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<i>With Election Day on May 8 and absentee voting under way, today marks the fourth installment of a five-part questionnaire for the Aspen mayoral and City Council candidates. This series of questions will run all week, concluding Friday.</i>
<b>The Question: </b>At what level should the city be involved in the downtown commercial core, as it pertains to regulating businesses and retailers?
<b>Tim Semrau</b>
I don't think the city should become Aspen's fashion police. As the owner of two retail businesses in downtown Aspen, I know how difficult it is, although many of us local store owners have been successful. Sure, the international chains continue to come and go from our most prominent locations, and yes, it would be great if there were more choices and price levels available, but government regulations have never successfully dictated retail mix; I doubt we'll be the first. Our best option is my proposal to consider expanding our SCI zone district around Clark's Market to include local-serving retail.
<b>Torre</b>
While I believe in a limited government role in business regulation, I do feel there is a benefit to an active oversight in Aspen's commercial core. We have seen our unique market forces create a less vital and cohesive downtown atmosphere, and make it increasingly difficult for locally serving businesses and start-up opportunities. We need to promote prosperity and diversity to the overall downtown experience for visitors and locals alike.
I supported the ground-floor office ban in the core to allow more retail and restaurant usage. At the same, I also have voted for numerous improvements to signage regulations and dwell-time amenities, as well as event and marketing promotion funding to aid our local merchants.
<b>Mick Ireland</b>
We need to evaluate and recognize the long-term implications of having bed base and retail sector that excludes so many potential visitors who will should be part of our extended community for the next generation. We also need to discourage real estate speculation that requires waivers and concessions.
I am hesitant about regulating retail businesses because government is not very adept at running businesses. Nonetheless, we need to protect and expand local-serving zone districts, and we need to ensure that developers who promise community benefits like lodge rooms or affordable retail are bound in writing to those promises. Trust everyone, but cut the cards.
<b>Bonnie Behrend</b>
The city would not have to step in if greedy, self-interested landlords hadn't taken over, raised impossible rents and forced out small and locally owned businesses, bars and restaurants. Greed killed the core. We have to take it back, create Rooftop Rocks rooftop entertainment, PlayPatio extended patio dining and Aspen Alley shops with collapsible awnings, lockable flaps for low net worth, resident retailers artists and shopkeepers. We have to inject energy and opportunity back into the core.
<b>Michael O'Sullivan</b>
I am leery of government trying to regulate and micromanage business and retailers. Who decides what is high-end/low-end? Who stays and who goes where? I do not shop for jewelry or time shares in Aspen, but I know government is not going to be able to deliver me cheap underwear, either. What I would like to see is the protection and possible expansion of the service/commercial core that allows for local-serving businesses like laundromats and tire repair, and other service-related industries.
<b>Dwayne Romero</b>
As long as the vibrancy and vitality is important to us, we should be involved in the identity of downtown. Said another way, the mix, variation and overall appeal of downtown needs to make sense for both our residents and tourists/guests, and the city should be a key participant in helping to define and guide our commercial core. We have several existing tools to aid in this effort, including zoning and permitting regulations. The best model on how to strategically approach this question starts from the platform of trust and partnership, i.e., the city and the private business sector need to be more connected and engaged in a way that encourages proactive dialogue and planning in a joint fashion.
One example that has received recent attention is the idea of initiating a Business Improvement District (BID), as suggested by the Aspen Business Improvement League. Among other goals, a BID would serve as a long-lasting communication vehicle, bringing the important stakeholders (tenants, landlords, and the city, among others) together on a regular basis to discuss near- and long-term directions and goals for our downtown sector.
<b>Steve Skadron</b>
Hard question. I believe passionately in letting the free market be the driving force of our economy. But I think it's difficult to stand by and do nothing as locally serving commercial disappears. My experience on P&Z has taught me that the use of aggressive zoning works as a mechanism to balance public and private interests, to build a commercial core that has more community benefit and to satisfy the goals of the Aspen Area Community Plan. I think if a crucial city asset is endangered, some cautious and measured government intervention is appropriate. Doing nothing is not an option. Initiating a balanced discussion to find a reasoned solution is.
<b>Michael Wampler</b>
Personally, I am hesitant to regulate the business climate. However, if a majority of the folks who elect me come to council and demand that action be taken, I would not hesitate to seriously look at regulating downtown businesses. City Hall has already studied this issue, and it might make sense to consider some kind of proposal sometime in the future. It just depends on which direction the citizens of Aspen want to go with regards to the future shopping experience.
<b>Andrew Kole</b>
The idea of government ruling the downtown core is frightening on many levels. Who on the current City Council would you want to run your business? Tough question? Before any City Council gets the power to rule supreme in the downtown core, they need to prove themselves as good stewards, good businesspeople and good negotiators. Based on their current performance - construction sites running out of control, The Red Onion closing, the Hotel Jerome fiasco, and the Isis going retail - City Council needs to prove they can "perform" in the downtown core before I would give it more power.
