking responsibility” means I know that, ultimately, in this democracy within which our small town exists, I am in charge. The buck stops here. I take responsibility.

Not that there is anything special with me. All of us are each, individually, in charge of our Pagosa Springs. Or, at least, those of us that say “I am responsible” are in charge of the future.

The old politics of “us versus them” does not work any more. Notice how since we’ve declared a “war” against terrorism that our world has become less safe? Remember the 1980’s when we declared a war against drugs? How did that work out? How about the war on poverty?

What would it take for the leaders of our community to all sit down and agree on a common vision for the future? What would it take for each of us to declare, personally, that we are each the community leader? Yes, I am talking about you.

The fattest and the leanest states

2008-07-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

Community Solar Power

2008-06-28T00:52:00.000-07:00

Click here to see an entire community sharing solar power.

Justice 5, Brutality 4 -- New York Times editorial

2008-06-13T22:37:00.000-07:00

Our U.S. Constitutional rights hang on by a thread against those who would remove our democratic Bill of Rights in the name of our "security". Better to be "safe and secure" than to defend to the death our Constitutional Bill of Rights, they say.
I say, B.S. - Teddy

New York Times
June 13, 2008

Editorial

Justice 5, Brutality 4

For years, with the help of compliant Republicans and frightened Democrats in Congress, President Bush has denied the protections of justice, democracy and plain human decency to the hundreds of men that he decided to label “unlawful enemy combatants” and throw into never-ending detention.

Twice the Supreme Court swatted back his imperial overreaching, and twice Congress helped Mr. Bush try to open a gaping loophole in the Constitution. On Thursday, the court turned back the most recent effort to subvert justice with a stirring defense of habeas corpus, the right of anyone being held by the government to challenge his confinement before a judge.

The court ruled that the detainees being held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have that cherished right, and that the process for them to challenge their confinement is inadequate. It was a very good day for people who value freedom and abhor Mr. Bush’s attempts to turn Guantánamo Bay into a constitutional-rights-free zone.

The right of habeas corpus is so central to the American legal system that it has its own clause in the Constitution: it cannot be suspended except “when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.”

Despite this, the Bush administration repeatedly tried to strip away habeas rights. First, it herded prisoners who were seized in Afghanistan, and in other foreign countries, into the United States Navy base at Guantánamo Bay and claimed that since the base is on foreign territory, the detainees’ habeas cases could not be heard in the federal courts. In 2004, the court rejected that argument, ruling that Guantánamo, which is under American control, is effectively part of the United States.

In 2006, the court handed the administration another defeat, ruling that it had relied improperly on the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 to hold the detainees on Guantánamo without giving them habeas rights. Since then, Congress passed another law, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that tried — and failed horribly — to fix the problems with the Detainee Treatment Act.

Now, by a 5-to-4 vote, the court has affirmed the detainees’ habeas rights. The majority, in an opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy, ruled that the Military Commissions Act violates the Suspension Clause, by eliminating habeas corpus although the requirements of the Constitution — invasion or rebellion — do not exist.

The court ruled that the military tribunals that are hearing the detainees’ cases — the administration’s weak alternative to habeas proceedings in a federal court — are not an adequate substitute. The hearings cut back on basic due process protections, like the right to counsel and the right to present evidence of innocence.

It was disturbing that four justices dissented from this eminently reasonable decision. The lead dissent, by Chief Justice John Roberts, dismisses habeas as “most fundamentally a procedural right.” Chief Justice Roberts thinks the detainees receive such “generous” protections at their hearings that the majority should not have worried about whether they had habeas rights.

There is an enormous gulf between the substance and tone of the majority opinion, with its rich appreciation of the liberties that the founders wrote into the Constitution, and the what-is-all-the-fuss-about dissent. It is sobering to think that habeas hangs by a single vote in the Supreme Court of the United States — a reminder that the composition of the court could depend on the outcome of this year’s presidential election. The ruling is a major victory for civil liberties — but a timely reminder of how fragile they are.

Mind the Gap

2008-06-12T20:29:00.001-07:00

Have you ever noticed how much time we spend listening to the endless chatter inside of our own heads? Think of a time when, just for a moment, you experienced a truly quiet moment -- a moment of peace and stillness with a sense of being at one with the universe.

When you are able to achieve a break in the endless stream of chatter (or noise) in your head and break free into the stillness, even for just a moment, you have found a powerful space called “The Gap”.

In the London Underground public transit, there is a recorded announcement to “Mind the Gap” when you step from the platform onto the train. Similarly, for a moment, let’s pay attention and explore what it means to personally “Mind the Gap” and intentionally achieve a moment of stillness.

The chatter in my head is the most loud and disruptive in reaction to two situations.

In the first situation, around a woman to whom I am attracted, I often go “nuts”. Which is another way of saying that the conversation in my head is particularly loud and all consuming. I suppose that being single only heightens the craziness.

There is the conversation in my head about wanting connection with this attractive person. There is the conversation about how I must do something to accomplish that. Then there is the old recording about how I am not good enough to connect with that person. There are old triggers about my mom from when I was an infant. There is a separate conversation about how I must maintain my center and not get all worked up about this attractive person. All these conversations are occurring at about the same time and, maybe, I might even be trying to engage in a conversation with this person and trying to be present and truly be in the moment with that person.

In other words the noisy chatter in my head means that, essentially, I am a great big mess inside.

The second situation when the chatter in my head is most loud and disruptive is around the topic of money.

I am an entrepreneur. Previously, my business activities have centered around real estate investment and construction remodeling activities which is to say that, right now, my past business experience is of no use for making money in Pagosa Springs. So, I am blessed to wake up every morning with the question “what should I do today”. Some mornings that question looks like a huge blessing and an opportunity. Some mornings that question looks more like panic. As in “OMG! how am I going to generate some income now”.

So, women that I am attracted to and my cash flow situation are the two topics that lead to the loudest and most disruptive conversations in my head. Then there is my interior dialogue about specific family members. And that person in Town with whom I disagree. And that other person who won’t ever talk to me again. And that old girlfriend who is really a newly, old girlfriend. And my desire to get into physical shape again like I used to twenty years ago. And, and, and…..

The question is this -- “Am I my thoughts?”

I have been blessed with many brief and irregular moments where I can experience a gap between my thoughts. Every once in a while I am able to achieve a moment of peace, stillness and quiet even to the point where the conversation in my head stops. If only for a moment.

So, how do we get beyond the noisy chatter in our own heads?

The ancient Toltecs in Mexico referred to the "mitote" as the dream of reality that we make up for ourselves.

In the ancient Hindu religious tradition, the "maya" is the world of illusion which our mind fantasizes is the actual reality occurring around us.

We are not our bodies and we are not our minds. We are the gap in between the thoughts.

Although Rene Descartes assured us is the 1600’s that “I think, therefore I am”, this father of modern western logic actually misleads. The truth is that “I am” -- period. And, in addition, most of the time I can think. It is possible to exist without thinking; even if only for moments at a time.

Don Miguel Ruiz, who is best known as the author of The Four Agreements, teaches that “earthly life is hell. Hell is the combined dream that all humans share. Both individual and collective dreams are actually nightmares. We all contribute to the dream that is characterized by fear. An ultimate healing would mean to waken from the dream and to thereby be liberated from hell.” (Beyond Fear, Ruiz)

All great barstool banter, eh? But let’s see if we can bring it back home and empower ourselves today.

Consider that who you and I are is the gap in between the thinking. We are not the thoughts.

In that momentary experience of the “the gap” we find our true connection to the divine. In that momentary experience of “no thought” there is no “I” or “me”. There is only “everything” and “unity”; the oneness or the divine that some refer to as God.

In those moments of experiencing “the gap” we transcend the myth of separation and division. The myth that I am separate from you does not prove valid within the clear experience of "I am the divine". We all are of the one, of the divine.

Are we different and separate? Do Christians live in a separate “boat” (think mothership earth) from Muslims? Is the fate of the planet of the Jews any different from the fate of the planet of the Muslims?

Wow, man! Let’s keep bringing it back home.

Is the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District a separate group of people from the businesspeople of downtown Pagosa Springs? Are the interests of the Town government different than the interests of the County government? Will the businesspeople of downtown succeed even if the water district does not?

Are each of us separate, unique individuals whose survival is in direct competition with the desire for survival by other people and groups of people around us?

Will taking sides by one group against another group lead to the success and satisfaction of at least one of the groups?

“Our entire network of fearful perceptions, all stemming from that first false belief in our separation from God and one another, is called the ego. The word ego is used differently here than the way in which it is often used in modern psychology. It is being used as the ancient Greeks used it -- as the notion of a small, separated self.” (Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love)

Right, wrong, shame, blame, and guilt all belong to the land of the ego. A strategic Pagosa partnership of the various diverse people of our community can only be formed if we are willing to be beginners at a new type of dialogue based on “building a world that works for everyone with nothing or no one left out”.

Sure that’s an ideal. But are we going to solve our multi-layered Town economic problems with the age-old approach of I am right and you are wrong? I don’t think so.

The key to our economic survival and growth in Pagosa is to learn and practice a new type of conversation between people here. Increased sales tax, new tourism, and sufficient water for future growth are not “separate” topics to be dealt with by “separate” groups who fight to “win” against each other. The oars, the mast, the hull and the galley of the ship must all work together if the boat is going to sail in the direction that we all want it to go.

The old politics of divisiveness haven’t worked too well in Pagosa. Anyone in favor of more divisiveness and further inability to grow our Town wisely?

The only way we are going to re-build our Town after the economic implosion is if we can work together as a unified team: the Town, the County, the water district, the slow-growth folk, the developers and the second home owners. The only way to come together is to begin learning how to have a new conversation different from the “right, wrong, shame, blame and guilt” types of conversations from the past. We need to begin learning to work together as a team and communicating effectively to build the future rather than lament the past.

To begin getting beyond the automatic human tendency for “right, wrong, shame, blame and guilt” we must begin to “mind to gap” and observe that, actually, we are not our thoughts. Therefore we do not need to communicate from the knee-jerk, divisive patterns of old.

Just for fun, here is the 5th Verse of the Tao (via Dr. Wayne Dyer)
from Lao-Tzu in 500 B.C. ancient China.

Heaven and earth are impartial;
they see the 10,000 things as straw dogs.
The sage is not sentimental;
he treats all his people as straw dogs.

The sage is like heaven and earth;
To him none are especially dear,
nor is there anyone he disfavors.
He gives and gives, without condition,
offering his treasures to everyone.

Between heaven and earth
is a space like a bellows;
empty and inexhaustible,
the more it is used, the more it produces.

Hold on to the center.
Man was made to sit quietly and find
the truth within.

Crude Oil -- How high can it go?

2008-06-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

Source: Trading Goddess Stock Blog

A Downtown Strategic Partnership

2008-05-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Pagosa Springs has entered economic winter. But, eventually spring will come and the flowers will bloom again.

Time to prepare. What do we want for commercial downtown and how do we get there?

Our Town has changed in the past twelve months. More people attend Town Council meetings. More people are attending County Commissioner meetings. People are showing up at the Water District meetings. Business owners and other stakeholders meet to strategize reviving the local economy. Contractors and developers and land owners meet to strategize an effective partnership with the Town to build for the future. The Town Planning Commission has sat down with the County Planning Commission. The Town leaders talk to the County leaders.

Meanwhile, our downtown commercial core is shrinking, visibly. The number of storefront vacancies will continue to grow. Little new commercial investment can be found. School enrollment is shrinking. People will continue to leave town.

The Downtown Master Plan was just adopted by the Town Council on January 2nd. That document is, to date, the best statement of what we agree that we want for our downtown. The question of “how do we get there” has yet to be worked out.

“Successful implementation of the Downtown Master Plan requires a coordinated effort between public and private entities.” (Chapter 5, Pagosa Springs DMP) We are beginning to see the early stages of the “political quilt weaving” downtown -- a formation of the team --- which will eventually grow downtown towards the vision of the Downtown Master Plan. In a patchwork quilt, scrap pieces are woven together to form a unified whole greater than the sum of its parts.

First and foremost is our growing education of how to work together.

This year, the Town of Pagosa Springs has hosted two economic summits including representatives from: Town, County, water districts, electric association, business owners, media, economic development, open space, etc. These two meetings, with more to come, represent the weaving of a quilt of new possibility. Up until now, the business of our “one town, small county” has occurred in discreet, separate and divided little fiefdoms. Water systems managed here. Town land use planning managed over there. Business planning was done behind that door and marketing for the Town done over behind that door.

By necessity -- economic necessity -- the doors are being opened and the media, active citizenry and top elected officials are beginning to cross-pollinate one “room” to the next. Working together for a common vision requires yet more practice. But the issues of economy, sustainability and viability of our “one town, small county” demand it. Either we come together as a team or downtown will continue to crumble.

On the Town website we can find a document entitled “Community Survey Research Findings” from year 2004 compiled by consultant RRC. Go to the website and check it out for yourself. In summary, the 2004 Survey finds that the Town people want to: 1) preserve their small town character and ambience, 2) preserve its pristine natural environment, and 3) carefully address the very real challenges of growth. The people want to keep downtown for small, independent businesses and direct the chains and franchises outside of the downtown.

The results of that survey later expanded into the collective vision articulated in the Downtown Master Plan:
“In 2020, Downtown Pagosa Springs will become the Center of Town by developing a lively mix of activities that engage people of all generations, income levels and cultural diversity.”

