Vol2No2: KURA Doubles Down on Destroying Downtown
And the Council Gets a Win at the Post Office
That’s the heading for a new tax the Ketchum Council is considering imposing on us.
A Win at the Post Office
I was wrong.
After nine years of the Council saying they would get us our rights to free post office boxes with zero progress, I thought it would take a lawsuit to get the Ketchum Post Office to conform to USPS regulations and give us our boxes for free. It did not. The Council’s letter-writing campaign to our DC elected officials worked. Thank you to Rep. Simpson and Senators Crapo and Riche.
I got the letter in my box today. Residents' renewals will be free, but only after January 10th. If you renewed last week…sorry! The USPS has not acknowledged that they have essentially stolen from us for years and has not offered reparations.
However, this is a positive step forward for the quality of life of Ketchum residents. I want to acknowledge that the Council accomplished this. THANK YOU!
A Loss at the Washington Lot
This week’s Ketchum Council meeting was well attended. People came to hear whether the Council supported raising a new tax to incorporate a parking garage into KURA’s Washington Lot housing project.
Spoiler alert: they do. How could this Administration not be in favor of a new tax?
The Mayor stated that the public had been heard and didn’t want this project to remove more parking in the commercial zone. While that is true, when I raised the point that the real issue is that the public doesn’t want any more four-story boxes destroying Ketchum’s character and that there are other places for housing, the Mayor tried to shut me down, saying I was going off-topic.1 Was I?
Do you see the method they use to impose their vision? They give you two choices, one bad and one worse. When you say you don’t want the worst choice, they give you the bad choice, tell you you got what you asked for, and pat themselves on the back for being transparent and inclusive.
This is a loss.
But it gets worse.
Do You Know What LID Is? LID May be Coming for You
The Council approved continuing to explore raising a new tax called a Local Improvement District (LID)2 to pay for the cost of the parking garage. The staff put out a couple of options of who would be taxed—just businesses near the lot? All of the commercial district? The entirety of Ketchum?
The staff and some of the Council seemed to like the option of taxing the entirety of Ketchum for the parking garage. That would include every residence and every vacant lot. While a vacant lot creates zero parking demand, they still want to tax it. They want to tax real estate based on its undeveloped square footage. The guy building the 10,000sf house in West Ketch will pay the same as his neighbor with a 2,000sf house. A quarter-acre lot would pay something like $100 for the parking garage. An acre lot, $400. The 80-acre lot by Heidelberg Hill is $32,000. Bigwood Golf Course, $16,000. They talked about putting a cap on the maximum amount.
KURA Will Build Their Housing Project Regardless of Parking
Gary Lipton, a KURA member and non-resident of Ketchum, informed the Council that KURA is building a 66-unit housing project on the Washington Lot regardless of whether they raise the money for the parking garage. The other member of KURA, Council Member Hamilton, did not contradict him.
We are in this pickle entirely because KURA wants to do something that most people who live in Ketchum don’t want them to do. All they have to do is leave this as a parking lot, and the conundrum disappears. We keep the parking! The LID goes away! We don’t get a massive box in the commercial district! All is good!
But no. KURA, with every member appointed by the Mayor, will bully us and get their way. Why? Why is it so important that only this lot, out of all the land available for workforce housing in Ketchum in the LI zone, by the Water Treatment Plant, in the City’s Area of City Impact, is the ONLY lot that this project can be built on?
Of course, it is not the only lot. But it is the only lot that KURA owns.3 Instead of contributing to the $100mm needed for Ketchum’s crumbling roads and sidewalks like a URA is supposed to, they will have their housing project!
A LID Is Unnecessary For the Bad Choice—Use the LOT
I suggested that the City explore raising the LOT on Lodging to pay for the parking structure. This was rejected out of hand with no discussion.
But why? Why tax Ketchum residents, yet again, to subsidize the tourism industry? Why not tax the tourists?
I think the LID is too juicy for them to pass up. It gives the Council another revenue stream. Yes, the initial LID might be low, but have you ever seen the Ketchum Council reduce a tax? LID for Washington garage is probably just the beginning.
Even better, from the Administration’s perspective—imposing this tax does not require the consent of Ketchum’s residents via a referendum.
This epitomizes, “We get the government we let them do to us.”
I am fond of saying the Council has an Aspenization Plan for Ketchum. They also seem to have a Californification Plan—imposing as many types of taxes as possible and raising them incrementally. Well, Ms. Breen did warn us. In her official bio, she speaks about maximizing Ketchum’s revenue.
Like frogs, they will boil us slowly and hope we won’t notice.
Again, this is all for a massive box that most of us don’t want in that location. But the Mayor wants it, and the people he appointed to KURA want it, and enough of the Council wants it, so it will happen.
Elections do matter.
Soak the Rich, But Only if They are Locals—Leave Rich Tourists Alone
I find it interesting that some Council members poke fun at rich people living in or owning second homes in Ketchum. The LID tax discussion was a case in point.
These are the same Council members who want to tax locals to subsidize bringing more rich people into Ketchum as tourists and are the same Council members who enjoy all the local amenities paid for by the rich people. They crap on local rich people who contribute to the community while trying to attract more rich tourists. They prefer to tax local rich people rather than wealthy tourists.
Why is that?
What the Heck is Going On With Sustainability?
Eve Preucil of Blaine County Sustainability Commission presented what BCSC is up to. It is quite a bit! Recycling, water use planning, solar panels for the Ketchum Fire Station, curbside composting, and much more. Some of it sounded great.
I get frustrated by the amount of activity and expenditure, but to what point? What metrics will be used to allocate our scarce resources to sustainability? Where are the cost/benefit analyses? If we spend all the money they plan to spend, what will be the sustainability impact? Will there be a reduction in GHGs?
What is the point if they can’t provide that kind of context? To make us feel better about living a high-consumption lifestyle based on a high-consumption industry (tourism) in an ecologically fragile environment? That would be green-washing, wouldn’t it?
I know we can do better on this. There is no Planet B.
What Happened to KSAC?
While I love that BCSC presents to the Ketchum City Council, where is the report from Ketchum’s Sustainability Action Committee? As far as I can tell, if they meet, they meet in secret and haven’t reported their activities to the Council or the public in years. KSAC is listed on the City’s website, but does it exist?
I Almost Forgot
The Council elected Mr. Cordovano as its President for 2025. Congratulations.
I was not the only person to experience this. He tried to cut off Mr. Cordovano and Mr. Hutchinson when they were speaking, as well.
https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/statutesrules/idstat/Title50/T50CH17.pdf
Acquired in one of the shadiest transactions in Ketchum history.
Giving a “bad” choice and a “worse” choice is called “giving a false choice” because a “good” or “better” choice is intentionally left out. It’s something a bully would do. But it is also something a parent of a toddler might do (spinach or broccoli ). In any event, it is not something that elected leaders should ever do without substantial fact finding and community input.
Favorite line: "We are in this pickle entirely because KURA wants to do something that most people who live in Ketchum don’t want them to do. All they have to do is leave this as a parking lot, and the conundrum disappears. We keep the parking! The LID goes away! We don’t get a massive box in the commercial district! All is good!"