HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes.NXGN.Regular.20200729Next Gen Meeting
July 29, 2020
Webex: Online
Attendance: Leah Fielding, Benjamin Diggles, Stephanie Janigo, Kimbo Brown-Schirato
Benjamin introduction – moved here from Portland in January, interested in community issues and
wants to make an impact, wants to help make Aspen a better place, expert in Block Chain.
Leah – Our priorities over the last few years have been affordable housing and childcare. The
Lumberyard has been a big priority lately. Leah explained affordable housing system. We’ve been able
to be influential. We have done surveys and different housing community events and that helped
informed where we stood. We don’t have enough units or space for housing. A big question is about
density at Lumberyard. The majority is in favor of density and a thoughtful outdoor design, but the
Council has decided to reduce the number of units from 500 to 300. Our mission now is to get people to
send emails and letters to Council to push for more density.
Kimbo – Thanks for that summary. One of the big things we hear when people run for Council is they
run on housing but when it comes down to it we need to do whatever we can to get housing.
Leah – So housing is the most pressing issue. Some things have been cut short because of COVID. We’re
running our third survey and we have some questions about Entrance to Aspen. The City has pushed it
off for 20 years. We got up to 100 surveys and we were going to have events and do some street
outreach but then COVID came. And now things may be different with the influx of people moving here
so maybe issues people care about are different. We want to make sure the issues we are bringing to
Council are accurate. So, what do we need to update and what do we need to do to get more
information from folks. Childcare is also a huge problem. Election turnout is also big for us.
Benjamin – I’m happy to help out and I’m excited to help and I am known for executing so I can get
things done.
Stephanie – I can follow up with letter to the editor
Kimbo – What does livable mean? Does Council listen to Aspen Community Voice? We should focus on
density in our next newsletter. We need to get more people involved so we need to plug into our
network. Maybe density isn’t the answer. Maybe we’re wrong.
Leah – I think Council listens to the stakeholders around the Lumberyard.