A successful petition

Dear Editor:When the Friends of Rio Grande Park got off to a really late start collecting signatures for the Rio Grande Park recycle center rezoning referendum petition, I felt it was a physical impossibility to collect enough signatures to turn the petition into City Clerk Kathyrn Koch by August 1.In three days, 300 signatures were collected, setting an all-time record for signature gathering. In all, 692 signatures were turned in, with probably 200 signers being turned away as they were not registered to vote in Aspen.I apologize to the people whose phone calls and contacts have not been answered, but, quite frankly, the outpouring of support just wore the circulators out. Hopefully, enough signatures will be validated the first time around. If not, we will collect more.Thank you so much to everyone for being so civil and polite. You truly did make a difference! Hopefully, the same teamwork can be applied to solving the next land-use issue … the entrance to Aspen and Aspen’s in-town traffic congestion. Yes, there really are workable solutions which should make everyone happy.Toni KronbergAspen