CON GAMES: Socialists Want Aspen To Sell Popcorn
I shouldn’t be shocked by what I heard on the street yesterday—that the City of Aspen is indeed going to move ahead and buy the Isis movie theater downtown on East Hopkins Avenue. This cold slap in the face remains unconfirmed and there will be beaucoup de hurdles, but I nonetheless believe this development constitutes a watershed moment in the history of the little city that thinks it could do anything and everything.
To my way of thinking, any decision to move forward with the acquisition of the Isis represents a final descent into municipal socialism—and this is a liberal talking. What’s next? The City Of Aspen’s Explore Booksellers and Bistro? It’s no joke. A while back I wrote a spoof that said the City of Aspen was buying the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, an idea so preposterous I had no idea anyone could misunderstand my farcical in Aspen.
I was wrong: people had no problem envisioning the city as the proprietor of tutus.
Now I know that cities across the country are jumping into telecommunications and cable television, and that’s more than enough to make me more than a little squirrelly. But at least an argument can be made—and attention must be paid—to the notion that telecom, both broadband and wireless, represents citified infrastructure. It’s not a great argument, but one with more than enough juice to get scores of cities wired in around the country.
But there are some things a city should not do. No way, no how. And the city of Aspen seems to want to do all of them—to literally be all things to all people.
Sometimes that makes sense: without affordable and employee housing, Aspen would be a vaster wasteland of absentee landlords. Without a subsidized piece of the rock, there would be no rock and roll at all, and Aspen would be the worse off for it. And when it comes to employee housing, the private sector simply can’t meet the need because of inexorable marketplace forces that push prices higher than Maroon Bells.
You could even stretch the case to Aspen arts, an argument that buttresses the notion of the city owning the Isis outright. Voters approved a Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) that now has put more than $17 million in the bank for the care and feeding of the Wheeler Opera House. From what I have seen, city ownership has been nothing but trouble, and I called for the Wheeler House’s privatization more than a year ago. To my dismay, the Aspen Historical Society convinced taxpayers to pony up for yet another permanent fund.
Which brings us to the Isis and the idea that you could soon be buying your popcorn from the city. I would recommend this plan to everyone who is happy with their experience every time they walk into the Aspen Post Office. I can’t wait to be told that popcorn is the responsibility of another city department.
Ah…where to start….
Ok, first, who in the city is qualified to run a business? Since the city is not in the businesses of running a business, it would mean that it would either have to employ new people to run and work at this business and or, contract out the work. Either way, it will cost the taxpayers of the city in addition to what they paid for the business to start with.
Second, let’s look at the reason the Isis is for sale. It couldn’t turn a profit, so the owners and/or those who tried to make a go of it were forced to shut down. Now, if private enterprise cannot make a profit, what makes government, whom we know to be proven poor managers, think they can make this business a success. They won’t and can’t and the Isis will then turn into another social, subsidized, “project” that ends up costing the tax payers thousands more then originally “projected.”
Third, who stands to profit from this “deal?” I am always suspect when I see government meddling into these types of ventures and have to wonder what is being done behind the scenes and who is getting the payoff. And yes, someone is getting paid off; it’s just a building for crying out loud. If it is so important to the history of Aspen, why isn’t the historical society involved in “saving” the Isis?
Lastly, where does it end? Does the city buy up every business that can’t make it in Aspen? Is the Explore Booksellers and Bistro next? And if not, why not? Are there any standards to be applied? A one time venture? Where does the madness stop?
After the theater, what next? Grass roots TV, the radios? Hmmmm…..if the city council can control all the media in the town…then they can control the minds of the poor inhabitants of this little village. Sound like a science fiction movie? Maybe, but one thing is for certain, our city council is being run by nothing but “B” actors….and bad ones at that.
“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” -
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968)
Ah…where to start….
Ok, first, who in the city is qualified to run a business? Since the city is not in the businesses of running a business, it would mean that it would either have to employ new people to run and work at this business and or, contract out the work. Either way, it will cost the taxpayers of the city in addition to what they paid for the business to start with.
Second, let’s look at the reason the Isis is for sale. It couldn’t turn a profit, so the owners and/or those who tried to make a go of it were forced to shut down. Now, if private enterprise cannot make a profit, what makes government, whom we know to be proven poor managers, think they can make this business a success. They won’t and can’t and the Isis will then turn into another social, subsidized, “project” that ends up costing the tax payers thousands more then originally “projected.”
Third, who stands to profit from this “deal?” I am always suspect when I see government meddling into these types of ventures and have to wonder what is being done behind the scenes and who is getting the payoff. And yes, someone is getting paid off; it’s just a building for crying out loud. If it is so important to the history of Aspen, why isn’t the historical society involved in “saving” the Isis?
Lastly, where does it end? Does the city buy up every business that can’t make it in Aspen? Is the Explore Booksellers and Bistro next? And if not, why not? Are there any standards to be applied? A one time venture? Where does the madness stop?
After the theater, what next? Grass roots TV, the radios? Hmmmm…..if the city council can control all the media in the town…then they can control the minds of the poor inhabitants of this little village. Sound like a science fiction movie? Maybe, but one thing is for certain, our city council is being run by nothing but “B” actors….and bad ones at that.
“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” -
Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968)