When did things change in Aspen anyway?
Change, of course, is constant, as emphasized by Clark Anderson, who runs the Glenwood Springs-based nonprofit Community Builders, which has a mission of helping build more livable communities and was featured in our eighth installment of Paul Andersen’s In Search of Community series. Failing to recognize and respond appropriately to changes that are occurring is often how communities get into trouble in the first place.
But data presented by Laurine Lassalle in her piece breaking down income trends in Pitkin County highlights a particular inflection point in the area’s long-term trajectory, which as of 2022 gave the county the third highest per-capita income in the nation at over $224,000.
In most places, most of the income residents earn comes from labor — a job where you get a paycheck. Nationwide and statewide, in 2022,, that figure was around 63%, with 14% coming mainly from benefit payments and 22% from so-called passive income or investment income, which refers to revenue from dividends, interest and rents.
In the 1970s and ‘80s, that’s how it was here too. But the share of residents’ income derived from passive sources began climbing in the ‘90s and in 2003, investment income overtook labor wages in the total share of dollars earned by local residents. Data wise, you could make an argument for that being a moment when pressures on community began to manifest in new ways. But for a speed bump during the Great Recession, passive income’s aggressive growth has continued apace and in 2022, it represented almost 64% of total county income, hitting record levels.
The average wage per job hit a record high locally in 2022, at almost $79,000, but the gap between wages and per-capita income had also never been greater, which, as noted by County Manager Jon Peacock in Lassalle’s story, helps explain “a lot of the affordability pressures we have been feeling.”
Community is the manifestation of our collective aspirations
But back to Clark Anderson and Community Builders. Anderson is the guy you call when frayed community relations require a healing balm. Community Builders’ work centers around helping to identify shared values and common goals. Communities, he notes, are the physical and social manifestations of our collective aspirations, but in today’s fast-paced and disparate societies, setting those collective aspirations has never been more challenging.
At the most basic level, community is relationships, Anderson notes, so Community Builders’ work involves facilitating lots of sitting down and talking to one another, building bonds to transcend tribal differences.
As Paul Andersen reports, Anderson’s community interventions begin with basic questions: “What is it you really want to see in the future here? What is your hope for your town? What are you afraid of?” Anderson said. From the responses, “you can build a better understanding of what isn’t working and what the possibilities are. And once you’ve got that, you start to get a vision.”
“That takes a hell of a lot of time building trust and getting through tough discussions, but by the time you go through that, people are pretty bought in,” he said. “They believe in the work because they’ve had a chance to talk and had a chance to drive some of it. They’re helping guide the ship.”
At some level we are all hungry for that. I believe that most of us want to be invested in communities that nurture the best parts of our nature. Thanks to Anderson for laying out a buffet of food for thought on how to get there, and to Andersen for tying it together.
And thank you dear reader, for keeping up with this work and supporting our nonprofit news organization.
– Curtis Wackerle
Editor and executive director
Aspen Journalism
Building livable communities, one place at a time
Glenwood Springs-based nonprofit Community Builders provides studied interventions and carefully tailored trainings. ‘At the most basic level, community is relationships,’ says founder Clark Anderson.
By Paul Andersen | April 21, 2024
Communities are a physical manifestation of times and places where “people come and settle together and together reflect a physical and economic manifestation of a place. Communities are our highest form of manifesting what’s best about us: art, music, culture, architecture and belonging.”
Pitkin County’s per-capita income, third highest in the U.S., highlights growing disparity with wages
Proportion of passive income is upside down compared to state, national averages
By Laurine Lassalle | April 20, 2024
Pitkin County has the third-highest per-capita personal income in the United States, behind Teton County, Wyoming, and Summit County, Utah, thanks to high-income earners making money off investments and remote jobs, and rising local wages.
Data dashboard: Roaring Fork basin snowpack drops but still on par with normal
Transbasin diversion resumed last week.
By Laurine Lassalle | April 22, 2024
• Snowpack at McClure Pass was down to 8.7 inches of snow-water equivalent on April 21, or 70% of median. That’s down from 12 inches last week.
• Water ran at 27.3 cfs on April 21 through the Twin Lakes Tunnel that sends Roaring Fork flows east of the Continental Divide.
• Lake Powell’s elevation has gained 2.4 inches since last week.
There are always stories that need a journalist to pursue them. These Aspen Journalism investigative stories are published for you, the community, and our collaborators as a public service, thanks to the generosity of our readers and funders.
