2021/22 ASPEN/RFV Condtions

[leroy jenkins]

Leroy’s been given options and if the moons Aline, I can even give him a tow up the back. The roads in great shape and no wooptidooses.

Hey, thats nice of you man, might take you up on that. Be happy to meet up for some real, as in, not groomed skinning somewhere as well once I'm in town if anyone wants.




Ikon passes should come with 7 days of skinning access as well, hahah. Just to make it complicated.

[glademaster]

It has nothing to do with supporting the Crowns and everything to do with not being a leach. If you don't like the rules, work constructively to change them, don't break them: that's what typical, despicable Americans do. The only thing worse than a cheapskate skier is a wealthy cheapskate skier.

The only money I've never had an inkling of regret over spending has been spent on skiing.

[alpinevibes]

It just won’t stop snowing. Pretty solid and hoping for some Bowl laps tomorrow


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[Shredhead]

I’m planning on first 1A chair of the year.

[JaytaeMoney]

Ajax was very good yesterday. The bowl was fucking incredible this morning. Winter is the best!!!


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[Shredhead]

Had a maggot ski day charging Aspen with Skideeeppow and the Loyd Braun’s.

[alpinevibes]

Only had 1-3pm at highlands yesterday but damn it was really really good. Big untracked pockets on below Kesslers/Snyders and deep turns on G8/G6 and G2.

Go today if you haven’t.

[MakersTeleMark]

That's a framer right there.

[funkendrenchman]

I urge everyone here to write to our local officials and let them know how disgraceful this is. To lose two amazing, established, and respected child cares, in the middle of a pandemic and a nationwide shortage of workers, especially childcare workers is unacceptable. The city of Aspen will NOT be able to find a way to replace those childcare programs. The interest in 5 day a week childcare is not what the city says. Those childcares only get a few requests a year for 5-day care; the reason being that most families in the upper valley don't work 9-5, 5 days a week and would rather have the flexibility and financial savings of a 2,3 or 4 day a week program. Kids First and City of Aspen are very misguided in this decision and have not considered the impact this will have on the 90 families that currently have childcare and who will now be displaced.

In already crunched landscape, two child care centers set to permanently close

https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/...d9f7aabf7.html

[grskier]

I urge everyone here to write to our local officials and let them know how disgraceful this is. To lose two amazing, established, and respected child cares, in the middle of a pandemic and a nationwide shortage of workers, especially childcare workers is unacceptable. The city of Aspen will NOT be able to find a way to replace those childcare programs. The interest in 5 day a week childcare is not what the city says. Those childcares only get a few requests a year for 5-day care; the reason being that most families in the upper valley don't work 9-5, 5 days a week and would rather have the flexibility and financial savings of a 2,3 or 4 day a week program. Kids First and City of Aspen are very misguided in this decision and have not considered the impact this will have on the 90 families that currently have childcare and who will now be displaced.

In already crunched landscape, two child care centers set to permanently close

https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/...d9f7aabf7.html

I was about to reach out to see what you thought. I think we have a few other friends who's kids are still there.... crazy.

[Percy Rideout]

I urge everyone here to write to our local officials and let them know how disgraceful this is. To lose two amazing, established, and respected child cares, in the middle of a pandemic and a nationwide shortage of workers, especially childcare workers is unacceptable. The city of Aspen will NOT be able to find a way to replace those childcare programs. The interest in 5 day a week childcare is not what the city says. Those childcares only get a few requests a year for 5-day care; the reason being that most families in the upper valley don't work 9-5, 5 days a week and would rather have the flexibility and financial savings of a 2,3 or 4 day a week program. Kids First and City of Aspen are very misguided in this decision and have not considered the impact this will have on the 90 families that currently have childcare and who will now be displaced.

In already crunched landscape, two child care centers set to permanently close

https://www.aspendailynews.com/news/...d9f7aabf7.html

Nanny state coming after...Your nanny? Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction

Due to the childcare demand here...My crystal ball says all 3 sides will come to terms. It will be open 5 days a week and these two "private" operations will receive more taxpayer money. The end.

[JaytaeMoney]

Not sure I agree, my kid has been at ELC (which is also at Yellow Brick) since 2018 and ELC offers five days/week. No, most kids are not attending all five days but there have always been several kids in the classroom every day of the week. I know this because I get sent photos even on the days my kid is not there.

