Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Change is afoot


Change can be excruciatingly slow, especially here in the mountains.

In 1936, the fledgling ski industry began the changes that transformed the Wood River Valley's towns from down-on-their-luck mining towns to popular destinations for winter and summer visitors and permanent residents who sought high-altitude living. Even then, change followed only slowly.

Mountain resorts exploded everywhere in the West while the Sun Valley area merely plodded along, eclipsed in so many ways by its imitators. One local wag describes community attitudes this way: "Sun Valley, resisting change since 1936."

One of the striking characteristics of the area over the past 30 years is that aside from establishing zoning ordinances, valley communities have more often than not been passive players, shaped by others.

Yet, in what may go down as one of the worst years in the economic history of the United States, the Wood River Valley showed some progress.

After 30 years of lip flapping, Ketchum continued sidewalk improvements with a grant that finished a single sidewalk that now links Hemingway Elementary with the rest of the town. Without it, kids had been forced into the street, their small frames no match for behemoth SUVs whose drivers couldn't see them. Hailey and Bellevue also completed safe routes to school—a big step for our little ones.

The merger of the north county's free bus system, formerly KART, with the PEAK commuter buses and Sun Valley Co.'s private bus system created for the first time a comprehensive transportation system to move both workers and visitors in a cost-efficient way. When high gas prices return, and they will, the merged buses will be key to making transportation in the valley work.

The approval of the first new luxury hotel in the valley since 1936 was also a good step. Such hotels will bring the valley's appeal to a larger audience. Still needed are two or three more big hotels to accommodate larger numbers of visitors during peak months like July and August when local inns are full.

And finally, last week's announcement that this spring Sun Valley Resort will begin work on a new gondola on Baldy from the River Run base area to the Roundhouse couldn't have come at a better time. Construction will employ people in dire need of work. The gondola will enhance Sun Valley's "Old World romance in a pair of bootcut blue jeans."

All of these steps will help ward off the economic ossification and erosion that has threatened the valley's future. A few more like these and the valley may be looking at a new age of prosperity.




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