Two professors of sociology at the University of Minnesota have written a scathing analysis of Aspen’s use of immigrant labor to service its wealthy visitors and property owners, especially in light of two anti-immigration resolutions passed by the city of Aspen and Pitkin County in 1999 and 2000.
In the book, “The Slums of Aspen, Immigrants vs. the Environment in America’s Eden,” David Pellow and Lisa Sun-Hee Park position Aspen as a prime example of global “environmental privilege,” which they call the otherside of the coin of “environmental injustice” and “environmental racism.”.
Aspen is a strange place. I didn't realize the local police pretty much protect the locals from any outside authorities. No "stake outs" etc. The local police are more of a "rich and famous" secret service instead of an actual police force.
Too bad future generations aren't here to see all the great things we are spending their $$ on!!
I believe Carbondale is where these workers all live. I have seen it which is very far from Aspen.
“We believe in order to understand poverty we need to go not to the ghetto but to Aspen; in order to understand the Mexican border and immigration politics, we need to move beyond the barrios and instead go to Aspen; in order to understand the ugliness of racism and nativism, we need to go to Aspen,” they write.
The pair of academics found that the inequalities of Aspen “are stark and ever present. The visual images that gloss Aspen magazine covers feature stretch Range Rover limousines, black-tie fund-raisers, world-class ski slopes, and film celebrities who live part of the year in multimillion dollar, single-family homes.
Some probably live in the trailers in El Jebel or in the huge trailer park in New Castle. I also know of people that work in Aspen and live in Parachute/Battlement Mesa area.
Aspen has always had a "better than thou" attitude about everything...in the '80's there was contemplation about putting a McDonald's in...the town people chose not to because it would "bring the town down".
Glenwood Springs, the high school I went to, played Aspen in sports (and Aspen sucked at all of them) and in football it was the only time we had to play on Saturday afternoon...when we played Aspen at home. Why? Because the football field there did not have lights...and they weren't going to pay to put them in, so everyone else in the league had to kowtow to them when playing in Aspen.
Aspen workers have always lived down valley... going all the way to Glenwood Springs. It was that way when I was there in the 70s, long before the Mexican population moved in. Now, however, they have good mass transit throughout the Roaring Fork, so it's easy to get back and forth.
You working in Aspen now VL?
