Dustin, Great comments! I completely agree with all of your ideas. I don't ride my bike on Lincoln, due to too much traffic, and I enjoy having a life that is free of my bicycle in the grill of a tourist not paying attention to the road while checking out the sidewalk sales. I like the trees on Lincoln, and don't see the need for wider sidewalks. If the 3 new moms that walk side by side with their running big wheeled strollers, there would be plenty of room.
I have continually stated that Lincoln should be Paid parking, keeping the people that work downtown from moving their car 1 spot every couple hours just so they don't have to walk an extra block to work from one of the back streets, where there is plenty of parking.
One suggestion, how about just lining the parking spots on Lincoln, so people know what a parking spot is? This would help to keep all those Prius owners out there from taking up 2 spots because they are worried that SUV in front and behind them will hit their vehicle. This is an easy fix and would also keep the F350's from parking on Lincoln.
I suggest getting a bell for your bike and continue to use the bike path. At least the people on the bike path are nice enough to move over and say hello without a one fingered wave.
Coach, It was an honor to have played for you. You Showed me that even if I wasn't the most talented player on the court, there was a place on the team for me. You showed me, just working hard isn't enough, you have to work smart and the harder and smarter I worked the more I could contribute in everything I did. Thank you for so many great days on and off the court. You will be missed.
Parking is a obvious issue that needs to be addressed as well has high traffic. None of the lights are timed in downtown Steamboat with any of the other lights, this means you can't get from one side to the other in one straight shot during the busiest times. Bulbs will only make this problem worse. The timers for walking across the streets allow for less pedestrians to get injured, but are not used throughout downtown, this can lead to more J-walkers. We do need to make people pay for parking in downtown Steamboat, mostly to raise money for the $20,000 per spot parking structure everyone keeps wanting at 8th street. It is hard to believe that everyone who wants that parking structure doesn't want to pay for parking at a minimal fee ($1/per hour) when they are going out and having $7 margs at the Rio.
Our elected officials don't seem to be the type that look much beyond their next election. We need to look at other communities in the country like ours and make some improvements before we lose out to being destination resort because of traffic, not foot traffic.
First of all, I am not a business owner downtown, I just live downtown, and I take part in the majority of events that are provided to the community "for free". I figure I am paying the taxes for it, I should take part. I enjoy eating out downtown, I buy my CD's local at All that Jazz, Work out at the pool, and I can't wait for the Farmers Market to come back. I don't buy from the high end stores but I do find a lot of the things I enjoy doing with friends and family downtown. I agree with you that traffic is growing in Steamboat. I agree that a bypass should have been thought about long ago, but 30 years ago, Steamboat was not the destination it is today. To think that 30 years ago anyone could have known about this traffic problem today is just argumentative.
What will $100K get you with Duckles? Maybe a land survey group for a possible location? A Bypass will cost MILLIONS of dollars and take years to complete. I agree we need it, but in the mean time, would you take away family events that do help to create tax revenue, that could help pay for your bypass. Parking Garages are a long term solution, but when Gophers seems to be holding out for More Millions, the only possible location seems to be at the court house, but then you are still looking at a 3 Block walk to the rest of town.
Couple of easy solutions? How about a bus system that doesn't shut down at 10pm? Can't find bus drivers? Charge riders after 10pm $1 to ride the bus. Give 1/2 to the City for the "parking Garage" and the other 50 cents per rider to the bus driver as incentive to work until 2am, on top of their regular pay. An extra $50+ bucks is good incentive to work those tougher shifts. Doing this would help people who work downtown in the afternoons, the hardest time to find parking, to keep their cars at home and not take up the parking lots that are available.
Maybe it is time to start looking at paid parking on the street. Park City, which is a lot like Steamboat, already does this, with a simple, pay box that excepts cash, coin and credit cards, and there is only one pay box per block. They would fit right in with the 5 or 6 newspaper and ad boxes on every block. Use the money raised from parking to help for more parking and a bypass. It will also help to get people to use the free public transportation if they do not want to pay $1 per hour to park downtown. In the rest of the world people are used to paying for parking everywhere. So when those people come into town they will not have a problem dishing out a few bucks to unknowingly pay for more parking or for a Bypass.
It is time for a reality check as you put it, Colorado Native. Our little corner of the world has been discovered, now it is our turn to discover what the rest of the world has to offer us. It is a good time for people to get out of the valley and figure out what parts of the world would enhance Steamboat for the better.
