Jim Blanning, who shot himself last week after planting bombs in downtown Aspen, was continuously involved in the buying and selling of mining claims----even up to the day he died.
Post Time News resigned Monday from working with Factual Aspen Investigative Reporting (FAIR) because of this story--a story FAIR killed because of unrelenting pressure from good governance advocate Marilyn Marks. It's a story Post Time News says it's proud to publish because it's fair, accurate, and balanced, with plenty of positive things to say about Marks, who nonetheless threatened to unleash the hounds of hell if she could not control the story. What's the big deal: "The harshest critic of both Aspen City Council and City of Aspen staff now admits there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by anyone in the Burlingame Ranch affordable housing brouhaha."
Read the story and judge for yourself.
In coverage underwritten by Factual Aspen Investigative Reporting (FAIR), Post Time News reports, "In response to critics of the affordable housing program—and the recommendations of consultants—a new City of Aspen department, largely consisting of existing municipal employees, remains the most significant change in the management of the program since major discrepancies were discovered in an informational brochure concerning Burlingame Ranch sent in error to voters."
Posts filed under 'Post Time News'
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—The harshest critic of both Aspen City Council and City of Aspen staff now admits there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by anyone in the Burlingame Ranch affordable housing brouhaha.
“There were no criminal actions,” Marilyn Marks told Post Time News, “and we are not accusing anybody.”
Marks, a citizen advocate who has found a calling in monitoring city governance, supported a criminal investigation into Burlingame when another Aspen activist, James Perry, made the formal request to Aspen City Attorney John Worcester—who quickly turned thumbs down on the idea. Marks, nonetheless, continues to call for an investigation
“We never broke any laws,” Worcester said. “Besides that I have no other comment.”
The admission from Marks represents a level of vindication for the targets of her considerable ire—including Mayor Mick Ireland and City Manager Steve Barwick.
Continue Reading November 18th, 2008
[Editor's Note: This news coverage has been underwritten by Factual Aspen Investigative Reporting (FAIR). FAIR has been formed and organized in Aspen, Colorado, as a nonprofit corporation to conduct investigative journalism in the public interest, and to provide accurate, meaningful, and non-biased news coverage based on correct factual information.]
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—In response to critics of the affordable housing program—and the recommendations of consultants—a new City of Aspen department, largely consisting of existing municipal employees, remains the most significant change in the management of the program since major discrepancies were discovered in an informational brochure concerning Burlingame Ranch sent in error to voters.
“I don’t think this new position or department will help at all,” Don Davidson of the Citizens Budget Task Force told Post Time News. “The personnel in City Hall does not have the experience or know how to handle affordable housing projects. They just don’t have the skill. We need to hire a whole team of people with the experience.”
Continue Reading November 4th, 2008
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—Despite operating at a loss totaling nearly $2.8 million for the last two years, the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) is anxious to pass a November 2008 referendum in Pitkin County that would pump an additional $44.555 million into the system and propel RFTA from its roots in Aspen as a municipal bus system into a regional force to be reckoned with.
The referendum calls for a maximum bond repayment of just under $100 million.
Nearly half the bond, some $20.34 million, would go to a new Glenwood Springs station, an upgrade of Ruby Park in Aspen, and new parking throughout the system. Some $3.51 million has also been set aside for contingencies.
RFTA chief executive officer Dan Blankenship told Post Time News that were RFTA to operate in the red after the passage of Referendum 4A, the transportation authority would contemplate raising the rates for riders and other measures to make up the difference—including a return trip to voters to ask for more money.
Continue Reading October 14th, 2008
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—Despite major snafus in the affordable housing program, local elected officials are asking voters to approve an extension of the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) that paves the way for tens of millions of dollars of bonds—long-term debt that would be used to finance the program far into the future.
Aspen City Council is in fact asking voters to extend the RETT for bonding purposes for a total of 32 years into the future—the same amount of time the affordable housing program has been in existence. The consequences of municipal bonds are far-reaching because they would dramatically shift the affordable housing program from a pay-as-you-go model to one largely dependent on debt financing at a time of global concerns about the reliability of credit markets and declining RETT revenue due to a slowdown in the local real estate market.
