Would You Really Use Alternative Forms of Transportation?
On Friday evening we went into Kimball Junction to get pizza. People across America do something similar every Friday. People in Chicago. People in Washington DC. People in Los Angeles. What do we now have in common with those people? Traffic. It usually takes 5 minutes to get from Pinebrook to our destination in Kimball Junction but tonight it took 20.
We have been warned of this. The Governor says the population in Summit County will double by 2040. With people, comes transportation issues, and Park City and Summit County have been discussing a new transportation plan, designed to address this issue, for months. The potential “solution” is multi-faceted.
- $100’s of millions of dollars invested in busses and/or light rail.
- Creating receiving areas in places like Jeremy Ranch, Pinebrook, and Silver Summit to keep traffic hyper-local.
- Incenting people to not drive through parking costs, etc.
If you spend time listening to the radio or attending government meetings, you know this is a hot issue. The answer, at least recently, is the aforementioned “Transportation Plan.” We hear no other ideas from public figures outside of the “Transportation Plan.” Yet, as we were sitting in traffic, we began to contemplate the plan.
Would we have driven to a park-n-ride and taken a bus to get take-out pizza in Kimball Junction? No. Let’s extrapolate that further and say we were going to buy groceries at Smiths. Would we have taken public transportation. No. What if we were going skiing. Would we take public transport? Maybe, if it could get us there in 20-30 minutes from our door. Is that likely?
The proponents of the transportation plan will then often counter with something like “you WOULD take public transport if it took 2 hours to get to PCMR by car, because that’s wht will happen.” That may be true. However, if it always took two hours to get to Junction Pizza, we’d probably just start buying Digiorno’s.
The point of this is to say that the city and county are trying to find solutions to gridlock. They have talked about spending hundreds of millions of dollars to “solve” this problem. Yet, we’re not sure the average Parkite is going to use much of it. What is more likely is that people will get used to the traffic. Sometimes they will bear it and sometimes they will opt out. Even less times they will hop the bus. That will lead to a waste in funds that could have been better spent.
We of course may be different than the average Park City person. With that in mind we’d like to ask you a question. Would you take a bus or train to shop for groceries if it took 35 minutes one-way, including wait times, to get there? Would you ride an hour to the ski resort? Would you spend 45 minutes going to Main Street via train for a nice dinner or would you just not go?
We understand the need for our leaders to try and find a solution to traffic problems. We agree that waiting on the on ramp to 224 for 10 minutes seems like an eternity. However, reality may spell out something different. We may just get used to it all. The only thing worse than horrible traffic is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to provide alternatives to traffic and then still sitting in it. We’re afraid that’s just what most people will do.
in Budget
Are You in Favor of the County’s 2015 Budget? And How Would You Know?
Earlier this week KPCW’s Leslie Thatcher asked Summit County Council person Claudia McMullin about the county’s first (of two) public meetings regarding Summit County’s 2015 budget. McMullin said there were only two public comments. One from someone who was concerned about future items that needed to be accounted for and one who thought the budget was just too high. McMullin said it was a big change from the previous years.
Does that mean that everyone agrees with this year’s budget? Before we answer that, we challenge you to form an opinion on the 2015 budget. How would you do that? Simply use the tools the County has made available. You can go to the Summit County website home page, where you will find there are two entries on the left hand side of the screen (half way down under Budget hearings). Read those and tell us what information you gleaned. Don’t have the time? Here is what we took away from the two documents:
- County revenues are up by about $3.7 MM
- Expenses are up by about $4.2 MM
- The County expects to lose money in 2015 (net loss)
- The County does a lot of stuff
- Permits (building and engineering) and inspections were up
- Population has grown in the last year, so have job numbers
- Operating expenses have gone up
- Increased costs of $4.2 MM are made up of employees, additional pay periods, and capital projects
- Capital projects include roads (Jeremy, Pinebrook, Wanship, and others) and facilities (fair, Kamas government building, Justice Center, lighting)
- They want to add staff (Animal Control Director, Animal Control Officer, Attorney, Assistant Plan Examiner, Fair coordinator, Engineer Tech, Transit District Tech, Court Security Officer)
- With these staff additions, Summit County would roughly be at the same number of employees as 2008-2009
- Various fund balances decrease (general fund, municipal fund, etc.)
- There are other programs they would have liked but are not included in this year’s budget (like landfill changes).
