Inertia is the biggest enemy of the Sun Valley area.
Content to hide its light under a bushel these past decades, it finds itself the poor stepchild of the very ski and board industry that it founded.
And that's been just fine with the Private Idaho set whose sensibilities would take the area back to a pristine time that never really existed.
Today, the Sun Valley area faces a choice between positioning itself for economic recovery or retreating into a perpetually feeble state.
Candidates running for office in city elections this year embody that choice. The differences among them are stark.
Voters in Sun Valley will have a chance tonight to figure out which way to go in a Pizza and Politics forum at Carol's Dollar Mountain Lodge at 6:30 p.m. There, candidates for City Council will vie to lead the city one way or the other.
The Sun Valley area is located a long way from anywhere. Air service has declined with the economy. Changing schedules and the limited kinds of aircraft that fly into Hailey's small airport have challenged customer satisfaction.
The area's marketing is poorly funded relative to competitors—and thus, pitiful.
In spite of it all, the Sun Valley area is still the most cozy and charming of all the Rocky Mountain resorts. Bald Mountain's skiing and day lodges are unsurpassed.
It's always easier and less controversial to do nothing than to improve business, air service, local attractions and local life.
If the area is to thrive, voters need to listen well and elect people who will lead them there.