“Visitors and residents alike join together to enjoy activities and features of the Downtown. It remains a distinctly special place with breathtaking views to mountains and valleys beyond, and has an exciting sense of arrival.” (DMP Chapter 3)

We want vibrant, small-town businesses downtown. We want a sense of place for all of us “one town, small county” residents to enjoy. We want visitors to arrive and bring sales tax dollars. And we want them to have a place to arrive to and an experience to return to again and again.

So, we know what we want. Next topic -- how to get there.

We don’t have to look far to find a commercial downtown that does function successfully. The Downtown Durango Partnership “is an umbrella organization and acts as one voice for the Central Business District” to “achieve ongoing vitality for Durango’s historic downtown”. (www.downtowndurango.org) The Downtown Durango Partnership (DDP) represents all the stakeholders including the business-owners, City, County, local economic development agency, residents and special interests like the library, museum and public facilities.

Acting in tandem, Durango Mountain Resort was highlighted in two different issues of Ski Magazine last year as one of the top destinations in the country.

In the last several years, the Durango downtown has become a successful, business-minded operation. The public and the private players have formed a team to draw businesses into the downtown and to treat the entire downtown as a great business enterprise.

The downtown of Durango was once suffering from the huge economic draw of the big-box Walmart and Home Depot to the south of Town. Coincidentally, Pagosa Springs today suffers from the huge economic draw of those very same big boxes and, in addition, from the past lack of effective of Pagosa Springs marketing and from our current lack of a “place to arrive to” downtown.

According to Downtown Idea Exchange, we should ask the question: “Does downtown have a workable business plan? Downtown is as much a business as any it is home to, and so must plan like one.” Some downtowns employ a “Strategic Business Plan”. “As its name implies, the plan is focused on planning for the economic future of downtown, not the district’s overall future.”

Pagosa Springs has already begun growing the business mentality that is crucial for our next phase of growth. The Town Council “commissioned a study to explore the feasibility of an organizational entity that would focus it efforts on downtown revitalization.” (Downtown Development Authority, Feasibility Study for Pagosa Springs, January 2007, RRC Associates) “The adoption of the ‘big box’ ordinance in March 2006 prompted Town Council to consider the impacts that development of large format retailers in other areas of Town would have on the downtown.”

“One goal of the study was to explore the various organizational and legal structures that might include: taxation districts to fund capital improvements with that district; support and promotion for businesses within those districts; special event coordination and promotion; and general ‘branding’ and positioning for Pagosa Springs’ downtown.”

“Support for formation of an entity would require the involvement of downtown business and property owners in concert with the Town.”

According to the Feasibility Study, in January 2007, of the 30% that responded to a survey mailed out to 104 property owners and 84 downtown businesses:
45% would likely vote for establishing a special business district
30% would likely vote against establishing a special business district
and 25% didn’t know.

Since that time, the economy and the short-term business outlook for downtown has deteriorated rapidly. One wonders if a well-articulated and well-organized effort at forming a Downtown Development Authority, now, among downtown business owners and property owners might not be well-received.

The message has to be that all of us who own land, own businesses, live, or work in downtown Pagosa Springs and, also, Town Hall have a vested stake in the economic future of the downtown. Actually, all of the people of our “one town, small county” who depend on business income, jobs, sales tax revenue or diverse lifestyle choices, have a financial stake in the success of the downtown commercial core. The degree to which we build a “must see”, pedestrian-oriented, downtown with a true sense of place for resident and visitor alike -- will permanently define the psychological, social and financial success of our greater “one town, small county”.

Especially if you own or operate a business downtown then the success or failure of your current financial investment is dependent upon the ability of our community of downtown businesses and land owners to join together to add value to their existing investments. The value to be added here is to grow new businesses and jobs, to architecturally create a sense of place downtown and to attract a growing tourist base for their sales-taxable dollars.

In addition, a thriving community must attract future full-time members. At the moment, the full-time membership of our “one town, small county” is shrinking, as are the number of businesses, jobs, and potential sales-tax dollars.

Downtown businesses and related stakeholders will now continue weaving a unified game plan or else crumble. It is time to organize our Business Improvement District, Downtown Development Authority and Downtown Strategic Business Plan. This can all be done under the single community quilt of a “Downtown Pagosa Strategic Partnership“.

The time is at hand to run our “one town, small county” as the large business that it is -- to create the thriving economy fundamental to a sustainable lifestyle here.

No man is an island and no business will prosper alone. The entirety of downtown will become an economic and social success or the entirety will fail.

The time has come for all of the players of our “one town, small county” to unite for the business of growing business downtown. In the spring, the flowers will bloom again.

World Wildlife -- between 1/4 to 1/3 wiped out since 1970

2008-05-25T06:41:00.000-07:00

Click Here

County Home Rule petition is circulating now

2008-05-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

The County Home Rule Study Committee is now circulating a petition to place Home Rule on the November ballot.

A "yes" vote in November would mean that we, the citizens of the County, would form an eleven member Charter-writing Commission and hold public meetings to begin writing a new County Charter. We would see if we could write a County Charter that would serve us better than the boilerplate rules set forth in the State Constitution.

In June or July 2009, we would get to vote again. Either we would adopt the new charter or we would say "no" we do not like the way the charter is written.

The County Home Rule process is, essentially, an agreement to take a blank piece of paper and see if we, the people, can write a County Charter that would organize County government more effectively than the way the County is run today.

Anyone who tells you that "I don't like Home Rule because......." is assuming that the charter would be written in a particular way when in fact it could be written many different ways. I've heard many people tell me that they don't like Home Rule because "it would give the County Commissioners too much power".

Where did that information come from? If we wanted to, we could have a separate administrative council manage the County and the Board of County Commissioners would only set policy. Not that I recommend that. Probably, a five or seven member Board of County Commissioners would be a good idea for consideration by the Charter-writing Commission.

The point is that County Home Rule is a process where we get a chance to see if the people can come together and write and adopt a new County Home Rule Charter. County Home Rule is a civic process of coming together and discussing how our County should be organized going into the future.

A new County Home Rule charter could give us better County management or worse depending upon how we write the charter. It is up to us to come together and work together to create the new charter.

Everyone agrees that the current County structure seems to not work particularly well. Are we willing to commit ourselves to trying to come together to form a new charter? Remember....nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Please find us to sign the County Home Rule ballot petition to place this question on the November ballot:
"Shall a Home Rule Charter Commission be elected for the purpose of developing a proposed Home Rule charter for Archuleta County, Colorado?"

In November, you would also be able to vote for who sits on that temporary eleven-member County Home Rule Charter-writing Commission.

To sign a petition, call: Teddy Herzog 731-2587, Hank and Norma Busleep 731-3789, and Bev Warburton 731-0343.

Famous People Who Failed

2008-05-15T13:06:00.001-07:00

The game for U.S. control of worldwide oil

2008-04-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Read the full article by Clive Maude here.

more on the County Home Rule process

2008-04-27T21:26:00.001-07:00

Why should we care about a County Home Rule charter?

A “County Home Rule Committee” has been giving short talks to a variety of local groups about this very question.

At this juncture, we have three choices:
a) begin circulating a petition to place the County Home Rule question on the November ballot,
b) hold off until the Spring and trust that the new Board of County Commissioners will attend to the Home Rule matter, or
c) forget the whole thing.

Up until this point, the County Home Rule Committee has tried to maintain a fairly “neutral” stance with regard to Home Rule -- being primarily a study group. But it is time to come out of the closet and admit that I and most of our Committee does have an agenda. We think that we should begin the Home Rule charter-writing process.

I think that it is true that the more you study this issue, the more you kind of step back, let go of your particular opinions about what a new County charter could offer and realize that the process itself is a worthy journey in and of itself. At the end of the journey we may or may not end up with a new County charter worth ratifying.

In my personal opinion, the County Home Rule charter-writing process is an opportunity for a spiritual and psychological "cleansing" for us, the citizens, as a whole. This is an opportunity for us, the community, to come together to define who we are and how we want to proceed forward, together. The actual written document is not the most important topic but rather this is a window of opportunity that could move us forward through the process of defining our constitution.

With regard to the three choices above, “Yes” many of us want to move forward with the Home Rule Charter writing process. “No“, we do not want to wait and trust some future, unknown Board of County Commission members to carry us forward at some future date. The time is now.

Currently, the County government follows a set of rules in the State of Colorado Constitution. Our County does not have it own charter or rules. The State tells us how many County Commissioners we must have, that we must elect other officials every four years, and how much we must pay these people.

We have no choice but to follow the State rules unless we create our own rules here at home -- our own Archuleta County Home Rule charter.

Did you know that there are no qualifications and no job description for the County Commissioners, Treasurer, Assessor, County Clerk, Sheriff, Coroner or Surveyor? Any registered voter can get their name on the ballot and run for one of those positions. Under a Home Rule Charter we could set qualifications and standards.

There are several other key topics and many lesser issues that could be addressed by our Home Rule Charter.

A little more detail about County Home Rule can be found at: http://www.pagosadailypost.com/news/7395/OPINION:_The_Rules_for_Home_Rule/

If we vote to start the Home Rule Charter-writing process in November, then we will also be electing an 11 member Charter Writing Commission to create a public forum and to write the proposed new Charter. If the 11 member Charter Writing Commission does an very good job then a public consensus will be built and maintained throughout the entire Charter-writing process.

Then 9 to 10 months later, we the people get a chance to vote on the proposed new Home Rule Charter. “Yes” we accept this as our County Charter, or “No” we do not.

I have personally spoken with all three County Commissioners, some of the current candidates, the Treasurer, the Assessor, the County Clerk and the Sheriff about the Home Rule Charter writing process. Believe it or not, many of these elected officials are afraid to proceed with the process. We’ll discuss “fear” in a moment.

Some of the elected officials running the County at the Hall of Justice have a fatalistic attitude that a new Home Rule charter won’t fix anything. They clearly find the current County system to be a mess and hopeless. I have found that some of the current County elected officials speak the language of “hopelessness”. Basically, the attitude is that nothing can work.

Then there is fear. Certain elected officials do not trust the possibility that “power” might be given away from their office (their fiefdom) and handed over to another office. Much more insidious is the fear that “the people” won’t take the time to educate themselves about Home Rule and, therefore, the people should not be trusted with the vote regarding the Home Rule process in November.

Commissioner Bob Moomaw has been a vocal advocate for County Home Rule. Mr. Moomaw has urged our Home Rule Committee to not place the question of the Home Rule process on the November ballot because there are too many other questions to answer and because a majority of the voters who turn out to vote may not know anything about the Home Rule process. Commissioner Moomaw has asked the Home Rule Committee to wait until next spring before bringing the Home Rule process question to the people.

But, is there any guarantee that the new County Commissioners after November will be any more effective at working together than the current County Commission? Is there any certainty that a majority of the County Commissioners after November will support Home Rule at all?

In the mid-1700’s, bands of rebels attempted to begin to free the American colonies from the oppression of the old regime of England. Many of the people living in the colonies could agree that the English Monarchy did not serve the people well. But, many people were afraid to try to rise up against the British throne. The majority of the people wanted to maintain the “security” of the existing poorly-functioning system and not “risk” creating a new future for themselves.

General George Washington and a rag-tag army practically starved to death in Valley Forge because “the people” were too complacent to contribute money to the revolution and were too afraid to take a stand against the old system.

Today, we the people have allowed the fear of “terrorism” to be used as a justification to take away many of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution. The Federal Government can now tap your phone and read your mail. Did you know that the President of the U.S. now claims to have the power to imprison indefinitely (without a trial) any person that he thinks is a “terrorist”? Did you know that the President of the U.S. now claims to have the power to torture any person that he thinks is a “terrorist”? These are “powers” that the King of England used to have over the colonists.

Because of fear, we have allowed our Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution to be taken away under the guise of “protecting democracy from terrorists”. In other words, “terrorism” has won the war in this country. Don’t let fear stop you from demanding your constitutional rights. Don’t let fear stop us from engaging in a Home Rule process to explore a new County charter.

The County Home Rule process is an opportunity for us to write our own County “constitution”. It is an opportunity for us to stop and think about who we are and what kind of a County government we want for ourselves going into the future.

The average person finding out about the Home Rule process has been, generally, very receptive and often excited about the possibility of the people creating their own County Home Rule charter.

The people who are opposed to Home Rule or who want to “put it off until later” are almost always people directly involved with the inner workings of the County government.

A new County Home Rule charter does not guarantee that things will get better at the County. That depends on how we write the Charter and how it is implemented.

Going through the process of writing a new County Home Rule charter does guarantee that there will be a lot of discussion about what a good County charter should look like. That means that we, the people, will need to come together to discuss it. That, in and of itself, will be a very good thing.

If you have a group to which you would like to have a presentation explaining County Home Rule - what is it and what is the process -- then please call Teddy Herzog at 731-2587 or Beverly Warburton at 731-0343.

The Home Rule Committee will begin circulating a petition May 9th to place the Home Rule process question on the November ballot. Please call to find out where you can sign the petition and, if you wish, to help facilitate the process.

The World's 13 Biggest Solar Thermal Energy Projects

2008-04-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

http://ecoworldly.com/2008/04/12/mega-solar-the-worlds-13-biggest-solar-thermal-energy-projects/#html

Al Gore's newest talk

2008-04-09T05:39:00.000-07:00

Town Planning Commission and County Planning Commission

2008-03-21T06:46:00.001-07:00

The Town and County Try Something New: working together to build the future

2008-03-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

The Town Planning Commission and the County Planning Commission did something never done before. Wednesday March 19th, they sat down at the same table and worked together.