That’s pretty much everything provided. Are you for a budget increase? Are. You. For. A. Budget. Increase? You don’t know? That’s the problem.
How would any citizen know provided this information? We follow things fairly closely here at Park Rag and we don’t have enough information to make any sort of educated statement (other than we can’t make an educated statement). So, you end up going into a meeting and telling the County Council the budget is too much. Meanwhile, they have spent weeks looking at this. Your lack of detail in explaining your position is a just a punchline to them. Yet, you haven’t been provided the tools to go into detail.
For example, what is the budget for the Animal Control director? I’m sure some people have ideas on that. We live in Jeremy Ranch, so we could probably speak to improvements they want to make here (i.e. does that budget include the roundabouts we keep hearing about?). What does Additional Pay Periods mean? What’s the total extra budget for all extra employees proposed? What existing areas of the budget may need to be reduced? Perhaps these are explained for people physically attending the meeting but that doesn’t help encourage people to prepare and come to meetings.
We don’t know why this is. Was it easier to provide a partial view of information? Did people think there would be less complaints if less information was provided? Is someone trying to hide something?
It is what it is and actually state statute only requires that the finance department provide you a copy of information if you show up at their office. So, it is better than required but that’s not a high bar. So, for next year’s budget we would hope that the County would actually give more thought to how its citizens would actually consume the information to provide constructive feedback.
If not, we hope Council Person McMullin, when asked the same question by KPCW next year, would simply say, “It’s not surprising that no one showed up to comment on this year’s budget. It’s too complicated, your average citizen doesn’t have enough information to make an intelligent comment, and we’ve been looking at this for weeks — what could we have missed? So I’m actually glad that no one came because that would have just wasted everyone’s time.”
Too harsh? Definitely not. Too much truth? Maybe.
in Feel Good
A Sheriff’s Deputy Likely Saved Lives This Morning
There are few things scarier than driving down the interstate and having an elk run out onto the highway. Now imagine if 50 elk ran onto I-80 at rush hour. That’s what a smart Summit County Sheriff deputy prevented this morning. At about 7:45 AM, we saw a herd of elk moving down a hill in Jeremy Ranch. They were about 100 feet from entering I-80 and showed no signs of stopping. Just then a sheriff’s pickup truck pulled up and blocked the way. The deputy moved the truck back and forth, preventing the herd from going onto the highway and encouraging them to go back up the hill. Once the herd had moved back a bit, he took a page out of the Soldier Hollow Sheepdog trials and drove up onto the Jeremy Ranch driving range. He slowly moved the truck back and forth, driving the herd up and away from the freeway. Once the herd was safely away from the highway, he stopped, apparently in order to not spook them. While perhaps there is training on this sort of thing, it’s likely the deputy just has incredible judgement.
The deputy waited but something appeared to spook the herd from above and they rushed back towards trees and headed back toward the freeway. At that point some concerned citizens followed the deputy’s lead. They began using their cars to block the herd from racing onto the freeway. In particular, a black jeep was able to back up and stop all but one of the animals from going onto I-80. The black jeep appeared to honk and backup, cutting off the animals’ path and turning them back into the residential area. The one elk that did race across I-80 somehow dodged oncoming traffic going 70 miles per hour and made it to safety.
If it wouldn’t have been for the deputy and the citizens that assisted, it is likely all those animals would have entered I-80 and also likely many people would have been seriously injured or killed and many elk harmed in the process. Some quick judgement definitely changed the outcome for many motorists (and elk) today. It is one of those morning where you just say “WOW”… and are thankful there are people like that out there.
in Schools
Park City School Superintendent Mentions the “B” Word
During today’s KPCW Local News Hour Leslie Thatcher was asking School Superintendent Ember Conley about this week’s school board meeting. Talk shifted to the “Master Planing Committee” that has been meeting every two weeks to prioritize school district construction. This committee seems to have taken on increased importance since the PC CAPS building was placed on hold last month. The exchange went:
Dr Ember Conley (Park City School District): “We are looking at possibly having someone come in and advise us and get a plan in place for the board.”
Leslie Thatcher (KPCW): “Because that [Plan] would start this summer?”
Dr Ember Conley: “It would, actually we would probably not be able to start this summer. We would probably be needing to going out for a BOND. And as you do that, it takes lots of community input, whether it is Treasure Mountain, [or] we look at our elementary needs… and so far what we are seeing is both secondary and elementary building needs.”
So, back in October we guessed we’d soon start hearing about the need for a bond for rebuilding Treasure Mountain Junior High School. At the time we thought the board would approve building a new PC CAPS building and then push for a bond for Treasure Mountain next spring. It appears now they may have sacrificed the PC CAPS building for an elementary school building instead.
The school district has started to lay the foundation for a new bond. You’ll notice, the tone from the above quote wasn’t about whether we needed new buildings and whether there was public support. The tone was that we definitely have needs for a new junior high school and likely elementary school upgrades, as well. The quote also indicated that they will need community support for this. However, it wasn’t “we’ll have to see if the community wants this”; instead it was “we’ll need community support for this.” There is a difference.
So, the following is how we see this developing. The school district has mentioned the “B” word. They will continue to mention it from time to time, to make sure it seems like a given. You’ll start to hear more about how bad of shape Treasure Mountain Junior High School is in. You’ll wonder how any students can even attend that school. Our guess is it will be a front-page, Saturday morning article in the Park Record. Outside consultants will be hired to provide proof and concur with the powers that be that we need to do something about the school. You’ll then hear that it will “probably cost about as much” to renovate the school as build a new school. You’ll also hear an incessant question about Jeremy Ranch elementary. Do you want an elementary school with 800 students in it? Do you want an elementary school with 800 students in it? Do you want an elementary school with 800 students in it? Next summer, Park City School District will then file to put the bond measure on a ballot for next November for two new schools (or perhaps one, if it’s easier to say “hey look we compromised by only going for one school”). As the election draws nearer, lot’s of people associated with the district (tightly or loosely) will be on the radio talking about the need for the bond. You’ll start seeing lawn signs in October, likely sponsored by a group with a name like “Park City Parents for Kids and Schools”. It will probably be funded from a group like the Park City Education Foundation. Then in early November the $50 million bond will pass by 40%.
Now, that’s democracy.
Really, we don’t know where we stand on the bond because we don’t know the details. That’s not surprising either, since it’s still at the “glimmer in a mother’s eye” stage. However, we’ve seen this play out too many times, to not have at least an educated guess about the playbook that will be used. There very well may be a need for 5 new schools in Park City. If so, then great. However please don’t use the same tired (although we grant successful) tactics against the community.
Instead, please do three simple things:
- Tell us why this benefits the community in cold, hard facts. We want the same approach that is advocated in Professional Learning Communities (the teaching approach being used by the schools). We want data driven statistics that supports a $50 million investment in new buildings and specifically what students, parents, teachers, and Park City residents with no children get out of this.
- Explain your plan to keep these new schools closed to outside enrollment. From the outside looking in, Park City School are like a gas molecule. Any space will be filled. So please specifically explain how outside enrollment will be curtailed. If not, its seems Park City property owners will be paying $300 more per year, so a kid from Salt Lake can benefit from our schools.
- Promise that by the time these buildings are completed you will have equalized the standardized scores between low-income/hispanic kids and caucasian kids in our schools. Frankly the discrepancy between the groups is embarrassing not only for people involved in the school system (teachers, administrators, etc.) but for those of us who live here. If we build a temple to the education gods in the form of a brand new shiny building but still sacrifice this ever growing population on its alter, its a travesty. We know that the money used for building comes from different sources than that used for educating, but we can’t stop thinking that if only 10% of the money, that will be put into a new bond, was used to help these students, the outcome would likely be superior.
So, the game is afoot. The word bond has been mentioned and we begin the 11 month journey that we have gone through so many times. Will it be different this time? Will the school district apply the same lessons to this process that its trying to teach our children or will it rely on simple marketing? It should be interesting to watch.
Note: We say the bond will be $50 million. That is just a guess. An estimate to rebuild Treasure Mountain came in at $28 million. If there is a second school proposed, we could see hitting $50 million pretty easily.
in Development, Economy
They Don’t Ring a Bell at the Top… but Maybe They Build a Hotel
They say that no one rings a bell at the top of the stock market. There’s a top but you don’t realize it until you are down 20%. Similarly, as most of us know, Park City has had its series of booms and busts too. Yet, as we personally look around, all we see is frothiness right now. We see expansion at the outlet mall. Vail has bought PCMR. We witnessed the expansion at Kimball Junction. Park City Heights is finally started. A new development is underway in Silver Creek. The county wants to add 9 full-time employees to its payroll.
… and a hotel comes to Snyderville. The hotel seems like the cherry on top of the cake. Especially where Park City hotel occupancy hovers in the 30% range.
It just seems that it may be telling us something, if we listen closely enough.
Before:
Today:
in Film Studio
Where is the Promised Construction at the Film Studio?
We were driving down 248 today and noticed there was no construction happening at the Film Studio. We took a left turn and headed down to Park City Heights. It was like Santa’s village with construction folks doing all sorts of things. We thought, “this is what it looks like when someone really wants to finish their project.”
It got us thinking back to October when a press release was issued that said the cessation of work allowed the Park City Film Studios to complete an agreement with NewPark developer Gary Crandall to help continue development. It also said, “General Contractor, Sahara, L.LC., confirms that it was asked to advance the project forward and felt it prudent to get paving down ‘so we could continue to push on through the winter. Upon completion of the paving we anticipate commencing construction at the prior pace barring any inclement weather.”
We remember that week after construction resumed, dump trucks were seen moving everywhere onsite. We saw some graters and backhoes working too. PROGRESS! Yet, a couple weeks later we heard comments from people saying they only ever saw one or two pieces of equipment running out there.
Now, we are into December… it’s 46 degrees outside and we see nothing. The last few weeks should be a blessing for construction but we don’t see asphalt laid (perhaps it is in someplace we can’t see from outside). We don’t see much construction going on. We can still see straight through the building. There appear to be holes in roof.
So, is construction continuing? Has substantial progress been made? Will the studio be ready to open in the spring? Granted we don’t camp at Quinn’s so maybe we’ve missed it all.
It just seems really strange. Park City Heights gives the appearance of action — a desire and will to complete something. Park City Film Studios looks like it is … well… in limbo.
It doesn’t bode well.
in Park City
When you walk up Park Avenue What Do You Think?
On Thursday, the Park City City Council is going to discuss whether to provide Park City historic homes with up to $25,000 in matching grants for renovations. This got us to thinking about those historical homes. Here is an example of what we think of when we think of those homes:
Yes they are historic. Yet, they aren’t very different from the run-down row homes you may see in Maryland, Chicago, or New Jersey. Are they worth updating? Does run-down fit the image Park City wants? Will fixing some siding help?
What may seem quaint to one person may seem third world to another.
If you had a choice, would you use your tax dollars to fix up some of the hundreds of run down houses in Park City or would you allow something “better” to be built”?
in Economy
The rain. What Does it mean for our growth?
If you follow city and county government, you KNOW that the population of our area is GOING TO INCREASE by over a 100% in the next few years. We’ll go from 35,000 people to 80,000. Therefore we must plan for the future by limiting traffic, building light rail, and having plenty of quick serve restaurants to meet the demand.
Yet, isn’t this year interesting? We had an early snow that allowed PCMR to open by Thanksgiving, but, if we are honest, we’d call our early season warm and rainy. Many people would say it’s an anomaly. For now it may be. However, if you read the studies on global warming, our winter season is going to get even shorter. Our summer season is going to be hotter and drier. This early winter is likely a cautionary tale for what is coming.
If you delve into specific studies like the one PCMR did in 2009, you’ll find that in 15 years “projected decreases in snowpack will have severe economic consequences for the region. By 2030, the estimated decrease in snowpack is estimated to result in $120.0 million in lost output. This lost output is estimated to result in an estimated 1,137 lost jobs and $20.4 million in the form of lost earnings (or labor income).” To put that in perspective, $120 million is 50% more than the entire impact of Sundance as calculated by the University of Utah.
So, if fewer people come to ski during the season (in 2030 the season is probably from January to March) in Park City, fewer people will likely live here.
What does it all mean? We really don’t know. That’s above our pay grade. However, we do note the inconsistency with those that both believe global warming is happening and that our population is going to explode. If global warming is happening (which we would say is the scientific bet), and summers are hot and winters rainy, we’d guess the trend of influx into our little town will slow. Given that, our 30 year plans should probably look a lot different from they do now.
in Schools
A Perspective on Challenges Facing the School System
We received a great comment last week from what appears to be a member of the Park City School system (because we are an open platform we don’t require proof). While we of course don’t agree with everything the commenter says, we do find them thought provoking. We think the comment is worth reprinting here to ensure as many people see it as possible:
It is certainly correct that the district goal is to reduce some of the course options at PCHS but this is generally to provide more structured course guidance to our student body and not driven by cost. Less classes taught will result in more sections of other classes as the number of students is not going down. The result, a narrower set of course options but not a lower budget.
Currently, many elective classes are taught or not taught based on the number of students registered for the class. So, if no one registers for Accounting, it is not taught. Is accounting a class we should encourage our students to take? Perhaps bookkeeping is a good career option with flexible family-friendly hours. The decision makers tasked with addressing our course selections are wise. They have all the facts and we, the tax payers, pay them to make these decisions. To assume we, who see things from the outside and do not have all the facts should be making these choices is rather egotistical. Would we welcome educators to come into our businesses or homes and tell us how they should be run? Of course not. They do not know the nuances of our world. Throughout the annual school district budgeting process there are hundreds of factors parents simply are not aware of. I encourage all parents to be certain they have the facts before voicing opinions. Asking questions is the best place to start. As I tell the PCCAPS students, “Always travel with the facts or you may make a fool of yourself.”
Interestingly, there are studies that show at the high school level a large class size is not necessarily a bad thing. Of course, it depends on the type of class but 92% of PCHS seniors state they are heading off to college and these same students will be sitting in lecture halls of 300+ in college. Getting some practice with a class of 150 in the high school lecture hall might be a good idea and would potentially reduce kindergarten class sizes which is a district-wide need.
What about online course options? Students are taking classes online on the side. Unfortunately, the completion rate for those courses is fairly low. Why not offer online courses with teacher support and guidance at the high school? This could be great use for the underutilized library and allow students to work at their own pace. Online courses have been shown to be effective in reducing expenses in districts around the country. and for parents and students, online classes offer options. My 8th grade daughter has one period or parent release because she is taking World History online. She also took Health online so she would have an extra elective option available to her, which is the Digital Media / Photoshop class. My 11th grade son attends the Winter Sports School and, while it was the right choice for him, I am sorry he is missing out on the amazing course selection at PCHS. Pre-Engineering, PCCAPS, Advanced Drawing, Economics, Statistics, Theater…….
I do not know if the over 300 students who take parent release cost the district money by not being in class but if a student is not in the school he is missing out on a free education. Sure some of our students take parent release for athletics or to take online college courses, etc. but most of the parent release students who could be taking Economics, Psychology, Statistics, Creative Writing, Music, Art, Theater, programming or Entrepreneurship courses are sleeping in instead.
One of the key factors we must all consider when reducing course selection at the high school is, “what will help our students succeed in life?” AP Classes stretch our academic students’ minds, PCCAPS gives all students a glimpse at and practice in the professional world. Fine Arts classes help expand their creativity and History courses give them much needed perspective beyond their own experiences. I do not envy those who will have to make the tough decisions about course offerings in our high school but I do know there is much more to those decisions than meets the eye.
in Park City
The Power of the Corporation
Last week, Vail announced they were donating $1.3 million in community grants to 30 non-profit organizations in Summit and Wasatch Counties. These monies will go to organizations like the Peace House, Recycle Utah, and Summit Land Conservancy. You really can’t argue with it or the fact that they doubled the amount versus the previous year. It’s “Free Money” that will benefit our community in so many ways.
A week earlier, Park City residents came together for Live PC Give PC. $1 million was raised for local charities. This was a huge increase over the $800,000 raised the year before.
All combined this is over $2.3 in money and time given back to our community. That is great!
However, we are struck by the power of the corporation. Live PC Give PC is a huge community endeavor; it’s like the whole town raises up and its life force is propelled into giving. There is power in that. Yet it appears there is more power in a corporation writing a check. With the wave of the pen Vail can assign $1.3 million of it’s $37 million dollar profit where it likes. Perhaps we’re jaded by this Vail Business Journal Article about Epic Promise which says, “Employees will have completed [projects] to commemorate Vail Resorts’ newly launched EpicPromise, a branding platform designed to engage resort guests and residents of the communities where is operates in one of the company’s core values, Do Good.” So Live PC Give PC is about charities and EpicPromise is about a … branding platform.
It’s like comparing two kids… one who buys baseball card packs hoping to find the player he loves in one of those packs and the other who’s dad buys the whole year’s set of cards. They’ll probably both eventually get the player’s card they wanted, but one way just seems better than the other.
We don’t know what the alternative is and would we really want to turn down money for non-profits? It’s tough.
Do we harbor any ill will toward Vail? I guess not. Does the whole giving thing seem more like just a transaction. Yes.
Welcome to the new normal.
Parkrag
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