After years of listening to people complain about high property taxes, too many consultants, irresponsible use of funds, no accountability etc., the list of outsourced services and their costs just keeps growing. What is wrong with this picture?
I own two properties in Ketchum - one is occupied by a local family who has agreed to relocate temporarily during peak tourist times - a little inconvenient for them but they enjoy a very nice place for 300+ days a year. The other I spend 6 months in and rent during peak times. I was late in paying my annual fee and now have to reapply altogether. The city has outsourced all of this to a firm called Granicus. Some local programs need to be managed locally... I worked in tech for my whole career and am very familiar with outsourcing - this is not an area for that...
Perry, I’m going to take one more pass on this thread and give you some feedback whether or not you want to read it. I have too many other projects that are more important to me and for which I am responsible, so I’ll say this quickly and move on down the road. Here goes:
1. There are several reasons why I think you are failing to move the needle at City Hall. The common denominator relates to the point I made in my first comment to you about the ‘us vs. them syndrome” and the increasingly adversarial stance that you are taking with the council, (although I understand and sympathize with your anger). Bottom line: You’re not sufficiently savvy strategically in my opinion, nor are you sufficiently skilled enough as a communicator, to be an effective agitator. The analogy I’d use at the moment is that of a plaintive schoolboy.
2. The primary impediment is not the mayor and his minions, it’s the pinheads in Boise and the political environment in Idaho. You obviously know that. I said that “they will take you down” but it would be more accurate to say that they will wear you down. You think the next mayor and council will right the listing ship and chart Ketchum’s housing crisis on a different course? Think again. It’s the system, not the mayor, and it’s bigger than all of you put together. Shift the lens and re-draw your boundaries. You need to up your game.
3. Prepare a case and argue it in a court of law. Start with governor and take no prisoners. Any statute that prevents a resort town from having a say in how its residents run commercial enterprises with their properties and prevent adequate oversight needs to be revised or removed. The negative impacts of the housing crisis and the severity of its damage, both economically and socially, are out of sync with what the laws purport to protect. Ironically, they also contradict a principle once considered sacrosanct by the conservative Republican mindset, that less government is better government. Boise needs to back off and let the local governments of resort towns control their own affairs, and their own destinies.
4. As I understand it, a definition of what a resort town is in Idaho has been established. That’s your starting point. I wish I could avoid using this word but it boils down to a lawsuit. I doubt you as an individual have the will or this, nor do you have the time, energy to do this alone, not to mention the money. You need to form a coalition of people that does and then do a thorough analysis of the policies and statutes that are rapidly turning Ketchum and the Wood River Valley into a typical suburban nightmare.
5. Instead of saying “Appreciate that comment and the article. None of the tools in BC are legal in Idaho. They aren’t likely to be legal given the election outcome”, develop a stronger sense of agency. At the moment I would say your that efforts are looking increasingly quixotic and that at this rate you will fail. Pissing and moaning on Substack is not the answer.
PS. This song keeps coming back up to me as a metaphor for the times, and also for what you and your Poncho Sanza's are doing battle with. Consider it as a form of aural anti-venom? It was written back when AIDS was The Black Death, not COVID-19 and climate change, but it strikes me as still being relevant.
Perry, it might be a good exercise to consider evaluating and re-drawing your boundaries to match the topology of the landscape. I leave it to you do with its message what you will...
Perry, with all due respect, if you wrote that my response is you're spewing bullshit. This is why:
1. You can have your opinions but you are anything but an authority on that subject. Just because you think moving overseas to avoid the moral turpitude of American politics doesn't mean you get to make pronouncements on how other people should act.
2. A corollary of that is this: nobody, and I mean nobody, cares what you think. You are not a moral authority and you are not in charge.
3. As for me, my wife and I left the US in 1996, got residency in 1997 and citizenship in 1999. Why? We were living in Charlottesville, VA, and the reason we left was the lack of gun control in the US.
When it comes to your view on "cowardice" in this regard, you don't know what you're talking about. Keep that kind of bullshit to yourself. Cheers.
To get a little more specific, what I've come to pledge myself to is Planet Earth rather than boundaries on the map. I haven't driven a car since 2017 when I left the US for the second time. Every time you turn the key to one of your vehicles, you are committing a microscopic murder. The thing is, it adds up, right? I haven't heated my house for the last three winters (you can do that here when you live on the coast, even at 42.4-degrees South). I spend an average of NZ$17.50 per week on electricity. My carbon footprint is pretty low. You can call me self-righteous if you want now, but in the grand scheme of things, who's hypocritical here. Don't try to hand me that "red-blooded American" pablum mate, it doesn't wash anymore. Read that George Montbiot article I linked to you a little more closely and expand your horizons. You're not as smart as you think you are. Nobody is, pretty much, and that's both beautiful and tragic.
You have a streak of self-righteousness, Perry, and it is beneath you. Try to avoid being an ill-informed, judgemental asshole, OK? How I live my life is none of your business, much less the thought processes and beliefs that I use to rationalize it.
As for your question, yes, I still have my US passport. Dual citizenship is allowed and I could also get an Australian passport by default if I so wished. What's it to you? You spent time in Argentina, right? You have a fairly good education and live a fairly privileged lifestyle, but don't try to hold me accountable to your standards just because they are your standards. Try to avoid being a tw0-legged cliché and call me after you've sobered up.
I can pledge allegiance (as you put it) to more than one country and there's not a thing you can say about that that makes a difference to me.
