BOULDER COLORADO CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE IN THE NEWS!
Bodenstab a Unique Combo
By RICHARD VALENTY Colorado Daily Staff Writer
Monday, June 11, 2007 8:09 PM MDT
Eric Bodenstab, a candidate for Boulder's City Council in the July 10 election, once went to the crossroads and took a very unique turn.
Bodenstab used to work as a stockbroker for the firm TD Waterhouse in San Diego, but came to Boulder in 2002 to study at Naropa University. He earned a master's degree in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism with Tibetan language from Naropa, and said his combination of Western and Eastern immersions would help him function at a high level on the city council if elected.
“My experience as a stockbroker and in the financial world, including getting that license and working in that industry, was most helpful,” said Bodenstab last week. “At the same time, my training at Naropa right here in town gave me a kind of sensitivity to the world that I would not have otherwise had.”
Today, he works in the hospitality industry at the front desk of the Best Western Boulder Inn, but those following his long-term progress might witness another turn or two along the way. He has a bachelor's degree in Art History and Practice from Williams College in Massachusetts, and said it enabled him to focus on architecture - a career that he said he has considered pursuing.
But he also said he's a young person who is interested in politics, serving his community and addressing the issues facing Boulder.
He didn't go to CU, but he's young enough to remember the issues associated with alcohol abuse in areas such as University Hill where large numbers of college students and young adults tend to congregate.
Bodenstab said conflicts between certain students who can't control nuisance behavior and older adults “who just really want to come home and have a quiet night” are common to just about any college town - but that doesn't mean a city should just write negative behavior off as inevitable.
He said the city should make sure people are enjoying themselves but remain law-abiding, which means law enforcement is a necessary component - as is personal responsibility - in alcohol-related decision making. He also said expanding the numbers of outlets selling alcohol on the Hill might not be a good move when it comes to ensuring the well-being of thousands of young Boulder residents.
“I don't think it's a role for the City of Boulder to just raid parties or things like that, but whatever we can do to curb underage drinking can be helpful,” he said. “It's the job of adults and leadership in the city to say, ‘We want to encourage you to stick to the point.' You came here to go to college, not to party.”
And Bodenstab came to Boulder to seek greater meaning in his life. He said he grew up Episcopalian, but became “distanced” from formal spiritual practice during his early college years - and then met a friend who turned him on to the meditative pursuits that ultimately led him to Naropa.
“We had many long and powerful conversations, but it wasn't an interest I could fully explore at Williams,” he said. “I really wanted to have a quality teacher, and I liked Dr. Reginald Ray (a Religious Studies professor), so a prime focus of mine was to spend time and learn his perspective, which was for me very vast.”
But running a city such as Boulder requires personal interactions and dealing with vast amounts of money. Bodenstab said he enjoys the face-to-face contact he gets with locals and out-of-town visitors to the Best Western, and said his time with Waterhouse gave him experience with high-stakes transactions.
“You're put in a position of trust, and you place rather large transactions many times in any given day,” he said. “I had experience in the retirement accounts division as well, which is valuable considering that a major concern for the city is its retirement funds for its employees.”
Bodenstab is able to get around Boulder without a car, and said during last week's PLAN-Boulder County/Sierra Club candidate forum that the city should increase its alternative transportation options - and added on his Web site that the city could certainly use another HOP, SKIP or JUMP when it comes to bus transit.
He also said he has confidence in that the City of Boulder could do a good job with a municipal electric utility if it decides that pursuing public power is the best course of action, and said he believes the current council works well as a team.
“I have a lot of respect for each and every individual who has taken the time to serve the community, and it's something that I would enjoy being part of,” said Bodenstab.
Contact Richard Valenty about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 126 or valenty@coloradodaily.com
Copyright (c) 2007, Colorado Daily and Prairie Mountain Publishing. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission
of any of this content without the express written consent of Colorado Daily is expressly prohibited.
