Mountain Town News
By Allen Best
No evidence of exodus
AVON, Colo. – When the Great Recession arrived like a backed up sewer and the real-estate sector of ski towns slowed to the pace of a nursing home, predictions soon began of a mass exodus of people dependent upon real estate and construction.
That was in late 2008, and it may happen yet. But, so far, there is no evidence of streets suddenly vacated, as has happened in the past when energy and mining booms in the West have suddenly gone bust.
In fact, enrollment in public schools of the Eagle Valley – an area that includes Vail, Avon, and Eagle – grew substantially this year. That may have included some students who had previously been attending private schools in the valley, but the Vail Daily notes that the programs designed for children of immigrants who don’t speak fluent English grew by 250. Total enrollment increase was 450. Enrollment has increased every year since 1997.
The Vail Daily talked with a consultant, Denny Hill, of Strategic Resources West, which projects enrollment for school districts. Hill told the newspaper that he suspects people haven’t left because there’s really no compelling reason to do so. Every other place out there is in just as bad a shape. While living costs remain higher in mountain valleys, residents may tend to hang on just a little bit longer for fearing of losing money when they sell houses and condominiums.
But there are evidences of decline. Births last year at Vail Valley Medical Center declined by about 100, to 620. Automobile registrations in Eagle County dropped by nearly a thousand, to about 52,000.
What does the future bode for the Vail area and other mountain valleys? “I wish my crystal ball was clear, but this economy has me scratching my head,” says Hill. “There were some places that I didn’t expect to grow, but which did, and some others that declined a little bit more than I had expected.”
Market glutted with pellets
KREMMLING, Colo. – Could the dying and dead lodgepole pine forests that cover much of the mountains in northern Colorado be converted into something useful, like heat and electricity?
In June 2008, part of the answer seemed to have arrived at Kremmling, a town along the Colorado River equally situated between the ski towns of Vail and Winter Park, Breckenridge, and Steamboat Springs. A factory that grinds up wood and reconstitutes it as pellets, for burning in stoves, was opened.
But now, that plant is operating at one one-third speed, and another mill elsewhere in Colorado set up to take advantage of the available wood has closed entirely, reports the Middle Park Times.
Mark Mathis, owner of Confluence Energy, the company operating the factory in Kremmling, told the newspaper that there’s a glut in the pellet industry.
Mathis sees the solution being expansion of the market. “We need to rally support and find greater, larger, industrial applications for renewable energy,” he told the Times.
Recession fells indie Alpineer
CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – For 40 years, the Alpineer has sold skis and other outdoor gear in Crested Butte, a town that surely loves to spend time outdoors. But it couldn’t survive the Great Recession. The store has been sold to Christy Sports, a chain with 40 stores in the Rocky Mountains
“We were pretty close to having to shut the doors,” former owner Travis Underwood told the Crested Butte News. He said business was rough of late. “It’s hard. Everyone wants a deal, and at 25 percent off I was losing money. “
The Alpineer occupies more of a niche market than most Christy’s stores, with a greater specialization in mountaineering and backcountry equipment.
Immigrants press for reform
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Hundreds of immigrants, including many from ski towns of Colorado, gathered to press lawmakers for immigration reform. They asked for legislation that keeps families together, creates pathways to citizenship for immigrants, and protects workers’ rights.
The Summit Daily News reported that a dozen from Summit County attended.
“As people of faith from across the state, we denounce as inhumane the enforcement measures that have resulted in the separation of families and increased fear in our faith communities,” Ricardo Perez, of the Hispanic Affairs Pastoral Project, told the newspaper.
“Many of the people from Summit have been living here for years and years,” said Brendan Green, of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. “They’re valuable employees; they pay their taxes. They’re ready to be part of the political system, and it starts with learning how to do it.”
Consolidation to continue?
ASPEN, Colo. – Although Aspen and Pitkin County were the only ski town markets to post more than $1 billion in sales last year, it’s been a rough ride. Many real estate companies have closed down, and some long-term veterans think that more consolidation is on the way.
“A lot of people (at smaller firms) are holding on, anticipating a quick recovery,” long-time agent Brent Waldron told the Aspen Times. Once they realize that isn’t coming, he added, they will likely sign on with larger firms or put their real estate license in the closet and rely on another job.
Another agent, Craig Morris, said he is already seeing real-estate agents getting other jobs. “I’ve definitely seen more realtors wearing their (Aspen Skiing Co.) uniforms and waiting tables at night than ever before.”
But in this distress, Marcos Rodriguez sees opportunity. He was born in pre-Castro Cuba, arriving with his family in Miami just before the 1962 Missile Crisis. His father had only $10 to his name. But the family prospered nonetheless, eventually amassing a string of radio and TV stations.
Rodriguez sold the stations in the late 1990s and, at age 40, retired to Switzerland. But he missed America, moved to Aspen, and got entrepreneurial – buying up several radio stations. But, seeing that real estate was a much bigger industry, he got involved in that.
Now, he hopes to pair real estate with his electronic media – and in doing so bypass print media, a major expense in real estate sales. “So much of real estate marketing right now is trapped in the 20th century,” he told the Aspen Times. “Almost all brokerages seem to be advertising similarly. I’m racking my brain almost daily: ‘How can we reinvent this.”
The Times observes that others in the real estate sector seems to regard Rodriguez with curiosity, but are waiting for him to prove he has something new.