At stake on the agenda was the two incompatible plans of the County Community Plan and the Town Comprehensive Plan. Stuck somewhere in between were the applicants for the Blue Sky project on Highway 84, partially in the Town’s jurisdiction and partially in the County’s jurisdiction.

The County’s incomplete Community Plan calls for one house for each 35 acres. The Town’s Comprehensive Plan could allow for up to one dwelling per acre. Neither document fully supports modern land use planning for “smart growth” cluster development. The Town has only just begun discussing, understanding, and approving a few mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented projects.

The larger topic on the table was the need for a common plan --shared by both the Town and the County -- which defines where urban stops and rural begins.

The need for a single greater-Pagosa plan is the opportunity for the Town and the County to finally sit down and work together. A project to establish an agreed upon Urban Services limit map and Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) about how the Town and County will work together on land use planning issues provides a major opportunity step forward for Pagosa to acknowledge its one-community reality.

Then on Thursday night, March 20th, the Town held a “discussion on economic development challenges in Pagosa Springs”. The room was packed with almost 100 people, a very large crowd for a Town Council meeting.

The crowd was invited to state their concerns, one at a time for three minutes or less. Re-occurring themes of: business on the brink of financial collapse, the prohibitively high cost of new development as a result of developer fees, and the stringent limitations of the Town signage ordinance were mentioned again and again.

Business owners, developers, County Commissioner Bob Moomaw, economic development coordinator Bart Mitchell, PAWS directors, interim County Manager Greg Schulte and a host of others came to the podium to share their concerns and ideas with the Town Council.

Greg Schulte recited some of the details of his background he had written about in the Durango Herald in January. Previously, Schulte was a division manager for the city of Sacramento, California Development Services Department. “At one time, the city of Sacramento was also viewed as unpredictable, complicated, unclear and unnecessarily expensive for people going through the development process.” The city of Sacramento went from “dead last” in effectiveness out of 16 jurisdictions in the region to fourth in a period of one year. Schulte cites that experience as an example of what could just as easily happen in our Town and County, if we choose it.

Whether intentionally or not, the focus of energy of the Town meeting revolved around the “new blood” leadership of Mark Weiler who was only appointed to the Town Council March 4th. Weiler is a man on a mission, with an agenda and has a natural ability to lead a crowd.

Mark Weiler stood up at the end of the two hour “discussion on economic development challenges” and delivered his proposed policy plan distilled from three full days of listening to public input.

Weiler proposes that the Town, for the remainder of the year, waive all Building and Impact fees. Secondly, place a moratorium on the sign and banner ordinance to allow the public to post whatever signs they desire, for the year. Third, move intentionally towards formation of one regional government between the County and the Town.

The fourth proposal apparently came out of an idea initiated by Mike Heraty of The Pagosa Source, earlier in the week, to the Town Tourism Committee. The plan is to nationally market a local athletic event with big prize money during a slow period of the summer from Tuesday through Thursday, thus capturing new tourist interest.

Mark Weiler spoke of “three evolutions” which have occurred in our county. At first it was an economy of natural resources - the lumber. Then the county moved into livestock. As viable businesses, these first two phases are essentially dead.

Currently, Weiler says, we are in the mature phase of our tourism evolution.

The next “evolution”, he cites, will be the attraction of the knowledge-based worker. The knowledge-based worker brings their own job with them. Weiler used Scott MacKenzie, account manager for CenturyTel, as an example of the knowledge-based worker. Mr. MacKenzie helped Parelli Natural Horsemanship set up the largest information technology link in our county connected to CenturyTel’s hardwire backbone running up the highway to Durango. But MacKenzie is able to accomplish his work without an office, Weiler says.

Mark Weiler is the president of Parelli Natural Horsemanship. In a video produced by Bill Hudson for the PagosaDailyPost, February 8, 2008, Mr. Weiler described the “connectivity” of the new Parelli Headquarters in Aspen Village, installed with the help of CenturyTel’s Scott Mackenzie.

Speaking about Parelli, Mr. Weiler says that “In our business, the department that has grown the fastest is our IT department. And all of the people that are up there are snowboarders, mountain bikers, hikers, skiers, and so forth.”

“If you think about the future of this community, the future will be based on the economic vitality of the knowledge-based workers here.”

“Knowledge-based workers will not come to an area unless they can have reliable, excellent ability to communicate.”

“What we are starting with (in our new headquarters connectivity) is ten times what I have now.”

Scott MacKenzie further noted that “The long term ramifications of this is it really puts down the foundation for sustainable, economic growth in communities like Pagosa Springs.” (Bill Hudson video on PagosaDailyPost.com)

At one point in the Town Council “discussion on economic development challenges”, developer David J. Brown stood up and mentioned the old Pagosa Springs attitude of “the glass is only half full”. A number of speakers who followed applauded David Brown's comments and his guidance towards the fact of our overflowing abundance of natural wealth here in Pagosa Springs. Our natural resources continue to attract both tourists and new residents alike.

And so, Mark Weiler’s final comments were about Town Mayor Ross Aragon. Apparently, on the desk in Mayor Aragon’s office, the first thing that you see are the words “We can do it”.

Alan Greenspan writes in the Financial Times: worst financial crises since WWII

2008-03-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

"The current financial crisis in the US is likely to be judged in retrospect as the most wrenching since the end of the second world war. It will end eventually when home prices stabilise and with them the value of equity in homes supporting troubled mortgage securities.

Home price stabilisation will restore much-needed clarity to the marketplace because losses will be realised rather than prospective. The major source of contagion will be removed. Financial institutions will then recapitalise or go out of business. Trust in the solvency of remaining counterparties will be gradually restored and issuance of loans and securities will slowly return to normal. Although inventories of vacant single-family homes - those belonging to builders and investors - have recently peaked, until liquidation of these inventories proceeds in earnest, the level at which home prices will stabilise remains problematic.

The American housing bubble peaked in early 2006, followed by an abrupt and rapid retreat over the past two years. Since summer 2006, hundreds of thousands of homeowners, many forced by foreclosure, have moved out of single-family homes into rental housing, creating an excess of approximately 600,000 vacant, largely investor-owned single-family units for sale. Homebuilders caught by the market's rapid contraction have involuntarily added an additional 200,000 newly built homes to the "empty-house-for-sale" market."

All the water and air on earth gathered into spheres and compared to the Earth

2008-03-13T20:01:00.001-07:00

On the left, all the water on our planet is put into a sphere to compare to the size of the earth. On the right, all the air (at sea level density) is put into a sphere to compare to earth.

Nonborrowed Bank Reserves from shadowstats.com

2008-03-03T15:05:00.001-08:00

The cost of food, oil and gold. Is there inflation???

2008-03-01T17:40:00.001-08:00

The Timeline for County Home Rule petition

2008-03-01T17:08:00.000-08:00

Archuleta County Clerk June Madrid says that this is the timeline for Home Rule.

County Home Rule Ballot Question
Timeline to be included on the 2008 General Ballot

May 7,2008 Petition Format to be submitted to County Clerk

May 9,2008 Clerk verifies Petition Format can have up to 2 days

May 9 - July 7 2008 Petition to be circulated (must obtain 435 signatures)

July 7 - July 17 2008 County Clerk shall verify signatures on the petition
(may take from 1 -10 days)

ASAP after verifying meeting of the BoCC is scheduled to call the election And to divide the county into three compact districts

July 24, 2008 Clerk's Office to prepare candidate packets

July 24, 2008 BoCC must publish a notice of election, district boundaries and call for candidates at least 60 days before election for a November election no later than July 25,2008

August 25, 2008 Candidate petitions and statements are to be filed with the clerk within thirty days after publication of election notice.

Ongoing Petitions submitted by candidates for charter commission are reviewed by clerk's office for sufficiency. (may take from 1 to 10 days)

Board to pass resolution adopting ballot language.

August 26, 2008 IGA must be signed with Clerk

September 4, 2008 Second notice of election must be published And include the names of candidates.

September 5, 2008 Ballot language must be certified to Clerk 60 days in advance of election.

October 3, 2008 Ballots must be printed and in possession of the Clerk

November 4, 2008 Election Day

Inspired Ideas for a Sustainable Planet

2008-02-27T21:03:00.000-08:00

The Government Keeps Printing Money like crazy which means the value of the dollar keeps shrinking which means "prices" keep going up

2008-02-27T17:13:00.000-08:00

A new book "The End of America", already on the New York Times bestseller list.

2008-02-25T22:12:00.000-08:00

The Click - snowboard and skateboard shop

2008-02-21T21:36:00.001-08:00

Downtown Economic Development

2008-02-21T21:35:00.002-08:00

Are we ready for downtown economic development yet? A quick drive down Main Street and Lewis Street today reveals at least thirteen vacant commercial spaces -- including the closing of Switchback Mountain Gear. This must be what they mean by “Keep Pagosa, Pagosa”.

An important exception is newly opened “The Click” snowboard and skateboard shop. That one small shop has almost single-handedly revived the north side of the 100 block of Pagosa Street. The new storefront is important because it caters both to our tourist snow industry and also to our local youth. Sometimes free enterprise can pave the way to the future on its own even lacking a broader Town action plan.

This past week also brought a new scare when the City of Durango came to DeClarke Granite and offered them financial incentives to move over there. Durango has been aggressively growing its downtown commercial and its jobs base for a few years.

Like many business owners downtown, Dale DeClarke is disillusioned with the lack of vision, the resistance to a modern economy and the failure of either the Town or County to attend to the business of attracting business. Fortunately for us, our Town has provided DeClarke a huge incentive also. If they leave, DeClarke will likely be unable to either rent or sell their Putt Hill shop. So, hopefully, the granite shop will stay here and wait while we develop our own economic development plan.

Indiana Reed tells how “For Durango’s Historic Downtown, it all began with the need for new sidewalks. City council had approved the two-year program, and staff engineers and planners were moving ahead to launch the construction in late summer 2004. The plan was introduced on a chilly February morning to a meeting of merchants and stakeholders.”

“To at least one in the gathering – Tim Wheeler, owner of Durango Coffee Company – initiating a massive sidewalk construction program independent of an overall plan for downtown redevelopment, lacked foresight and seemed, to put it bluntly, irresponsible. A consensus agreed.”

“The community had spoken, and these sometimes disparate voices banded together, with representation from the City, to form the Downtown Durango Partnership. This public-private coalition voluntarily took on the responsibility for, in essence, shepherding the process of research and development, and ultimate approval by City Council, of what was christened the Downtown Durango Vision and Strategic Plan. It would be a series of recommendations for projects that would build on the downtown’s diverse, mixed-use character and reinforce the downtown as the “heart” of the community, embodying its identity, values and energy.”

“As each “piece” of the vision comes to the forefront, new studies, public meetings, and other communication tools, will be organized to keep the public “in the loop” and involved in the process of sustaining Durango’s Historic Downtown – the heartbeat of our community.” (Indiana Reed at www.downtowndurango.org)

As noted in our own Pagosa Springs Downtown Master Plan (adopted January 2, 2008), “Recent development west of Town has diluted the intensity of downtown commercial uses…which has caused a shift in viable businesses.” “A need exists to have a cohesive group to manage improvements and marketing of the downtown.”

Like Durango, we need to develop a Pagosa Springs Downtown Partnership which coordinates long-range business planning and action.

Our Downtown Master Plan suggests alternative actions that the Town itself might take to see that growth and realization of the Master Plan can be accomplished. “In this approach, the Town joins forces with another organization or a private entity. For example, the Town may joint venture with a private developer to construct a project that would include a public parking facility with privately owned commercial and residential space.”

Another implementation approach could be that “the Town may offer flexibility in development regulations to encourage a developer to take action in creating an exceptional project.”

Given the virtual economic death spiral being experienced downtown right now, the Town Council could consider that any major new development downtown would be “an exceptional project”. For example, as the Town hires an economic development coordinator, why not aggressively pursue David Brown and Bootjack Management with the question “what can we do for you Mr. Brown to encourage you to build your East Village Project today?”

Maybe the Town could waive much of the parking requirements knowing that a Town parking garage will someday pick up the missing spaces. Maybe the Town could defer impact fees for a few years. What would any of this cost the Town today, really? And what would be the economic and psychological gain for the Town?

David Brown received a conditional permit for his East Village project in November from the Town Council. The project was constrained by the Town height limit and parking requirements to the extent that David Brown will likely never build the project as approved. The Town restrictions make it financially infeasible for the project to be built.

Some may say, “Too bad for David Brown.” But I say, “Too bad for this Town.”

Nostalgia for yesterday’s small buildings does nothing to inform us about the reality of $300. per square foot to build today. Lack of new commercial buildings downtown is harming the financial solvency of the people who live here today.

Even if David Brown wanted to build it at a loss, money is hard to come by right now. William Fleckstein, author of “Greenspan’s Bubbles” says, “I don’t think it’s possible for the Fed to solve the unwinding of credit. It’s going to get worse.” (BusinessWeek 2/25/08)

"Last year, there probably wasn't anything a lender wouldn't lend on," said John Luka, managing director with Column Financial Inc. "Now, there isn't anything a lender will lend on."
(retailtrafficmag.com: Feb 6, 2008)

Is it just me, or is our downtown commercial core in some serious need of help?

The first duty of the Town Council is to keep the Town financially solvent. That means the money coming in must exceed the money going out. By definition, that requires financial growth. And growth requires a Town-driven plan for growth.

The downtown core has been “frozen in time” from about 1980. The financial insolvency of no growth can be seen in the number of downtown commercial vacancies that plague us at the very beginning of this current economic downturn.

