Pitkin County commissioner Q&A: challenger Toni Kronberg

Pitkin County commissioner hopeful Toni Kronberg and incumbent commissioner Francie Jacober compete to serve as one of five county commissioners. The Aspen Times asked each candidate where they fall on key county issues as the Nov. 5 election nears.

Kronberg looks to serve her first term with the county.

The Aspen Times: Which airport-related ballot question will you vote for? Why?

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Toni Kronberg: One of the two Nov. 5 ballot questions will come before the board for a decision after the election. Pitkin County’s Standard for Public Conduct requires “Pitkin County Elected Officials to be independent, impartial, and fair in their judgment and actions.”

The airport is a highly contentious issue. I will not take sides so as to remain impartial to fulfill the Standard for Public Conduct and not erode the public’s trust of elected officials being fair, unbiased, and not unduly influencing a matter. Respecting our First Amendment right to petition and free speech, I will abide by what the voters and a court of law decides.

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For 20 years, I worked at the airport. I successfully lobbied for the expansion of the TSA waiting area. There is much more to be done.

AT: Will you vote “yes“ or “no“ on the property tax meant to help fund affordable housing? How do you think affordable housing should be approached in the valley?

TK: Everywhere in the United States is an affordable housing crisis. The pocketbooks of Pitkin County voters will decide if their budgets can afford the 25-year property tax increase.

Petition to change the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights to allow counties to collect real estate transfer taxes instead of raising property taxes. Aspen, Snowmass, and 10 other governments use the real estate transfer tax to fund their affordable housing. 

AT: How will you work to balance the natural beauty of the area with infrastructure installments or improvements, like cell phone towers?

TK: Cell phone towers are critical for safety, emergency access, and communication. Having served on Aspen Mountain Rescue for 20 years, being in cell phone range in an airplane crash, skiing accident, or a family hiking trip is critical for life-saving measures.  

Cell phone towers can be made to look like evergreen and aspen trees.   

AT: What would be your proposed solution for the entrance to Aspen, particularly thinking about evacuation routes in the event of a wildfire?

TK: “Fire, fire!” “Evacuate now” are the words we don’t want to hear. ​Especially when there is only one bridge in and out of downtown Aspen.

We know the straight shot … the Preferred Alternative will make traffic worse with the closing of the right-hand turn on Cemetery Lane to the roundabout and a new traffic light at the Hickory House. Plus there are no new lanes added.

“To boldly go where no one has gone before” is why Aspen City Council wisely started the process (EIS/ROD) to look at better solutions than the Preferred Alternative straight shot across Marolt Open Space.

In a perfect world … two bridges (not across Marolt Open Space) and two S-curves (one going in and one going out of Aspen), getting rid of stop lights, roundabout at Cemetery Lane, redesigning the Maroon Creek/Castle Creek entrances into the roundabout, adding roundabouts to Owl Creek and AABC.

Asking for a permanent life and safety order from CDOT/feds to open up the two downvalley lanes coming out of the roundabout. A dedicated off-the highway bus station is already in place.

Emergency escape route from Cemetery Lane for pedestrians (who ditched their cars on the Castle Creek grid-locked bridge) and cyclists. Supporting the “twin bridges” linking Rio Grande Trail with one bridge connecting AABC and the second bridge connecting Brush Creek Park & Ride. Fire truck accessible.

Exploring the possibility of a Highway 82 valley-floor mass transit aerial gondola connecting RFTA Ruby Park with Buttermilk/Lumberyard housing, Highlands, Airport, Brush Creek Park and Ride, Snowmass Village (Recreation Center, Town Center, Base Village, Mall).

AT: The county unanimously expressed support for a Highway Safety Improvement Program grant application for Colorado Highway 82 projects at Lazy Glen and Smith Way. What are other safety features you think could be utilized on the highway?

TK: I began my 2024 campaign for Pitkin County commissioner with the “goal of fixing the Hidden Minefields of killer Highway 82, most specifically Smith Hill Road and Lazy Glen.”

Over 1,000 letters-to-the-editor have asked for safety and efficiency, so people “can make it home alive, sane, on-time to pick up the kids, and make it to work.” Mental health and quality of life depend on a safe Highway 82.

Yet safety of Highway 82 has never made it to the commissioner’s goal list.

Since graduating from paramedic school in 1991, I have lobbied for improvements on Smith Hill Road with CDOT.

Here we are in 2024 still trying to figure out what can be done with Smith Hill and Lazy Glen.

Better signage, safety/warning lights, new striping along the entire Highway 82 are the easy quick fixes.

Supporting the Roaring Fork Safe Passages Mission of land bridges, tunnels, and fencing to knit back together our fragmented watershed and reduce wildlife vehicle collisions while saving human lives will help.

Highway 82 is not a contentious issue as everyone agrees “something” must be done to fix the increasingly dangerous Highway 82.

It’s time to make everyone’s lifeline of Highway 82 a priority for the environment, our quality of life, and getting home alive by improving all intersections with nuts-and-bolts improvements.

Regan Mertz can be reached at 970-429-9153 or rmertz@aspentimes.com.