Rocky Mountain highs and lows

Colorado’s newest official state song, the ban on bringing booze to this summer’s Fanny Hill concerts at Snowmass, and mayoral candidate Tim Semrau’s proposal to increase the appreciation cap for employee housing all garnered comment from online readers of The Aspen Times last week.The state Legislature’s move to make “Rocky Mountain High,” penned by late Aspenite John Denver, an official state song elicited this response from a reader:What do those lyrics mean??? He musta been high when he wrote that esoteric bunko. Sort of a singing Hunter S. Thompson. The British rock group The Police should perform the official state version.But, there was also this:If you don’t get the lyrics you are missing out on so much :)Right on! This song deserves to be one of our state songs, I love it!• • • •Others voiced displeasure with the new alcohol policy that will be in effect this summer at Snowmass. (You can buy booze, but you can’t bring it.) Said one reader:I cant believe what the elected officials in Snowmass Village have done. Treat all of its constituants like middle schoolers. Everyone line up, the bell is about to ring for the concert!This is an attempt to make more money. They are not banning the gateway drug alcohol, are only concerned about the holy dollars that are slipping through there fingers. You know some corporate trained penny counter came up w/ this poor idea.Isnt the ground the concert is held on private property anyway? Next thing you know we wont be able to smoke pot out there on Fanny Hill anymore either. Offered another:If the isssue is underage drinking and unruly participants, selling alcohol and wine penalizes everyone else and does not solve the problem. Certainly, a few extra security people could be added to address this issue. Is this just a new way to make money on the hill? Without doubt, with this new rule in place, fewer people will attend these concerts. And finally, there was this, directed in part at Snowmass Mayor Doug “Merc” Mercatoris:Come on people!! You caved in on the Comp. Plan and allowed the base of our mountain to be overbuilt. Our roads are choked with trucks, our air is choked with dust, our ears are jammed with beep-beep-beeps…and now you “compromise” one of the most sacred respites we have… the Thursday night summer concerts!!Shame on you Merc! After all you did to almost single handedly keep the concerts alive, now you participate in this dastardly move to take the personality of them away!!!• • • •Regarding Semrau’s proposal to raise the appreciation cap on deed-restricted worker housing – using the city’s housing fund to subsidize the greater appreciation owners would realize when they sell a unit – readers had plenty to say.There was this, for example:Semrau is simply trying to buy votes from a population he has already made lots of money off of. It’s gross.And this:Is this ethical? I don’t think it is legal to change what tax dollars are used for after it has been voted on. Folks in employee housing did not excpect to get rich on it. They agreed to the price caps. The money should be used for more housing.Said one reader:To hell with three decades of success! I’ve got my unit and now, thanks to Tim, I’ve got my money. For a few thousand a year, Tim can have my vote. Another noted the similarity between Semrau’s suggestion and the ideas Pepper Gomes, a City Council candidate in past elections, put forward, writing:Pepper Gomes redux: Let’s destroy affordable housing and give everyone an unasked for windfall. Someone thinks were not smart enough/rich enough to undestand when we are being offered a bribe to vote for someone. Tim Semrau has to be smarter than to think we don’t get that point!Another reader offered a mathematical analysis:The assessor’s record of Semrau’s AH shows an actual value of $858,790.00. If you added 20% in improvements to that or $171,758.00 you come to $1,030,548.00. At 5% appreciation that would double every 14+ years (rule of 72). In 28 years that would be over $4M in Semrau’s pocket! P.S. Have you seen how over the top Semrau’s million dollar AH home is inside?• • • •Readers may weigh in on any article at aspentimes.com, anonymously if they wish, by clicking on “Comments” at the top of the article. Comments reprinted here appear as they were printed, wthout editing or correction.