For the week of November 14 - 20, 2001

Trip to ‘real world’ is overdue

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Sun Valley Mayor Dave Wilson and the Sun Valley City Council minus one were off to Aspen, Colo., this week.

It’s about time they went.

Yet, they’re being criticized by lame-duck Councilwomen Linda O’Shea for spending taxpayer money at a time when the economy threatens to put the squeeze on Sun Valley’s budget.

They went anyway — as they should have.

The trip is no pleasure cruise. Along with looking at Aspen’s cultural facilities, the group will meet with city leaders to talk about parking, transportation and affordable housing¾ all hot-button topics in the Wood River Valley.

The council has been crippled for years because it refused to seek out lessons already learned in other mountain ski towns. Studying the experiences of towns that have already traveled the bumpy road called Growth gives local officials a chance to adapt the best ideas and avoid the worst mistakes.

O’Shea knows this because she is the single official in Sun Valley who ever completed a study trip to other mountain resorts.

Governing without the information that can be gleaned from such a trip is to govern deaf and blind. Every problem is new and solutions scarce.

It’s time Sun Valley city leaders emerged from their hermetically sealed borders and ventured outside to see what’s happening out there in the "real world."

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.