By broken windows I mean the economic fallacy many fall for that destruction of property is good for the local economic scene. That is, when someone has their windows broken the victim must hire carpenters, window makers, glass makers, etc to replace the broken windows and that contributes to the economic prosperity of a community.
Not right, the loss of the owner of the broken windows offsets any gains made by the people who labor to repair the damage. So too with the Big Powderhorn fire, the local construction industry will gain a boost, the owners are going to suffer sleepless nights and depressed numbers of skiers, but at least (I guess) they have insurance and are covered on the loss. Nobody wishes the fire would have occurred.
However, I do see one bright spot in the disaster.
Big Powderhorn will have a lodge that is firmly in the 21st century. Most ski resort lodges I go to seem like they are stuck in about January of 1973. It is time to get updated and into the current day. As I have said before, you can modernize without losing the anchor of your past and I have seen one resort try to do that (How about it Blackjack? Your new artwork is lame.). Indianhead has done a fairly decent job of it, they closed down the old basement tavern and opened one on the main floor and I don’t feel like a time traveler in that bar (however, step out of the bar and away you go).
Now about that giant gaper you have on US HWY 2!
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