Sometimes reading these boards I wonder if all of you really get out and enjoy Steamboat or just sit at home waiting for a parking spot to open up right in front of the Cantina so you can sit out front and talk about how bad the traffic is. Traffic is filling up as more commuters make their way from Craig and Hayden into Steamboat, but we need these workers, due to the high price of homes (averaging $400K for a small place).
As for parking downtown, I have never had to walk more than a block from a parking spot to where ever I am going downtown. At a minimum of $20,000 per parking spot (according to this article), a parking garage is looking like it won't fit into a budget that is spending millions on advertising in Denver without an investor who will make money for him/herself with retail shops, while helping out the community with a parking garage.
For those of you who just hate any organization that asks for money from the government with nothing to show for it remember Mainstreet organizes events that make Steamboat very appealing to Locals and tourist. They have set up events like Light up the Night, Thursday evening shopping for locals, and the Farmers Market, just to name a few. They have helped to organize downtown into a group of businesses that do events together like Halloween and sidewalk sales.
By spending $60K to $100k on Mainstreet, this article states we will be able to attain $5,000,000 in revenue which, for simple math of 8% taxes, is $300,000 in added tax revenue less the $100K spent for Mainstreet. Wouldn't you love to throw a $1 into an investment and get $3 back? Remember also, that this money is coming from locals AND TOURIST, but mostly TOURIST. Locals tend to spend the same money year after year. (Can someone spend a bunch of money on another consultant to tell everyone I am right? Ah, worth a shot.)
I know most of you who comment on articles HATE tourism, but rely on tourism to pay for your way of life in Steamboat in some way. We all need tourism in this town and we do need organizations and people that support our local way of life, while wanting to provide tourist with the experience of Steamboat Springs. Mainstreet is one of those organizations. Besides, in a multi Million dollar budget Steamboat needs and investment that will help put money back into the community and for that $100K seems like a good investment for the city.
I have to agree that people will not hire anyone unless they live in Steamboat. We are currently looking to move back to Steamboat and no one will even look at our resumes because we don't have housing in Steamboat yet. Rental are tough to find if you don't have a job, vicious cycle, keeping good workers our of Steamboat. Looks like we will have to crash on family couches until we get jobs.
Dustin Stratton: Can't please all
Dustin,
Great comments! I completely agree with all of your ideas. I don't ride my bike on Lincoln, due to too much traffic, and I enjoy having a life that is free of my bicycle in the grill of a tourist not paying attention to the road while checking out the sidewalk sales.
I like the trees on Lincoln, and don't see the need for wider sidewalks. If the 3 new moms that walk side by side with their running big wheeled strollers, there would be plenty of room.
I have continually stated that Lincoln should be Paid parking, keeping the people that work downtown from moving their car 1 spot every couple hours just so they don't have to walk an extra block to work from one of the back streets, where there is plenty of parking.
One suggestion, how about just lining the parking spots on Lincoln, so people know what a parking spot is? This would help to keep all those Prius owners out there from taking up 2 spots because they are worried that SUV in front and behind them will hit their vehicle. This is an easy fix and would also keep the F350's from parking on Lincoln.
I suggest getting a bell for your bike and continue to use the bike path. At least the people on the bike path are nice enough to move over and say hello without a one fingered wave.
June 22, 2008 at 4:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Father, friend and coach
Coach, It was an honor to have played for you. You Showed me that even if I wasn't the most talented player on the court, there was a place on the team for me. You showed me, just working hard isn't enough, you have to work smart and the harder and smarter I worked the more I could contribute in everything I did. Thank you for so many great days on and off the court. You will be missed.
June 16, 2008 at 12:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Council picks Lincoln layout
Parking is a obvious issue that needs to be addressed as well has high traffic. None of the lights are timed in downtown Steamboat with any of the other lights, this means you can't get from one side to the other in one straight shot during the busiest times. Bulbs will only make this problem worse. The timers for walking across the streets allow for less pedestrians to get injured, but are not used throughout downtown, this can lead to more J-walkers. We do need to make people pay for parking in downtown Steamboat, mostly to raise money for the $20,000 per spot parking structure everyone keeps wanting at 8th street. It is hard to believe that everyone who wants that parking structure doesn't want to pay for parking at a minimal fee ($1/per hour) when they are going out and having $7 margs at the Rio.
Our elected officials don't seem to be the type that look much beyond their next election. We need to look at other communities in the country like ours and make some improvements before we lose out to being destination resort because of traffic, not foot traffic.
June 12, 2008 at 12:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Mainstreet asks city for cash
ColoradoNative,
First of all, I am not a business owner downtown, I just live downtown, and I take part in the majority of events that are provided to the community "for free". I figure I am paying the taxes for it, I should take part. I enjoy eating out downtown, I buy my CD's local at All that Jazz, Work out at the pool, and I can't wait for the Farmers Market to come back. I don't buy from the high end stores but I do find a lot of the things I enjoy doing with friends and family downtown.