The Town Council is discussing hiring an economic development coordinator. But a new Town “coordinator” is going to need to have an economic development plan. And that plan is going to need for the Town to push for the construction of some new buildings downtown.

Our architecture shapes our psychology. Our psychology shapes our future.

The Town Comprehensive Plan “aims to ensure that all future private development will contribute to furthering the development of Pagosa Springs as a sustainable and livable community.” What is more critical to being a “sustainable and livable community” than providing a solid economic base of a thriving and, yes, growing tourism industry downtown?

Comprehensive Plan “Goal E-4” says that “Pagosa Springs will support and attract businesses and industries that will diversify and sustain the local economy and level out seasonal fluctuations.

Amen.

South Durango is the area of Home Depot and Walmart. The Durango Herald notes that “Sales tax collections grew at a faster rate in the Central Business District than in south Durango (last year), a fact Business Improvement District chairman John Wells pointed to as a sign of downtown's continued health. “

“Durango's business leaders are taking steps to ensure downtown's continued economic vitality. The Business Improvement District will soon select a firm to conduct a market assessment, which will essentially form a business plan for downtown.” (Chuck Slothower Feb. 17, 2008 Durango Herald)

We have a few Town “leaders” who want only to save the old buildings of Pagosa Springs. Is it possible for the Town to aggressively encourage a few new commercial buildings? What would be the harm?

Right now we don’t need more development “restrictions”. We need the Town to loosen up and get some new projects going.

John Motter in last week’s Pagosa Sun noted that resistance to new buildings and growth in the downtown goes back at least to 1876 when the native Utes would burn down newly built cabins to keep out the “newcomers”. Change was brought to the Indian Nation at the end of a rifle barrel. We can probably find a more peaceful approach today.

Today we still have a few who go so far as to try to “preserve” a tear-down dilapidated PineWood Inn for its “historical” value. That dying inn was once created by chopping a beautifully curved roof off of the old Dr. Mary Fisher house.

“Historical preservation” is a truly subjective concern. If we really want to celebrate the past, why not build a huge Ute Nation cultural center in the heart of downtown to celebrate the true history of “our Town”. Now, that would be a story worth preserving.

Yes, we need to celebrate our past. But not by clinging with fear and stopping all attempts at development into the future.

Our current downtown architecture and vacant storefronts tell the story of the recession of 1979. Is this the history that we are trying to preserve for the next generation? The real psychological intent of “Keep Pagosa, Pagosa” is to unconsciously “Keep Pagosa Stuck”.

Drive down Main Street in Durango. The story of its past is told quite elegantly with the vibrancy of its economy today. The story told is one of hope, growth and a positive outlook for the future.

Welcome to the new The Click sports shop on Pagosa Street. Welcome to the new Town economic development coordinator, whoever that will be. And welcome to our opportunity to purposefully grow our downtown economy for the next generation.

And remember -- register before March 1st and vote April 8th in the Town Council elections.

2008-02-21T21:35:00.001-08:00

How to make a County Home Rule charter

2008-02-16T17:08:00.000-08:00

Why would it be a good idea to ratify a Home Rule Charter for the County and why should we care?

To change our County to a Home Rule Charter would mean that the rules by which we govern and run our county would be made by us, here at home. It is like writing our own county constitution instead of blindly following rules set forth in the state constitution. No one needs to be convinced that our current county structure is not working very well.

By voting for a Home Rule Charter for the County, we get to make the rules here that work for us. Some of you might not read this entire piece so just remember this. Home Rule puts control of our county government back into the hands of the citizens of our county.

When Home Rule gets put on the county ballot, you will actually end up voting for it two different times.

The first time you will get to vote on two questions: [1] should a Home Rule Charter Commission be formed, and [2] who do you want to elect to be the 11 members of the Charter Commission? Then, the Charter Commission goes off and works on writing the new Charter for 240 days. During that time, they have to present their work to the general public at least two times. Then, 240 days later, you get to vote again on this question “I accept the Home Rule Charter as written: yes or no?”

The Home Rule question will get put on the ballot one of two ways: [a] either the County Commissioners will put it there, or [b] approximately 600 of us county voters will sign a petition to put it there. A petition will begin circulating in June 2008. The idea will be to place the Home Rule question on the November ballot.

The different new Home Rule Charter issues or “flavors” explored here are: [a] number of County Commissioners and their salaries, [b] hiring of Department Heads versus electing them, [c] Initiative and Referendum process, [d] districting or “at large” election of Commissioners, and [e] partisan versus non-partisan elections.

The Commission of Eleven will be studying these topics extensively and make final decisions by the end of their 240 day Charter-writing project.

The number of County Commissioners is presently three, as mandated by the State constitution. To avoid the dynamic of a two-to-one vote split, five commissioners or seven commissioners might be better. More commissioners would divide up the various committee tasks and other duties more easily. Five commissioners only need five offices and five telephones, etc. So, maybe, five is the right number.

Right now, the State requires that we pay our Commissioners $50,000. per year. Under Home Rule, we can pay whatever we want.

The choice here is however many Commissioners that we want and to pay them whatever salary that we want.

The hiring of department heads instead of electing them is possibly the most important Home Rule Charter issue. Some believe that it is critical to streamline the County chain of command and to make it operate like a business instead of like divided fiefdoms. Currently, we elect the Treasurer, the Assessor, the County Clerk, the Sherriff, the Coroner and the County Surveyor. The Treasurer has in the past had troubles communicating with the Finance Director. The Assessor has had trouble talking to the Planning Department.

Currently, the Commissioners, the Treasurer, the Assessor, the County Clerk, and the Sherriff all act like separate CEO’s. We could create only one Chief Executive and that is the five (or seven) member Commissioner body. The County Manager would be responsible for knowing everything and providing all necessary information to the Commissioners. The people would go straight to the Commissioners for answers. The Commissioners would go straight to the County Manager for answers. The County Manager gets answers straight from the Department Heads. Alternately, elected department heads would operate somewhat independently from the Commissioners.

The Sherriff is the most likely Department Head to be kept as an elected position.

So, the choice here is to keep some or all or none of the department heads elected or else hired. Those not elected could be appointed or hired.

The initiative and referendum components are required by State law to be included in our new Home Rule charter. This is the right of the citizens to propose and vote on legislation without going through their elected representatives. This right does not exist currently in Archuleta County.

No choice here.

The topic of Commissioner’s Districts could become a complicated one. Right now the Commissioner districts are divided into three districts with approximately equal numbers of voters. We could keep this simple and leave the districts alone. If we decide that five commissioners is the right number then keep it at three commissioners elected from districts and two commissioners elected “at large” (the entire county).

The choice here is, probably, five districts, three districts, or no districts.

We can choose to make our County Commissioner elections partisan or non-partisan. Right now, County elections are partisan. When you vote you see the name of the candidate and the name of their “party”. The party machine candidates (plus the independents) narrow list of who you get to choose from before you even get to vote.

If we wish, we can retain a more pure form of democracy. If we eliminate the “partisan” nature of our county elections then we can eliminate a lot of the power that the party machine has on our local government.

The choice here is to continue “partisan” elections or to eliminate the party affiliation to create “non-partisan” elections.

Presentations to inform the public about County Home Rule will begin to be made in March. If you have a group for which you would like a brief presentation made, you may contact Teddy Herzog at 731-2587 or teddyherzog@yahoo.com

How much retail space will go vacant this year?

2008-02-07T12:47:00.001-08:00

Choice and Consequence

2008-02-07T04:55:00.000-08:00

“Would you rather earn $50,000. a year while other people make $25,000., or would you rather earn $100,000. a year while other people get $250,000.”

According to experiments in behavioral economics, “the majority of people select the first option.”

“Amazingly, most people said that they would prefer to” make less money than to make more money while being behind somebody else. Studies show that most people would rather forgo $50,000. in order to alleviate the feeling of “regret” that comes with not earning $250,000. “Essentially they were willing to pay $50,000. for regret therapy.”

“Regret falls under a psychological effect known as loss aversion. Research shows that before we risk an investment, we need to feel assured that the potential gain is twice what the possible loss might be because a loss feels twice as bad as a gain feels. That‘s weird and irrational, but it‘s the way it is.” (Michael Shermer; LA Times 1/13/08)

Now what could that study have to do with the town of Pagosa Springs and the “welcome mat” we never put out for someone like David J. Brown and Bootjack Management? Hmmmm.

David Brown came to town and tried to turn Pagosa Springs into an income-producing, desirable destination. Aren’t you glad that we avoided the “regret” of having to participate in his success?

“This community is at a moment where it is really going to decide what it is going to be going forward.” So spoke Henry Beers to the Town in May of last year. “Places that endure, think in long time frames.”

“Not changing, unfortunately, isn’t an option.”

“Transformation is taking what has been, in order to imagine what can be, and then acting.” “That’s very different than just plain old change.”

“For any living organism or any vital community -- vitality requires transformation. And, it takes courage.”

“And when you put a lid on that, or when you say that you’re not interested in that -- you are basically setting a timer on your own demise.”

Mr. Beers pointed out that “A lot of time and energy is spent trying to build consensus. But, you can’t get crowds to lead. You just need a few people with their hair on fire.” Bold leadership is required.

“You need to be idea led and public opinion informed. But if you let public opinion wag the dog, the town will never be better than the worst opinion. It will be the lowest common denominator.”

Henry Beers’ Communication Arts is a design firm that helps towns fix problems with their land use planning, marketing and vision for the future. Services include environmental graphic design, branding and identity, and placemaking within retail, resort, recreation, entertainment, sports, hospitality, urban and food environments.

But what they do is only successful if it is propelled by a real desire for change.

The fundamental cancer rotting inside our town is the illusion that the course we are on will lead to a viable future. Somehow we can grow a little but really sort of just stay the same.

The problem in this town is the “leadership” has spent much of our time leading people away from what we don’t want. “We don’t want David Brown spending millions of dollars to upgrade the downtown.” “We don’t want any buildings over two stories.” “We don’t want to create a new downtown with lots of new jobs and new sales tax revenue.”

“We don’t want change. Just keep Pagosa, Pagosa.”

Was it so terrible that David Brown began to tear down old buildings to prepare for new buildings? Even with the loss of those demolished spaces, we continue to see more commercial space go vacant.

The policy intent of the Town and public opinion can be visibly understood simply by walking from the bottom of Putt Hill to the bridge past Kip’s. Just take a walk and see how the largest real estate boom, this lifetime, was not taken advantage of by our Town. Our downtown is in chaos because the “leadership” continues to run the agenda of “I don’t want”.

We have just begun to feel the contractions of a shrinking economy. Businesses from uptown to downtown are feeling the pinch of a poor, underdeveloped economy. In the past two years, significant numbers of commercial spaces downtown have gone vacant. The great question is, which businesses along Highway 160 will close during the next 12 months? How about the next 24 months?

Uptown businesses like La Tazza, Pagosa Brewing Company and Higher Grounds Coffee represent some of the best of the recent business growth for the future. What do these businesses all have in common? They illustrate the ongoing flight of investment away from the downtown core.

In the early 1970’s, the downtown core of Boulder, Colorado was on the verge of total collapse. Shopping malls outside of the core began attracting more and more of the consumer dollar.

Henry Beers and Communication Arts was hired in Boulder to come up with a plan. That plan became the huge social and financial downtown success of Pearl Street Mall. Boulder enjoys a thriving downtown today because someone decided to make a huge change.

The surrounding Boulder business owners needed to vote for an assessment district to approve the project. Pearl Street Mall in Boulder was barely approved by only two votes twenty-five years ago. Mr. Beers claims that it would not be approved today because we are too stuck on consensus-driven politics.

Henry Beers talks about the Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

Most people don’t really know what they want and what would really be good for them.

A great leader is able to mobilize the people who don’t agree. Right now, in Town, we have representatives of the downtown voters. But we do not have leaders.

The real problem is that the average citizen, you and me, expects or assumes that the elected officials should naturally also be the leaders. But that is not how it works.

Sometimes elected politicians are great leaders but usually not. Sometimes great leaders are politicians but often times not.

Our elected officials are not going to lead us into a future of growth and prosperity. They are busy representing “the people”, building compromise and managing the day to day business of government.

The leadership is going to come from somewhere else.

Let’s applaud the Town Council for creating an Economic Development Coordinator position. But a “coordinator” won’t be able to do what the Town Council won’t do.

First, we need to concentrate on the Central Business District. We need to grow (in a big way) the 400, 300 and 200 blocks of Main Street and Hot Springs Blvd. all the way down to Town Hall. All we need to worry about right now is those six blocks. We’ll deal with Lewis Street, South 8th Street and the rest, later.

The existing buildings in Town do not point us towards a viable future. The existing Town is not enough of a vivid coherent anything to inform a brilliant future. The absurdity of “historic preservation” will keep us from building the Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Sure, there’s maybe ten buildings in this town that need to be preserved. But not all of Main Street.

As part of the package of what Henry Beers would recommend for our Town is that we go for as much height and density downtown as we have the guts for. Why? So that we can create a true sense of place downtown, a real destination place for tourists, a desirable place inviting in new members for our community, and new sources of income for all of us.

If we don’t have something audacious, if it is all small scale, then don’t expect anyone to get excited about it. We need three stories on both sides of Main Street; maybe even four stories, occasionally, stepped back from the street.

Density creates a sense of place. Density keeps the cost down per square foot. Density is what makes downtown different than Pagosa Lakes.

We need an architecture that speaks to a sense of centrality, focus, density and life. If everything we build new downtown is done in response to what is already here, then we are not going to end up with much.

