Brief by Central Staff
Media – January 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine
For the second time in recent months, the New York Times has ventured into Central Colorado. Earlier, it was about the presidential election. This time around, it was a piece about Salida in the Dec. 5 edition aimed at readers who might be looking for place for a second home.
The article is available on-line at: link.
People are drawn to Salida, the article says, “by its year-round outdoors life. There’s fishing and boating on the Arkansas River, cycling, skiing, hunting and the more passive pastime of soaking in the local hot springs. There are also three federal wilderness areas within about 30 minutes of town. And all of it comes without the potentially suffocating trappings of popular Colorado resort towns like Telluride and Aspen.” The article also mentioned a lively cultural scene to go with the outdoor recreation, then delved into real estate.
Fair enough. The on-line version came with an assortment of gorgeous pictures. Abby Quillen Thomas, daughter of Colorado Central’s management, works at the city library in Eugene, Ore., where some of her colleagues admired the pictures, then said to her “You grew up there? And you used to live there? How could you have ever left such a scenic place?”
Abby’s reply: “Notice that the article didn’t mention anything about wages in Salida.”
The article concluded with some pros and cons. On the positive side, “Salida is an old-fashioned town laid out on a grid with walkable neighborhoods. And it’s home to four seasons of outdoor sports.”
We might add that Salida has not one, but several street grids: the downtown one along F Street, another on the mesa radiating from the courthouse, and between downtown and the highway, the Teller-Park grid aligned with the compass.
As for the negative, “Salida is remote, lacking the amenities of, say, Aspen or Jackson Hole.”
We do have electricity, indoor plumbing, and broadband internet service. We are rather short on amenities like scheduled jet service, stretch limos, ankle-length fur coats, purse poodles, five-star hotels, paparazzi, Eurotrash, sheiks, heated driveways, and personal trainers, among other aspects of the high-roller life. So those prospective residents who absolutely must have such amenities have been duly warned.
