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Show totitaps ttdD ttfln DMMdDn0 The Park Record O Section A Thursday, March 9, 1995 D Page A17 Making the grade Editor: The Park City Booster Club held a breakfast oil Friday, Feb. 17, to celebrate and honor all the PCHS students who made the Honor Roll for the first two quarters of the 94-95 94-95 school year. We were delighted to serve 150 students, thanks to the generosity of Mike Massamino and Albertsons, and Mark Young and McDonald's. Additional kudos go to Ann and Mac MacQuoid, Debbie Reed, Nikki Lowry, Sheila Evans and Gary Andersen who made sure everything was set up, served promptly and cleaned up. Congratulations to the PCHS Honor Roll students! We look forward to seeing you again at the third quarter Honor Roll Breakfast. Carole L. Sanders Academic Booster Committee P.C. not to blame for fee legislation Editor: I was surprised to see Park City receive so much publicity over the Impact Fees Bill that recently passed in the Utah Legislature. We are currently building an affordable housing project in Park City to help provide housing for city employees and others who commute to work. We had somesme difficult site problems to solve and the planning staff and other city officials have been very consistent and professional in their approach to meeting our needs in a way that also protects the needs of existing residents. Park City has grown from a city with very little infrastructure to a full-service city in a short period of time. This has created tremendous capital needs for improvements. The impact fees we were assessed were related directly to that growth much more so than some of the fees we have been assessed in other areas of the state that aren't facing the same growth challenges. Park City worked with us to keep the fees in a reasonable range and also helped us obtain a community block grant. As a developer of hundreds of housing units in the state of Utah, I certainly wish that all cities could be as professional, consistent and farsighted as Park City has been. Sincerely, Lynn Croft, president Oak Financial The coach says goodbye Dear Park City High School football team, parents and fans, Making the decision to leave Park City was the hardest decision of my life. In the end, I believe I did what was best for my family. We had a great season and got the program turned around and headed down the right track. I would like to thank my assistant coaches. If not for them, we would not have won a game. You all did a great job. The Booster Club was always willing to help with anything and I thank you. Also, a special thanks needs to go out to the parents and fans. Thank you for all of your support and help. As a first year head coach, I have many memories that I will never forget: the first TD of the year, the first win and getting into the playoffs. But the thing I will carry close to my heart for the rest of my life will be the kids on the 1994 Miner football team. These kids accomplished more than anyone could have dreamed of. They knew they could win and practiced and played hard everyday. It is my hope that all of you team members remember what it took to get this done and continue down this path. The 1995 Miner football team will be as good as you want it to be. Remember: The chief cause of failure is trading what you want most for what you want at the moment. Work hard, play hard and win a ton of games. I love you guys and a part of me will always be with the Park City football team. Sincerely, Coach Gary Andersen Park City High School National Social Work Month Editor: As health care needs and choices change daily, more emphasis is being placed on cost containment. It is important for us to remember that when we experience health-related challenges, we need to have our emotional and social needs met as well as physical needs. Illness, disability and chronic health conditions can be devastating, but there is support available. Medical social workers help individuals cope with physical, emotional and financial life-changing life-changing situations. At Creekside Home Health Care, teams of professionals, including social workers, encourage sound decision making for health care solutions. We work to include services for the whole patient and not just a medical diagnosis. As your partners in health, we take this opportunity during National Social Work Month to salute the medical social workers in the Park City area. We express our sincere gratitude for their contributions to our lives and communities. Mark de St. Aubin, LCSW Creekside Home Health Care Social Services director Salt Lake City Trends and observation in the mountain west and the nation byH. GENEMOSER The Intermountain West continues to boom. Nevada, Utah and Idaho are among the nation's top ten states in terms of job gains. Substantial gains in economic growth and personal income are also being posted in other mountain west states. Much of the job growth has been in the construction business; there are intermountain west cities becoming high-tech Meccas. The number of software companies and the revenue generated by them makes the Wasatch Front one of the greatest software centers in the world. Utah has about 80,000 people employed in information technology. Intel is making a $1.5 billion addition to their facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., which will add an additional 1,000 jobs to their existing plant there. , The Urban Land Institute recently reported that Salt Lake City was the leading office investment market in the nation. Salt Lake was followed by