Perry, it's not that you're wrong, but your rhetorical style is starting to sound a little shrill and histrionic. This can undermine credibility, and in those less disposed to agree with you, your credulity. Like all of us, your voice is a very small cog in the much larger systemic machine of free-market capitalism; not that I'm proposing its replacement, so don't take this personally.
What is required in my view is a degree of regulation and oversight that's supported by a political ethos and social contract that recognizes it's possible for government to be competent, and to preserve and protect the people it purports to serve. Our largely algorithm-driven, money-dependent politicians on both sides of the aisle have been largely hoodwinked into an 'Us vs. Them' mentality.
It seems to me that there's a middle ground where a balance between shaping behavior via public policy and protecting the diversity of thought and action is possible, but it's a messy business. So is Socialism. It's easy to add fuel to fire of discontent and divisiveness these days when anyone with a Facebook, X, or TikTok account can purport to be (and maybe even sound like) a virtual expert. We tend to think we know what we're talking about simply because we have an online account. Such is the state of critical thinking in American society these days.
The article linked below from the newspaper that covers Canmore, BC, caught my eye. Have a look at some of the work local government is doing there with regards to housing. If the boneheads in Boise hadn't drunk so much Kool-Aid, Ketchum City Council could up its game in the gladiatorial arena of public policy, but then, most of the council members drink Kool-Aid for breakfast, lunch and dinner:
Hi Perry, thanks for the reply. To answer your question I refer you back to the first sentence in my comment. I don't think you're wrong.
If I had to put a finer point on it though, and maybe because I'm tracking the issues from afar and so see them through a lens that's different from the one I'd be using if I still lived in the US and Ketchum, I do have some thoughts.
What comes to mind are some aspects of your approach on Substack that, from my point of view, potentially undermine what you are ostensibly trying to both achieve and prevent:
1. Polarization and the "us vs. them" syndrome. This sets the stage for an inefficient (at best) and often self-destructive (at worst) decision making environment. I would say that is becoming a kind of background condition (more or less subtle) in much of what you have been saying lately. It's probably less than helpful in my view. I've always tried to look at public sector people as allies even if they are not, and to believe that they generally know what the phrase "public servant" (emphasis on the second word) means at some level, and that they know intuitively and/or cognitively when they are violating the contract. Call it optimistic self-deception on my part, a form of civilian trade-craft, but it has some utility at the table.
2. "What Do They Do With All Their Free Time? Replace Locals With Tourists": I don't believe there's a consciously constructed strategic and tactical intent in the planning process and its implementation by City Hall. The small town power putative brokers that sit around that table are neither devious nor intelligent nor self-aware enough to operate -- a priori -- on that level. Do they have their fingers in the pie? For sure, it's probably more human nature than nefarious intent that's the underlying prime mover. Your wording in that subheading might have benefited from some editorial feedback.
3. If you 'zoom out' and look systemically at the housing and development problems Ketchum is facing, it puts the whole process in a different light. What has happened there (and in the entire country by the looks of it), reflects a socioeconomic system that conditions people to think in terms of conflict rather than cooperation. Hell, the country was founded on a fervent (read 'febrile') belief in individualism. Four hundred million weapons in the hands of the civilian population are ample evidence of that.
Social media are one big reason that individualism has run amok. Politicians have become tools for the wealthy elite (billion dollar campaigns? WTF!) and there's still a primitive belief that this little planet is here to serve our interests ("Man shall have dominion..." comes to mind). it's been codified.
This conditioned thinking is woven into the country's social and cultural DNA. Europe does not suffer from this affliction or at least not in the same way, and I can pretty much guarantee you that this is not on Bradshaw's mind when he thinks through what is apparently best for Ketchum. He just wasn't educated to have that kind of perspective. Like all of us to a greater or lesser degree, and irrespective of net worth, he's a tool of forces of which he is not fully aware and over which he has effectively zero control. Or does he? That is a salient question in my way of thinking.
To reiterate, I don't think you're wrong! Keep fighting the good fight. Somebody out there has to get some dirt under the fingernails to get this said and you are doing some important work in the ring. At some point you might have to take off the gloves if you haven't done so already in your mind, but don't underestimate the effectiveness of the feint, right? Consider the possibility that an effective feint is getting them to like you...then go for the left hook. If you don't, they will take you down sooner or later because the system as a whole is working that way at present. It's pretty much dog eat dog.
Remember, footwork is key and never underestimate your enemy. Cheers man and be well.
Andrew F.
PS. Case in point: I don't care how risk tolerant, innovative and supposedly brilliant (in a very narrow way) Elon Musk is. Nobody should have -- and no government should sanction -- an environment where one little shithead has well over 200 billion dollars and who is given free reign to engineer the algorithms that help determine the quality and density of exchanges between a couple of billion people online, and who's now gotten in bed with a primitive simulacrum of a human being like Dorito Boy.
Good governance with competent execution would not have allowed that to happen. It's out of fucking control and it's probably gonna get worse before it gets better, but the pendulum will swing, it always does even if we can specify when, that is if Gaia doesn't rip out our collective jugular first.
My apologies for the pugilistic metaphors but this is going to be a street fight. I have a feeling that Kamala Harris and Liz Cheny might team up. Stranger things have happened. Leave it to the women!...most of us males are Neanderthals. Kool-Aid spiked with testosterone is a potent brew...and while I'm at it, fuck Bibi and double-fuck Putin. Stay angry for a while yet.