The downtown business owners are hanging on by their fingernails economically and they won’t grow towards a future of excellence until they have a future vision worth building.

Near the end of the Henry Beers presentation, town manager Mark Garcia asked the following. “I want to get specific on what you want to do for us, Henry. We are trying to figure out if politically we can make this happen. I would like to see how you feel that you could provide something for us that Council could use.”

To which Beers replied, “As I sit here right now, I’m not sure that I’m convinced that the things that need to be in place are in place that would enable us to be successful.”

“Rather than saying what am I going to do next for you -- I would suggest that you (the Town) take today and you get together amongst yourselves and see what you can come up with. And then lets get together again. I’m going to put it right at your feet.”

“I’d rather that one of you take the leadership on this because sooner or later it is going to have to be.”

And, so, Henry Beers left town and has not yet been invited back.

The time for true growth and renewal in our downtown has not yet come. The downward economic spiral and implosion of the commercial heart of downtown has only just begun.

The pain of the darkest hour is not yet upon us.

The Town Council is mostly informed by the philosophy of “I don’t want”. Some members of the Town Council, staff and public opinion must truly believe that their restricted vision for downtown will actually get built even though dozens of local developers keep telling them otherwise. As long as the Town Council old guard continues to be elected then they must be right. Right?

When the time comes and people are ready to grow up and move into prosperity, we’ll get this party started. But not yet.

Maybe, three years from now, the agony of doing nothing will overtake the fear of transformation in our community and the true leadership will find a welcome mat instead of a litany of “I don’t wants”.

David Brown has been such a leader. (Maybe he will still be.) But until the pain of economic implosion becomes greater than the naysaying “regret” of watching someone like David Brown turn downtown into a huge financial success, downtown will continue to crumble.

Choice and consequence -- it’s the only game in town. You and I have made specific choices about the future of our town resulting in visible consequences. Is it logical for us to continue making the same choices while desperately hoping for different consequences?

Storefront with Multi-family residential behind

2008-01-29T22:07:00.001-08:00

A four story building in a walkable neighborhood

2008-01-29T22:04:00.001-08:00

A walkable downtown: one to three stories

2008-01-29T22:01:00.001-08:00

2008-01-25T15:57:00.000-08:00

We are a one-town, small county. We are one community.

Do not let anyone -- especially a "leader" -- ever tell you that we are divided and separate.

What affects the one, affects the whole. Our physical, spiritual and financial futures are intricately entwined. We are one community of the greater Pagosa Springs area.

New Urbanism for South 8th Street

2008-01-21T16:49:00.000-08:00

It's time for the Town Council to get into the driver's seat

2008-01-17T22:40:00.000-08:00

Jack Wilshire has been living on Lewis Street since 1980. He originally moved here in 1977 before the “old” City Market came to town. Jack works at the local hardware store and he also works at the local sandwich shop. He is 40-something years old.

Jack works 40 hours a week for $15. an hour at the hardware store and then he works another 35 hours a week at the sandwich shop for $8. an hour. With the way inflation has been driving up the price of everything, Jack can barely make it here. There is a small army of people like Jack in town who work at the restaurants, bars, stores, motels, and coffee shops. Just about all of them have a second job. A third job is not the answer.

Jack is a vital part of my community. He helps me with my building materials and he also serves up my sandwich. We need him here. What are we going to do to help him stay here along with all of the other hourly workers that help us out every day?

The Town Council still has time to get into the drivers seat to grow this Town -- the way that we really want it. Not as the eventual exclusive enclave of the super rich but as a diverse neighborhood. Rich and poor. Young and old, alike.

Recently, the Town Council changed the height limit to reduce a large number of residential lots from three story buildings to two story buildings. The calculations and analysis for this height reduction were, essentially, done on the back of a napkin while the Town quickly attempted to resolve the height controversy over on South 8th Street.

To be fair to Town Councilor Tony Simmons, the new three-story structure behind his house does stick out oddly inconsistent with the neighboring old small houses. The future has just crashed into the past.

To be fair to the typical employee who lives here, the new height restriction guarantees that million dollar houses are all that will get built around that South 8th Street neighborhood. No one is going to build a $500,000. single family two-story house on a 50 foot by 150 foot lot on South 8th Street. But eventually, someone is going to be quite interested in building a whole block of 28-feet-tall two- million-dollar homes down there.

Town Councilor John Middendorf complained that the tiny supply of new multi-family housing being built downtown today is already anything but affordable. But, consider that the $500,000. to $700,000. town homes that can be offered in new multi-family buildings, are a whole lot better than the multi-million dollar second homes that will come later to the South 8th Street area as a direct response to the Town Council’s January 15th action.

Two story houses with white picket fences are no longer affordable to the blue-collar worker. Condos priced at $150,000. can no longer be built. Our nostalgia for cute, little neighborhoods downtown will kick the workforce and their families out of this town.

Pagosa Springs has something in common with Telluride, Breckenridge, Steamboat, and Durango. The process of gentrification -- the conversion of older neighborhoods into expensive newer homes -- is an unstoppable force in desireable places like ours.

So, Town Councilor Tony Simmons just saved the little single family character of South 8th Street. But, for whom?

The Wall Street Journal newspaper (January 19, 2008) carries a page one piece entitled “The New Gentry -- Wealthy folks are colonizing rural America, bringing cash, culture - and controversy”. Connor Dougherty writes “Affluent retirees and other high-income types have descended on these remote areas, creating new demand for amenities like interior design stores, spas and organic markets.”

“Such change can create social tensions, as longtime residents are either driven away because they can no longer afford housing or are forced to adapt to new careers.”

“One indicator of rural gentrification: an increase in residents’ total dividend, interest and rent income. That measurement, tracked by the Commerce Department, is a sign that new residents -- usually retirees -- are living off their investments rather than salaries. (Wall Street Journal)”

But money to buy also comes from active, mobile business people. The cover of this month’s Colorado Biz Magazine is an ode to the growing financial force of the Colorado Western Slope. Towns from Colorado Springs down to Durango are, in part, becoming “an economy based on location-neutral businesses, like the new Hewlett-Packard executives based in Steamboat Springs who live there….well, because they can. Rural, regional airports have stitched the country together even as Internet technology has allowed it to fragment geographically. The result has been a coagulation of wealth in the state‘s pretty spots, usually in those areas seeded first by ski areas. (Allen Best, Colorado Biz magazine, January 2008)”

The people coming in to buy Pagosa Springs up from underneath the locals don’t care if we’ve nurtured our local economy or not; they’ve got their own money.

In Sun Valley, Idaho the billionaires are pushing out the millionaires. In places desired by “the gentry”, there is a pecking order where the new, stronger money pushes out the old, weaker money.

The first concern is for maintaining our Town with young families and for trying to grow the local 18 to 40 year old population (or at least not have them leave). To achieve this, we must create high-density multiple-family dwelling units downtown. This is a job the Town Council could take on -- to grow the Town. The new height ordinance is going to kill off many of the multi-family dwelling units that would have otherwise been built.

One active local builder claims that new residential construction downtown must be sold for about $490. a square foot for a one-story building. A new two-story building must be sold for $360. a square foot and a new three-story building must be sold for about $300. a square foot. (I now have four reliable sources who report similar new construction costs.)

The second concern is for having a Town Council-driven economic growth plan. We need jobs and new businesses here, people.

We need more income in Town. Fortunately, we have vast resources and potential for more tourism, retreat, seminar, and outdoors enthusiast dollars coming into this Town than most people can even imagine.

The Southern Utes have taken financial advantage of their natural resources -- natural gas in their case. Why can’t Pagosa Springs take advantage of its natural resources? The Southern Utes have done so well as to carefully invest in real estate from Las Vegas to Kansas City. Now they are developing the 3,000-unit housing complex in Durango called Three Springs next door to the new hospital. The tribe also owns the water wealth of the almost complete Animas-La Plata Project. (Colorado Biz magazine; Jan. 2008)

The difference is leadership for growth and prosperity.

If our Town Council had the desire, we could similarly tap into our own unique natural resources for the benefit of all Pagosa area residents. Yes, we could be a nationally-known tourist destination! Instead of dragging our feet and protesting new development, let’s take advantage of it -- before someone else moves in to do it for themselves.

A separate topic is that South 8th Street was supposed to be a mixed-use neighborhood with a mix of small shops, multi-family homes and single family homes. It was supposed to be a complete pedestrian-oriented neighborhood along a major traffic route; not a quiet little side street. (Remember the Town Comprehensive Plan?)

With the stroke of a pen (on the back of a napkin) the Town Council turned the future of South 8th Street into two-story single-family houses. It took two years to write the Comprehensive Plan vision. The Comp Plan would allow on one lot, two residential units with a third commercial space like a flower shop. That is not going to get built with the new height limit. Million dollar houses will.

The question is “Who is going to buy these new homes?” That’s easy to answer -- just drive up and down the Colorado West Slope and visit all of the “little” towns 10 and 20 years ahead of us.

What kind of community for tomorrow is the Town Council building with today’s decisions? Let’s think about it. Today.

The kind of neighborhood that Councilor Tony Simmons has fought to save today is a “community” of second-home-owning multi-millionaires tomorrow. As we all know, that is not a “community”.

The Town Council could get into the drivers seat to grow this Town. The Town could plan for a diverse full-time community of the young and the old; the rich and the poor alike.

The future of Pagosa Springs looks like one of three possible options.

Option number one is for this Town to grow in a way that encourages new families and young people to stay here. Our full-time community and local businesses continue to grow. We grow our local economy with an economic plan led by the Town Council. And, yes, there will be lots of tourists and second-home owners.

Option number two is for the downtown to get built up and occupied mostly by multi-millionaires who only live here part time. Outsiders take over this Town and push the long-time locals out.

Option number three is that nothing ever happens and Pagosa Springs stays the same forever. Hint: ain’t gonna happen. We’ve got what the money wants. And it’s coming to get it, whether we are ready or not.

Tony Simmons' small house with the new Todd Shelton duplex behind it

2008-01-13T15:55:00.001-08:00

Town "Emergency" - the economy is dying

2008-01-13T15:44:00.000-08:00

The Town is stuck at a crossroads between the “nostalgia for yesterday” and the need to grow into the vibrant, business-minded realities of tomorrow. The Town is literally stuck. There are forces trying to save the small, one-story character of a quaint little town. And there are forces trying to build the town for the 21st century but only if it is economically feasible. There is a stalemate, and the Town is dying.

All land use planning in the United States starts with two rules. Rule number two is “not in my backyard” with your new development. Rule number one is “give me what I want first”. And so, the Town must decide how to let go of the death-grip on the nostalgia for the past and how to logically grow into the future.

The current Town "emergency" height ordinance is set to expire at the end of January. On January 2nd, the Town Council considered extending by another six months "emergency" ordinance 704 which is a moratorium on building structures over 28 feet in height in residential zoning districts downtown.

The "emergency" ordinance was placed in effect over five months ago after Town Council member Tony Simmons got upset with builder Todd Shelton's 35 foot building going up next door to his house, to hear Shelton explain it. Todd Shelton has mostly completed one 35 foot tall two-unit building and was about to legally build the second one. Shelton reported to the Town Council last week that it was Tony Simmons who managed to convince the Council that there was an outcry of public concern against such 35 foot buildings. Shelton argued that no one has demonstrated that there actually was such an outcry or that the public had any concern what-so-ever.

Let me admit up front that I have failed to discuss this matter with Tony Simmons before press time. I’ve driven by Mr. Simmons’ house and I’ll take the liberty of guessing (at my own peril) how Tony must be feeling about the situation. The Simmons house is cute, smallish and one story. Just like all the old houses in the neighborhood which are cute, smallish and one story.

But this story is not really about Tony Simmons’ cute, smallish house or the other old houses of the neighborhood. I’m writing about a dying economy and about the lack of new development downtown.

Tony Simmons’ house is a product of the last century. Todd Shelton’s duplex is a product of this century. Welcome to the new economy.

At last Tuesday's meeting, Town Councilmembers John Middendorf and Angela Atkinson expressed great concern that it was inappropriate to use an "emergency" ordinance to enact a height limit. No such "emergency" can be demonstrated. Secondly, since the Town has had its six month opportunity to address the "height issue", it is time for the Town to decide the matter once and for all.

A majority of the Town Council agreed to decide the issue at its upcoming Tuesday January 15th meeting.

A survey of three different experienced downtown developers puts the actual cost, today, of planning, permitting and building a structure downtown at about $300. per square foot -- or so they claim. This cost does not include the cost of the land.

From the "man in the street" perspective, all one needs to do is walk downtown to see that there has obviously been a financial disincentive to building anything downtown. Almost nothing has been built in the past five years. Almost nothing is being built now. No one seriously plans to build anything downtown in the foreseeable future.

So, it appears that the actual affect of the "emergency" height ordinance is to ensure that nothing will get built downtown as a matter of Town policy.

According to Sean Thompson, a local architect with projects downtown and in the County, "In this current political environment builders and developers are reluctant to be too vocal about capricious behavior on the part of the town for fear of their project being delayed indefinitely with procedures that come out of an inferior Land Use Development Code (LUDC) document. We are currently trying to amend the LUDC but it has taken almost a year since this process began and the committee is just now seeing the first draft."

Off the top of my head, the newer residential projects downtown consist of the mixed commercial Town Terrace next door to Victoria’s on Pagosa Street. Then there is Chris Smith’s Riverwalk condominums on the south side of town on the river. Bob Hart is bravely in the middle of construction on the river almost across from Town Park. Todd Shelton is wrapping up his two units behind Tony Simmons house.

