‘More building is not the answer’

Affordable housing is perhaps the most talked about issue in our river valley community.  That is from Aspen down to Parachute. I posed a question to a group recently that was discussing housing. We had just learned that there are some 100,000 people living in that corridor. I asked if that was a good number, or should we go to 150,000 or even to 200,000 people? There were a few laughs.

We have grown enormously since I came into the valley in 1970. Aspen pioneered subsidized housing in 1978 with eight units. The new owners were picked in a lottery. The upper valley now has over 3,000 units. A new project is planned to add about 300 units. One of the assumptions  is that these units will be taken by people who are now commuters. Reducing commuting would reduce the traffic on Colorado Highway 82 and would reduce the exhaust fumes. These people would be saving hours per day in cars or buses. One question is will this be the result.  And a deeper question is what is the actual problem to be solved.

Going back to my first question about population, I submit that our base problem is growth. Building more housing is growth, and that begets more growth. Einstein’s famous dictum was doing more of what you have been doing and expecting a different outcome doesn’t make sense. This valley is not alone with these issues, all the western resorts have this same situation.

From the first Europeans to come to this land, “more is better.” Every bit of information we get tells us that the GDP needs to rise. Profits need to increase. The economy needs to grow. More jobs need to be created. This is a treadmill. But we are losing the battle against climate change. Only fundamental changes in our society will stop climate change. More building is not the answer.

Patrick Hunter, Carbondale

Brevity is still the soul of wit

The Glenwood Post is owned by Ogden Newspapers, the owner of Swift Communications, a West Virginia publisher of newspapers in 18 states. 

This publisher told me 3 or 4 decades ago that sentences must never be long. Sentences near or a little over 20 words strike a favorable balance between complexity and clarity. All of a short sentence will be understood by nearly every reader. Long sentences will seldom be retained nearly as well. 

I bring this up since the first sentence of a recent very good letter, “Don’t change tradition.” was 75 words. I hope my comment may be helpful for future letters to the paper.

Floyd Diemoz, Glenwood Springs