<b>Toni Kronberg</b>
As a member of the 1993 Aspen Area Community Plan Task Force, I promoted, and still do promote, the Aspen Area Community Plan's goal of a healthy and diverse economic base in Aspen that supports the local economy and the tourist industry with a balanced shopping experience, a destination resort experience and a place called home.
If Aspen's downtown commercial core becomes too limited in what it can offer to all those who visit and live here, Aspen's economy will suffer. Businesses and retailers need to be able to rely on the market forces which bring people to Aspen. The key to success is by being a community and resort which is well-balanced and diverse in its appeal.
By listening to the concerns of the businesses, retailers and lodges in town as to how the mix of businesses in Aspen is affecting their own business, and, by analyzing sales tax revenues, it might be necessary to put a cap on certain types of businesses and put protection in place to preserve certain existing uses, which contribute to the balance and vitality of Aspen.
The city of Aspen should work with businesses and retailers to help promote sales by encouraging creative and fun merchandising mechanisms for the exterior of their shops. Manageable parking, automobile traffic patterns and pedestrian and cycling routes should be part of the businesses' and retailers' overall experience.
<b>LJ Erspamer</b>
The city should be active in maintaining a friendly, ambient, attractive commercial core. The action to prevent offices on the main floor is a good one. The street level should be saved for retail, as well as office retail mix on the second floors. We need to attract diverse retail for all demographic buyers.
This is a challenge. However, it can be accomplished by zoning methods and incentives during new construction. Various incentives to provide locally owned business a permanent place should be pursued immediately. During current land-use code discussions, I promoted smaller spaces that could be sold as individual units to these small, local businesses. This could be accomplished with indoor or outdoor mini-malls having open spaces in the center as public gathering places, and on the perimeter there could be small retail spaces. This type of building could have common bathrooms with acceptable stairs and elevators for easier access providing more open retail space for businesses.
I do not favor rental restrictions at this time, nor would I favor land-use code changes whenever there are a few empty retail spaces in town. The free-market system would work if we didn't constantly make changes and exceptions to every rule. Tourists and locals alike have an appeal for unique retail stores, and we need to make every reasonable effort to retain or recruit them. Any of these efforts should be accomplished through incentives, and not restrictive zoning. Looking at other cities with comparable problems will give us better ideas and thoughts before making permanent decisions.
<b>The Question: </b>At what level should the city be involved in the downtown commercial core, as it pertains to regulating businesses and retailers?
<b>Tim Semrau</b>
I don't think the city should become Aspen's fashion police. As the owner of two retail businesses in downtown Aspen, I know how difficult it is, although many of us local store owners have been successful. Sure, the international chains continue to come and go from our most prominent locations, and yes, it would be great if there were more choices and price levels available, but government regulations have never successfully dictated retail mix; I doubt we'll be the first. Our best option is my proposal to consider expanding our SCI zone district around Clark's Market to include local-serving retail.
<b>Torre</b>
While I believe in a limited government role in business regulation, I do feel there is a benefit to an active oversight in Aspen's commercial core. We have seen our unique market forces create a less vital and cohesive downtown atmosphere, and make it increasingly difficult for locally serving businesses and start-up opportunities. We need to promote prosperity and diversity to the overall downtown experience for visitors and locals alike.
I supported the ground-floor office ban in the core to allow more retail and restaurant usage. At the same, I also have voted for numerous improvements to signage regulations and dwell-time amenities, as well as event and marketing promotion funding to aid our local merchants.
<b>Mick Ireland</b>
We need to evaluate and recognize the long-term implications of having bed base and retail sector that excludes so many potential visitors who will should be part of our extended community for the next generation. We also need to discourage real estate speculation that requires waivers and concessions.
I am hesitant about regulating retail businesses because government is not very adept at running businesses. Nonetheless, we need to protect and expand local-serving zone districts, and we need to ensure that developers who promise community benefits like lodge rooms or affordable retail are bound in writing to those promises. Trust everyone, but cut the cards.
<b>Bonnie Behrend</b>
The city would not have to step in if greedy, self-interested landlords hadn't taken over, raised impossible rents and forced out small and locally owned businesses, bars and restaurants. Greed killed the core. We have to take it back, create Rooftop Rocks rooftop entertainment, PlayPatio extended patio dining and Aspen Alley shops with collapsible awnings, lockable flaps for low net worth, resident retailers artists and shopkeepers. We have to inject energy and opportunity back into the core.
