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Colorado - Mon. 02/24/25 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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NPS OK TO HIRE SEASONAL EMPLOYEES AFTER HIRING FREEZE LIFTED
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Last week, according to the Los Angeles Times, the U.S. Dept. of Interior issued a memo to all National Park Service locations stating that the hiring freeze on seasonal positions had been lifted and park leaders could hire 7,700 seasonal employees for 2025. That is up from the 6,300 positions hired in recent years. ABC News confirmed that a memo had been issued that a hiring freeze for seasonal National Park Service employees was being lifted in order for "...the system to fill crucial roles to help maintain and operate popular parks ahead of the summer season." In Colorado, the NPS manages four national parks covering 713 square miles: Great Sand Dunes, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Rocky Mountain and Mesa Verde. The service also manages three historic sites, five national monuments and a national recreation area.
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MIKAELA SHIFFRIN: HISTORIC 100TH WORLD CUP WIN, TIES ALL-TIME RECORD FOR PODIUMS
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Mikaela Shiffrin, who just returned to the World Cup circuit less than a month after an injury kept her out of competition for 60 days, on Sunday won the 100th World Cup race of her storied career, topping the podium in a slalom in Sestriere, Italy. Shiffrin struggled in two giant slalom races over the weekend in Sestriere, finishing 25th on Friday and failing to qualify for the second run on Saturday. However, in the slalom, her favorite event, Shiffrin led after the first run and won in a combined 1:50.33, 0.61 seconds ahead of Croatia’s Zrinka Ljutic. Fellow American Paula Moltzan took third, 0.64 back.
The 29-year-old Shiffrin also tied an all-time World Cup record for men and women, as her 155th career top-3 finish on the podium matched Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark. Shiffrin cried at first when she was asked in a post-race interview what it meant after all she had been through in the past few months. “Everyone had been so nice and so supportive. I am so grateful, thank you,” she said. Shiffrin matched Stenmark’s tally of top-3 results in six fewer starts. Sunday was her 278th World Cup race and Stenmark’s last podium was in his 284th, according to the ski-db.com site.
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A NEW SOLUTION FOR PARKING PROBLEMS AT THE ASPEN-PITKIN COUNTY AIRPORT
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Chicago-based SP Plus Corp. has been awarded the contract, following a request-for-proposals bidding phase, to manage the parking areas at the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, replacing LAZ Parking. SP Plus manages parking systems at airports around the world. Currently, there are 545 parking spaces at the airport, with the Bear Lot, closest to the terminal, having 125 parking spaces (130 with overflow parking) and the Elk Lot has 400 parking spaces (415 with overflow). However, parking at the airport is unreliable, with all spots at the two lots often filling during peak travel times and the reservation system basically unworkable. SP Plus this spring will reconfigure the parking lots to add 40-50 additional spaces by shifting perpendicular parking spots to angled ones and reconfiguring the lot’s entrances and exits. The changeover will likely take place during the closure of the airport for runway maintenance from May 5 to June 1.
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BLM LOOKING TO OFFER MORE THAN 50,000 ACRES IN OIL AND GAS LEASE SALE
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The Colorado State Office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has opened the 30-day public comment period on the proposal to offer 61 oil and gas parcels, covering 51,068 acres in Colorado in a lease sale in December. The comment period ends March 17. Most of the parcels in the proposed sale are in northern Moffat County, with some extending down to northwest Routt County. Some parcels are in the area of the Moffat and Rio Blanco county border northwest of Meeker, and two adjacent, square-mile parcels are in far-western Garfield County, south of Rangely. There is also a parcel of 722 acres in the Plateau Valley, southeast of Collbran. Information on the proposed sale, including on how to comment, may be found at eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2036196/510.
