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The CCLC does what?

Dear Editor:Alex, I’ll take CCLC for $300.Last Tuesday afternoon, I went to City Hall to sit in on the continuation of the June 25 City Council meeting.It opened with the Fourth of July fireworks problem and was solved with the help of ACRA, city staff and council. Nice job!The next piece of business was assigning council members to various boards. I found it interesting how many county and state boards council members cover. If you think attending the twice-monthly public meetings and work sessions is all they do, you are wrong. One needs to devote an enormous amount of time for this “part-time” job.Let’s move on. After the board appointment discussion, the CCLC (Commercial Core & Lodging Commission) was the next topic. It seems the ordinance that makes them legal is running out and needs to be reinstated so to speak.Now here’s the interesting part. Nobody, and I mean nobody, on council seemed to know what the CCLA does. The question as to if it should even exist was raised.FYI – I served on the CCLC for four years with people like Bill Dinsmoor, Terry Butler, John Starr, Jon Busch, and my favorite member, Charles Kennedy. During my tenure, we expanded the Saturday Farmers Market, put tables and chairs on the mall, expanded the outdoor seating at numerous restaurants, started the Business Improvement District, looked at better utilization of the alleys, worked on mall lighting etc., etc. I might add this is a citizen volunteer commission – no free coffee or doughnuts here!I am writing this letter to bring council up to speed on the CCLA. At the same time, I ask myself, does the CCLC has value? To me, it does. To the commercial core businesses, it does. To the lodges, it does. To residents and tourists, it does.It’s a shame the value of the CCLC to City Council might be lost in the proverbial shuffle.Andrew Kole Aspen