Privately, it seems just about everyone in Mammoth Lakes is talking about the seeming dismantling of town government. Councilman Skip Harvey wants constituents to talk to him about that or anything else on their minds.
Harvey will hold open office hours to talk to citizens next Tuesday, July 5th from 4pm to 7pm at the Base Camp Cafe on Main Street. As he put it, “You talk. I listen.”
So, you can take those burning questions about town finances, services, the future, the past to Councilman Harvey and he will take note. Some have suggested that citizens can request issues of concern become agenda items at meetings for official discussion.
Councilman Skip Harvey – open office hours – Tuesday July 5th, 4pm to 7pm, his office at Base Camp Cafe.
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I just want to add one thing. Current plans for “build out” or People At One Time — the number of people the town is being planned to host each and every day in Mammoth Lakes is (the last I heard) 52,000 people. Think about that. Each and every day — 52,000 people!
btw, Skip looks a bit confused in the picture
about us concerned citizens, councilman Harvey, perhaps you could engage the rest of the council to read these posts. While we may not have all the answers, the majority of us seem to observe and comment on what does NOT work. That seems as good a starting point as any.
Though Ken is very poetic, he seems spot on with his observations. While I don’t profess kicking everyone out, nor pricing anyone out of coming to enjoy what we all wake up to, there does come a saturation point wherein there is simply not enough water for everyone to flush, not enough parking for everyone to be steps away from everything they left behind, not enough bandwidth to send a picture of the beauty they are missing by…sending a picture, not enough condos to house all these people let alone the people who serve them. Can we make Mammoth Lakes exclusive without being excluding? Sure we can. Stop expecting “more” and accept what we already have. Do we need people coming in by air? Probably not. Do we need “wayfinding signage” so MORE people can trample and trash? Probably not. Do we need more bars so people can come and spend their money and get busted by more cops that we need to support because of more crime because we have more people and thereby more crime? Probably not.
The people who want and need to be here will find their way here and those who don’t find what they’re looking for will not come back. Do we need to placate them? Probably not.
Who, how or what would pay for this return to Utopia?
Holey Moley Ken Warner,
That was the most eloquent and well written responses I have ever read in this blog.
It resonated deeply with me in a way your words have never done before.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks,
“…do it with a smile…” Isn’t that what you usually ask your whore? That’s life in the Eastern Sierra because that’s what the short sighted, old fashioned business community keeps trying to make it at the expense of other more productive and elevating economic models.
100 years ago, provisioning of people who pass through and perhaps stay a while was a noble and integral part of the greater human tribe. Over the years, the concept of assisting the traveler has degenerated into exploitation of both the traveler and the land around us. One look at what was once a beautiful meadow useful for nourishing both stock and soul and those that can see will understand instantly. Those that can’t see the travesty are the sick that need remedy.
“…the true assets of our area cannot be taken away from us…” The beauty around us is not ours to exploit. We have inherited a sacred trust to care for and maintain that pure spirit that was once a dominant presence. It was once a living entity that both cared for and nourished those who accepted it’s daily challenges. Those that came and stayed, joined with the emergent life force that was both powerful and fragile.
But the fatal flaws of greed and avarice have broken that great spirit like a trickle of water gradually wears away great boulders.
Each day, the misguided business community sells that which is not theirs to sell. Sells it to unappreciative, uncaring, unaware masses who come here to pretend they are adventurers and display their material possessions in defiance of the living spirit of the land. In defiance of the unique beauty that is here waiting to join with those who come here. A spirit of beauty that each day is diminished by its exploitation.
That which is exploited every day is not an infinite or renewable resource capable of instant regeneration and continually expanded harvesting. That which is around us is finite, fragile and easily crushed to dust. And it takes generations to restore itself. Each day of exploitation diminishes the environment and also those who exploit that environment. The current business model of the town of Mammoth Lakes is like a train heading toward the end of the tracks with no plan to stop until the wreck. And who will be left to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess?