You win the prize for the most thoughtful and comprehensive comments on The Ketchum Sun!
I hear you on polarization. We have 6 years of data on Bradshaw/Breen/Hamilton. They have been consistent, and I doubt they will change, so we need to overthrow their control of Ketchum if we want a change in course.
The biggest problem in Ketchum is apathy. Only half of the voters bother to vote. The second biggest problem is that there is no information to the public on what is happening. The Mountain Express is not doing its job, and its current ownership will never do its job.
I am trying to wake people up to what is happening. Yes, I am melodramatic, but it kinda works, doesn't it? Would you have contributed your thoughts if my post hadn't bothered you a bit?
If we continue on all tourism all the time to the exclusion of all else policy that drives the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley, we are going to continue to have a shitty "three jobs or three houses" economy, and the middle class will continue to get squeezed out of the north valley. Some argue that this is inevitable because tourists will always be more profitable than locals. Even if that is true, we don't have to be total idiots and tax ourselves to accelerate the trend. We can at least stop doing the stupid things we do.
Nothing is going to change in Boise to help Ketchum. It's gotten worse with this election. Bradshaw explained this to me years ago- he told me it is useless to fight against Airbnb for Ketchum in Boise, and he has been 100% correct. I did not realize how badly he wants Airbnb to succeed in Ketchum (see last City Council meeting).
This begs why Ketchum is spending so much money on lobbying in Boise. As per usual, we are the vast majority of the funds for resort city lobbying--the other cities won't pay for it. They are probably better stewards of their money.
My hope for Ketchum is that we can get to better governance with the next election. We will have a new mayor and potentially two new council members.
Thanks for the kind words, Perry, but if you also you think I'm a bit of a loose cannon (canon) and a fairly rough around the edges, you'd be kind of right about that. Anger does that and Scottish blood (not Irish) runs in my veins.
The thing is, I don't care anymore. What people think of me is their business not mine. We think along similar lines and that's why I feel free to extemporize with my replies. To be clear, I replied not because I found your wording and rhetorical style irritating, but because I can see and agree with what you are talking about. To follow up:
Consider this response as #4 to your second question:
1. Every short-term rental that's advertised on the internet in resort towns in Idaho should be required to register as an LLC. Maybe this is already required, I haven't checked, tbh.
2. As registered businesses, these enterprises would then be subject to all of the tax, safety and insurance requirements as their commercial retail counterparts.
3. in addition to that, develop a rationale for a local government surcharge on short-term rentals.
Rationale and mechanics:
1. There is, I believe, a definition on the books for what defines a "resort town" in Idaho.
2. Formalize the requirements for registering every property in Ketchum that is a short-term rental. Use the internet as the means to establish the count. It's the best, (and perhaps only) way to practically validate and justify. Sure, it's not perfect but it will work well enough to start, and it also introduces both a free-market connection and a circuit breaker. It's not all or nothing forevermore; it's dynamic and inherently location-specific. The analogy would be "we're not trying to take your guns away, they merely need to be registered."
3. Establish a threshold to be applied to all the resort towns in the state: When the ratio of registered short-term rentals vs. the total number of dwellings reaches a predetermined number, a local council is given the statutory option to implement a surcharge on all short-term rentals. This could be justified in a number of ways and it would need to be very skillfully presented.
4. An inventory of the local short-term rental registry would be taken each year. If the ratio decreased below the threshold, the tax is removed. A yearly census would track the numbers and the surcharge re-activated if/when the threshold is reached again. Again, this is dynamic, not an example of the "end times".
5. Notwithstanding my rude and derisive tone with regard to finding an ally in the intestinal labyrinth of the Boise State Capitol, doing so would clearly be a necessary step. There's got to be someone in that building with a few drops of progressively creative blood in their veins. Find that person/people.
6. Develop the arguments, file a suit if necessary, and if you do, hope that it can get enough traction to be argued in the Idaho Supreme court. Just raising the visibility of the issue is probably a justifiable end in itself. It would be expensive but surely there's a group of like-minded people in Ketchum that could pull it off financially.
7. The concept of fair taxation is (or used to be) a cornerstone of the nation's founding.
Look at what's happening to Barcelona, Lisbon, Mykonos, Santorini and Rome, and how those governments are responding to the problem of overtourism. It's like a simultaneous scourge of locusts and lemmings that could turn Ketchum into a quasi-suburban nightmare of a cookie-cutter dung heap that everybody thinks smells like Chanel No.5. This stuff is right out of Plato's cave.
You will most likely NOT have the time, inclination or energy for this kind of effort (assuming it is a viable legal play), but a small group of like-minded people working together might be able to. Why does the state's tax code exclude the possibility of collecting standardized tax revenue from short-term rentals? Or, maybe it does. To be honest I wouldn't know, so what I'm saying could very easily be moot but there's no doubt that local governments and their constituents are paying a disproportionate price. It's a sign of the times.
Fyi, for me, Substack is one of those places to verbally roam around, freewheel it a bit and hopefully do it rationally. I'm not sure how well I'm pulling it off with this exchange on your forum but in the grand scheme of things, I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. It's pretty obvious that the online lifestyle (as a culture) is about shooting from the hip a good bit of the time. I simply do not care whether people like or agree with me, but I do hope to make some sense and have a modicum of positive influence, if possible, not to mention a bit of fun now and then, eh?
