Telluride enrollment suggests bottom hit
TELLURIDE, Colo.—Has the recession bottomed out in Telluride? If school enrollment in August was any guide, it has. The gain in students wasn't large, but at least enrollment hadn't declined, as was the case last year. In Wyoming, schools in Jackson Hole also reported a gain from last year.
As of late 2009, Aspen was sliding
ASPEN, Colo.—Taking stock of labor statistics on the national holiday called Labor Day, The Aspen Times finds fewer people laboring in Aspen and Pitkin County and getting lower wages when they do.
The statistics were somewhat dated, going back to the last quarter of 2009, the most recent available. At that time, a state agency had found 10 percent fewer wage earners in Aspen and Pitkin County. Wages had declined 5 percent.
The Times, in noting these statistics, pointed out that they are incomplete, because Aspen is not an island unto itself. For example, while statistics are kept by counties, many contractors are based down-valley, in other counties. Similarly, the statistics do not reflect the toils of people who work for themselves.
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Tax receipts say July was pretty good
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo.—Mountain towns broadly enjoyed an uptick in business during July. It's not all that much, but it's moving in the right direction.
In Colorado, Mt. Crested Butte had 24 percent more sales tax collections for July as compared to the same month last year. The ski area's new attractions of mini golf and the Evolution Bike Park were probably crucial to that enormous spike.
Perhaps more broadly revealing was the story in Steamboat Springs, where collections of taxes on sales rose 1.7 percent compared with July 2009. It was the first monthly increase compared to the year prior since August 2008, just before the national economy began its free fall.
For the year, though, Steamboat's tax collections were down 3.3 percent compared to last year. Clearly, this economic recovery remains very much on the fence.
Mountain towns still deciding about pot
CARBONDALE, Colo.—Mountain and other towns in Colorado continue to work through where marijuana can be sold—and grown.
In Carbondale, 30 miles down-valley from Aspen, 12 businesses have already been licensed to sell marijuana. In addition, one business has been authorized to grow the plants.
Town officials have treated these pot shops much like liquor stores, requiring that they be at least 500 feet from school property. But they're unsure how to deal with the "grows," as the mini-pot farms are called.
One town trustee, Frosty Merriott, says that wherever such grows are allowed, the pot farmers should be required to get at least 30 percent of their energy needs, if not more, from renewable sources. He has lobbied for a similar requirement for a major new retailer in Carbondale.
No marijuana dispensaries exist in Basalt, 10 miles up the valley, but it's not for lack of trying. A group called Basalt Alternative Medicine had applied, but was informed that the application didn't comply with the regulations in several ways. Principals in the business were not at all happy, reports The Aspen Times.
