Guest Opinion Editorial by Peter Pilafian
October 16, 2003, Planet Jackson HoleNothing has changed in 75 years around here. And then again, maybe everything has.
Back in 1926 when the Junior Rockefeller made his second trip to the Tetons, he recoiled at the creeping blight of hot-dog stands, gas stations, and gaudy billboards that were beginning to clutter the countryside around Jackson Hole. According to Ron Chernow, JDR Sr.�s biographer, �Mr. Rockefeller (�Junior�) had a genuine distaste for the garish advances of civilization. He took every opportunity to step in and save his fellow humans from the crippling effects of industrial society.� And that was back in the Twenties!
Today we are facing the consequences (and rewards) of yet another growth spurt. Only this time it seems more like an enormous, ongoing avalanche, rather than a temporary spring runoff. More huge buildings and infrastructure projects have been dumped upon us, one right after the other, than at any other time in the short history of our pristine high mountain paradise.
Jackson Hole has never been an easy place to live. The last decade of mild winters may have obscured historical hardships for many of the newly arrived. But now the new hardships include impossibly high land prices, low wages, and an economically unbalanced social structure. So nothing has changed. It is still an uphill struggle, not meant for the faint of heart.
Those who choose to live here still do so because they love this place, and they would rather fight to survive against modern hardships, than take an easier route in a more anonymous place.
Up in Montana, the State Constitution says �We are grateful for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of its mountains, and the vastness of its rolling plains.� And in the words of Wendell Berry, �We and our land create one another, depend on one another, are literally part of one another, so all who are living as neighbors here, human and plant and animal, are part of one another, and so cannot possibly flourish alone.�
So what is the problem?
I guess Jackson is just too darned appealing to too darn many people. And that means growth. Growth is good. Growth equals life. But if growth is uncontrolled, unsustainable, destructive of its established surroundings, not in harmony with nature, and proceeds too fast, it is NOT good. What is the definition of Cancer? Voracious cells growing too fast, consuming the organism that hosts them. We do not want to promote economic or social cancer within our community.
We now have the power to shape our built community in whatever image we want. Do we want a rural, relaxed, cowboy-style environment in which to step away from the anxieties of urban life? Do we want a powerhouse of commerce, which can be the shopping center, the Mega-Mall for the entire region? Do we want a polarized playground for the rich, where each can live in their own gated Shangri-la, tended by servants who must pollute the roadways as they file into our castles-in-the-sky? Do we want a cultural Mecca to rival Denver, Salt Lake, Aspen, with our own University, Art Center, Galleries, and Museums?
In Suburban Nation, Duany points out that mathematically, the cost of capital makes it impossible for investors or developers to even consider a thirty-year project. Such an investment would be �a poor business decision, quite literally hurting his colleagues and share holders. Therefore it is utter nonsense to believe that we can entrust the �Making of Community� to those entities that are, by definition, primarily interested in making money.�
But this was not always so. Think back and remember those few towns, cities, or villages where you felt really good just by being there. Where there seemed to be something special in the air, where you felt �at home�, refreshed, comfortable, perhaps inspired. Maybe you even said, �This would be a great community to live in some day.� And maybe if there was slow moving traffic, you didn�t mind, because there was something friendly and calm about just being there. More than likely, such a town was built at a time when Town Planning was a highly respected art. When a wealthy developer would pride himself in being the �Town Father�, in creating a beautiful community where people would enjoy living. Such a place is St. Augustine, Florida, (for example) where Henry Flagler years ago had a dream. He built a two-story train depot, several hotels, the town's hospital, city hall, and several churches. By the time he moved away in the early 1900�s, Flagler had given St. Augustine an era of prestige and prosperity - the effects of which are still evident today. Where is our community vision? Ten years ago the �new� Teton County Comprehensive Plan was based upon such a vision. It�s intent was to �preserve the traditions and character of the Rocky Mountain West and Wyoming, including ranching, to set aside, for generations to come, scenic vistas and wildlife habitat, and to maintain and enhance environmental quality.� And the document further states that �Teton County is a community first and a resort second. The intent of this Plan is to create conditions for a sustainable economy not dependent upon growth, an economy that reflects the unique small-town, Western commercial character of Jackson.�
And that was ten years ago! Where are we now? Have we followed this vision? In the views of many, we have not. We have suffered from too many years of pro-development County Commissioners, from a County Plan that was watered down before it even got passed, and from a rapidly increasing short-term population that has moved in primarily because of boom-town jobs and quick turnaround profit potential. And we have allowed WYDOT to build huge impersonal asphalt prairies, instead of designing small-scale localized commercial zones and intelligent access which might reduce the need for car trips..
Monolithic commercial developments, wider roads, gated private golf courses, increasingly bigger concrete and steel hotels, looming 45 foot overhangs, and the overwhelming dominance of over-designed public works projects like the ill-conceived Wilson sewer which somehow has wiped out a huge swath of wonderful old Cottonwoods along highway 390 � is this the legacy we want to leave to our children?
Cozy little old-fashioned log cabins? Historic ramshackle watering holes like the Stagecoach? The comfortable feeling of tradition, of something that just might have a little history to it? Uh, uh, that�ll be a thing of the past before you know it. Where is the Magic? Harder and harder to find, isn�t it! Step into Trail Creek Ranch sometime, which just went through it�s first summer without any dudes, and you will sense a little of that old-timey atmosphere.
And yet it is that Magic that we all want, that we all live for, that many of us profit from.
Today�s business climate is so exciting, so full of opportunity, so fast-paced, that it is easy to see how many of us get caught up in Town life, in working the phones, in building that addition, starting that restaurant, buying a new car, surfing the internet, dressing up for a corporate job, etc.
And of course, that�s Life in America! But let�s not forget where we are, and why we are here! Let�s dial it down. Let�s smell the roses. Let�s spend our tax money in partnerships with those well-funded, quick turnaround developers, on building more parks, more pathways, more amenities and better public places for our kids, our animals, and ourselves. Let�s start giving community way-of-life projects the priority they deserve: Number One!
Believe it or not, the 1994 Comprehensive Plan actually called for a municipal Golf Course. Where is it? Maybe the County should take over Canyon Club, re-open Astoria Hot Springs for family swimming, and make those stalled fairways into a genuine public course, for the ordinary people of this County who might enjoy a game of golf every now and then without spending a year�s worth of the kids lunch money.!
A sense of Place. A sense of Community. That�s what keeps us healthy.
Call your Commissioners. Call your Town Councilmen. Tell them that you are in it for the Long Haul. Tell them that you want to slow things down a little. Tell them that you want to take back your town.
And you know what? The investors and developers who truly have staying power, who can honestly say they are in it for the long term, and not for the short turnaround, will thank us for it. Because a Smart Growth, Slow Growth town will reap financial benefits far greater, in the long run, than a hot-burning boom and bust environment. Statistics around the country prove that. Write me for details.
Lets not block progress, but steer it toward a result that improves the quality of life for all.
Peter Pilafian
Wilson