So thank you again for all that you do to shed light on the hypocrisy, inertia and dissemination of the status quo. Speak your truth to "power" and stay angry for a while yet.
And since it's the weekend, you might enjoy watching this documentary by Lauren Greenfield if you haven't already seen it:
PS. Perry, since it's the weekend...and just in case you haven't read these articles, I suggest that they could be worth you time. I'm a supporter of George Monbiot and saw the first article below a few days ago in The Guardian UK. The second artilcle showed up today and I've just started reading it:
1. Trump has pledged to wage war on planet Earth – and it will take a progressive revolution to stop him -
Perry, a third response to your second question came to mind whilst mowing some grass:
3. Change the laws that prevent towns like Ketchum from doing what they are able to do in Canmore, BC. A space in a home or a free-standing structure that is marketed and managed as a short-term rental on the www is a business. It's a privately owned asset being used in a free-market setting to generate income. Why is it not required to be a registered business with the attendant requirements?
Find some office-boy meathead with his/her name on a door in the State Capitol who's sympathetic to that argument. There's enough money in Ketchum to fund the effort. Trouble is, a lot of the people in Ketchum that you might need as allies rent out that type of property, and a lot more of them would qualify for a "vacancy tax" most likely, so your pool table is not level enough for you to set up your shots and get enough english on the ball for a good run through the legislative maze**. Still, it might be worth considering.
**I don't know why all these lamebrain metaphors are coming up today. I rarely go down that road. My apologies, this stuff is all off the cuff.
Pery, this is the last gasp in my thread of diatribes. The people of Lisbon take action:
"...If all lines up, the referendum would be held in the first half of next year and result in a binding resolution to phase out the city’s 20,000 or so tourist flats within six months, as well as barring landlords from setting them up in residential buildings in the future." ...
Lisbon residents call for vote on banning tourist lets in residential blocks
Wrt outsourcing sustainability (“[t]hey gave this to the Blaine County Sustainability Commission”), the Ketchum Sustainability Advisory Group (KSAC) is comprised of the following City employees: a Senior Project Manager (leads construction and infrastructure projects), an Associate Planner, a City Council member, the City of Sun Valley’s (first ever) full-time Sustainability Manager, the two staffers from the Blaine County Sustainability Program, and two local volunteers, one of whom has worked for both Ketchum and Hailey, the other of whom is myself (a semi-retired career sustainability professional). We meet regularly at City Hall to evaluate what measures the city can and should take to reduce its carbon footprint, reduce waste, and use resources more effectively (and save money where possible). This is done in close collaboration with the County program, of which Ketchum (and Hailey, many local and regional businesses) is a partner. As with many essential services, sustainability knows no political boundaries (city, county), and often there are great synergies and economies of scale to be had by working collaboratively with our neighboring jurisdictions.
In my five years volunteering for KSAC, I have found its participants and the city’s entire staff to be hard-working, serious, thoughtful, and eager to explore how embracing sustainability efforts can benefit the city and the comminity.
I hope this provides some useful clarity.
Scott Lewis
Ketchum Sustainability Advisory Committee
Co-chair, Green Building and Clean Energy Task Force, Blaine County Sustainability & Climate Program
Why does KSAC meet in secret if it is public committee? Why is there no information on the CIty website about KSAC from the past four years? How is KSAC accountable for actionable sustainability? Why does KSAC have members from Hailey and Sun Valley? Scott, this seems like terrible governance. Can you get them to be transparent and accountable?
KSAC hardly meets “in secret.” (Ironically, I was about to (and will after I finish this response) invite you to our next meeting, so you could see the non-outsourced work in action…). I’m not sure who on KSAC lives in Hailey, but I live in Sun Valley. Regardless, as a volunteer (versus elected), I can’t fathom how this could be relevant. I probably have more sustainability experience than all but a small handful of people in the valley, so I try to help where I can. And I feel part of the larger community regardless of where I live. Pray tell what could possibly be wrong with my volunteering for KSAC? As to “secrecy” and “accountability,” as with all city meetings, anyone interested can ask when and where we meet and show up - are any city meetings other than Council publicized on the City’s calendar (not a rhetorical question - this is something I know little about)? As to why there isn’t more on the City’s web site, I would say two things: 1. Resources. Every city employee on KSAC has a job of which attending KSAC is a very small part. For someone to have responsibility for updating the web site would take time away from what are perceived as other priorities (everyone has more to do than time to do it), and, (b), I agree, there should be periodic updates and I’ll put that on the agenda of our next meeting. Nothing secretive or nefarious going on here, just people working hard on things they care about and doing the best they can.
After years of listening to people complain about high property taxes, too many consultants, irresponsible use of funds, no accountability etc., the list of outsourced services and their costs just keeps growing. What is wrong with this picture?
I own two properties in Ketchum - one is occupied by a local family who has agreed to relocate temporarily during peak tourist times - a little inconvenient for them but they enjoy a very nice place for 300+ days a year. The other I spend 6 months in and rent during peak times. I was late in paying my annual fee and now have to reapply altogether. The city has outsourced all of this to a firm called Granicus. Some local programs need to be managed locally... I worked in tech for my whole career and am very familiar with outsourcing - this is not an area for that...
