Aspen may no longer be a playground for the rich, thanks to some socialist-minded city council members who want businesses run on fairness and feelings, rather than market demand.
Those council members want to do away with valet parking at the gondola, because some of the reserved spaces are just reminders to working ski bums they’re not rich — and that’s not fair.
“It had a huge insulting factor to locals,” City Councilwoman Rachel Richards said earlier this week in a work session. “It was like separating the rich from the poor, and here you are going skiing and those rich people have something they can afford that you can’t.”
Councilwoman Ann Mullins, D-Hypocrite, added: “I wish it was someplace else that it wasn’t quite in your face,” she said. “It’s this equity thing.”
There are some on council who support valet parking for practical reasons — it prevents downtown traffic jams caused by tourists wandering around, lost, searching for parking.
More likely the opposition is coming from some merchant who doesn’t want parking spots near their business reserved for Gondola patrons.
Frankly, those “poor” locals are more likely to be annoyed by lost tourists tying up traffic, than watching them get suckered into paying an additional $40 to park.