Ketchum?s two-headed thinking on land
Ketchum?s city council members seem to be of two minds when the fate of city-owned land is at stake.
In one case--the $1-a-year lease on part of the Park and Ride property to the proposed YMCA--the city is going through the rigors of enacting an ordinance and posting an advisory question on the Nov. 2 ballot that will ask residents whether such a deal should be consummated.
But then, in another case, the council airily agrees to swap a perfectly good piece of Main Street property for Wells Fargo Bank land (as well as throwing in additional city funds to make up the difference in values) without seeking the same advice from the public on the deal.
As part of the deal, the city also must demolish and remove two structures now used by the Sun Valley-Ketchum Chamber and Visitors Bureau--at city cost--and deliver the cleared land to the bank.
Taxpayers should be both confounded about two-headed thinking as well as upset.
Mayor Ed Simon talks grandly of using the newly acquired Wells Fargo land across the street and south of Giacobbi Square as some sort of park with underground parking.
Meanwhile, the chamber must seek a location for a new visitors center in increasingly expensive downtown commercial rental space, another cost that will show up in the city?s annual allocation to the chamber.
At the sole public hearing held on the subject, opinion favored keeping the Main Street lot and buying the Wells Fargo lot in addition.
Missing in the rush of this land swap was a vigorous effort by the city to stimulate public discussion of, or participation in, an issue that literally will change the face and character of downtown Ketchum.
If the proposed YMCA land lease is of such vital concern that it requires an ordinance and an advisory vote by the public, why is the council bypassing the public on the land swap with Wells Fargo?
One consequence of this shallow and hurried deal making is that the mayor and the council will draft a plan for the swapped land that then entails major funding--at the very time that other postponed needs such as repairing pot-holed streets, improving lighting and building sidewalks go begging.
What a surprise for taxpayers then.
It isn?t unseemly to remind city council members that even now, they?re fretting about revenue shortfalls and looking for ways to replenish the city?s shrinking coffers.
Such as taxing food, for goodness sake.
Every decision the city council makes ultimately involves a burden on the public.
The land swap was initiated with too casual an air, and surely with only the vaguest sense of what responsibilities would fall on the public purse for property the city eagerly acquired without much of a plan.