David
dlpotts83@gmail.com
Perry, I’m going to take one more pass on this thread and give you some feedback whether or not you want to read it. I have too many other projects that are more important to me and for which I am responsible, so I’ll say this quickly and move on down the road. Here goes:
1. There are several reasons why I think you are failing to move the needle at City Hall. The common denominator relates to the point I made in my first comment to you about the ‘us vs. them syndrome” and the increasingly adversarial stance that you are taking with the council, (although I understand and sympathize with your anger). Bottom line: You’re not sufficiently savvy strategically in my opinion, nor are you sufficiently skilled enough as a communicator, to be an effective agitator. The analogy I’d use at the moment is that of a plaintive schoolboy.
2. The primary impediment is not the mayor and his minions, it’s the pinheads in Boise and the political environment in Idaho. You obviously know that. I said that “they will take you down” but it would be more accurate to say that they will wear you down. You think the next mayor and council will right the listing ship and chart Ketchum’s housing crisis on a different course? Think again. It’s the system, not the mayor, and it’s bigger than all of you put together. Shift the lens and re-draw your boundaries. You need to up your game.
3. Prepare a case and argue it in a court of law. Start with governor and take no prisoners. Any statute that prevents a resort town from having a say in how its residents run commercial enterprises with their properties and prevent adequate oversight needs to be revised or removed. The negative impacts of the housing crisis and the severity of its damage, both economically and socially, are out of sync with what the laws purport to protect. Ironically, they also contradict a principle once considered sacrosanct by the conservative Republican mindset, that less government is better government. Boise needs to back off and let the local governments of resort towns control their own affairs, and their own destinies.
4. As I understand it, a definition of what a resort town is in Idaho has been established. That’s your starting point. I wish I could avoid using this word but it boils down to a lawsuit. I doubt you as an individual have the will or this, nor do you have the time, energy to do this alone, not to mention the money. You need to form a coalition of people that does and then do a thorough analysis of the policies and statutes that are rapidly turning Ketchum and the Wood River Valley into a typical suburban nightmare.
5. Instead of saying “Appreciate that comment and the article. None of the tools in BC are legal in Idaho. They aren’t likely to be legal given the election outcome”, develop a stronger sense of agency. At the moment I would say your that efforts are looking increasingly quixotic and that at this rate you will fail. Pissing and moaning on Substack is not the answer.
I hope you prove me wrong and good luck! I’m out.
PS. This song keeps coming back up to me as a metaphor for the times, and also for what you and your Poncho Sanza's are doing battle with. Consider it as a form of aural anti-venom? It was written back when AIDS was The Black Death, not COVID-19 and climate change, but it strikes me as still being relevant.
Perry, it might be a good exercise to consider evaluating and re-drawing your boundaries to match the topology of the landscape. I leave it to you do with its message what you will...
youtube.com/watch?v=l5CbL9TgQxc
...*Pancho* Sanza's...
Perry, with all due respect, if you wrote that my response is you're spewing bullshit. This is why:
1. You can have your opinions but you are anything but an authority on that subject. Just because you think moving overseas to avoid the moral turpitude of American politics doesn't mean you get to make pronouncements on how other people should act.
2. A corollary of that is this: nobody, and I mean nobody, cares what you think. You are not a moral authority and you are not in charge.
3. As for me, my wife and I left the US in 1996, got residency in 1997 and citizenship in 1999. Why? We were living in Charlottesville, VA, and the reason we left was the lack of gun control in the US.
When it comes to your view on "cowardice" in this regard, you don't know what you're talking about. Keep that kind of bullshit to yourself. Cheers.
Just to be clear, the above is in response to your comment on LinkedIn that you referenced in one of your replies to me.
Question: did you keep your US citizenship when you pledged your allegiance to a new country? If so, why?
To get a little more specific, what I've come to pledge myself to is Planet Earth rather than boundaries on the map. I haven't driven a car since 2017 when I left the US for the second time. Every time you turn the key to one of your vehicles, you are committing a microscopic murder. The thing is, it adds up, right? I haven't heated my house for the last three winters (you can do that here when you live on the coast, even at 42.4-degrees South). I spend an average of NZ$17.50 per week on electricity. My carbon footprint is pretty low. You can call me self-righteous if you want now, but in the grand scheme of things, who's hypocritical here. Don't try to hand me that "red-blooded American" pablum mate, it doesn't wash anymore. Read that George Montbiot article I linked to you a little more closely and expand your horizons. You're not as smart as you think you are. Nobody is, pretty much, and that's both beautiful and tragic.
You have a streak of self-righteousness, Perry, and it is beneath you. Try to avoid being an ill-informed, judgemental asshole, OK? How I live my life is none of your business, much less the thought processes and beliefs that I use to rationalize it.
As for your question, yes, I still have my US passport. Dual citizenship is allowed and I could also get an Australian passport by default if I so wished. What's it to you? You spent time in Argentina, right? You have a fairly good education and live a fairly privileged lifestyle, but don't try to hold me accountable to your standards just because they are your standards. Try to avoid being a tw0-legged cliché and call me after you've sobered up.
I can pledge allegiance (as you put it) to more than one country and there's not a thing you can say about that that makes a difference to me.
Perry, it's not that you're wrong, but your rhetorical style is starting to sound a little shrill and histrionic. This can undermine credibility, and in those less disposed to agree with you, your credulity. Like all of us, your voice is a very small cog in the much larger systemic machine of free-market capitalism; not that I'm proposing its replacement, so don't take this personally.
What is required in my view is a degree of regulation and oversight that's supported by a political ethos and social contract that recognizes it's possible for government to be competent, and to preserve and protect the people it purports to serve. Our largely algorithm-driven, money-dependent politicians on both sides of the aisle have been largely hoodwinked into an 'Us vs. Them' mentality.