There is not a whole lot more being built downtown. Nor is it likely that any new projects will be started any time soon.

Todd Shelton says he can build closer to $100. per square foot because he is a “do-it-yourself” kind of a guy. Most people can’t build that cheaply. He is building two units at 2000 square feet each, so that is a total of 4000 square feet. He says that he has $20,000. in impact fees per unit. So that is $440,000. in cost right there. Then he has to pay for the lot; let’s say $39,000. for that.

Maybe he can sell each unit for $250,000. each, maybe a little more. Well, if you do the math, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. In fact, it doesn’t make financial sense. Too much risk, too little return.

Todd Shelton says that he “is done with the Town”. He won’t be building anything else.

Rumor has it that developer David Brown “is done” and he won’t be building anything.

Are things any better “in the County”?

Pat Alley of Whispering Pines is currently constructing 20 relatively affordable units on the east side of Lake Pagosa. Whispering Pines is the most productive developer in both the Town and the County combined. According to Mr. Alley, “The PAWSD (water) fees for the housing project are $192,203. for 20 small economical units. The county fees were $10,395. and the increase (due to inflation) on our sprinkler system cost is 35% in four months. The new county impact fee would now add another $37,540. to this project. That is $240,000. in fees for a so called affordable housing (project).”

“The investors are from Dallas and the most they may receive is a $150,000. return on sales of $3,200,000. that is less than a 5% return. I convinced them to do this project for the working class here in Pagosa. They had intended on investing more into this community but now have second thoughts because of the attitude of the town and county about growth and a self induced moratorium.”

It seems unlikely that a 5% return would be enough to motivate either the investors or Whispering Pines to build another project of this type any time soon.

Bill Hudson of the PagosaDailyPost.com has just been running a series of articles about how the Pagosa blue-collar worker is an “endangered species” and will need some kind of governmental “endangered worker” act to save them from disappearing from Pagosa all together.

“It is not possible to build a $100,000 single family home on a $40,000 lot. On the other hand, it is very possible to build a four-story apartment for less than $100,000 per apartment, because we can save up to 25 percent per unit by stacking four units on the same lot. In other words, we can still build new housing that is affordable, even in the current market. But this new housing will not reflect the historic, small town character that we hold so dear.”

And so Bill’s five part exploration ends, right on target, at the dilemma that faces us now.

Density -- bigger buildings -- downtown is the only viable way forward. Period.

There is another side of the issue to what Bill Hudson talked about in his five part piece on “Pagosa’s Endangered Species”. It is looking a lot like we are on the verge of losing some of our most talented builders. Three years ago, it might have looked like the builders were coming in from every direction. But now it looks like the exodus may begin.

As the builders give up and leave, there will be less jobs. Less income will mean less revenue for our stores. Less retail revenue means less sales tax dollars for the Town and the County.

There is no such thing as “no growth”. Economies grow and expand or else economies shrink and die. We are currently shrinking.

So, here is what I urge the Town to do on Tuesday January 15th. Restore the height limit to 35 feet. In other words, leave the height limit alone and don’t reduce it. Make it at least 35 feet to the roof mid-span or else you will end up with tall boxes.

Likely, in this shrinking economy, no one is going to begin building anything new even with the 35 foot height limit. But at least the Town will have thrown a bone to the developers in the hope that someone will try.

Next step: the Town needs to get into the drivers seat to make development happen downtown. The alternative is further shrinking in the downtown core, less jobs, less retail revenue, and less sales tax.

No one is expecting any community leadership from the County this year while it gets itself into order. We can only hope that community leadership comes from the Town.

Either we heal as a team or we're going to crumble

2007-12-31T03:42:00.001-08:00

Six Action Steps for 2008

2007-12-31T02:38:00.000-08:00

In the recently released “Archuleta County Housing Needs Assessment” written by EPS consultants, we can find a prime example of the type of fractured, small-picture thinking that has led to the current financial chaos plaguing Archuleta County government, the downtown core and blue-collar citizens alike. In short, “poverty mentality” and the fear of growth has led to increasing poverty in this county.

The EPS document states: “This (housing needs) study included a survey of businesses in Archuleta County. Combined with the economic data presented above, the survey indicates stable economic growth.” But part of what EPS “presented above” was the following: “The average annual wage in Archuleta County is just under $27,000 per year, or approximately $12.90 per hour.”

Excuse me -- “stable economic growth”? What are the consultants at EPS smoking?

Did anyone at EPS ever consider the fact that the rate of annual inflation means “real wages” are decreasing every year in Archuleta County? Does anyone doubt $27,000. buys only half of what it bought five years ago? Maybe the problem is not prices going up everywhere, including Archuleta County, but maybe the problem is the number of employees growing faster than the number of jobs and this is what keeps wages artificially depressed in our County. We need more income from top to bottom.

According to the website “Shadow Government Statistics” (SGS - www.shadowstats.com/), “Inflation, as reported by the Consumer Price Index is understated by roughly 7% per year.” A chart on the website shows inflation running at almost 12% this year. What this means is a fixed wage of $12.90 per hour this year, compared to last year, is actually a reduction in purchasing power of 12%. EPS states “the average wage in Archuleta increased by 4 percent annually from 2000 to 2006.” The federal government claims inflation over that time period was about 2% per year. The SGS website puts inflation over those six years at about 10% per year. In other words, the purchasing power of wages has gone down about 6% per year, in a county with historically low wages.

None of this is a surprise. The US government has been printing money out of thin air for years and the rate of this increase has been increasing exponentially. To hide this truth, the US government stopped reporting “M3” statistics in March 2006. The SGS website estimates M3 is growing almost 16% per year at this point. The financial statistic “M3” includes: hard currency, money lent out by banks greatly in excess of their reserves, loans from foreign governments, and other methods of hypothecating debt which allow the United States to literally create money out of thin air. This allows the US to obtain goods and services from around the world and in exchange we give foreigners white pieces of paper now which promise to give them green pieces of paper later.

At the moment, “the U.S. current account deficit is approximately US$50 million an hour. That is roughly the rate at which its indebtedness is rising.” (The Dollar Crises by Richard Duncan; 2005) This means we are getting goods and services from the rest of the world and we are giving them promises to give them green pieces of paper at a later time……and the US is doing this at a rate of $50 million an hour in the year 2005. So, we get the stuff and they get the promises to be paid later. This is probably a good deal for us (think flat screen TV) but in the meantime the value of the dollar continues to fall. And so a $27,000. annual salary buys roughly 12% less this year than it did last year. Real assets like gold and real estate keep going up because the value of the dollar keeps going down.

But, according to the myopic view of the EPS consultants and many of our “leaders”, the problem is to hopefully be solved by socialist price reductions in housing for our workers. Never once does EPS mention the simple fact that Archuleta County workers’ real wages are falling year after year. In other words, just assume the rich get richer and the poor will get poorer. Bad working premise.

The EPS document notes: “The average home price in Archuleta County is $305,000. as of September 2007. To afford this, a household needs to earn approximately $88,000 per year. This annual income is equivalent to one earner making $42 per hour, or two earners at $21 per hour. This disparity between wages and home prices indicates that housing prices are influenced more by factors outside the local economy rather than by local wage and income levels.” Duh.

Let me put this another way, the economy of Archuleta County is failing to keep up with the real world. The doubling and tripling of real estate prices in the past few years was Archuleta County playing catch-up with the effect that inflation has quietly had on real estate prices throughout the nation over the past ten years.. Unfortunately, we did not grow our economy to keep up with real prices. Rather, the average County wage earner has seen her purchasing power decrease in the past few years.

A document from 2006 found on the Archuleta County website states: “Archuleta County has been unable to keep pace with the costs of inflation and the demand for services within the county due to population growth.” “The challenge faced by county government is to do more with less resources.” Excuse me……property taxes are up by how much from five years earlier, tourism has continued to grow and yet the county government has “less resources”. Why?

By way of comparison, consider the Southern Ute nation. They share the same geographical location as “Archuleta County”. Does the Indian Nation share the poverty mentality of the neighboring Archuleta County citizens? Apparently not. The Southern Utes have made entrepreneurial decisions to take advantage of their natural gas resources; arguably a finite resource. An example from the Southern Ute website: “Red Willow is the oil and gas production business of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. We use state-of-the-art technology to find and develop economic petroleum reserves. A key component to our growing success is our ongoing commitment to the highest standard of financial and operating business practices.”

Pagosa Springs has potentially far more valuable resources than the Southern Utes. We have something people across the continent want to enjoy, if we let them know it is here and we grow to accommodate their visit.

Without realizing what they are missing, the EPS paper quickly stumbles over this fact: “Despite the current market downturn, Pagosa Springs and Archuleta County will continue to be attractive for second home and tourism oriented real estate development.” Then EPS draws the conclusion “This creates an opportunity to work with the private sector to expand the supply of workforce housing through developer agreements and partnerships.”

In other words, let’s create programs to hand workers a fish. At no point is there any thought to teaching workers to increase their hourly wages or to become entrepreneurs themselves. At no point is there a vision that economic growth in this Town can benefit everyone financially. EPS blindly promotes the concept that $12.90 per hour is set in stone indefinitely and that working two and three jobs is an acceptable lifestyle for our blue collar workers.

Reading between the lines, EPS unconsciously promotes the theory of “the man” and “the system” which has enslaved the majority of the workers and consigned them to a fate of toiling away never to actually become financially prosperous.

The EPS report buys into and re-affirms that the prevailing “poverty mentality” in our Town is a God-given fact for the future. This is a lie. But only if you say so. If you subscribe to a belief of being a victim, then you are.

EPS notes “Archuleta County’s economic base is characteristic of many rural mountain areas that have transitioned from a natural resource - and agriculture - based economy to an economy based more on tourism, second homes and retirees, and services.” But have we taken advantage of our new economy opportunities? Apparently not.

In his masterpiece book “Critical Path”, Buckminster Fuller addresses the topic of scarcity and abundance. “Since Thomas Robert Malthus (1810) it had been assumed by all the world’s political ideologies -- as it is even today -- that there is a fundamental and lethal inadequacy of life support on our planet, wherefore, poverty and misery for vast millions of humans have been accepted as unavoidable. Wherefore, the also universally assumed law of ‘survival only of the fittest’ had given historical rise to various political ideologies, as ways of coping with this fundamental inadequacy -- each convinced that the ultimate proof of which ideological group is fittest to survive can be resolved only by periodic trial of arms.”

“Humans -- in politically organized, group-fear-mandated acquisition of weaponry -- have inadvertently developed so-much-more-performance-with so-much-less material, effort, and time investment per each technological task accomplished as now inadvertently to have established a level of technological capability which, if applied exclusively to peaceful purposes, can provide a sustainable high standard of living for all humanity, which accomplished fact makes war and all weaponry obsolete.” Imagine if you will, when Fuller wrote this book in 1980, even a visionary of his talent was mostly unable to predict the rise of the internet, for example.

Buckminster Fuller committed himself at the age of 32 to become his own guinea pig in a experiment “to discover what, if anything, the little, penniless, unknown individual, with dependent wife and child, might be able to do effectively on behalf of all humanity that would be inherently impossible for great nations or great corporate enterprises to do.” Though possibly best known for his invention of the geodesic dome, over a fifty year period Fuller compiled an extensive inventory of inventions, architecture, books, organizing principles and other tools for seeing how humans could do so much more with so much less consumption of materials so as to make obsolete the Thomas Malthus generalized theory of scarcity on the planet.

With regard to all of us humans moving bravely toward our destiny of abundance for all people, Fuller noted that “Much that I see to be inevitable is unthinkingly opposed by various factions of society. Reflex-conditioned society, facing exclusively toward its past, backs up into its future, often bumping its rump painfully but uncomprehendingly against the ‘potential-wealth coffers’ of its future years’ vastly multiplying capability to favorably control its own ecological evolution and the latter’s freedom multiplying devices.”

And so it is with each and all of us here in Pagosa Springs. The tangible potential for our little Town as a national tourist destination and as a center for healing in our world-class healing waters within the great outdoors that surrounds us, is a “potential-wealth coffer” that could easily enrich each and every citizen of the greater Pagosa Springs area, far beyond any of our imaginations. And, yes, all this can be achieved while protecting our small-town character.

The thing that stops us from reaching out and enjoying the fruit of our Pagosa Springs bounty is simply fear. There is fear of change, fear of the unknown, and fear deep inside each of us individually that, somehow, we are not really good enough to live the life of abundance that we have spent our entire adult lives consigning to “wishful thinking”.

Some may say the idea that the potential of Pagosa Springs will make all of us, together, wealthy beyond our dreams is utter lunacy. Consider the point of view of someone from the big City who comes and visits Pagosa Springs. The idea that a talented, mature adult would work three different jobs for 60 hours a week and make an average wage of $12.90 per hour would appear to be the total lunacy; especially considering that we are all sitting on this infinite pot of gold easily recognized by all who visit.

Are we willing to let go of our unconscious, deep-seated fears which keep each and all of us trapped within a “poverty mentality”? Are each of us individually and as a community ready to open up to our divine right to experience the abundance beneath our feet? The theory that God placed us here on this earth to struggle and to suffer is a lie. God placed us here on this earth, at this time, to realize a dream called “heaven on earth”. The nightmare we call “hell on earth” was conceived of by the human mind, not the mind of God. Each of us has the power individually to let go of this nightmare called “hell on earth” and begin training ourselves to live “heaven on earth”. And in so doing we allow the space and the light for others to do the same.

So now, how are we going to get there?

