Jonathan Greenspan

2023 Town Council Candidate

Professional Background/Occupation:

My professional background is pretty diverse but is as follows

I have owned and operated a resource recovery business for over 30 years that started in Durango Co and then moved it to Telluride in the early 90s. This business included forestry, fire mitigation and arbor consulting. we also did landscaping maintenance and installations, recreation trails and playgrounds, snow removal , project management and demolition< a zero waste yard and recycle routes from Rico to Telluride to Montrose to Silverton

Ski instructor for 35 years including being assistant director at the the children's ski school here in Telluride and Aspen. Im currently running a non profit and I practice Real Estate in our area and Aspen

Length of Time as Town Resident:

27 years and 33 in the area

Previous Political Experience/Specific Qualifications:

I have been an elected official in the Mountain Village for 14 years collectively
8 with town council 6 as mayor pro tem
6 years as a of Mountain Village metro district Director for 6 years
4 years as TMVOA 2 of which was the commercial rep and 2 as the residential rep and 2 of those years as president.

Reasons You Would Like to Serve:

I would like to serve the people of Mtn Village because of the fact that we need people with experience. It does not mean that the previous council members are not good people but government is a very challenging and sometimes confusing process. It can takes a couple of years if you are not competent in the processes. I bring to the table lots of experience, especially when we have many topics that need very close scrutiny and attention to detail. We have a couple hotels, affordable and workforce housing issues, impacts to be to the environment, and infrastructure updates to name a few to be carefully looked at and discussed. It's very difficult to learn on the job and know how to do that.

Due to the Covid crisis the town had to essentially become a reactionary government. Nobody understood what rules were going to be implemented and when and by whom. Also, because of the crisis we also found ourselves in a real estate boom and tourism went through the roof. This really taxed our infrastructure and showed us what we were lacking and the impacts . What we pushed aside was planning and policies and as mentioned before most things became reactionary. The town started suffering from lack of culture, behavioral principles, that reflect our culture and values and identity. We need to be a community that is efficient in our practices, has positive behaviors and be a very user friendly great place for our guests, workers, and all residents in and around our town. We need to relook at our charter and polices and update them to reflect on how we live , work and recreate here and in todays world.

We need to look at all of our infrastructure, of all departments, to see how much impact to the environment, quality of life and protection of our community values. By identifying our identity, we can then have a clear path on how to move forward. We need to set policies, goals and objectives so staff can create a path to with which would be our guiding principles. With my experience and my knowledge I believe I can and will contribute to this. I can offer us a solid four years of moving us in the right direction and protect what we all love.

Other Information You Want to Include:

Through my professional life and my public life I have been involved in many aspects of all levels of government from local to Federal. I have been on boards for the U.S. Forest Service, BLM and State Forest Service related to beetle kill and fire mitigations processes for almost 20 years.

I have been on national Recycling coalitions board for rural America recycling, and Recycle Colorado's policy board for setting policy and introducing bills related to landfill diversion, composting and bringing more monies to rural ares for recycling. I also was instrumental in getting a bill signed into law for the elimination of single use plastics. I'm on the green team and ecology commission for the Town of Telluride and the town of Mountain Village.

Im also a retired local firefighter for the TVFD for 21 years and on their grants review committee for the high school seniors. Due to my involvement in many different aspects of our community, I have been on many more committees and boards. I also told many degrees in certificates in the industry that I worked.

I participate in the community in many ways in our community, I use the trail systems, ski and I know this area inside and out. I visit all the businesses in the Mountain Village as a preference to anywhere else, in our region. I talk to many people and frequent the business in our community and I know their thoughts and their needs.

i do feel i have a great understanding our needs and wants in of all of our guests, workers, businesses, and from folks who do not use Mtn Village as their primary residence ( but yet they pay taxes for our schools roads etc.) to everyone else that uses the Mtn Village in any way shape or form.