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Glenwood Springs, on a 6-1 vote by City Council, is withdrawing from the interagency Special Problems Enforcement and Response (SPEAR) task force that’s headed up by the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, over concerns about potential information-sharing with federal immigration enforcement.
At the April 16 City Council meeting, Glenwood Springs Police Chief Joseph Deras gave a report dispelling what he referred to as “largely speculative” comments from members of the public in recent weeks attempting to link SPEAR to immigration enforcement activities in Garfield County.
SPEAR has been criticized recently by those opposed to the aggressive federal immigration enforcement policies of the Trump administration. They’ve also called for closure of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Glenwood Springs, and an end to street-camera surveillance that they’ve said could also assist immigration enforcement.
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For the full article by Sopris Sun reporter John Stroud, visit https://soprissun.com/glenwood-report-city-withdraws-from-interagency-spear-crimes-task-force/
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Sixteen years ago, our beloved founder Barbara Reese, discovered poetry and it changed her life. She dreamed of a place where people could explore their voices through many forms of art — poetry, dance, theatre, music, painting, and more.
As a result, VOICES was founded in 2016 to build a community of open hearts. Today we honor Barbara’s legacy by advocating fiercely for youth, sage (older adults), women, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and countless others across our communities to be heard. We believe art can transcend cultural, racial, and socioeconomic boundaries, helping us heal, grow, and connect. Through our programs In School, In Community, and On Stage, we weave together the diverse stories that shape our shared cultural tapestry.
I want you to picture the last time you drove down Highway 82 during the week. Maybe you were stuck at the roundabout, or perhaps you were crawling along Main Street in Glenwood Springs. We’ve all experienced the frustration of traffic in the region.
The reality is, traffic isn't just annoying, it’s breaking records. In August 2025, daily traffic in Glenwood Springs hit an all-time high of nearly 30,000 vehicles. Over the last decade, traffic in the valley has jumped by 20%.
This isn’t just about losing time in our cars. Traffic is one of our region's single biggest contributions to climate change. The transportation sector is nearly 20% of Colorado’s greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of these emissions are from gas and diesel vehicles. Learn more about Two Rivers Connect.
Currently what is your preferred method of transportation? And what methods are you interested in or excited to try out?
For sure, there are pros and cons to term limits. Pro, new blood enters the government run system more frequently; Con, can take a 2-3 yrs to feel knowledgeable and effective in the job. Pro, harder to create unfair personal relationships; Con, harder to create effective personal relationships. What do you think? And if you support, should GarCo have two four year terms for these elected positions, or three? Why?
In May of 2025, the Town of Basalt held a series of contested public hearings on a potential $2,532 per bedroom per year fee for short term rental (STR) operations in order to generate revenue for affordable housing. The fee was approved by a vote of 4-3, but not without hours of debate between councilors and dozens of citizens coming to the podium to voice their support for or concerns with the new measure. Town staff were directed to hold off on charging the fee until the new year began. For at least one household, the new fee has stretched their finances too far.
From Berlin to New York, housing studies have found correlations between STRs and decreased housing availability and increased rents. It intuitively makes sense — one bedroom held for tourists is one less bedroom available for the local workforce, and in the Roaring Fork Valley, tourism can be highly lucrative. However, due to those very housing costs, income from STRs is the only thing keeping some locals afloat.
Michael Schoepe and his husband, Paul Dankers, have been a part of the Roaring Fork Valley’s community for many years, closely involved with the Aspen Choral Society, VOICES, Challenge Aspen and other organizations as a pair and individually. In 2024, the two became music co-directors at the Two Rivers Unitarian Universalist congregation. For years they have worked long hours to make ends meet, while offering rooms in their home for both an STR and long-term rentals.
Schoepe was one of multiple Basaltians who came to the podium during last May’s public hearing to voice concerns about the proposed STR fee. Schoepe, like others, communicated to Town Council that his STR operation made life in Basalt possible, and that a new fee on top of the current cost of living would be the proverbial “straw that breaks the camel’s back.” That prediction has become reality, and Schoepe and Dankers have made the difficult decision to sell their home and leave Basalt indefinitely.
