Aspen mayor candidate Rachel Richards talks city entrance, affordable housing
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times
Aspen mayoral candidate Rachael Richards has big plans if she wins.
“One of my goals as a city council mayor would be to call for a housing summit and involve the area nonprofits, the private sector, the county, and really start to talk about prioritizing how we are focusing our efforts,” she said. “We need to look at what we can do jointly, whether that is a regional approach or a partnership. We need to look at how we are going to deal with the aging housing infrastructure.”
Richards, with a 30-year career in both city and county public office, sees pro-active leadership as essential to addressing these issues, stressing the need for cooperation between Aspen and its neighboring communities.
“The theme of my campaign is that Aspen is not an island, we are not a snow globe. We need to get an accurate picture of how we are fulfilling the jobs the community generates in the future,” she said. “We are going to be facing a retirement wave, and the market prices for homes in the valley are not going to support the same jobs and income levels. We need to be really prepared for that.”
Richards has played a key role in expanding affordable housing, including Burlingame Village and the Truscott addition. She has also supported policies to protect residential neighborhoods and manage growth through short-term rental regulations.
Beyond housing, she has worked extensively on transportation solutions and proposes a decisive, expert-driven plan for Aspen’s entrance that prioritizes mobility, transit efficiency, and safe evacuation routes.
“I personally think that having six lanes is safer than having two lanes when it comes to the Entrance to Aspen, especially when two lanes are under construction when it comes to emergency access and wildfire evacuation,” she said. “The economic disruption we in Aspen would experience while trying to rebuild the existing Castle Creek Bridge, without a second bridge, would be significant.”
She believes that rebuilding the Castle Creek Bridge must follow a clear sequence, beginning with the construction of a second bridge first.
Beyond infrastructure, Richards envisions revitalizing Aspen’s downtown by repurposing the Armory into a hub for community activities. She also aims to modernize land use codes to prevent boarded-up buildings from diminishing downtown’s vibrancy.
“I really support the Armory project. There has been a lot of great work refining that, and I like the designs, but refining those will determine the economic stability of the project,” she said. “We need to make sure this turns out to be the project we envisioned with affordable lunch and dinner spots for those in the community to enjoy.”
She acknowledges that staffing these new spaces will be a challenge, mirroring the difficulties faced by other local businesses.
Richards has long been an advocate for regional collaboration. She co-founded and co-chaired Counties and Commissioners Acting Together and has served on the Club 20 Board of Directors and Executive Committee, earning the organization’s “Bridge Builder” and “Outstanding Service to the People of the West Slope” awards.
“I think having a voice who is willing to network, open other channels, and bring other people together is how we can protect our public lands,” she said. “Our public lands are our greatest amenity as a community.”
Her leadership experience includes participation in the Harvard Kennedy School of Leadership for Senior Executives in State and Local Government, the UC Denver Rocky Mountain Program, the Aspen Institute Executive Seminar, and the American Leadership Forum.
More information about her campaign is available at voterachaelrichards.com.
Glenwood resident sees third World Deaf Ice Hockey Championship as mentoring opportunity
Troy Benson never saw his impaired hearing as a disability. He instead sees it as a direct challenge to improve.
ICE raid rumors on social media stir fear in Colorado mountain towns. Here’s how advocacy groups are fighting back.
For the past few weeks, immigration advocacy organizations in Colorado have taken to social media to warn users about rapidly circulating misinformation about immigration enforcement encounters.
