Housing Flap Ends Vail Mayor

In a resort town where many people have second homes worth $1 million, a project to erect affordable housing for town employees has created a battle so contentious it has already claimed one casualty: the mayor.

Vail, Colo. Mayor Rob Ford, a proponent of the housing initiative, has given notice that he will resign at the end of his two-year term in November. He will also quit the City Council, which appointed him as mayor in 1997, despite two more years to go.

The mayor's planned departure has become the subject of a new debate. Some have cheered it, while affordable housing proponents are calling him a quitter. But Ford acknowledged difficulty continuing amid the deluge of complaints, some of them X-rated, as he strolled through city streets.

"It's hard to go home at night when people are railing at you all day," said Ford. "I was tired of getting yelled at." He added that "For a $1,000 a month, I figure I was getting $2.50 an hour," noting that contentiousness and seemingly endless hearings had turned the mayor's job into a full-time job. He also wants to spend more time skiing.

Like resort communities from Lake Tahoe in California to Taos, N.M., Vail has grappled with soaring housing prices. Most workers who earn lower wages -- police officers, firefighters, and even some doctors and lawyers -- live in towns as much as 30 miles away, where prices are lower.

Ford was first elected to the seven-member Vail Town Council in 1995. He and the council held meetings to identify top priorities among residents. Number one was affordable housing.

Ford said it has become increasingly difficult to run the town's government with many key employees living outside of Vail.

"If people don't live in the community they don't become attached to the community," Ford said.

The council approved four housing projects, which triggered immediate, and very vocal, opposition.

For one project, the city donated land which had been designated as open space; hired developers to build condos, and sold them to approved buyers to cover the cost of the project.

Project opponents are glad to see Ford go.

"I think his decision to quit is correct. But he should leave now, today, not wait until November," said Diana Donovan, who has opposed the housing project on open space.

Several groups have filed lawsuits to block that project's construction.

"We believe it is illegal to use this land for anything but open space," Ms. Donovan said.

"They are trying to cram affordable housing down our throat," she added, contending Ford represents the views of business people, not residents.

Kayo Ferry, a coffee shop owner and president of the Vail Valley Merchants Association, supports Ford.

"I don't think he should have quit," she said.

Ms. Ferry said Ford's departure will delay solving the housing problem.

Dr. Tom Steinberg, the town's first resident doctor and a former council vetera, believes the housing impasse stems from the "not in my backyard" factor.

Steinberg said everyone supports affordable housing, unless it is going to be built next to them.