Public Editor: A time to build

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

By Mike Bressler

Both Wyoming gubernatorial candidates have roots in Teton County – who says Jackson Hole is the state’s black sheep? Leslie Petersen will no doubt give a good race, but even if God is on her side, makes the Snake run blood, sends boils to unrepentant rednecks and smites the first born of all who don’t stock organic yogurt in their fridge, this is not the Democrat’s year and she’ll be lucky to get 40 percent of the vote.

However, fighting for a lost cause is noble, and Democrats should avoid petty politics and stand on higher principals, remind us that moving forward with courage is better than hiding behind irrational fear, that sacrifice for a better tomorrow is an American tradition and that we carry an obligation to give our grandchildren some of the Wyoming we received from our parents. Good luck to both Petersen and Matt Mead.

Congratulations to the SPETs that passed and regrets to the Historical Society, but this is Jackson Hole – who cares about a homesteader’s single room cabins when you have investment bankers with 8,000-square-foot, 30-room, rustic-elegant, summer cottages. Everyone I know who voted against projects voiced one overriding concern – expensive and impractical building designs that dramatically increase construction and maintenance costs, limit future expansion, and are (in the opinion of some) ugly. I actually like modern-urban style architecture, but simplicity – modern architecture’s greatest virtue – is often ignored in Jackson, replaced with ego as if the designer needs his mark, his personal façade emblazed across the structure like a flashing neon beer sign.

With unlimited funds, originality is merely a matter of adding impractical high ceilings, curved walls, impossibly expensive, outlandish and often inefficient finishes and fixtures. Economic, efficient, innovative and aesthetically pleasing design takes creativity and effort, and the end product is always better than painting on “artist vision” especially when paid for by taxpayers. JHW


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