Berger’s passing a reminder of Aspen’s rich history

With much sorrow I heard of the passing of a good friend Bruce Berger. He was a man for all seasons, a pianist, prolific author, environmentalist, and lover of Aspen.

His wonderful old cabin close to the entrance of Aspen should be saved if possible. In the old days a collection would be going on and it would be used for small group meetings or kept as a museum.

Aspen hasn’t really had great historic preservation for many years. I believe this is because we have too many career politicians.They’ll hold a city office, then county and back to city. Their primary concern is maintaining their voter base and ignoring the reason for historic preservation, which is maintaining of a viable working community.

Profound meeting places, scale massing, ghosts (memories) all important pieces of the process. A recent desire to move the jail out of town is an example. Just the logistics of everybody commuting from jail to courthouse back to jail boggles the mind.

Why not just fix what needs fixing? Ten times cheaper, but basically it fits the needs of the community right where it is. Airport another example. There will never be 737s flying into Aspen, but politicians catering to the needs of a very few private jet owners. New terminal might be nice, but now it is one of the few reminders that Aspen respects its historic past and embraces the intimacy a small mining town it is famous for.

Leslie Holst

Sarasota, Florida