Action step number one is for each individual person to commit themselves to be willing to open up to a world of abundance within themselves that previously they kept shut down. Without your personal willingness nothing more will happen.

Action step number two is for each person to individually commit, on a daily basis, to no longer live from the fears which have guided their life in the past. Each of us must do this personal work. We must stop clinging to the past and fighting change and growth. We must dare to think that through a concerted team effort, all of us can benefit, together. This is called “thinking outside of the box” and moving beyond the fear.

Action step number three is for the people of Pagosa Springs and Archuleta County, which I now refer to simply as Pagosa Springs, to become aware of the “potential-wealth coffers” which exist beneath our feet and all around us. We have something here in Pagosa Springs that many, many people across the nation desire; this is why you and I live here.

We can offer this to many, many people without compromising the integrity and the beauty of what we have. Yes, we need more housing, more hotel beds, more restaurants, more shops and more services. Yes, we need modern government. Yes, all this will provide far more jobs and a higher standard of living for all citizens; if we are willing. If you look closely, all the naysayers are speaking the language of fear.

Action step number four is Pagosa Springs must hire a powerful public relations firm which can put Pagosa Springs on the map, nationally, as a must-see destination. Our current marketing efforts to date have focused on automobile-dependent tourists from a short list of states including: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Colorado.

We must intentionally become a nationally known phenomena. We are not offering some Disneyland. We are offering a healing journey to mother nature.

Action step number five is the Town government of Pagosa Springs must become a prime partner to making development happen, especially in the downtown core. If you want people to visit, then give them something worth showing up for. We need tourist services and amenities. There is significantly more vacant commercial space downtown than there was two years ago. The current half-dead state of the downtown core is a clear testament to the policies and actions of the Town Council and staff over the past five-plus years. This is neither condemnation nor praise, just a statement of the facts.

Question: Is it acceptable to the Town Council if the downtown commercial core continues to die over the next five years? If “yes”, then do nothing. If “no”, then the Town Council needs to move into the driver’s seat of making development happen downtown. The Downtown Master Plan is a beautiful document. Will it ever be built? The Town Council had better figure out right now what it will take to make it financially feasible for development to happen downtown. Otherwise, the locus of commercial development will continue to shift uptown around the new City Market and Aspen Village area and the downtown commercial core will continue to die.

Right now, there are three competing forces for the heart and soul of future downtown development. Those three options are: [a] the cheap-aesthetic, automobile-dependent Aspen Village style of land use, [b] the downtown master plan, and [c] nothing at all.

The Aspen Village style of land use can also be called the “1980’s shopping mall” style of land use. All trips to and from the shopping mall are automobile trips. There is no sense of place. You don’t go hang out there with friends. You don’t take visitors there on tour. You don’t walk there. Most of the uptown development is like this now. Fortunately, some of the newer commercial developments like: La Tazza, Higher Grounds, and Pagosa Brewing Company do provide a sense of place even within the sea of automobile-oriented, shopping mall style, suburban development.

The Aspen Village style of construction is a cheaper sort of poor mountain town, “rustic” aesthetic. The redundant use of various shades of “baby poop” brown and “forest” green is a little hard to understand. Even harder to explain is the failure of the owner of “The Jolly Green Giant” (a.k.a. the new Parelli building) to spend an extra $250. for a professional color consultant.

[Mark Weiler of Parelli informs me that he did spend money on those colors but that the developer of Aspen Village force Parelli to pick the green stucco color. I'll talk to Mark in early February to get the whole story.]

The Downtown Master Plan is a well-conceived, professionally-articulated vision for the downtown commercial core. The weakness of this plan is that it is very likely overly restrictive to an extent that it may never be built. Here are some quick back of the napkin numbers. Say it costs $250. per square foot to permit and build a new commercial building downtown. Currently, it is very difficult to find a tenant willing to spend even $18. per square foot, annually, in rent. Now quick, would you invest $250. for an annual return of $18.? Neither would I. Would you invest $250. for an annual return of $36.? (Note: we are not even talking about the cost of the land here.)

The downtown commercial core is facing another most likely scenario: nothing gets built at all. In the next five years, the only possible way that any commercial development will occur downtown is if the Town Council steps in as the leader to make it financially viable and becomes the lead partner with the developer/investor and the forward thinking citizenry.

Action step number six is County Home Rule. The massive problems we have seen with County Government will continue to unfold and be revealed in 2008. More time and energy will be wasted on finger-pointing and the assignment of blame. Some other key employees will leave. The election season will amplify the noise and true progress will be hard to find. Even once we have the problems behind us, the annual debt service to the airport all but ensures the County budget will be tight at best. Measure 1A funds will be used to balance the budget.

One way out of this mess is a County Home Rule charter. We need a hierarchical, streamlined County organization that functions like a business. Right now, the separately elected department heads act more like independent fiefdoms. We need a functioning, business-minded County government organization answering to a charter written by the people of greater Pagosa Springs. Right now our County does not have its own charter!

I have asked County Commissioner Bob Moomaw to place Home Rule on the Ballot for March. Home Rule requires the people to vote for an eleven member charter commission to be formed (in March, for example) and then the people get to vote again on the proposed charter (in November, for example). If Bob Moomaw will not pass a County resolution this January to place Home Rule on the Ballot, then I will personally coordinate a grass-roots citizen petition signed by approximately 600 County voters to place it on the ballot. Who else will step forward with me to ensure that this happens now?

The reason County Home Rule has not already been placed on the ballot is fear and mistrust of the general public to understand the process and create a strong new County charter. The time has come to move beyond fear and take control of our County government.

In case you are wondering, Home Rule does not affect any current County employee. All good, honest employees will be needed to perform County functions well into the future. The only ones to potentially feel threatened by Home Rule are those elected officials who currently do not answer to the people or who do not play well with the other County team members.

Later, we can use a Home Rule charter to begin creating a regional government between the Town and the County governments (or not). Eventually, I believe, the County government should disappear and be merged into the Town. All County employees and services would continue but the Town Council and Town Manager would run both the Town and the County functions as one unified body. The only people who will fear and protest this idea are those who are afraid of giving up power. The only power to be given up is the power of separation, division and personal empire building. The Town Council would be elected by and answer to the greater Pagosa Springs community. The Town Council would necessarily expand and mature into its vastly larger role.

It is time to shed our poverty-mentality limitations of the past and move into our destiny as a nationally-known destination for a healing journey to mother nature. It is time to admit our abundance to ourselves and to then share it with the world. All of us citizens of Pagosa Springs are standing on a resource which, right now, makes each of us wealthy beyond our wildest imagination. Do we have the courage to take advantage of it now for ourselves and our unified community?

Remember these things. We all live in a small one-town, unified community. There is no “us“ and “them“. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. From the time of birth, each human mind has learned to deceive itself such that each of us must be dragged kicking and screaming into the paradise of the natural flow of abundance. Let go of your own fears and your own resignation to the limitations someone else taught you. There is a way for all of us, as one community, to unselfishly tap into and share the wealth of the healing powers of mother nature found here in our town.

Teddy in Pagosa Springs

2007-12-03T07:28:00.001-08:00

Here I am on the south side of Town looking northward to the San Juan mountains. Click on the photo for a bigger view of it.

Pagosa Springs Downtown Master Plan

2007-12-03T06:48:00.001-08:00

Might we take one more look at the advantages of the Hot Springs Blvd. property for the future County government center and suggest an architectural concept not yet considered for that site?

The major design impediment to the 4.7-acre site is the current desire to include the jail underneath one roof with the County administrative offices and the Court. The Hot Springs property was sold deed-restricted to prevent a jail being built on that location.

I’m looking at the sketch site plan for the Hot Springs site that the County Commissioners were working with in January. It is about what you would expect: a smallish one or two story structure surrounded by a sea of parking spaces. That means a total building footprint of probably less than 25% of the lot. One advantage is that the County already owns the property.

In January, the Commissioners and involved public preferred a one-campus-under-one-roof scenario on the south-west corner of Highways 160 and 84. Everything would fit on that site. But, the County does not own that property.

The Town has a well-articulated plan and vision for the County to locate its administrative offices on Hot Springs Blvd. to create a unified government center. That was the plan when the County bought the 4.7 acres in 1999. That would mean that the jail would need to be located somewhere else. The County is concerned about transporting inmates from a new jail to a new County Courthouse. One of the options would be to build the new jail with or without the new County Courthouse over on the Fairgrounds property. Video conferencing would eliminate some of the necessary trips from the jail to the Courthouse. Another option is to purchase adjacent property on Hot Springs Blvd. which is not deed restricted.

The County’s consideration of the Hot Springs Blvd. site was constrained by the assumption of surface parking. Just for a moment, consider a new design concept. Put the parking in a lower basement level of a large-footprint County administrative building. The existing grade would allow a slight excavation for this parking. But the “basement” parking level would be enhanced by dirt fill around the sides and front to bury the basement level in a natural-looking landscaped hillside toe. The steep Stanley Levine hillside is immediately to the rear.

Underground parking allows a much bigger footprint for a new building than the “surface parking” concept. Then, imagine two stories on top of the basement parking level. Maybe 100,000 square feet per floor. How much is needed? This design would require a variance for height from the Town Council. No one knows if the Town Council would support a variance because no one has asked, yet.

The advantage of a three-story building is the potential for energy efficiency beyond a sprawling one or two-story campus. The Levine Hillside behind would provide a natural canvass against which the tall building would not seem so out of character with the vicinity. Possibly, the building could slide towards the rear of the lot. Maybe Levine would allow dirt fill on his property graded into the rear of the building effectively creating a highly energy-efficient earth-berm building and, at the same time, mostly hiding the building from views from Levine’s property. These initial design concepts could lead to the most energy-efficient building in all of Archuleta County.

There would be a lot of concrete retaining wall work involved. But, maybe, this expense would be offset by the fact that we already own the property. And, there would be significant yearly operational cost savings to heat and cool the earth-berm building.

But here is the real advantage. A historical small-town Main Street, anywhere, is typically defined by older-looking commercial buildings, a Town square or park, and the government administrative buildings. Right now, the most visibly prominent building downtown is the County Courthouse. By removing the County building from downtown, we are tearing out a major piece of the social fabric of our small town, downtown.

The Town’s draft Downtown Master Plan Chapter 3 envisions that the majority of County and Town governmental offices will be in the downtown, pedestrian core. Coupled with the river walk and the Hot Springs, this area will effectively be the public heart and soul of the downtown. The heart of the Downtown Master Plan is the civic space of the government hub. Placing a new County campus at the corner of Highways 160 and 84 creates a sprawling, divided Town center. Rather than creating a distinct sense of place as envisioned in the Town’s Comprehensive Plan and the Downtown Master Plan, the “two isolated government centers” County concept would create a vehicle dependent small-town sprawl with no identifiable “heart of the Town”. I’m thinking that the Town’s well-crafted land use plan should trump the County’s lack of planning.

We all live and work in the same one-town, small county. The County is merely looking for a 12-acre site to “plop” a future new facility campus.

But most seem to agree that some sort of joint regional government is in our future. How can we merge two Planning and Building Departments if staff have to drive to meet? The more that the County and the Town begin to operate cooperatively, the more we will need a new County campus to be near Town Hall. There is no “us” and “them”.

The intersection of Highways 160 and 84 will never be pedestrian-oriented. Every trip to and from County offices at that site will be automobile trips. The slowly improving housing stock downtown suggests the possibility of some pedestrian and bicycle trips along Hot Springs Blvd., a public transit node, and an ever-expanding set of lunch options.

I applaud Bob Moomaw and Bob Campbell’s efforts to keep the new facilities question moving forward. I suggest that we not rule out the Hot Springs site just yet. I suggest that we support the vision of the Downtown Master Plan and create a downtown civic space designed to articulate a “sense of place” radiating out of a unified future government hub. Are we looking to build a truly inspired Town plan or are we just rushing into the quick and easy thing?

Pagosa is a one Town, small County

2007-12-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

The creation of a money-saving, efficient single government for Pagosa Springs will happen in one of two ways. Number one is to sit back and wait for the bureaucracies within the Town and Archuleta County to figure it out. Number two is for the people to take the matter into their own hands and make it happen. It is time to create “The Town and County of Pagosa Springs“.

As reported in March 2007*, the Town and County administrations had been meeting and talking for an entire year about moving ahead with developing a study for a joint plan to create a regional government. Even the old guard leadership in Town Hall, while characteristically cautious, was willing to proceed with studying the matter. The County stopped the process dead in March.

A regional government formed by the County and the Town would start, logically, with combining the Planning and the Building Departments. Law Enforcement and Road maintenance are obvious candidates for a unified facilities operating under one budget. In order to actually proceed towards a Regional Government, the County would need Ballot Box approval by the voters to form a County Home Rule Charter. This is just what the Town did in year 2000. Here we have another example of the huge waste of time and money involved in two separate governments duplicating the same steps to govern the same community.

The problem with this “regional government” approach created by a joint committee of the Town and the County is that it would move at the speed of a bureaucracy; if at all. I believe that if County Commission chair Bob Moomaw gave the green light today for a joint study of regional government then it would pick up where it left off in March. I believe that if we, the citizens, gave Commissioner Moomaw a few more phone calls about building the future and a few less calls about the budget audit then he could be encouraged to put regional planning back on the table. Neither the audit nor the District Attorney’s office will fix the long-term budget woes of the County.

Commissioner Moomaw stated Tuesday night at the County “Audit Meeting” that he expects the disfunction amoungst the three Commissioners to continue unabated for the next 14 months until the next election. He was hopeful though that talks with the Town of a regional government plan could be revived early next year.