I don't know what days Mountain Tots or Playgroup are closed but I promise you that if they decided to open on the day they're currently closed, there would be kids there. Just my $0.02 as someone who does not have all the facts but has had a kid in the building for the past 3+ years.

[grskier]

Not sure I agree, my kid has been at ELC (which is also at Yellow Brick) since 2018 and ELC offers five days/week. No, most kids are not attending all five days but there have always been several kids in the classroom every day of the week. I know this because I get sent photos even on the days my kid is not there.

I don't know what days Mountain Tots or Playgroup are closed but I promise you that if they decided to open on the day they're currently closed, there would be kids there. Just my $0.02 as someone who does not have all the facts but has had a kid in the building for the past 3+ years.

Would there be kids, yes. Is it a nightmare for scheduling because of the rules in childcare, also yes.
It was a constant struggle to get more than just 9-5 coverage (7:30-6) at the daycare my kids went to with balancing the lead teachers, etc. One would cover drop off and leave early, making sure only so many kids showed up.

[JaytaeMoney]

Yeah I realize it is a challenge, I've got kids in day care. I get all the emails and talk to the teachers every day.

Do I think it's good or productive to go scorched earth on long standing beloved operators like MT and Playgroup, no. Do I think there is demand in Aspen for child care every day of the work week, absolutely yes.

[funkendrenchman]

Not sure I agree, my kid has been at ELC (which is also at Yellow Brick) since 2018 and they offer five days/week. No, most kids are not attending all five days but there have always been several kids in the classroom every day of the week. I know this because I get sent photos even on the days my kid is not there.

I don't know what days Mountain Tots or Playgroup are closed but I promise you that if they decided to open on the day they're currently closed, there would be kids there. Just my 0.02 as someone who does not have all the facts but has had a kid in the building for the past 3+ years.

Based on what I've heard, neither has had much demand for the one day they are closed. I'm sure they could make it work somehow (although Tots was open 5 days pre-Covid and had to go down to 4 due to staffing), but the quality of the care will suffer. We had our kid at the ELC and she had 3 teachers in the same year and to be honest, none were very good. We've been at Playgroup for the past few years and have had a great experience with very little turnover.

[JaytaeMoney]

Yeah it is a mess no matter how you slice it. If my kids were at one of those daycares and loved it and the city came in and kicked the operator out for whatever reason, I would be pissed off too.

[funkendrenchman]

Yeah it is a mess no matter how you slice it. If my kids were at one of those daycares and loved it and the city came in and kicked the operator out for whatever reason, I would be pissed off too.

Question for you and the other mags - do you know that many people that have been unable to find childcare that suits their needs? I'm always hearing about it, and it's a little tough for infant care with the waitlists and all. But after infant age especially, I hear very few complaints from people I know about the lack of childcare. Everyone seems to find something one way or another. Housing on the other hand...

[doebedoe]

Question for you and the other mags - do you know that many people that have been unable to find childcare that suits their needs? I'm always hearing about it, and it's a little tough for infant care with the waitlists and all. But after infant age especially, I hear very few complaints from people I know about the lack of childcare. Everyone seems to find something one way or another. Housing on the other hand...

Statistically...that makes sense. At least at the statewide level. Until recently, I ran the data & research group for COs state agency that oversees childcare. For infants and todds capacity is about 1/3rd of what parents would have in an ideal state, for 3-4 y.o. its 85-90% ideal capacity.

[funkendrenchman]

Statistically...that makes sense. At least at the statewide level. Until recently, I ran the data & research group for COs state agency that oversees childcare. For infants and todds capacity is about 1/3rd of what parents would have in an ideal state, for 3-4 y.o. its 85-90% ideal capacity.

Neither daycare that is closing serves infants. The paper makes no mention of the lease terms changing to serve infants. Therefore, is this really addressing the issue? Or just creating new, bigger issues?

[doebedoe]

Neither daycare that is closing serves infants. The paper makes no mention of the lease terms changing to serve infants. Therefore, is this really addressing the issue? Or just creating new, bigger issues?

I was just referring to your observation that infants are the ones you hear complaints about vs older kids -- it's not just you.

In this case, loss of any care is difficult and a massive headache to replace given the costs of spinning up a new center. Luckily there's a ton of federal money pouring into the sector that theoretically should help get new centers going. I'll leave my opinions on how the state is handling that out of it as I no longer have a relationship with that agency.

