2019
Carbondale Recognized as an
AARP / WHO Age-Friendly Community
Our Five-Year Strategic Plan 2019-2023
Adding Accessible Benches
2019 – Completed feasibility study and proposal to RFTA to install ADA-accessible/compliant benches along a 1-mile stretch of Rio Grande Trail between 133 and 4th Street. 2020 RFTA installed two benches. They are not permanently secured, and fixed surfaces still need to be laid.
2019 -Ditch trail between Surrey Road and Latigo Loop. Discussed mobility issues for residents at Heritage Park. Many residents with mobility issues wanted to be able to walk but couldn’t get far because there was no place to sit and rest. CAFCi collaborated with residents, Staff, Department of Public works to find a suitable space. The Care Center offered an easement, we purchased benches and The Town of Carbondale installed a beautiful seating space for socialization. (COMPLETED 2020)
Dangerous 133
2019: We successfully lobbied CDOT on behalf of a blind resident to install an audible crossing signal and extend bike/pedestrian crossing time on Highway 133 at Village Road.
Bike-Pedestrian Safety
2019: We purchased 200 bike bells and obtained 200 copies of CDT’s Colorado Rules of the Road for Cyclists, then installed a bell for and gave a rulebook to 200 local riders at first Friday events while talking about bike safety. (We also installed a few on residents’ walkers at Heritage Park, just to spread the fun and happiness.)
In 2022 we helped the Bike-Ped Commission do the same with bike lights, a project we’ll repeat with them this year (2023).
Short Term Rentals
Personal stories of people being forced from their homes by rising rents and real estate prices abound in Carbondale. There is widespread belief that an increase in short-term rentals (STR’s) of auxiliary dwelling units (ADU’s) and investment properties helps drive this phenomenon. A concurrent belief is that this valley-wide trend is changing the character of residential neighborhoods for the worse. The Carbondale Age-Friendly Community Initiative (CAFCI) shares these beliefs.
We understand that STR’s provide economic benefits in the form of dollar inflow from visitors, thereby supporting local businesses, increasing local tax revenue and creating employment opportunities, especially in the hospitality industry. However, we believe that the communal benefits derived from increasing STR’s are not worth the dramatically rising cost of living in Carbondale and other valley towns, the residential dislocations resulting from that cost and the undesirable changes in residential neighborhoods. Therefore, in 2022, we supported measures to limit STR permitting, including, but not limited to, requiring business licenses to operate an STR and increasing taxes on income derived from STR’s. Increased regulations were put in place during 2022 and we now support strict enforcement of these regulations.
Covid 19 Emergency
We supported residents by:
- Participating in the Carbondale Emergency Task Force (CETF), a collective group of volunteer and organizational experts from across the community providing support and guidance to the town on the potential impact of Covid.
- Making care calls to older residents to provide information, allow them to share their concerns, and connect them with volunteers who would run errands such as grocery shopping and picking up medications.
- Hiring local garment makers to make sanitized masks, thereby supporting the local economy.
- Assisting Carbondale residents in obtaining covid vaccination. (The Shot Whisperers).
- Distributing 1400 masks to residents and businesses.
- Helping people resumer their lives with online programs in the winter of 2021 and moving to in-person masked and socially distanced programs as the pandemic began to wane in the spring