Why Is Boulder Snobbish, Cliquish, And Racist? (Denver, Pueblo: loans, homes)

[CCCVDUR]

Originally Posted by Katiana

Uh, I know quite a few examples to the contrary.
I don't know how you know that each and every physician in Seattle and Vegas takes Medicare.

I've lived in both Seattle and Vegas. The first time I heard of physicians who refused to take Medicare and/or other insurance carriers was in Santa Fe, NM. The second time was in Flagstaff, Arizona. I was very perplexed to find this in liberal cities, since Seattle and Vegas are also liberal, and I would assume that all liberal cities would be alike when it comes to health care.

[CCCVDUR]

Originally Posted by tfox

I don't know anything about flagstaff. My parents now live in New Mexico and I have limited experience there. I'd rank Boulder as much LESS snobby than Santa Fe and MORE welcoming to outsiders, mainly because despite all the talk Boulder is not really a tourist enclave like Santa Fe but is has a very active and functioning economy with transplants there all the time......

Great point, and thank you. I've been thinking about this in the last few days ... Flagstaff and Santa Fe depend on tourism to a large extent for their economy. When recessions hit, unemployment increases. Currently, Flagstaff and Santa Fe are both in a recession, whereas Boulder is not. Why? Boulder has local industries as you point out, especially in the high-tech fields. Flagstaff and Santa Fe do not have these industries, and when recessions hit, tourism, auto sales, construction, and hotel/restaurant tax revenues all go way down. Albuquerque is not in a recession either, they have high-tech due to the pro-growth and pro-green-business-recruiting policies of Mayor Martin J. Cha'vez, America's greenest mayor. Reference: NY Times Map of the USA:

The New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Cities in Trouble vs. Growing Cities

[mkreed]

I stumbled across this thread looking for info about Boulder schools. As a very new Boulder resident, I have found the people friendlier than most places I have lived. Heck - even the staff at Home Depot are helpful :-) I have met people here much more quickly than I did in IL and OH. Of course, I am a white, middle-class, vegetarian, liberal with a PhD. Of course, my non-white Indian and Arab friends like it here, too.

[Bev86]

Surely not all of the people who are negatively commenting on Boulder have been here or spent a substantial amount of time here. There indeed are the types of folks you speak of Tom, but I myself am a Washington native from Spokane and made the transition pretty easily. In fact, ive had experiences in Seattle that have been relevant to what you say you hear of Boulder, uptight, liberal, starbucks-drinking vegans, but you're going to find that anywhere you go. My advice is to visit boulder, then make your opinion, it all depends on where you hang out and who you surround yourself with.

I've been here for four years. The outdoor recreation is great, the skiing is second to none, and the social scene here is great, being rated one of the top singles destinations in the states. The town is also beautiful with the mountains right in your backyard.

[dreamboatannie953]

I live in a burb of Seattle sine 1978. We hate the rain and we feel we gotta get outta here. My hubby was born in Boulder and he pesters me to move there constantly. To listen to him you'd think it is Perfection. But I fear some of these things I hear about Boulder. As for Medicare Medicaid in the Seattle area. I don't know how anyone could say it is widely accepted here. I have a daughter and granddaughter on medicaid and "NO ONE" will acept it except cheap free clinic like places and ER. My mother passed in 2005 and I had a heck of a time getting any kind of competent care for her because she was medicare. Actually the bad care she got hastened her death. The Seattle area is definately not Medicare or Medicaid friendly, I assure you of that.

[megonow]

well, I can check this place off the list of possibilities.

what is it with people that they are so insecure that they think
they are so superior because they have money? I don't get it.

I'm not rich and I'm not poor but I don't want to live in a place of
snobs - they are so boring.

Don't go back to Seattle - I found people so self-righteous there.
they will stop you and preach to you about crossing the street,
and all sorts of thing that are none of their business.

I'm having trouble finding a decent and interesting place in the whole
US I want to come back to.

I should think this economic mess might humble a few people.

