Now is not a time for looking backwards. Now is a time to look to the future that will be ours. Our mission, indeed our mandate is to shape it to be the best that Colorado has to offer. The next four years will be vital in cementing and advancing the programs I've initiated - programs that are core to the preservation of our extraordinary quality of life. Future generations are depending on us balance future quality of life with the current pressures for short-term gain.

Environmental Sustainability We are investigating significant renewable energy tax credits that will have the double benefit of returning some tax dollars to citizens and moving towards energy independence. We are expanding biomass (bark beetle) heating systems at the County. We are also building a state of the art recycling facility at the land fill. We also intend to expand our solar farm to the land fill if the tax credits are still available. Managing and Planning Growth Expanding on our current efforts with an ever increasing emphasis on collaboration with the towns is essential to smart growth practices. We are undergoing a complete revision of our Dwelling Unit Analysis that will become an invaluable tool to allow the towns and the County to visualize future build-out scenarios through the magic of computer modeling. With foresight comes the power to plan with true vision. Controlling Traffic ECO transit ridership increased 30% this year! It is time to increase capacity as well as establish feeder routs while we work on breaking the log jam at Union Pacific to ultimately institute a light rail system on their right of way. Intergovernmental Cooperation When I came to office we were hovering around 0% cooperation and trust. We are now up to around 30%. Trust, which takes time, is a two-way street. Trust builds on trust. We are on our way towards building a County where we all work together yet retain our individual community identity and character. Forest Health The real fire risk to our communities will come in 10 - 15 years when the newly dead trees start to fall down and create a ladder of fuels. Thankfully, this gives us some working room...time to get the Federal Colorado Healthy Forests bill, which I helped to write, passed and working. We also need to expand bio-mass heating around the state so we can make lemon-aid out of lemons. Additionally, I am working on bringing a celuosic ethanol plant to Eagle County to turn trees and trash into alcohol for fuel.

Peter Examining Tree Killed by Bark Beetle.                                 Proud to be a Democrat! Proud to work across party lines!