Aspen City Council on Monday agreed to divest the municipal government’s holdings in corporations that finance fossil-fuel development.
The move was at the urging of environmental group 350 Roaring Fork, which has specifically asked council to divest from Wells Fargo and Berkshire Hathaway through a petition submitted to the city prior to Monday’s work session.
The city’s ownership of corporate bonds in those two companies “is inconsistent with the city’s environmental values, not to mention its laudable efforts on climate change, to be invested in two institutions propping up and profiting from climate destruction,” according to the petition signed by 172 area residents and submitted by Will Hodges, coordinator for 350 Roaring Fork
Aspen City Council on Tuesday approved three contracts worth more than $1 million in preparation of the final build out of Burlingame Ranch, a city-developed, deed-restricted subdivision across from Buttermilk Ski Area.
The contracts approved during council’s regular meeting are amendments to existing ones that carry forward and add additional services provided by Denver-based 359 Design as the architect for the project.
The entire project, with land and historical costs, is budgeted at just over $64 million and will provide 79 modular units that will be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units.
Council originally signed 359 Design onto the project in June 2019, which began its work with community outreach schematic design.
Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times file photo
The city of Aspen is forgiving over $73,000 in rent for two tenants in the municipally owned Wheeler Opera House due to construction impacts.
Aspen City Council on Tuesday during a work session agreed to the requests of the proprietors of Aspen Public House and Valley Fine Art for rent abatement for at least 10 months.
In July, council agreed to rent relief for both tenants for the remainder of 2020 due to the anticipated impacts of the masonry project on the Wheeler Opera House. The project, which has the entire downtown building encapsulated with scaffolding, was set to finish in the spring.