U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper hit stops in Colorado’s High Country on Tuesday, April 15, for what he said was an effort to collect stories from his constituents to help refine his understanding of the area he represents.
His Breckenridge stop was paired with a tour of an upcoming nonprofit hub, and the story he got from local officials lifted the veil covering the historic mountain town with an affluent appearance to show the local workforce’s struggles with affordability.
Breckenridge’s tourism economy has helped the town, which has a population of nearly 5,000, wrangle yearly tax collections upwards of $35 million over the last several years. Breckenridge and Summit County local officials and government staff members told Hickenlooper, who was a former restaurateur, that local employees who might fall in the middle class elsewhere deal with food and housing insecurity — and they’re not sure there’s a sure fix…