Basalt’s first STR license was issued in 2017. In the four years before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Basalt issued an average of 9.75 STR licenses per year. In 2022, the number of licenses tripled to 31. The quantity steadily increased in subsequent years, peaking in 2025 at 47 licenses.
In response, Town Council attempted to address affordable housing needs via a flat per bedroom per year fee for STRs. Town Staff and Council landed on a $2,532 rate based on a study by Economic and Planning Systems (EPS) which stated that this value was half of the maximum amount that could be charged. EPS calculated this total value measuring the gap between the housing local employees can afford and the average cost of housing in Basalt.
As of Feb. 9 of this year, only 22 licenses have been issued, 20 of which are renewals. While data is unavailable for how many bedrooms are being rented per license, a majority of Airbnbs listed online in Basalt are only one bedroom. At a minimum, Basalt has generated $55,704 from the new fee thus far. Notably, Schoepe did not pay the license fee and instead plans to stop operating his Airbnb after using the 60-day primary residence exemption.
In 2025, before the fee was active and when the quantity of licenses was twice as high, the Town would have hypothetically generated at least $119,004. Some concerned citizens were quick to opine at hearings that this did not appear to be a significant amount of revenue considering the median home price of a single-family residence in Basalt was over $1.8 million in 2024 according to a separate housing needs assessment by EPS. In addition, multiple STR-operating citizens stated that the fee would discourage them from operating in the new year, implying less revenue would be generated by this fee.
Other mountain communities have employed other methods of using STRs to produce revenue. The Town of Carbondale imposes a 6% tax of the gross rental price paid by customers, a 2% lodging tax and a variable license fee depending on the number of bedrooms and whether the property is owner occupied. The maximum licensing fee in Carbondale, which would be for a four-bedroom property that’s not owner-occupied, is $875 (less than a third of Basalt’s standard per-bedroom fee). The minimum is $100.
Schoepe explained in an interview that it’s not always as simple as increasing the rental rate to factor in the new fee. For his modestly-sized operation, prices need to be comparatively low to remain competitive on the local market. Other STR operators in hearings argued that a flat per-bedroom rate disproportionately affected more affordable operations.
Schoepe also emphasized that when he and his husband sell their home, they can’t determine whether the buyer will be a full-time Basalt resident or whether they’d use part of the property for a rental, short or long-term — the latter of which the pair had offered to members of the local workforce.
While Schoepe and Dankers will continue to contribute to the Roaring Fork Valley’s musical community through the summer after finding temporary residence downvalley, they are preparing to begin a new chapter of their lives after a measure meant to promote affordable housing inadvertently made their own housing unaffordable.
Tell us your favorite genres, your favorite titles, even your favorite songs, and we'll do the human version of the algorithm and find other movies you might like!
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At VOICES, we believe that everyone in our community has a story to tell--including you! If you had a microphone to address our region, what would you most want your neighbors to hear? Maybe something powerful from your life, a big idea you've got, or feedback on how to make our community stronger? Let's hear it!
Apparently, everyone looking for love is tired of the apps, because the No Swipe Social interactive dating game, hosted at the Crystal Theatre on Feb. 12, completely sold out. Fresh suitors and contestants rotated for four rounds, culminating in a winning pair at the end of the night. From fun lines of questioning to riotous games — such as a not-my-arms challenge where one partner raced to peel an orange and stuff it in the other’s mouth — made for a lot of laughs and wholesome connections. And not only has the winning duo been on a date since, according to organizer and emcee Aubree Schiesser, but as have several others who attended, including herself. “I don’t know about love right now. It was just last week,” Schiesser told The Sun. “But there are definite interests brewing.”
Tune into Everything Under The Sun on KDNK this Thursday, Feb. 19 at 4pm to hear more about how it went. And stay tuned for the next one by following @no.swipe.social on Instagram