[dreamboatannie953]

I hate the Seattle area. I came here in 1978 because my parents moved here and I was young with 2 kids and needed mom. I met a man here and had another child. Now we have 2 adult daughters here and 3 grandkids. It kills me to think of leaving them. I wonder if it it's not about family more than places.
The girls grew up here and don't want to leave. My husband is determined to move to Boulder this spring. I see weather there all the time that is so undependable and extreme cold at times. I am a vegetarian but only by personal choice. I hate meat, never liked it as a child. But I cook meat for my family and I don't ever preach the evils of meat eaters. Not eating meat is a very personal decision one comes to only if it is feeling right to them. People here in Seattle suck for the most part. I don't have many friends, my family is my friends. I have tried having friends here many times but they end up being very high maintenance users. People are rude on the street for the most part. Driving here is a nightmare because of the nasty natures of Seattle Natives. Get this, on 10/11 I fell over a rock sticking out of the floor in a local casino. I am 55 years old and I fell flat on my face and chest and fractured my ribs. I went to ER had a cat scan and everything. I've been sleeping up in a recliner ever since because of the pain. I can't sue the casino because I was on Indian land. The Muckleshoots answered my request for them to pay my doctor bills with, "You should watch where you are going and you won't fall down." Typical nasty stuff we see all the time here in Seattle. Now for Boulder... I'm a 9th grade drop out but have a GED. I had a son at 15 years old and quit school. I am an artist and paint and often sell my work. I am liberal in thinking but I hate those "Progressive Elites that force their opinions on us without any tolerance for the rights of others to their own opinions". Just the word "Progressive" I feel sets up "Us and Them mentality".
Man I just don't know if Boulder can handle me?

[Noahma]

Originally Posted by Vision67

Why? Because birds of a feather flock together.

Years ago, Boulder passed very restrictive zoning laws to limit sprawl. The result is very expensive housing. That makes an education at CU very expensive; my daughter paid $6K per year to rent a 100 sq ft room in a crappy rental house.

Expensive housing is a big detriment to people of limited means; hence few minorities.

If you want to live among libertarians, move to Colorado Springs. It's the home of Bible thumping, tax hating, gun loving, Bush loving, government hating CONservatives.

hmm... helps to show the OP that the interpretation may be a little more true than not?


I work in boulder, The center of boulder can be a bit snobbish, but the outskirts and edges of boulder is full of very friendly people. I have no trouble finding people with my point of view, which by all means does not match what people think the view point of boulder is (yes, I am a Conservative, with a more libertarian lean.) You will find people that will speak like the last part of the post quoted above, but you will also find people with differing points of view. I personally like Boulder (the people) The way that Boulder is run, well... I have differing opinion on that. They have in the past year absolutely killed building within the county and city. It is incredibly difficult to get a house built, or even remodel the home.

[CCCVDUR]

I am NOT moving to Boulder because of the reasons in many of the aforementioned posts, i.e. restrictions on home remodeling, restrictions on building permits, the liberal elite mentality, the lack of adequate de-icing in town, the high cost of living, etc.

I am not a socialist and would not be able to stand a city like Boulder that controls whether or not I can remodel my house.....Such thinking is against what the Founding Fathers had in mind, yet Boulderites love constitutional talk host Thom Hartmann, and vigorously protested his removal via the controversial program director Kris Olinger from AM 760 KKZN?!

I don't think people in Seattle are self-righteous - at least you get to know your neighbors, unlike Flagstaff and Nob Hill in Albuquerque (the equivalent of Capitol Hill in Seattle)....

As for Seattle where I'm from, well.... in my opinion, it's a lot better than Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Flagstaff.....

As for the weather, I'd prefer 9 months of Rain in Seattle over 6 months of snow/ice in Boulder......

As for vegetarianism, I am a tall, thin guy who needs meat as part of my genetic metabolism. If I stop eating meat, I get tired, depressed, and weak. CLIFF bars and granola don't give me any energy. Why can vegetarians not understand genetics?

As for my college experience, I have a bachelors. I cannot get into grad school because I don't do well on standardized tests. For some reason, the Left Brained Liberal elites think this is the only way to evaluate one's intelligence. Not the case for those of us who use the right side of our brains in science, design, and engineering.

In fact, many of the above posted problems sounds much worse than Flagstaff-Sedona, Arizona.....

Las Vegas, NV and Southern California are probably more friendliest places with more open to experience people......many move from here to northern Arizona for a mountainous lifestyle....

So far, there is no "perfect mountain town" that accepts everyone ..... Sounds like Flagstaff-Sedona is more open than Boulder....

[POhdNcrzy]

Guys, go to hippy_com and look up Boulder under the "Hippie Havens" section. The people posting on this thread would enjoy the read.