“…we MUST change the way the Town of Mammoth Lakes does business…” The town of Mammoth Lakes should not do business. It’s time to take the time to rebuild it’s very soul. It needs to build the sense of a community that is not for sale. It needs to work to provide the facilities that enhance the spirit and not degrade the spirit with greed and avarice. Focus on schools and learning and understanding. Focus on responsive and enhanced environmental management and healthy living in harmony with the environment as opposed to getting drunk to have a good time. And do it for the love of the endeavor not the expectation of material reward.
Join into a union with the spirit around us and that union will elevate and illuminate our essential nature of our existence on Earth. What greater reward can there be?
““…do it with a smile…” Isn’t that what you usually ask your whore?”
I’ll take your word for that as you sound very experienced.
“Focus on schools and learning and understanding.” Yes, and this requires money.
“Focus on responsive and enhanced environmental management” – again, yes, but those who are doing the managing will expect to get paid.
“Focus on living in harmony with the environment as opposed to getting drunk to have a good time.” Yes again Ken: you and I and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union and Cotton Mather are in accord here. Unfortunately, history has relegated us to the minority despite centuries of reform attempts.
“And do it for the love of the endeavor not the expectation of material reward.” Yes Ken, like you and Karl Marx I believe humans should be altruistic and not be actuated by material gain. But once again, I think you you can see how this very nice fiction has fared in history.
The ugly truth is that the Eastern Sierra has no means beyond tourism to support itself. All those schools and eco-management are not going to get paid with fairy dust. Our sole source of revenue ultimately springs from tourist-generated dollars. Maybe someday in an Obamian utopia (which also aren’t working out too well these days) we will lead the world in clean, high-tech energy production jobs or something more befitting of our lofty rhetoric. Until then, without tourist dollars – without the business of tourism, which is not just the business but the lifeblood of the community of Mammoth Lakes – all we have are dreams that have never worked anywhere they’ve been tried.
I hope everyone is taking time to get outside and enjoy the great weather and beauty of the Eastern Sierra. For many of us this holiday weekend means working extra hours to be sure our guests have a great experience. We do it with a smile because it is the bread and butter that allows us to live in such a great place. We’ll get a chance to do our favorite thing when the crowds go home. That’s life in the Eastern Sierra’s. Now that summer has arrived it has all the makings to be a good tourist season. Before someone blogs it, NO you can’t shoot them! What we can do is look at this as an opportunity to get the word out that the Eastside of the Sierra’s is the a great place to live, work and play. A lot of Californian’s will be doing “Staycations” this year and traveling closer to home. Let’s make the Eastern Sierra the “Staycation of Choice.”
For Mammoth our community is faced with some difficult decisions. Lawsuits, staff cuts, service level cuts, infrastructure repair and constructions, etc., etc., etc. To make a decision one has to know what the options are and which one best meets the needs and desires of the community. I don’t expect to agree on every issue but I do hope that we can stop making decisions that take us two steps backwards for every step we take forward. People are already sending emails and writing letters to the paper suggesting we take a specific direction to resolve the lawsuit. I’d like to hear more about this from concerned citizens along with other issues that are on your mind. Please, if you get a chance stop by Open Office on Tuesday, July 5th, between 4 – 7pm at Base Camp Cafe on Main Street and share your thoughts. The true assets of our area cannot be taken away from us by any bank or creditor, they can only be modified by Mother Nature. Mammoth has faced adversity in the past and gotten through it. This is a wake up call, we MUST change the way the Town of Mammoth Lakes does business.
Hope to see you Tuesday.
Skip Harvey
With something planned for EVERY weekend during the spring, summer and fall, when exactly do the crowds go home?
i smell buck passing to the n th degree
BLS
He will only need more than three hours to start the recall of Leheman and Eastman. What a joke.
He will need a lot longer than 3 hours..
Creek: I am amazed that you were able to create a post without the word pension in it…congrats. Thanks Skip at least you are willing to listen to anyone, unlike the other “leaders” that remain elusive to the common resident
sorry,,here you go
Pension..