I like what those guys in Philadelphia were talking about in the year 1776. “ ….Governments are instituted among Men (and women), deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…..whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Functioning democracy never was handed out from the top on down. Democracy in action requires more from each of us than using the remote to watch the evening news from the safety of the sofa and getting involved only on election day. Let the bureaucrats do their job but don’t expect them to lead us into “a more perfect union”. If one unified Planning and Building Department and one unified Road Department make more sense for Pagosa Springs than two --- and it does --- you and I, the people, need to rise up and make it happen.

Right now, the people of Pagosa Lakes can rise up and ask to be annexed into the Town. Other residential subdivisions could request the same. The Archuleta County government would be left out of the process of such a request. No ballot box expense is needed; simply the signatures of 51%.

What would be the benefit to the existing Town? The Town would receive increases in new property tax revenue. It is also possible, for example, that the Town would receive more Highway User Tax Funds per person from the State than the County currently receives per person.

The Town would need to provide services to all of the newly annexed areas. These services to be provided are already provided by the Town elsewhere. Very roughly, the Town would receive monies that the County receives for delivering those services and the Town would enjoy an efficiency of scale as its law enforcement, roads and other departments grow.

The Town would want to first determine a genuine interest from us in proceeding with the annexations. Next, the Town would want to create a long-term annexation plan that addresses the logical way to proceed with annexations that eventually achieve the Town’s Future Land Use Plan. Third, a financial plan would need to demonstrate that the tax dollars we bring with us from Archuleta County would offset the cost of the Town’s expanded services for us.

What would be the benefit to the residents who would be annexed into the Town? Our tax dollars would be going towards a future worth building. Specifically, our tax dollars would be going toward the Town Planning and Building Department which already controls the growth and long-term vision of this Town. The commercial properties are already within the Town’s jurisdiction and are the economic future of the greater Pagosa Springs area. Newly annexed residents would vote and participate in the political process of the government body which already controls our economic future.

Annexed roads will be a large item of concern for the Town. The County has spent years and years dancing around the issue of road standards and maintenance. The County never has had the financial capacity to provide an adequate long-term maintenance plan for roads and bridges and the County never will. (If you disagree then show me the money.) The citizens of the residential subdivisions will be best served by crafting a new arrangement that makes it financially viable to incorporate into the Town.

Many of us have a vision of a thriving tourist economy. We see a future where Pagosa Springs is a national tourist destination. We see new hotels, restaurants, performing arts, conference spaces, destination weddings, seminars, retreats, a healing center, and maybe even an Arts College. For the most part, all of this will be built within the jurisdiction of the Town. Eventually, the sales tax revenues for the Town will grow.

If you live in a residential subdivision somewhere within three miles of the Highway 160 corridor then you live “in Town”. Your lifestyle is determined by the shops, jobs, and business opportunities made available by this urban core from Ace Hardware on the west end of Town all the way through Day Lumber on the east side of Town. “The County” is not where you live. You live “in Town”.

Let’s join the Town government which already controls our financial future. Let’s continue to create businesses, jobs, tourists, and sales tax revenue. Let’s become directly involved with future development along Highway 160. Let’s have a say on, (my personal pet peeve) for example, a total ban on the use of hideous shades of the colors brown and green (check out the new development in Aspen Village).

It is time to merge the County and the Town together. Logically, this entity will be called “The Town and County of Pagosa Springs”. We assume that this new entity would share the same borders as the old County of Archuleta. But maybe it doesn’t have to. Maybe we should investigate a “Town and County of Pagosa Springs” that occupies an area slightly larger than the area delineated in the Town’s Future Land Use Plan. This way there would be no revenue sharing with Archuleta County. Buckminster Fuller once said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Proceeding with annexations of the residential subdivisions into the Town builds for the inevitable, logical and desireable future of “The Town and County of Pagosa Springs”. Annexation could best benefit the existing Town if Pagosa Springs becomes its own unified Town and County. Next year, the Town is supposed to re-negotiate its 50-50 sales tax split with the County. Maybe the better plan is for the Town to become a Home Rule Town and County, take most of the residential population, and keep all of the sales tax.

Let Archuleta County keep the outlying areas more than three miles beyond the Town’s jurisdiction and keep the airport.

The County Community Plan continues to be outdated. Next year’s budget does not allow the County Planning Department to do what it really needed to do last year. The Ballot Measure 1A funds approved by County residents only one year ago have already disappeared into a black hole called “backfilling” (*refer to the patient analysis of Glenn Walsh, Pagosa Daily Post 10/24/07). No need to panic, we the people just need to do what needs to be done.

We are looking for a few good leaders from each of the distinct residential subdivisions within Pagosa Lakes. Community leaders are needed from: The Pines, Central Core, Village Lake, Ranch Community, Lake Pagosa Park, Lake Forest Estates, and Twincreek Village.

If you are willing to be a community leader and build for the future then contact me and I will get you the information and the support you need for your local subdivision to request annexation into the Town. We will figure out, together, how to make this work. It is a project but it will be done.

The people who say that it can’t be done, always say that. Home Rule means that the Town can amend its Charter any way that it sees fit. There are already two examples of merged City/Counties in the State of Colorado.

Don’t let the small details and the small thinkers overwhelm the logic of one Town - one government. Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come. All of us who live in these residential subdivisions right now live in Town as one community. It makes absolutely no sense to continue paying for two governments to manage our one community.

I call upon you, the citizens of Pagosa Springs, to rise up and take control of the future of your Town. The time to shed the unnecessary, outdated, and expensive Archuleta County control of our tax money has arrived. It is time for us to act.

Teddy Herzog learned how to renovate old houses from his dad and how to play music from his mom. He lives on North Village Lake with his daughter. Teddy writes and speaks about living from the heart, moving through fear into the flow of abundance, and living the life of your dreams. Teddy has five years career experience as a County Land Use Planner.

Do we need a County government in Pagosa?

2007-12-01T19:42:00.000-08:00

This may be the perfect time to ask the question “Do we really need a County Government structure in Archuleta County?”

We, the tax payers, are paying two administrations to do many of the same tasks plus we have a third redundant government entity. Let’s deal with the first two, first.

We have a Town of Pagosa Springs Planning and Building Department and an Archuleta County Planning and Building Department. But, we can merge the County into the Town and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy.

All we need to do is delete the County structure, modify the Town charter and become an expanded home-rule Town adopting the Council-Manager form of government, with an elected mayor and Town council, and a professional Town manager. Which is a lot like how the Town works right now. Home-rule means that we can easily create our own local rules for a single entity government that works for us instead of blindly following the two layer Town and County system boilerplate laid out in the State Constitution. Colorado already has 58 Cities and 28 Towns that are Home Rule Municipalities.

Why should we pay the Town to develop a comprehensive plan and vision for parts of Pagosa Springs and then turn around to pay the County to develop comprehensive plans and visions for other pieces of Pagosa Springs? We have intelligent, hard-working staff in both the County offices and in the Town offices.

A unified Planning and Building Department would be able to make use of most of the existing County and Town staff. We don’t need both a Town Manager and a County Manager and two separate staffs with separate budgets. We can choose to remove this unnecessary overhead. We would lose the need to talk about the “Big Box” issue at a series of Town meetings and then start all over again at the County level.

We would lose the need to pay for and maintain separate County offices which perform functions that an expanded Town government should handle. We would lose the need to pay for the Town and County to constantly negotiate policy with each other. Granted, there would be growing pains for the Town as it matures and modernizes into its larger role. There are two other examples in Colorado of combined Counties and Cities occupying the same geographical area. Functions like the jail, the sheriff, and the tax assessor would be administered by the Town Council though current staff would continue serving.

Not only would we save our public money on overhead, we would save our public time and focus by having one set of meetings for planning and administration instead of two separate processes. How much public time have we lost in the current County fiasco still in the early stages of unraveling?

The long finger of the Town’s jurisdiction already runs up the Highway 160 hill and includes the shopping mall of the new City Market and most other commercial properties. Although Pagosa Springs still acts like a Tale of Two Towns, the east side and the west side of Town are now functionally unified. The vast majority of the residents in Archuleta County already use both the west and the east sides of the County as a unified Town because it really is. The Town already receives half of the sales tax generated by the new City Market anyway. Why shouldn’t the west side of the County benefit directly from the 2% of the sales tax which gets sent down the hill to Town Hall. At the moment, most of the sales tax revenue which the Town receives is generated on the western side of Town though over time downtown will become an economic force.

Archuleta County covers an area of 1,364 square miles but only 34% of the lands are in private ownership. About half the County land is National Forest and about 15% of the land belongs to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. In other words, the total amount of land that the Town and the County manage is only 34% of the total amount of land in the County. If you subtract the land included in the Town’s Future Land Use Plan, and the National Forest/Open Space Land and the Tribal Lands from the entire area of the County, the remaining privately held residential and agricultural lands do not form a large enough area or populace to justify the existence of a separate County Land Use Planning administration.

It just doesn’t make sense for us to pay for an obsolete layer of government. Let’s not bother with trying to bring the County into the 21st Century, let’s just get rid of it.

The traditional Town-County model in the Western United States envisions something like several distinct towns or urban centers surrounded by a sea of agricultural lands. In the case of Archuleta County, Pagosa Springs serves as a central urban axis, the backbone, of a single unified entity more urban at its axis and increasingly more agricultural or open space the farther beyond the axis you travel.

Our small Town axis radiates as a single vector from Aspen Springs in the west and through the downtown at the east and beyond. This single axis and unity of County-wide purpose is hinted at in the map of the “Future Land Use Plan” of the Town’s Comprehensive Plan. Some people may still cling to the outdated myth of a community divided. But the Hispanics, the Utes, the ranchers, the Christians, the healers, the artists, the horse people, the hunters, the outdoor athletes, the second-home jet setters, the retirees, the real estate investors, the contractors, the merchants, and the employees all comprise a unified community clearly orbiting around the one, single commercial axis of Highway 160.

More than any other factor, it is our old remnant, redundant layers of government which serve to perpetuate a myth that somehow there exists more than one community here. It is already true that the terms “Archuleta County” and “the greater Pagosa Springs area” mean the same thing. We are a single, unified community primarily focused in providing tourism, recreation, and agriculture.

This is not some “melting pot” theory of unity but by actually celebrating and acknowledging our diversity and common commercial center we can enhance our functioning unity. Let’s acknowledge and build upon the history and contributions of the Hispanic community. Let’s open the door wider and invite further participation of our neighboring Indian Nation into our Town.

So what procedures could we use to merge the County and the Town? The most simple approach could be for a large majority of the property owners in the County to simply sign on to a letter requesting that the Town annex their land. This is what has happened to all of the commercial properties along Highway 160. The Town has annexed the commercial lands all the way up to the new City Market.

An education and outreach program would need to explain to the County land owners the financial benefit of merging the County into the Town, unifying redundant staff, overhead, and meetings, and finally removing the need to pay for an unnecessary County government. There are, of course, more complicated ways, including ballot measures, to achieve a County and Town merger which will be explored at a later time. All we need is the vision and the will of the people to get it done and the details of a County and Town merger will be worked out.

There will always be the naysayers and the small thinkers and those who are afraid to grow. So, let’s just get this out of the way right now. To those who cry “Keep Pagosa……Pagosa”, the truth has to be told that change is already upon us. Retreating to yesterday is not an option. There are only two options from here: poorly managed growth or smart growth. Pick one.

I like to say that all philosophies, all religions, all politics, all personal attitudes and all cultural beliefs fall squarely into one of two camps. There are only two ways of thinking for humans. Camp #1 believes that scarcity prevails, life is difficult, the limits of what we humans can accomplish are already known and we should generally be afraid of change. Camp #2 trusts in the flow of abundance, that life is a joyful experience, and that as clear-minded individuals and as a unified community we can accomplish all that we can dream of. There are only two ways to think. Pick one.

Our small Town way of life, the open space, the ranches and our growing appeal as a tourist destination, all need to be fostered by visionary leaders who can take us into tomorrow. We need visionary leaders who are willing to do whatever is necessary to unify our community and provide efficient government capable of guiding our inevitable growth into the 21st century. We need visionary leaders who understand how to promote and honor our cultural diversity and our unity of purpose as neighbors sharing the same commercial center.

Now, on to that third redundant layer of government. There was a time when a resident of the Pagosa Lakes subdivision was truly in a separate, distinct portion of the County. There was a time when the only agency overseeing building permits in the Pagosa Lakes subdivision was the PLPOA. But the recent growth of the County Building and Planning Departments have already made much of PLPOA’s old purpose obsolete.

PLPOA served a vital role 20 years ago but now it is an unnecessary third layer of government. Anyone building in Pagosa Lakes needs a building permit from the County and, illogically, also a PLPOA building permit. The PLPOA administers it own set of land use regulations and has its own separate, redundant meetings to approve building projects. We don’t need to pay for three levels of government when one will do the job cheaper and more efficiently. To simplify the process, maybe the best way to remove the redundancy of the PLPOA is to have a majority of PLPOA land owners change the Bylaws and grant land use planning and building oversight to a streamlined, unified Town Building and Planning Department.

Archuleta County really has solidified into a single, unified entity. The need to spend money for three sets of administrations and to have three sets of governance is over. Like Benjamin Franklin so aptly pointed out to a divided set of “individual” colonies in the year 1754, maybe the time has come to “Join, or Die.” We will continue to grow and the land will continue to be built upon. Going forward, either we maintain the archaic governing structures of division or we continue to foster the unity, quality, and desireability of the greater Pagosa Springs small Town community.