It seems to me that there's a middle ground where a balance between shaping behavior via public policy and protecting the diversity of thought and action is possible, but it's a messy business. So is Socialism. It's easy to add fuel to fire of discontent and divisiveness these days when anyone with a Facebook, X, or TikTok account can purport to be (and maybe even sound like) a virtual expert. We tend to think we know what we're talking about simply because we have an online account. Such is the state of critical thinking in American society these days.
The article linked below from the newspaper that covers Canmore, BC, caught my eye. Have a look at some of the work local government is doing there with regards to housing. If the boneheads in Boise hadn't drunk so much Kool-Aid, Ketchum City Council could up its game in the gladiatorial arena of public policy, but then, most of the council members drink Kool-Aid for breakfast, lunch and dinner:
rmoutlook.com/canmore/canmore-tourist-homes-now-require-business-licence-visitor-accommodation-being-explored-9765815
Andrew Fitzgerald
Appreciate that comment and the article. None of the tools in BC are legal in Idaho. They aren’t likely to be legal given the election outcome.
You have a good point on my tone, but what about the analysis? Where am I wrong?
Given the cards are what they are, what would you suggest be done in Ketchum?
Thanks.
Hi Perry, thanks for the reply. To answer your question I refer you back to the first sentence in my comment. I don't think you're wrong.
If I had to put a finer point on it though, and maybe because I'm tracking the issues from afar and so see them through a lens that's different from the one I'd be using if I still lived in the US and Ketchum, I do have some thoughts.
What comes to mind are some aspects of your approach on Substack that, from my point of view, potentially undermine what you are ostensibly trying to both achieve and prevent:
1. Polarization and the "us vs. them" syndrome. This sets the stage for an inefficient (at best) and often self-destructive (at worst) decision making environment. I would say that is becoming a kind of background condition (more or less subtle) in much of what you have been saying lately. It's probably less than helpful in my view. I've always tried to look at public sector people as allies even if they are not, and to believe that they generally know what the phrase "public servant" (emphasis on the second word) means at some level, and that they know intuitively and/or cognitively when they are violating the contract. Call it optimistic self-deception on my part, a form of civilian trade-craft, but it has some utility at the table.
2. "What Do They Do With All Their Free Time? Replace Locals With Tourists": I don't believe there's a consciously constructed strategic and tactical intent in the planning process and its implementation by City Hall. The small town power putative brokers that sit around that table are neither devious nor intelligent nor self-aware enough to operate -- a priori -- on that level. Do they have their fingers in the pie? For sure, it's probably more human nature than nefarious intent that's the underlying prime mover. Your wording in that subheading might have benefited from some editorial feedback.
3. If you 'zoom out' and look systemically at the housing and development problems Ketchum is facing, it puts the whole process in a different light. What has happened there (and in the entire country by the looks of it), reflects a socioeconomic system that conditions people to think in terms of conflict rather than cooperation. Hell, the country was founded on a fervent (read 'febrile') belief in individualism. Four hundred million weapons in the hands of the civilian population are ample evidence of that.
Social media are one big reason that individualism has run amok. Politicians have become tools for the wealthy elite (billion dollar campaigns? WTF!) and there's still a primitive belief that this little planet is here to serve our interests ("Man shall have dominion..." comes to mind). it's been codified.
This conditioned thinking is woven into the country's social and cultural DNA. Europe does not suffer from this affliction or at least not in the same way, and I can pretty much guarantee you that this is not on Bradshaw's mind when he thinks through what is apparently best for Ketchum. He just wasn't educated to have that kind of perspective. Like all of us to a greater or lesser degree, and irrespective of net worth, he's a tool of forces of which he is not fully aware and over which he has effectively zero control. Or does he? That is a salient question in my way of thinking.
To reiterate, I don't think you're wrong! Keep fighting the good fight. Somebody out there has to get some dirt under the fingernails to get this said and you are doing some important work in the ring. At some point you might have to take off the gloves if you haven't done so already in your mind, but don't underestimate the effectiveness of the feint, right? Consider the possibility that an effective feint is getting them to like you...then go for the left hook. If you don't, they will take you down sooner or later because the system as a whole is working that way at present. It's pretty much dog eat dog.
Remember, footwork is key and never underestimate your enemy. Cheers man and be well.
Andrew F.
PS. Case in point: I don't care how risk tolerant, innovative and supposedly brilliant (in a very narrow way) Elon Musk is. Nobody should have -- and no government should sanction -- an environment where one little shithead has well over 200 billion dollars and who is given free reign to engineer the algorithms that help determine the quality and density of exchanges between a couple of billion people online, and who's now gotten in bed with a primitive simulacrum of a human being like Dorito Boy.
Good governance with competent execution would not have allowed that to happen. It's out of fucking control and it's probably gonna get worse before it gets better, but the pendulum will swing, it always does even if we can specify when, that is if Gaia doesn't rip out our collective jugular first.
My apologies for the pugilistic metaphors but this is going to be a street fight. I have a feeling that Kamala Harris and Liz Cheny might team up. Stranger things have happened. Leave it to the women!...most of us males are Neanderthals. Kool-Aid spiked with testosterone is a potent brew...and while I'm at it, fuck Bibi and double-fuck Putin. Stay angry for a while yet.
You win the prize for the most thoughtful and comprehensive comments on The Ketchum Sun!