End of the day...it's an industry that is a massively failed market. Poor pay for professionals, unreasonable costs for most parents, and no one getting rich inbetween. Very very few centers make any sort of reasonable profit.

[funkendrenchman]

I was just referring to your observation that infants are the ones you hear complaints about vs older kids -- it's not just you.

In this case, loss of any care is difficult and a massive headache to replace given the costs of spinning up a new center. Luckily there's a ton of federal money pouring into the sector that theoretically should help get new centers going. I'll leave my opinions on how the state is handling that out of it as I no longer have a relationship with that agency.

End of the day...it's an industry that is a massively failed market. Poor pay for professionals, unreasonable costs for most parents, and no one getting rich inbetween. Very very few centers make any sort of reasonable profit.

I knew you were talking generally, but I think it applies here as well.

End of the day... that's why you don't force out well respected, long running childcares, especially in an area with a severe shortage of housing that meets the needs of daycare staff.

[doebedoe]

I knew you were talking generally, but I think it applies here as well.

End of the day... that's why you don't force out well respected, long running childcares, especially in an area with a severe shortage of housing that meets the needs of daycare staff.

Yep...it's not likely to be a seamless transition for staff or families into new operations. It'll have to get relicensed, staff will have to redo background checks, etc. I understand the city wanting to encourage more availability and capacity by moving to five days a week but it's not as if it is easy to find child care professionals in the RFV or anywhere in CO.

[JaytaeMoney]

Question for you and the other mags - do you know that many people that have been unable to find childcare that suits their needs? I'm always hearing about it, and it's a little tough for infant care with the waitlists and all. But after infant age especially, I hear very few complaints from people I know about the lack of childcare. Everyone seems to find something one way or another. Housing on the other hand...

I would agree. We got on the waitlist at all the local daycares right after we found out my wife was pregnant but we needed infant care. We had to get a nanny for a few months until we could start at ELC. I have a lot of friends with preschool age kids and none of them have had issues finding daycare, in fact lots of people are switching around to suit their preference, it almost seems like a "buyer's market" in that regard. That's purely my anecdotal experience though, like you I always hear about the critical day care shortage (see: today's article headline) but nobody I know seems to have issues with it especially once their kids are past the infant stage.

[alpinevibes]

Question for you and the other mags - do you know that many people that have been unable to find childcare that suits their needs? I'm always hearing about it, and it's a little tough for infant care with the waitlists and all. But after infant age especially, I hear very few complaints from people I know about the lack of childcare. Everyone seems to find something one way or another. Housing on the other hand...

I know a few people from ACDS who've had challenges finding space in the last year for their infants. Anecdotal, but something. In general, I would agree with you guys that it seems to be a lot of hype that is eventually resolved. We got on the lists the day we found out about her pregnancy, but decided to manage ourselves and with a nanny the first year. Coming into the 2nd year, we had availability offered from 3-4 places, which seemed very surprising. We ended up at the ELC 3 days per week and very grateful for that.

Big picture I think this is a great test for the political will of the community versus the desire for autonomy and control within City hall. I'm not surprised that the City is pushing the control lever a bit too hard, and my sense is that Kids First sees themselves as a bit more of a white knight in comparison to the support/guide role they should play. Forcing these programs to add one additional day per week is not going to move the valley-wide childcare needle much and is unlikely to benefit more than 2-3 additional families, if that. That's not nothing, but I agree that it's not worth closing or jeopardizing established programs to squeeze the maximum output from businesses that are already struggling to stay afloat. And as with any business changeover in our community, the transition to a new owner/name/reality carries other costs that few really want.

With potential childcare centers already in queue for CMC at the ABC, BG3 and possibly at Burlingame seasonal - there's no chance that our community could support creating two additional childcare businesses in the next few years. I don't get the sense that any of the other providers in the Yellow Brick/Aspen are interested in trying to expand either.

I hope that the media exposure gets the community behind keeping these two in business, as-is, and redirects the City's focus to making CMC and BG3 centers *actually* happen. More than likely, each provider will naturally evolve or turn over with time and the outcome could result in a transition 5 day/week care from both places.

[gretch6364]

Man…glad to be done with day care in the next year and a half. I will tell you what is a godsend…camp chip and other after school/summer programs.

The burdens of childcare on young dual income families is…..a lot. Equal to or more then a mortgage for two kids.


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