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GJ MOVES FROM PILOT PROGRAM TO PERMANENT POSITIONING OF SCOOTERS
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The city of Grand Junction introduced a mobility scooter pilot program in 2023. By the end of last year, the pilot program registered 190,300 total rides, with 286,800 total miles traveled. Last week, the Grand Junction City Council unanimously approved an ordinance which ends the pilot scooter program in favor of a permit program for scooter companies to operate in the city. Two scooter companies, Lime and Bird, took part in the pilot program and are expected to continue to operate in Grand Junction. The new program expands the mandatory parking zone, which gives the city more control over where people can park the scooters and keep them from blocking sidewalks. The new zones include areas around Sherwood Park, Colorado Mesa University, Lincoln Park, the Grand Junction VA Medical Center and Las Colonias Park.
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DURANGO ROCKS: DURANGO CHAMBER PRESENTS AWARDS
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On Thursday night at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, the Durango Chamber of Commerce held Durango Rocks, its annual awards ceremony. Jack Turner, a Durango native, prominent community activist and public service leader, was named Citizen of the Year. Ellen Babers, community events manager for the city of Durango, was the first-ever recipient of the Public Service Impact Award, which recognizes government employees who go above and beyond their duties. Phil Bryson, a founder of Animas High School and CEO of On The Edge, a team and leadership development company, won the Empowerment Legacy Award. Meredith Mapel, president and CEO of Durango Coca-Cola, was the recipient of this year’s Morley Ballantine Women’s Leadership Award, which recognizes excellence in business, leadership and community involvement. Star Liquors was awarded Small Business of the Year. Bank of Colorado was named Business of the Year.
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FORT LEWIS COLLEGE CLOSES ON DEAL TO ADD HOUSING ON FLORIDA ROAD
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Fort Lewis College last week closed on the $12 million purchase of an apartment complex at 1304 Florida Road. The two-story multibuilding apartment complex at the corner of North College Drive and Florida Road will add 20 apartment units and 68 beds to the student housing inventory at FLC. The complex formerly housed both students and nonstudents, but after the purchase, it will become housing only for students and college staff. The apartments range from studios to four-bedroom units. The college financed the $12 million purchase through tax-exempt revenue bonds.
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EVENTS HONORING 10TH MOUNTAIN DIVISION: THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF RIVA RIDGE
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Vail and Ski Cooper held events last week and over the weekend to commemorate a major victory in World War II achieved by the 10th Mountain Division on Feb. 18 and 19, 1945 when the 10th Mountain soldiers scaled Riva Ridge in Italy in the dark of night to launch a surprise attack on the German soldiers who held the vantage point believed to be impenetrable. The taking of Riva Ridge, followed by the 10th Mountain soldiers taking Mount Belvedere and the Po River Valley, was a significant point leading to an Allied victory in WWII.
On Wednesday, a contingent of about 30 soldiers from the current 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y. joined members of the Colorado National Guard, local veterans and the National Ski Patrol in the Hale to Vail Traverse. The Traverse was planned to go 26 miles from Camp Hale to Vail in an overnight trek but was shortened to 9 miles from Vail Pass to Vail due to heavy recent snow and avalanche danger. On Friday, the 10th Mountain soldiers joined in the 50th anniversary of 10th Mountain Descendants Ski Daze at Ski Cooper. On Saturday, there was a torchlight parade, fireworks, 10th Mtn Video, and parade down Bridge Street in Vail.
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MEANINGFUL, HISTORIC WORK BY A VOLUNTEER PALEONTOLOGIST
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The Museums of Western Colorado rely on some volunteers to work at digs and the labs of the museums’ several sites across the state. “We could not function without our volunteers,” said Julia McHugh, director of paleontology at the Museums of Western Colorado. One of those volunteers, Tom Lawrence, is among the 20 helpers at the Dinosaur Journey Museum in Fruita.
Lawrence began volunteering at the Dinosaur Journey Museum in 2010 after retiring from School District 51 in 2009. He had a lifetime interest in paleontology and finally found a way to pursue that interest full-time as a volunteer. Lawrence participated in fossil digs at places like Rabbit Valley in western Mesa County and in the Williams Fork sandstone formation southwest of Rangely.
