The design charrette idea grew out of Carbondale's Economic Road Map process, which has focused on better understanding and directing the town's future toward a more "diverse and sustainable economy."

Aspen begins its effort to get buses out of town faster with a new bus lane on Main Street heading out of town. The city will restricting parking along Main Street from 3-6 p.m., Monday through Friday, to create the new bus lane.

The gas industry ultimately contributes to housing appreciation. The value lost during initial drilling activity is more than recaptured a few years later by the increasing demand for housing.

LIFT-UP of Garfield County will be based out of brand new headquarters in Rifle when the facility opens its doors this month.

For more information about LIFT-UP or to make a donation, call 625-4888.

"It's become apparent that all of the mayors see the necessity to grapple with regional issues, share experiences and so forth," said Carbondale Mayor Michael Hassig. "We share more issues and challenges than we thought."

The participating mayors come from Aspen, Snowmass Village, Basalt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, New Castle, Silt and Rifle.

Hassig said he doubts the meetings will ever rise above informal status. There is no special agenda the group is pursuing, he said. However, when opportunity presents itself, the mayors will work together.

The first visible opportunity popped up Wednesday night when a state task force pondering the fate of roadless areas in the White River National Forest held a hearing in Glenwood Springs.

Each of the towns from Aspen to Silt had already passed a resolution urging the preservation of all 640,000 acres of designated roadless areas in the White River National Forest. (Rifle passed the resolution on the same evening the task force convened.) The mayors felt the significance of the unity would be more apparent if the towns spoke as one rather than individually. Hassig represented them at the task force hearing. The towns don't want roadless areas to open for activities such as gas drilling and logging, he said.

The resolution of each town touted the value of roadless areas in boosting the tourism economy, adding to the quality of life for residents and offering solitude.

Hassig was uncertain if and how the mayor's confab will come to play again in a regional policy debate. As real estate prices continue to climb and affordable housing is harder to find, towns might look at the successes and failures of Aspen's affordable housing program to help steer their direction, he suggested.

Gravel is literally the foundation of our world. Roads, parking lots, building foundations, and just about anything made with concrete rely on gravel to make them work.

With construction and gas development in the region expected to continue at a rapid pace, market demand for gravel and efforts to mitigate community impacts have begun to increase.

The proposal by Elam Construction to expand its 47 acre gravel pit, less than a mile from the Woody Creek Tavern, has many Woody Creekers frustrated by the impacts they already feel from the operation of the pit.

Elam expects current permits will allow mining to continue unabated for the next four years, without diminishing quality or quantity. However, the mining operation is requesting a permit to extend 16 years beyond that.

In order to mitigate some of the noise and visual impacts, the mine would make topsoil berms, upgrade backup alarms to eliminate beeping, and keep the crusher (the loudest machinery) in the deepest part of the mine.

Meanwhile New Castle, Silt, Rifle, and Garfield County are in the midst of discussions over new gravel pits in the Colorado River corridor. The concerns relating to the gravel pits, focus in on impacts to water quality, wildlife, economic development, flooding, conservation and reclamation.

Concerns about the state and county guidelines concerning gravel pits has the Town of Silt considering the annexation of a proposed gravel pit near the town. With annexation, the town believes it would have more ability to ensure the operation mitigates impacts including reclamation, as much as possible, in excess of what the state or county requires. The sales tax also would help in a town without much of a sales tax base.

The annexation process is still in the preliminary stage but the gravel pit developers have also proposed turning land over to the town after the gravel has been removed, for use as a town park.

Warm temperatures have melted the snowpack, rivers have peaked, and fires are beginning in the hills.

Several fires, including the the Jolley Mesa Fire, broke out last week, forcing fire personnel from multiple agencies to scramble in all different directions.

Fire bans are in place for most of the state Thursday. Gov. Owens imposed a statewide open burning ban Wednesday, including campfires and fireworks, throughout the state park system. The Bureau of Land Management imposed a ban on open fires June 15. The U.S. Forest Service announced it will impose a ban on the White River National Forest Saturday, June 24.

Garfield and Pitkin counties both have fire bans in place as do Rifle, New Castle and Glenwood Springs.

While the appreciation is welcome news for sellers and most people who already own property, it also pushes the Basalt area out of the realm of affordability for workers.

The controversial Solaris project, which proposes to bring 69 condos, a 10-lane bowling alley, a three- screen movie theater, an ice rink/public plaza, restaurants and stores to Vail Village goes to a public referendum on July 11.

In March the Vail Town Council approved the project by a 4-3 vote.

First is was the Brits, now its those people with the funny accents up in the Great White North that are healthier than we Americans.

The way things are going, I've put money on the table that Cuba will be the next comparison and they will also be healthier that we are (would that be three strikes against the U.S. health care system?)

Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) physicians, who teach at Harvard Medical School (HMS), authored a study in the July, 2006 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Their news release states, "The study finds that U.S. residents are less healthy than Canadians, and despite spending nearly twice as much per capita for health care, U.S. residents have more problems getting care and experience more unmet health needs."

The authors found that U.S. residents were less healthy than Canadians. Canadians had better access to most types of medical care (with the single exception of pap smears). Race and income disparities, although present in both countries, were larger in the U.S. Non-whites were more likely than whites to have an unmet health need in the U.S.

In the U.S., cost was the largest barrier to care. More than seven times as many U.S. residents reported going without needed care due to cost as Canadians (7.0% of U.S. respondents vs. 0.8% of Canadians). Uninsured U.S. residents were particularly vulnerable; 30.4% reported having an unmet health need due to cost.

This effort will include an evaluation of the current role and organization of the SMRHA, the development of a business plan to describe the future of the SMRHA, and the development of a strategic plan for the implementation of the business plan.

Contact Monica Carey, SMRHA Interim Executive Director and Proposal Manager at 970.728.3034, ext. 5 or smrha@telluridecolorado.net for more information. Response to the RFP is due July 21, 2006.