I agree with you that traffic is growing in Steamboat. I agree that a bypass should have been thought about long ago, but 30 years ago, Steamboat was not the destination it is today. To think that 30 years ago anyone could have known about this traffic problem today is just argumentative.
What will $100K get you with Duckles? Maybe a land survey group for a possible location? A Bypass will cost MILLIONS of dollars and take years to complete. I agree we need it, but in the mean time, would you take away family events that do help to create tax revenue, that could help pay for your bypass. Parking Garages are a long term solution, but when Gophers seems to be holding out for More Millions, the only possible location seems to be at the court house, but then you are still looking at a 3 Block walk to the rest of town.
Couple of easy solutions? How about a bus system that doesn't shut down at 10pm? Can't find bus drivers? Charge riders after 10pm $1 to ride the bus. Give 1/2 to the City for the "parking Garage" and the other 50 cents per rider to the bus driver as incentive to work until 2am, on top of their regular pay. An extra $50+ bucks is good incentive to work those tougher shifts. Doing this would help people who work downtown in the afternoons, the hardest time to find parking, to keep their cars at home and not take up the parking lots that are available.
Maybe it is time to start looking at paid parking on the street. Park City, which is a lot like Steamboat, already does this, with a simple, pay box that excepts cash, coin and credit cards, and there is only one pay box per block. They would fit right in with the 5 or 6 newspaper and ad boxes on every block. Use the money raised from parking to help for more parking and a bypass. It will also help to get people to use the free public transportation if they do not want to pay $1 per hour to park downtown. In the rest of the world people are used to paying for parking everywhere. So when those people come into town they will not have a problem dishing out a few bucks to unknowingly pay for more parking or for a Bypass.
It is time for a reality check as you put it, Colorado Native. Our little corner of the world has been discovered, now it is our turn to discover what the rest of the world has to offer us. It is a good time for people to get out of the valley and figure out what parts of the world would enhance Steamboat for the better.
June 10, 2008 at 8:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Mainstreet asks city for cash
Sometimes reading these boards I wonder if all of you really get out and enjoy Steamboat or just sit at home waiting for a parking spot to open up right in front of the Cantina so you can sit out front and talk about how bad the traffic is. Traffic is filling up as more commuters make their way from Craig and Hayden into Steamboat, but we need these workers, due to the high price of homes (averaging $400K for a small place).
As for parking downtown, I have never had to walk more than a block from a parking spot to where ever I am going downtown. At a minimum of $20,000 per parking spot (according to this article), a parking garage is looking like it won't fit into a budget that is spending millions on advertising in Denver without an investor who will make money for him/herself with retail shops, while helping out the community with a parking garage.
For those of you who just hate any organization that asks for money from the government with nothing to show for it remember Mainstreet organizes events that make Steamboat very appealing to Locals and tourist. They have set up events like Light up the Night, Thursday evening shopping for locals, and the Farmers Market, just to name a few. They have helped to organize downtown into a group of businesses that do events together like Halloween and sidewalk sales.
By spending $60K to $100k on Mainstreet, this article states we will be able to attain $5,000,000 in revenue which, for simple math of 8% taxes, is $300,000 in added tax revenue less the $100K spent for Mainstreet. Wouldn't you love to throw a $1 into an investment and get $3 back? Remember also, that this money is coming from locals AND TOURIST, but mostly TOURIST. Locals tend to spend the same money year after year. (Can someone spend a bunch of money on another consultant to tell everyone I am right? Ah, worth a shot.)
I know most of you who comment on articles HATE tourism, but rely on tourism to pay for your way of life in Steamboat in some way. We all need tourism in this town and we do need organizations and people that support our local way of life, while wanting to provide tourist with the experience of Steamboat Springs. Mainstreet is one of those organizations. Besides, in a multi Million dollar budget Steamboat needs and investment that will help put money back into the community and for that $100K seems like a good investment for the city.
June 9, 2008 at 10:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Editorial cartoon for June 8
Nice
June 9, 2008 at 10:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Businesses feel labor crunch
I have to agree that people will not hire anyone unless they live in Steamboat. We are currently looking to move back to Steamboat and no one will even look at our resumes because we don't have housing in Steamboat yet. Rental are tough to find if you don't have a job, vicious cycle, keeping good workers our of Steamboat. Looks like we will have to crash on family couches until we get jobs.
March 30, 2008 at 8:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )