The Slums of Aspen

The Slums of Aspen PDF

Author: Lisa Sun-Hee Park

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2013-07-22

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 1479834769

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Winner, Allan Schnaiberg Outstanding Publication Award, presented by the Environment & Technology section of the American Sociological Association How the elite ski resort reshaped the socio-economic and demographic landscape in pursuit of profit and pleasure Environmentalism usually calls to mind images of peace and serenity, a oneness with nature, and a shared sense of responsibility. But one town in Colorado, under the guise of environmental protection, passed a resolution limiting immigration, bolstering the privilege of the wealthy and scapegoating Latin American newcomers for the area’s current and future ecological problems. This might have escaped attention save for the fact that this wasn’t some rinky-dink backwater. It was Aspen, Colorado, playground of the rich and famous and the West’s most elite ski town. Tracking the lives of immigrant laborers through several years of exhaustive fieldwork and archival digging, The Slums of Aspen tells a story that brings together some of the most pressing social problems of the day: environmental crises, immigration, and social inequality. Park and Pellow demonstrate how these issues are intertwined in the everyday experiences of people who work and live in this wealthy tourist community. Offering a new understanding of a little known class of the super-elite, of low-wage immigrants (mostly from Latin America) who have become the foundation for service and leisure in this famous resort, and of the recent history of the ski industry, Park and Pellow expose the ways in which Colorado boosters have reshaped the landscape and altered ecosystems in pursuit of profit and pleasure. Of even greater urgency, they frame how environmental degradation and immigration reform have become inextricably linked in many regions of the American West, a dynamic that interferes with the efforts of valorous environmental causes, often turning away from conservation and toward insidious racial privilege.

Aspen and the American Dream

Aspen and the American Dream PDF

Author: Jenny Stuber

Publisher: University of California Press

Published: 2021-03-23

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 0520306600

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How is it possible for a town to exist where the median household income is about $73,000, but the median home price is about $4,000,000? Boring into the "impossible" math of Aspen, Colorado, Stuber explores how middle-class people have found a way to live in this supergentrified town. Interviewing a range of residents, policymakers, and officials, Stuber shows that what resolves the math equation between incomes and home values in Aspen, Colorado—the X-factor that makes middle-class life possible—is the careful orchestration of diverse class interests within local politics and the community. She explores how this is achieved through a highly regulatory and extractive land use code that provides symbolic and material value to highly affluent investors and part-year residents, as well as less-affluent locals, many of whom benefit from an array of subsidies—including an extensive affordable housing program—that redistribute economic resources in ways that make it possible for middle-class residents to live there. Stuber further examines how Latinos, who provide much of the service work in Aspen and who tend to live outside the town, fit into the social geography of one of the most unequal places in the country. Overall, Stuber argues that the Aspen's ability to balance the interests of its diverse class constituencies is not a foregone conclusion; rather, it is the result of efforts by local stakeholders—citizens, government, developers, and vacationers—to preserve the town’s unique feel and value, and "keep Aspen, Aspen" in all its complex dynamics.

Devil's Bargains

Devil's Bargains PDF

Author: Hal Rothman

Publisher:

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13:

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The West is popularly perceived as America's last outpost of unfettered opportunity, but twentieth-century corporate tourism has transformed it into America's "land of opportunism." From Sun Valley to Santa Fe, towns throughout the West have been turned over to outsiders—and not just to those who visit and move on, but to those who stay and control. Although tourism has been a blessing for many, bringing economic and cultural prosperity to communities without obvious means of support or allowing towns on the brink of extinction to renew themselves; the costs on more intangible levels may be said to outweigh the benefits and be a devil's bargain in the making. Hal Rothman examines the effect of twentieth-century tourism on the West and exposes that industry's darker side. He tells how tourism evolved from Grand Canyon rail trips to Sun Valley ski weekends and Disneyland vacations, and how the post-World War II boom in air travel and luxury hotels capitalized on a surge in discretionary income for many Americans, combined with newfound leisure time. From major destinations like Las Vegas to revitalized towns like Aspen and Moab, Rothman reveals how the introduction of tourism into a community may seem innocuous, but residents gradually realize, as they seek to preserve the authenticity of their communities, that decision-making power has subtly shifted from the community itself to the newly arrived corporate financiers. And because tourism often results in a redistribution of wealth and power to "outsiders," observes Rothman, it represents a new form of colonialism for the region. By depicting the nature of tourism in the American West through true stories of places and individuals that have felt its grasp, Rothman doesn't just document the effects of tourism but provides us with an enlightened explanation of the shape these changes take. Deftly balancing historical perspective with an eye for what's happening in the region right now, his book sets new standards for the study of tourism and is one that no citizen of the West whose life is touched by that industry can afford to ignore.

Ski Style

Ski Style PDF

Author: Alexandra Black

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2001-01-09

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 0312275218

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A unique and evocative living style has evolved in ski resorts, and this way of life is captures through color and archival photographs of interiors, architecture, and style elements that powerfully convey both the nostalgia and modern dream of mountain living.

Explorer's Guide Colorado's Classic Mountain Towns: A Great Destination: Aspen, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Steamboat Springs, Telluride, Vail & Winter Park (Explorer's Great Destinations)

Explorer's Guide Colorado's Classic Mountain Towns: A Great Destination: Aspen, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Steamboat Springs, Telluride, Vail & Winter Park (Explorer's Great Destinations) PDF

Author: Evelyn Spence

Publisher: The Countryman Press

Published: 2007-05-29

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 1581570368

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Colorado's spectacular ski towns—like Aspen, Vail, Telluride, and Crested Butte—offer far more than just skiing: they offer some of the best hiking, mountain biking, fishing, shopping, dining, and lodging in the world, and all year round to boot. Author Evelyn Spence, a former editor at Skiing magazine and avid outdoorswoman, has turned the state's classic mountain towns upside down to find quirky annual festivals, superb Rocky Mountain cuisine, historic B&Bs, trout-filled streams, powder-choked runs, Manhattan-worthy shopping, and jaw-dropping drives, and combine them in this unique travel guide. Whether you want to sleep under the stars or inside a toasty wilderness lodge, this guide will help you plan the ultimate Colorado mountain experience.

The Valley of Opportunity

The Valley of Opportunity PDF

Author: Steven F. Mehls

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 1982

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13:

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This publication represents the latest Class I (History) to be written for the western slope of Colorado. Our three districts in this region of Colorado now have histories specifically for them. Such works provide a valuable and needed synthesis of history and literature for these areas and also gives our managers data that are used on a daily basis for land-use decision making. Multiple land use is a Bureau mission that is being met. Oil and gas, coal, oil shale and other energy minerals, not to mention rights-of-ways, grazing programs, recreation projects and land-use planning, are all supported by histories such as this. Resource Management Plans and subsequent Environmental Impact Statements that are produced for the Bureau's Area Offices are the foundations for long-term land-use management. The Glenwood Springs, Colorado, Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement is a Bureau pilot document and serves as a management tool for the Glenwood Springs Resource Area. This history, Volley of Opportunity supports the Resource Management Plan. In addition, a history provides background and support for the upcoming Grand Junction Resource Area Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement. The Volley of Opportunity has already been used for Oil Shale Environmental Statements and for the Federal Coal Leasing Program in the Grand Junction, Colorado, District. Truly, such histories are not only multiple-use in scope but are also management tools that provide basic understanding for land use decisions. Additionally, this history represents an ongoing effort to provide the public reader with a work that is not only interesting but is also well researched. In this way, another sector is satisfied. These histories are used by schools, libraries, universities and, of course, the general public. Again, multiple-use is served. Finally, as the Volley of Opportunity was being prepared, it happened that the City of Grand Junction's Centennial would occur in 1982. Coincidentally, the Glenwood Springs Resource Management Plan will be published in November 1982. Since this history serves several purposes, it is appropriate that it also is the Bureau's contribution to Grand Junction's Centennial celebration.

Skiing Heritage Journal

Skiing Heritage Journal PDF

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2008-03

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13:

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Skiing Heritage is a quarterly Journal of original, entertaining, and informative feature articles on skiing history. Published by the International Skiing History Association, its contents support ISHA's mission "to preserve skiing history and to increase awareness of the sport's heritage."