It is very painful to see that the Ketchum City Council isn't making the decisions that I think it should be making. However, I don't feel helpless in matters of government when decisions are made that I don't agree with. What I do have control over are my actions in the face of those decisions. Therefore, my actions will be as follows in the face of the following two decisions:
1. The five-story hotel that will block the beautiful view as you first come into town: We have (most of us) chosen to live here to get away from high-rise buildings. It isn't necessary to build up on that lot—the city can drop its price, than select from developers and design options (that, of course, are no more than two stories high and are affordable) and maintain our all-important view of Baldy. Since the City Council doesn't care about that, my response to that decision is as follows: I will not spend money in that hotel, I will not support the bar or any of their services. To anyone I know who is coming into town, and to people who ask where they should stay, I will give suggestions on places that are not blocking views. If enough local people of this mindset agree to follow the same plan, and publicly state this, who knows? Perhaps the council, which is representing the people, will listen.
2. Food vendors: The ice cream stand and hot dog stand are plenty; I won't support anything that is allowed to take away from our local restaurants, which are fighting like mad to stay in business, and will adamantly encourage others not to as well. This is a no-brainer, and again the council isn't listening to its local businesses, but maybe they will listen when money isn't being spent because we boycott those stands? Money talks, and we who live here aren't being heard by our own government, so don't spend the money and they will go away. It's that simple.
People don't get drawn to cities because of little food stands—that's not a reason to go to a city, right? So if you offer more choices of places to eat, it doesn't increase business, it spreads more thinly, and during slack that is the absolute last thing that is needed. Common sense dictates this. I don't know what it takes to encourage common sense, but I know how to make my own choices in the face of the lack of it.
Dorie Adams
Ketchum