I hear you on polarization. We have 6 years of data on Bradshaw/Breen/Hamilton. They have been consistent, and I doubt they will change, so we need to overthrow their control of Ketchum if we want a change in course.
The biggest problem in Ketchum is apathy. Only half of the voters bother to vote. The second biggest problem is that there is no information to the public on what is happening. The Mountain Express is not doing its job, and its current ownership will never do its job.
I am trying to wake people up to what is happening. Yes, I am melodramatic, but it kinda works, doesn't it? Would you have contributed your thoughts if my post hadn't bothered you a bit?
If we continue on all tourism all the time to the exclusion of all else policy that drives the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley, we are going to continue to have a shitty "three jobs or three houses" economy, and the middle class will continue to get squeezed out of the north valley. Some argue that this is inevitable because tourists will always be more profitable than locals. Even if that is true, we don't have to be total idiots and tax ourselves to accelerate the trend. We can at least stop doing the stupid things we do.
Nothing is going to change in Boise to help Ketchum. It's gotten worse with this election. Bradshaw explained this to me years ago- he told me it is useless to fight against Airbnb for Ketchum in Boise, and he has been 100% correct. I did not realize how badly he wants Airbnb to succeed in Ketchum (see last City Council meeting).
This begs why Ketchum is spending so much money on lobbying in Boise. As per usual, we are the vast majority of the funds for resort city lobbying--the other cities won't pay for it. They are probably better stewards of their money.
My hope for Ketchum is that we can get to better governance with the next election. We will have a new mayor and potentially two new council members.
I will only follow your first suggestion below!
Thanks for the kind words, Perry, but if you also you think I'm a bit of a loose cannon (canon) and a fairly rough around the edges, you'd be kind of right about that. Anger does that and Scottish blood (not Irish) runs in my veins.
The thing is, I don't care anymore. What people think of me is their business not mine. We think along similar lines and that's why I feel free to extemporize with my replies. To be clear, I replied not because I found your wording and rhetorical style irritating, but because I can see and agree with what you are talking about. To follow up:
Consider this response as #4 to your second question:
1. Every short-term rental that's advertised on the internet in resort towns in Idaho should be required to register as an LLC. Maybe this is already required, I haven't checked, tbh.
2. As registered businesses, these enterprises would then be subject to all of the tax, safety and insurance requirements as their commercial retail counterparts.
3. in addition to that, develop a rationale for a local government surcharge on short-term rentals.
Rationale and mechanics:
1. There is, I believe, a definition on the books for what defines a "resort town" in Idaho.
2. Formalize the requirements for registering every property in Ketchum that is a short-term rental. Use the internet as the means to establish the count. It's the best, (and perhaps only) way to practically validate and justify. Sure, it's not perfect but it will work well enough to start, and it also introduces both a free-market connection and a circuit breaker. It's not all or nothing forevermore; it's dynamic and inherently location-specific. The analogy would be "we're not trying to take your guns away, they merely need to be registered."
3. Establish a threshold to be applied to all the resort towns in the state: When the ratio of registered short-term rentals vs. the total number of dwellings reaches a predetermined number, a local council is given the statutory option to implement a surcharge on all short-term rentals. This could be justified in a number of ways and it would need to be very skillfully presented.
4. An inventory of the local short-term rental registry would be taken each year. If the ratio decreased below the threshold, the tax is removed. A yearly census would track the numbers and the surcharge re-activated if/when the threshold is reached again. Again, this is dynamic, not an example of the "end times".
5. Notwithstanding my rude and derisive tone with regard to finding an ally in the intestinal labyrinth of the Boise State Capitol, doing so would clearly be a necessary step. There's got to be someone in that building with a few drops of progressively creative blood in their veins. Find that person/people.
6. Develop the arguments, file a suit if necessary, and if you do, hope that it can get enough traction to be argued in the Idaho Supreme court. Just raising the visibility of the issue is probably a justifiable end in itself. It would be expensive but surely there's a group of like-minded people in Ketchum that could pull it off financially.
7. The concept of fair taxation is (or used to be) a cornerstone of the nation's founding.
Look at what's happening to Barcelona, Lisbon, Mykonos, Santorini and Rome, and how those governments are responding to the problem of overtourism. It's like a simultaneous scourge of locusts and lemmings that could turn Ketchum into a quasi-suburban nightmare of a cookie-cutter dung heap that everybody thinks smells like Chanel No.5. This stuff is right out of Plato's cave.
You will most likely NOT have the time, inclination or energy for this kind of effort (assuming it is a viable legal play), but a small group of like-minded people working together might be able to. Why does the state's tax code exclude the possibility of collecting standardized tax revenue from short-term rentals? Or, maybe it does. To be honest I wouldn't know, so what I'm saying could very easily be moot but there's no doubt that local governments and their constituents are paying a disproportionate price. It's a sign of the times.
Fyi, for me, Substack is one of those places to verbally roam around, freewheel it a bit and hopefully do it rationally. I'm not sure how well I'm pulling it off with this exchange on your forum but in the grand scheme of things, I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. It's pretty obvious that the online lifestyle (as a culture) is about shooting from the hip a good bit of the time. I simply do not care whether people like or agree with me, but I do hope to make some sense and have a modicum of positive influence, if possible, not to mention a bit of fun now and then, eh?
So thank you again for all that you do to shed light on the hypocrisy, inertia and dissemination of the status quo. Speak your truth to "power" and stay angry for a while yet.