Columbus, Ohio and Portland, Ore. The Wall Street Journal reported that home builders were generally quite confident about 1995 at a recent home builder's convention in Houston. David F. Sieders, the National Association of Home Builders chief economist, did warn of a slowdown and a pbssibly disastrous 1996. Negative indicators mentioned were: the amount of loans being made for speculative building, rising interest rates, and the fact that the inventory of unsold homes has reached the highest level since 1991. A recent report predicted a -7.4 percent drop in single-family home starts nationally with a -9.7 percent drop in the west. The popularity of the intermountain west may mean the drop may be of less consequence in this region. In recent times, California out-migration has accounted for a substantial amount of the population and business growth in the intermountain region. This may be changing. Although California ranked 49 in the last labor market study and in spite of the floods, earthquakes, landslides and the Orange County financial debacle, there are indicators that California is staging an economic rebound. The Bank of America is forecasting that California will add 500,000 new jobs in the next five years; U-Haul tracked more households moving into California than out of it, a first since 1990. The chief economist at Wells Fargo Bank recently said that recession has given way to growth. ' Many of the workers who lost their jobs in the timber industry in the northwest have moved into hightech high-tech employment. Hewlett Packard and Sony are among the firms who have moved into or expanded in the northwest. Oregon unemployment last year was at five percent, the lowest in years. Pouring more money into government, assuming better results will occur, clearly doesn't work. A new ethic is needed that encourages agencies to perform more effectively. The basic problem is that most agencies and jurisdictions make almost no effort to evaluate the success or failure of their programs. ' Utah is recognized as one of the national leaders taking steps to move the state into the 21st century in a proactive way with a strategic planning activity named Utah Tomorrow. The plan is a broad-based, ongoing strategic planning effort focusing on specific goals for Utah's future. Utah Tomorrow establishes a vision statement, specific goals and objectives, and performance measures in 10 important areas: Education, economic development, infrastructure, environment and natural resources, health and safety, culture, human services, justice, government, free enterprise and regulatory systems. The document is refined and improved each year after many hours of work and coordination between the legislature, judiciary, executive office and departments, local government and the public at large. Jackson, Wyo. voters said yes to extensive zoning and land use regulations in a special election held Jan. 31. Public officials, staff and consultants had spent over four years and reportedly over $1 million developing new land use regulations. Plan opponents, led by a local developer, argued that growth restrictions harmed property values and forced the issue into a local election. Fifty-five percent of those voting favored the new code. Voters in Summit County, Utah approved a "Form of Governance" study during the last election. Most of the population growth occurring has been in the unincorporated areas and creates an increasing demand for urban services which counties traditionally do not furnish. Counties do not have the same revenue opportunities as cities, so paying for the services becomes problematic. A committee is being formed to study various forms of county government and to determine the most effective way of handling the demands on the county and the changes taking place. Any proposals for change would go to the voters for their acceptance or rejection. In the Aspen area, the growth taking place in the "down valley" region is impacting three counties, Basalt, Eagle and Pitkin, and creating jurisdictional problems. One Pitkin County Commissioner has proposed a study to see if creating a single county covering the entire Roaring Fork Valley would make sense. Butte, Mont, is rebounding strongly from the hit they felt when the copper mine closed down. They were left with 5,000 unemployed and a super "super fund" project in a huge open pit mine half-filled with 17 billion gallons of toxic water. The mine is in the middle of this town of 32,000 residents. However, Butte is now thriving on cleaning up the mess. Arco has spent $146 million in cleanup to date. Over a dozen technology companies have come to Butte to test cleanup methods and the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency are testing water treatment technology there. Some estimates say that $2 billion will be spent before it's all over. In the meantime unemployment has dropped from 20 percent in 1985 to 7.6 percent today. Ecotourist outfitters are getting into the spirit of the "leave no trace" or low-impact approach to back-country back-country travel. Trading cast iron dutch ovens for aluminum, nylon tents for canvas and implementing other weight and size-reducing strategies means fewer pack animals carrying less weight. This translates to reduced wear and tear on trails and campsites. This also means a savings in cost to the outfitter. There are outfitters currently using llamas and it is possible in some areas to rent a llama without the guide service. Llamas carry about 25 percent of their 300-400 pound body weight and travel approximately 1 5 miles a