Compassion around housing is a good thing. However, our City leaders are weaponizing one group against other vulnerable groups. Parking is the #1 concern of our elderly. Some of them built this community and have been here for decades. Telling them to put on their studded boots and walk multiple blocks to Atkinson's in the winter is not compassionate. We are trying to attract people with children to Ketchum (it is a priority in our Comprehensive Plan). Telling a mother with a stroller and kids in tow that she has to navigate downtown in the winter is not compassionate. Of course, we need to balance of interests, and we can never be fully optimized for all demographics. But when you blow up your downtown commercial district to put housing in it, when you clearly have better locations for it, is not compassionate and is clearly sub-optimal.
How you haven't been elected yet is beyond me. This is a well-laid-out argument, and the brainstorming at the end is provocative. I wish you were calling the shots!
In particular, I love the callout of bad data / basing decisions on other town's and city's standards and baseline. There's a reason why the current residents have chosen to call Ketchum home, and slowly chipping away at the town's status quo is going to turn this place into another Aspen or Vail. This is likely good for a very small number of people (select developers, etc).
These decisions feel ripe with selection bias, and a tendency to treat the number 1 largest concern among young citizens (affordable housing) with 100% dedication while making the other concerns (parking, planning, slowly eroding the town's "charm") worse.
How much do we pay these consultants? From what I can tell, the only value is having a third party spend thousands (tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands?) analyzing and making a decision so that the city has a scapegoat when the decision is unpopular.
I'll vote for you 10 times out of 10 Perry (mayor, city council, anyting). Please keep running!
Wow! That's very kind of you. I think your comment highlights the consequences of elections. Every decision in Ketchum is controlled by the three people who have the majority on the City Council.: The Mayor and Ms Breen and Ms Hamilton. We are living their vision for us.
The Mayor, with the Council approval, appoints the members of the two commissions with the most impact on our future: The P&Z and KURA. He has packed those with people who will be agents of his vision. Until the elections of Mr Hutchinson and Mr Cordovano, there was almost no dissent in City Hall, but they are in the minority.
I am pretty pessimistic about the likelihood of regaining community control of Ketchum until the next election, given the iron control exercised by the Mayor. We need people who would preserve and enhance the character of Ketchum to run for office. I am not enough!
Please encourage people you know to run for office lest we get a new government that is no different than the current government. Thank you for all you do for the community!
Great job laying things out clearly and factually. I am totally behind having "regular" people live in town (not just multi million dollar condos), but that housing doesn't have to be in the downtown core (in fact it shouldn't be, it should be at the edges of town). I want to have regular people in town and make it possible for people who aren't rich to live and work here. But giving them prime downtown spots is going to far. Especially when it comes at the expense of what makes the town cool, part of which is easy parking. Approving housing with parking spots was ridiculous.
Compassion around housing is a good thing. However, our City leaders are weaponizing one group against other vulnerable groups. Parking is the #1 concern of our elderly. Some of them built this community and have been here for decades. Telling them to put on their studded boots and walk multiple blocks to Atkinson's in the winter is not compassionate. We are trying to attract people with children to Ketchum (it is a priority in our Comprehensive Plan). Telling a mother with a stroller and kids in tow that she has to navigate downtown in the winter is not compassionate. Of course, we need to balance of interests, and we can never be fully optimized for all demographics. But when you blow up your downtown commercial district to put housing in it, when you clearly have better locations for it, is not compassionate and is clearly sub-optimal.
How you haven't been elected yet is beyond me. This is a well-laid-out argument, and the brainstorming at the end is provocative. I wish you were calling the shots!
In particular, I love the callout of bad data / basing decisions on other town's and city's standards and baseline. There's a reason why the current residents have chosen to call Ketchum home, and slowly chipping away at the town's status quo is going to turn this place into another Aspen or Vail. This is likely good for a very small number of people (select developers, etc).
These decisions feel ripe with selection bias, and a tendency to treat the number 1 largest concern among young citizens (affordable housing) with 100% dedication while making the other concerns (parking, planning, slowly eroding the town's "charm") worse.
How much do we pay these consultants? From what I can tell, the only value is having a third party spend thousands (tens of thousands? hundreds of thousands?) analyzing and making a decision so that the city has a scapegoat when the decision is unpopular.
I'll vote for you 10 times out of 10 Perry (mayor, city council, anyting). Please keep running!
Wow! That's very kind of you. I think your comment highlights the consequences of elections. Every decision in Ketchum is controlled by the three people who have the majority on the City Council.: The Mayor and Ms Breen and Ms Hamilton. We are living their vision for us.
The Mayor, with the Council approval, appoints the members of the two commissions with the most impact on our future: The P&Z and KURA. He has packed those with people who will be agents of his vision. Until the elections of Mr Hutchinson and Mr Cordovano, there was almost no dissent in City Hall, but they are in the minority.
I am pretty pessimistic about the likelihood of regaining community control of Ketchum until the next election, given the iron control exercised by the Mayor. We need people who would preserve and enhance the character of Ketchum to run for office. I am not enough!
Please encourage people you know to run for office lest we get a new government that is no different than the current government. Thank you for all you do for the community!
It's just common sense to do a practice run with the parking spot elimination.
Great job laying things out clearly and factually. I am totally behind having "regular" people live in town (not just multi million dollar condos), but that housing doesn't have to be in the downtown core (in fact it shouldn't be, it should be at the edges of town). I want to have regular people in town and make it possible for people who aren't rich to live and work here. But giving them prime downtown spots is going to far. Especially when it comes at the expense of what makes the town cool, part of which is easy parking. Approving housing with parking spots was ridiculous.