Continue Reading October 8th, 2008
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—The Wheeler Opera House, owned by the City of Aspen, has ambitious plans to expand in a way that not only could threaten chances for a long-term endowment, according to the City’s former Finance Director, but also calls into question whether the historic Opera House has the right to expand based on the language used to create the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) that provides a revenue stream.
Former Finance Director Paul Menter, now Finance Director of the nonprofit Aspen Community Foundation, told Post Time News the Wheeler can’t spend the money to expand and still be able to meet an endowment goal of $70 million by 2018, a figure set by Aspen City Council in a budget proceeding to make the Opera House self-sufficient.
“If they are taking all this money to expand,” Menter said. “There will be no way that they can get rid of the RETT [in 2018] and set up an endowment to run the Wheeler Opera House. I just don’t see how they can do it.”
Continue Reading October 1st, 2008
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—Because it kept important details from the public, the City of Aspen’s attempts at transparency in the Burlingame Ranch affordable housing brochure brouhaha exacerbated a bad situation and made it worse in the realm of public perception.
No one disputes the Burlingame brochure misled voters in 2005 when it appeared before the election with an inaccurate “total” cost figure of $74 million for all three phases, a number approved by voters but one that left out infrastructure costs in a snafu uncovered in April 2008 by the Citizens Budget Task Force appointed by Aspen City Council. But in its aggressive and even admirable efforts at transparency after the problem became public, Aspen City Staff failed to disclose basic details describing who was responsible for how the brochure discrepancy had come about. The gap in the City’s official explanation gave critics ammunition as they assumed the worst—a problem that persists to this day.
Continue Reading September 23rd, 2008
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)—The Burlingame affordable housing project came unglued in part because key departments within the City of Aspen were all but excluded from the communications, budgeting, and implementation processes.
Post Time News has learned these exclusions were sometimes intentional and sometimes circumstantial, but the net net was the virtual elimination of checks and balances within City government made manifest in the inaccurate Burlingame marketing brochure distributed to voters. Because of the mistakes, Aspen voters subsequently approved the project based on cost estimates for the three phases that were low by an order of magnitude: the brochure estimate for the “total” cost of Burlingame was $74 million; the most recent estimate by City Manager Steve Barwick, including infrastructure costs, was $138 million.
Continue Reading September 16th, 2008
[Editor's Note: This news coverage has been underwritten by Factual Aspen Investigative Reporting (F.A.I.R.). F.A.I.R. has been formed and organized in Aspen, Colorado, as a nonprofit corporation to conduct investigative journalism in the public interest, and to provide accurate, meaningful and non-biased news coverage based on correct factual information.]
ASPEN (Post Time News)—Even a city like Aspen, known for affluence and excess, can flat run out of money when it comes
to funding affordable housing.
One solution: to borrow money in the municipal bond market in part to pay back the millions you just borrowed from your
own internal funds.
After spending more money than the City had in the bank to bank land for its 32-year-old affordable housing program, the
City of Aspen was compelled to borrow $8 million from the Wheeler Opera House fund to help finance more than $35 million
in land purchases. The City may be forced to borrow millions more from the City-owned Wheeler to pay off the outstanding balance, according to Aspen Finance Director Don Taylor.
“Additional amounts may have to be borrowed from Wheeler fund in 2008 to cover the 18,000,000 that was spent in 2007
on the BMC West lumber yard,” according to an email from Taylor. “It will depend on the RETT actual collections and what
happens with the bond issue.”
Continue Reading August 5th, 2008
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)--Chef Ryan Hardy and Montagna Restaurant here cleaned up when it came to the announcement of semifinalists for the prestigious James Beard Foundation awards.
Hardy was nominated for best chef in the Southwest, while sommelier Richard Betts in the category of wine and spirits professional. Montagna in The Little Nell here in Aspen also received a nomination for outstanding service.
Chef Mark Fischer from six89 on Main Street in Carbondale will vie with Hardy for best chef in the Southwest, with finalists in all categories to be annoucned March 24, 2008.
Continue Reading March 6th, 2008
ASPEN, COLORADO (Post Time News)--Local Aspen columnist Gary Hubbell either struck a chord or rang a bell with his piece entitled: "In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man."
"Here is one group no one has recognized," he writes, "and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard."His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone — just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard."
Continue Reading February 20th, 2008
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