Lawrence actually became famous for his work on one of the finds from the Rangely area. Working in the lab in 2018 on a piece of sandstone collected earlier at that area, he found a jawbone fragment maybe an inch long that still contained teeth. It was immediately apparent from the shape of the teeth that the jaw belonged to a mammal. But it wasn’t until this past fall that a team of paleontologists led by CU Boulder’s Jaelyn Eberle, curator of fossil vertebrates at the CU Museum of Natural History and professor in the Dept. of Geological Sciences, were able to say that the fossil belonged to a previously unknown, dinosaur-era mammal. An article on the discovery was published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE, with the article crediting Lawrence for his role as the person who found the fossil in the sandstone block. Being named in a research paper was a first for him, at 77 years old.
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FLYING IN OR OUT OF DIA? FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT
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Turbli is a company that tracks turbulence experienced by passengers during airport approach and descent, not takeoff and landing. In 2024 Denver International Airport had the highest average turbulence among all airports in North America and DIA ranked 8th in average turbulence in the world.
Airports in North America with highest average turbulence in 2024:
- Denver, Colorado (DEN)
- Bozeman, Montana (BZN)
- Albuquerque, New Mexico (ABQ)
- Salt Lake City, Utah (SLC)
- Jackson, Wyoming (JAC)
- Las Vegas, Nevada (LAS)
- Vancouver, British Columbia (YVR)
- Reno, Nevada (RNO)
- Seattle, Washington (SEA)
- Boise, Idaho (BOI)
Flight routes with the highest average of turbulence in North America in 2024:
- Albuquerque to Denver
- Denver to Jackson
- Jackson to Salt Lake City
- Denver to Salt Lake City
- Bozeman to Denver
- Ontario (California) to San Diego
- Boise to Salt Lake City
- Bozeman to Salt Lake City
- Las Vegas to Reno
- Las Vegas to Salt Lake City
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HOW LONG WILL $1 MILLION IN SAVINGS LAST DURING YOUR RETIREMENT?
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Northwestern Mutual’s 2024 Planning & Progress Study projects it will take almost $1.5 million in savings for Americans to afford a secure retirement. That's a record high. A recent GoBanking report used data from the U.S. Census American Community Survey, Missouri’s Economic and Research Information Center and the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey and Zillow to come up with how much $1 million in savings would last in each state. In 36 states, $1 million is projected to last 30 years. These are states where $1 million would not last as long:
- Hawaii: $1 million, including Social Security, would last 12.48 years
- California: 16.29 years
- Massachusetts: 19.35 years
- Washington: 21.92 years
- New Jersey: 24.20 years
- Colorado: 25.25 years
- New Hampshire: 26.28 years
- Utah: 26.46 years
- Oregon: 26.78 years
- Rhode Island: 27.09 years
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TOP HOME SALES IN THE STATE IN 2024 WERE BASICALLY ALL IN ASPEN
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According to a collection of sources, including REColorado, Pitkin County dominated the list of most expensive homes sold in Colorado in 2024. The list includes a sale topping $100 million for the first time in the state’s history. The 10 most expensive home sales in Colorado in 2024:
- 419 Willoughby Way, Aspen: $108 million; 22,405 square feet; 11 bedrooms
- 600 Owl Creek Ranch Road, Aspen: $77 million; 12,655 square feet; 8 bedrooms
- 112 W. Hopkins Ave., Aspen: $66.5 million; 12,360 square feet; 12 bedrooms
- 720 Willoughby Way, Aspen: $60 million; 8,737 square feet; 7 bedrooms
- 1525 Star Mesa Drive, Aspen: $59 million; 14,898 square feet; 9 bedrooms
- 210 S. West End St., Aspen: $48.75 million; 8,184 square feet; 7 bedrooms
- 295 & 495 Aspen Valley Ranch Road, Woody Creek: $46 million; 17,250 square feet; 15 bedrooms
- 107 Rockledge Road, Vail: $40 million; 12,447 square feet; 8 bedrooms
- 501 W. Hopkins Ave., Aspen: $36.97 million; 6,880 square feet; 6 bedrooms
- 850 Roaring Fork Road, Aspen: $34.75 million; 4,3983 square feet; 6 bedrooms
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MARKET UPDATE - 02/21/2025 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 02/20/2025)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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