This year’s annual Economic Development Summit hosted by the Steamboat Springs Chamber on October 19th was themed “Backcountry to Boardroom: the business of the outdoors.” Few Colorado communities outside a metro area have grown outdoor sector manufacturing better than Steamboat Springs which boasts local startups Smartwool, Big Agnes, HALA Gear, Read more…
We have a crisis of civility in this country. Civility skills are not being taught or modelled at the federal level, and not in the mediums by which many citizens take in information about what is happening. In fact, in-civility is highlighted so frequently as “news” that it seems to Read more…
I wrote an article in the August edition of NWCCOG eNews about Grand Adventure Brewing that reveals a proprietor who opened for business to become a community anchor. Kremmling concurs because “Brewery” is already on a wayfinding sign in the center of town. Kremmling is unusual in its wayfinding signs Read more…
In our increasingly tribal culture, it matters what we choose to commit to vs. what we don’t. Our choices are shaping our culture and the places we live. Recently, I had the honor of facilitating a retreat for a newly-formed group of county commissioners that were exploring how the group Read more…
Recently, I ran into a friend whom I worked with when I was a project manager. He’s the best landscape architect I know, and he knows it. His company prices work accordingly. Bids were unapologetically 20 to 30% higher than others, which required explaining to my clients—who often chose his Read more…
If there was ever a time for a plainspoken, avuncular wise voice to remind us of the shared path that has bound us as Americans, and remind us how much has shifted (in how we absorb news, and how we have blurred the opinion vs objective news separation, and how Read more…
I just started a book called How Democracies Die. Suddenly it is not an idle question. I am reminded that our governance model is a grand experiment and not a particularly lengthy one as history goes. In fact, I have been fond of reminding my entrenched peers on lowly town boards Read more…
Kurt Andersons’ Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500 Year History is an unsettling read for unsettling times. I picked Fantasyland off the shelf because just like every other American, I believe the country is “haywire.” I feel compelled to attempt to understand how we got here. Fantasyland proved an Read more…
An inspired movement led by local government leaders is underway in the Colorado high country providing a stunning example of “local governments as laboratories of democracy.” In May 2017, Aspen Mayor Steve Skadron convened a group of cities and counties that were already individually working on sustainability, resiliency and climate Read more…
Reporting “Live” today, January 17, 2018, from Red Cliff Town Hall, and emailing in over Wi-Fi. A small click for me, a giant one, a long time coming for Red Cliff. Today, Anuschka Bales, Mayor of Red Cliff is hosting a Thank You Party—plates of cookies, urns of coffee and Read more…