Brief by Central Staff
Tourism – May 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
A wise outside observer would probably conclude that in little mountain towns, our main political talent is fighting with each other.
Seldom do these squabbles go further than the local newspaper, but Georgetown was an exception during March and early April.
The old silver mining camp, which sits on Interstate 70 about 50 miles west of Denver, got some national attention — as in Newsweek and Jay Leno — on account of a recall election directed at Koleen Brooks, the mayor.
(Technically, she was the “police judge,” rather than mayor. That’s because Georgetown still operates under a territorial charter, rather than under state statute. Another difference is that it has a “board of selectmen” rather than a “board of trustees” like other towns.)
Brooks, a former topless dancer who operated a beauty salon, took office in 2001, and engendered so much controversy that she was recalled on April 2 by a 339-176 margin.
Things may settle down, since the new mayor, Lynn Granger, has observed that “I think boring after this last year maybe isn’t a bad thing.”
But there’s a bright side to the controversy, as in the old saying that “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
Mark Greksa, who operates the Georgetown Loop Railroad (as well as the Cañon City & Royal Gorge), told us that “all this attention has really put Georgetown on the map.”
Thus, “our inquiries and reservations are running quite a bit ahead of where they were last year. So from the tourism viewpoint, the political controversies have been a benefit.”
So, our congratulations to Georgetown, which was Colorado’s leading silver producer before Leadville came along in 1878. Down here in Central Colorado, we conduct all manner of internal battles and recall elections, and we’ve never figured out how to convert these things into more money the way that Georgetown has.
