The WE RIP program is being sold as progress, but it’s really a perfect example of how Park City confuses publicity with policy.

Start with the scale: 13 listings, 22 rooms, 36 beds. That’s not reform. It’s a headline.

Then there’s the language. “Mountainkind,” “community spirit,” “unique to Park City” — all the soft words that show up when there’s nothing measurable to report. It’s sentiment standing in for results.

The incentives — skis, fly rods, gift cards — are pure boutique virtue-signaling. It’s not about fixing a housing market. It’s about giving the comfortable a moral souvenir for participating.

When officials describe this as “uniquely Park City,” what they really mean is inefficient, symbolic, and carefully limited — designed to look good, not to work.

The truth is, progra

See Full Page