<b>Michael O'Sullivan</b>
I am leery of government trying to regulate and micromanage business and retailers. Who decides what is high-end/low-end? Who stays and who goes where? I do not shop for jewelry or time shares in Aspen, but I know government is not going to be able to deliver me cheap underwear, either. What I would like to see is the protection and possible expansion of the service/commercial core that allows for local-serving businesses like laundromats and tire repair, and other service-related industries.
<b>Dwayne Romero</b>
As long as the vibrancy and vitality is important to us, we should be involved in the identity of downtown. Said another way, the mix, variation and overall appeal of downtown needs to make sense for both our residents and tourists/guests, and the city should be a key participant in helping to define and guide our commercial core. We have several existing tools to aid in this effort, including zoning and permitting regulations. The best model on how to strategically approach this question starts from the platform of trust and partnership, i.e., the city and the private business sector need to be more connected and engaged in a way that encourages proactive dialogue and planning in a joint fashion.
One example that has received recent attention is the idea of initiating a Business Improvement District (BID), as suggested by the Aspen Business Improvement League. Among other goals, a BID would serve as a long-lasting communication vehicle, bringing the important stakeholders (tenants, landlords, and the city, among others) together on a regular basis to discuss near- and long-term directions and goals for our downtown sector.
<b>Steve Skadron</b>
Hard question. I believe passionately in letting the free market be the driving force of our economy. But I think it's difficult to stand by and do nothing as locally serving commercial disappears. My experience on P&Z has taught me that the use of aggressive zoning works as a mechanism to balance public and private interests, to build a commercial core that has more community benefit and to satisfy the goals of the Aspen Area Community Plan. I think if a crucial city asset is endangered, some cautious and measured government intervention is appropriate. Doing nothing is not an option. Initiating a balanced discussion to find a reasoned solution is.
<b>Michael Wampler</b>
Personally, I am hesitant to regulate the business climate. However, if a majority of the folks who elect me come to council and demand that action be taken, I would not hesitate to seriously look at regulating downtown businesses. City Hall has already studied this issue, and it might make sense to consider some kind of proposal sometime in the future. It just depends on which direction the citizens of Aspen want to go with regards to the future shopping experience.
<b>Andrew Kole</b>
The idea of government ruling the downtown core is frightening on many levels. Who on the current City Council would you want to run your business? Tough question? Before any City Council gets the power to rule supreme in the downtown core, they need to prove themselves as good stewards, good businesspeople and good negotiators. Based on their current performance - construction sites running out of control, The Red Onion closing, the Hotel Jerome fiasco, and the Isis going retail - City Council needs to prove they can "perform" in the downtown core before I would give it more power.
<b>Toni Kronberg</b>
As a member of the 1993 Aspen Area Community Plan Task Force, I promoted, and still do promote, the Aspen Area Community Plan's goal of a healthy and diverse economic base in Aspen that supports the local economy and the tourist industry with a balanced shopping experience, a destination resort experience and a place called home.
If Aspen's downtown commercial core becomes too limited in what it can offer to all those who visit and live here, Aspen's economy will suffer. Businesses and retailers need to be able to rely on the market forces which bring people to Aspen. The key to success is by being a community and resort which is well-balanced and diverse in its appeal.
By listening to the concerns of the businesses, retailers and lodges in town as to how the mix of businesses in Aspen is affecting their own business, and, by analyzing sales tax revenues, it might be necessary to put a cap on certain types of businesses and put protection in place to preserve certain existing uses, which contribute to the balance and vitality of Aspen.
The city of Aspen should work with businesses and retailers to help promote sales by encouraging creative and fun merchandising mechanisms for the exterior of their shops. Manageable parking, automobile traffic patterns and pedestrian and cycling routes should be part of the businesses' and retailers' overall experience.
<b>LJ Erspamer</b>
The city should be active in maintaining a friendly, ambient, attractive commercial core. The action to prevent offices on the main floor is a good one. The street level should be saved for retail, as well as office retail mix on the second floors. We need to attract diverse retail for all demographic buyers.
This is a challenge. However, it can be accomplished by zoning methods and incentives during new construction. Various incentives to provide locally owned business a permanent place should be pursued immediately. During current land-use code discussions, I promoted smaller spaces that could be sold as individual units to these small, local businesses. This could be accomplished with indoor or outdoor mini-malls having open spaces in the center as public gathering places, and on the perimeter there could be small retail spaces. This type of building could have common bathrooms with acceptable stairs and elevators for easier access providing more open retail space for businesses.
I do not favor rental restrictions at this time, nor would I favor land-use code changes whenever there are a few empty retail spaces in town. The free-market system would work if we didn't constantly make changes and exceptions to every rule. Tourists and locals alike have an appeal for unique retail stores, and we need to make every reasonable effort to retain or recruit them. Any of these efforts should be accomplished through incentives, and not restrictive zoning. Looking at other cities with comparable problems will give us better ideas and thoughts before making permanent decisions.