day compared to a horse which can go approximately 25 miles. Back-country travelers will be will be seeing pack goats on the trails. Lighter than either horses or llamas, they're easier on the trail and quite benign in sensitive back-country areas. They weigh up to 200 pounds and will carry 25 percent of their weight. They are cheap, affectionate, easy to manage, and require little pasture. Water problems continue to plague the west. The L.A. Times recently reported: "A long-awaited state 1 News Analysis report on the future of Mono Lake recommends that the water level of the environmentally fragile lake be restored to a high elevation, a move that could drastically slash the amount of water that could flow to Los Angeles." In the past, L.A. has drawn as much as 15 percent of its water from the Mono Lake region. In Nevada, the driest state in the nation, Las Vegas continues to search for new water sources to take care of the unprecedented development taking place there. It has been said that so much water has been pumped from an aquifer under Las Vegas that the downtown area has sunk five feet in the last 60 years. Albuquerque recently discovered they may have been "mining" groundwater from their major aquifer. Mining means the groundwater is being removed from the aquifer faster than it can be naturally recharged. Hydrologists have warned that Albuquerque's supply of ground water could be depleted in 30 years. As Colorado's population continues to explode, scarce water supply is mentioned as a source of concern, along with traffic, air quality, housing and the "loss of quality of life." The governor recently convened a Colorado Leadership Summit on Smart Growth and Development to look at these and other issues. The High Country News reports that the Big Lost River near Arco, Id. has gone dry and there are concerns for the total Snake River Basin. Comprehensive water studies are being conducted in Summit County by the U.S. Geological Service, Utah Geological Service and the State Engineer. This is a fast developing area that has had serious water problems. Water recycling is being looked at as one way to take the pressure off aquifers and other water sources. Technology that would enable homeowners to install a system to treat and redirect household waste water for use on the lawn and other outside use is being explored. For more information on Utah Tomorrow, contact John Cannon or Patricia Owen at: Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, 436 State Capitol, Salt. Lake City, Utah 84114, or call 538-1032 (fax 538-1712). Mark your calendar now! Monday, March 20 is the date of Park City's Semi-annual Blood Drive, 3:30-8 p.m. at Park City High School. Give the gift of life! i wM I -for; ': -mJ (Ml$ 17""" i 1 " . rr- t" j""5". I -.. w.:. r - t liM" UwainiriNMiiajam r r hthh Win iwniirirr itaiiiinnumrinr .. ......... ..tv.vyro,iirp. SjJ Courtesy Park City Museum, Pop enks photo collection Retaining a sense of history I The Park Record welcomes letters to the editor on any subject We ask that the letters adhere to the following guidelines: The should be submitted to the Park Record offices at 1670 Bonanza Drive or received In the mail (P.O. Box 3688, Park City, UT 84060) no later than 5 p.m. on Monday before publication. They must be signed and include address and telephone number of author. No letter will published under an assumed name. They must not contain libelous material. Writers are limited to one letter every 28 days. Letters must not be longer than 350 words and should, if possible, be typed. We reserve the right to edit letters if they are too long or if they contain statements we consider unnecessarily offensive or obscene. All letters will be printed, unless the number exceeds our space limitation. submitted by PARK CITY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Ron Butkovich, president Who owns Park City's Historic District? That may be the $64-million question. This photo shows the house at 703 Park Ave. in 1930, when it was the home of Mr. and Mrs. E.J. Beggs. Large trees line the street, shading the front porch where the Beggses sit enjoying the quiet. At right is a small section of the garage next door. Mr. beggs was owner of an ore mill, a well-to-do Parkite. The Beggses were socially and civically active in Park City. Mrs. Beggs was a founding member of the Woman's Athenaeum Club, and many meetings were held in this house. The yard once hosted a picnic for 200 people! Three weeks ago the Historic District Commission denied a request from Burnis Watts, who has lived in this house the last 30 years, to demolish this old home 4iict Editorial and the National Garage next to it. Mr. Watts will-appeal. will-appeal. 1 The process will continue until one side gives in or the house andor garage fall down from neglect. In the ' city's "transitional zone" the land empty is worth more ! than the land with house and garage. This house was once a landmark of Park City life. But that was before it was surrounded by the J commercial interests; Burnis Watts fought ; hard to forestall, before ' A voice from the community he saw the 1 neighborhood he loved disappear. When all our historic structures have been replaced by high-rise condominiums and shiny new stores, who will come to Park City then? What if those who have the money to choose opt for places like Telluride, where the historic district has been preserved intact? Or Aspen, which has never lost its celebrity appeal. What is property value? Who sets it? Developers? The HDC? The city? Businessmen? Residents? Who wins? Who loses? |