And since it's the weekend, you might enjoy watching this documentary by Lauren Greenfield if you haven't already seen it:
Generation Wealth (2018) - youtube.com/watch?v=QzYv_1EJ57Q
This interview with Lauren about her film is relevant to some of what we have been talking about:
gupmagazine.com/interview/the-influence-of-affluence-an-interview-with-lauren-greenfield/
Have an awesome weekend, Perry!
Andrew F.
Perry, to respond to your second question, this comes to mind:
1. Change who is making the decisions and hope for the best.
2. The other alternative is leave the country.
Re: your second point, here's my view on that.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/perryboyle_uscitizenship-citizenship-usa-activity-7260721749393039361-m-ko?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
PS. Perry, since it's the weekend...and just in case you haven't read these articles, I suggest that they could be worth you time. I'm a supporter of George Monbiot and saw the first article below a few days ago in The Guardian UK. The second artilcle showed up today and I've just started reading it:
1. Trump has pledged to wage war on planet Earth – and it will take a progressive revolution to stop him -
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/07/trump-voters-revolution-politics-right
I'm still reading this article and it's provoing to street-level insightful. Gabriel Gatehouse seems like a solid person with a very good mind:
A reporter down the rabbit hole: Gabriel Gatehouse on -
theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/nov/08/gabriel-gatehouse-coming-storm-conspiracy-theories-trump-america
Perry, a third response to your second question came to mind whilst mowing some grass:
3. Change the laws that prevent towns like Ketchum from doing what they are able to do in Canmore, BC. A space in a home or a free-standing structure that is marketed and managed as a short-term rental on the www is a business. It's a privately owned asset being used in a free-market setting to generate income. Why is it not required to be a registered business with the attendant requirements?
Find some office-boy meathead with his/her name on a door in the State Capitol who's sympathetic to that argument. There's enough money in Ketchum to fund the effort. Trouble is, a lot of the people in Ketchum that you might need as allies rent out that type of property, and a lot more of them would qualify for a "vacancy tax" most likely, so your pool table is not level enough for you to set up your shots and get enough english on the ball for a good run through the legislative maze**. Still, it might be worth considering.
**I don't know why all these lamebrain metaphors are coming up today. I rarely go down that road. My apologies, this stuff is all off the cuff.
Pery, this is the last gasp in my thread of diatribes. The people of Lisbon take action:
"...If all lines up, the referendum would be held in the first half of next year and result in a binding resolution to phase out the city’s 20,000 or so tourist flats within six months, as well as barring landlords from setting them up in residential buildings in the future." ...
Lisbon residents call for vote on banning tourist lets in residential blocks
theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/08/lisbon-residents-call-for-vote-on-banning-tourist-lets-in-residential-blocks
Wrt outsourcing sustainability (“[t]hey gave this to the Blaine County Sustainability Commission”), the Ketchum Sustainability Advisory Group (KSAC) is comprised of the following City employees: a Senior Project Manager (leads construction and infrastructure projects), an Associate Planner, a City Council member, the City of Sun Valley’s (first ever) full-time Sustainability Manager, the two staffers from the Blaine County Sustainability Program, and two local volunteers, one of whom has worked for both Ketchum and Hailey, the other of whom is myself (a semi-retired career sustainability professional). We meet regularly at City Hall to evaluate what measures the city can and should take to reduce its carbon footprint, reduce waste, and use resources more effectively (and save money where possible). This is done in close collaboration with the County program, of which Ketchum (and Hailey, many local and regional businesses) is a partner. As with many essential services, sustainability knows no political boundaries (city, county), and often there are great synergies and economies of scale to be had by working collaboratively with our neighboring jurisdictions.
In my five years volunteering for KSAC, I have found its participants and the city’s entire staff to be hard-working, serious, thoughtful, and eager to explore how embracing sustainability efforts can benefit the city and the comminity.
I hope this provides some useful clarity.
Scott Lewis
Ketchum Sustainability Advisory Committee
Co-chair, Green Building and Clean Energy Task Force, Blaine County Sustainability & Climate Program
Why does KSAC meet in secret if it is public committee? Why is there no information on the CIty website about KSAC from the past four years? How is KSAC accountable for actionable sustainability? Why does KSAC have members from Hailey and Sun Valley? Scott, this seems like terrible governance. Can you get them to be transparent and accountable?
KSAC hardly meets “in secret.” (Ironically, I was about to (and will after I finish this response) invite you to our next meeting, so you could see the non-outsourced work in action…). I’m not sure who on KSAC lives in Hailey, but I live in Sun Valley. Regardless, as a volunteer (versus elected), I can’t fathom how this could be relevant. I probably have more sustainability experience than all but a small handful of people in the valley, so I try to help where I can. And I feel part of the larger community regardless of where I live. Pray tell what could possibly be wrong with my volunteering for KSAC? As to “secrecy” and “accountability,” as with all city meetings, anyone interested can ask when and where we meet and show up - are any city meetings other than Council publicized on the City’s calendar (not a rhetorical question - this is something I know little about)? As to why there isn’t more on the City’s web site, I would say two things: 1. Resources. Every city employee on KSAC has a job of which attending KSAC is a very small part. For someone to have responsibility for updating the web site would take time away from what are perceived as other priorities (everyone has more to do than time to do it), and, (b), I agree, there should be periodic updates and I’ll put that on the agenda of our next meeting. Nothing secretive or nefarious going on here, just people working hard on things they care about and doing the best they can.