Another Potential NoVA to Colorado Springs Transplant Seeking Advice (Denver: hotels, attorney)

[MF001]

Originally Posted by CharlotteRJ

Well, FFX county is still largely a suburb of DC. It's defined by DC. While driving to Denver doesn't take as long as driving into DC from outer parts of the county, Springs and Denver still feel very much like two different metropolitan areas.

I appreciate all the information you have given me about COS, but your view of FFX as a suburb of DC is, I think, outdated. In the last ten years or so, the Dulles Tech Corridor along 28 has grown explosively as their own corporate/commericial/residential areas. Almost all of my neighbors in Oakton work locally in Fairfax County or to the west in Loudoun County, even father away from DC. The only time I've been in DC in recent years has been to visit museums with my children.

The strong association with DC only really lingers in the inner suburbs inside the Beltway. Western Fairfax is now more closely associated with Eastern Loudoun, which if you look at the population density map, is one of the most densely populated areas in NoVA and is its own urban center.

You really need to compare neighborhood by neighborhood for crime stats. Comparing the entire city against a wealthy suburban county, even with route 1, a relatively small part of the county, isn't going to give you an accurate picture.

It's not helpful for my particular purposes to compare simply the tiny and specific residential neighborhoods for crime. I intentionally want to compare the larger Fairfax area and the metro COS, for the overall feelings of safety and crime levels, not just while I am sleeping or hanging out in front of my house, but walking, driving and visiting various areas of the whole city/county.

There are something I dislike about NoVA, but one of the things I really appreciate is that the entire county (with the exception of the R1 corridor) is exceptionally free of crime, especially violent crime. I am NOT interested in moving to an area if I have to live in a small affluent area that is relatively free of crime that is in turn surrounded by a large area with much higher crime rate, especially violent crime. In any case, I think I will be visiting COS shortly to take a looksy myself. It may turn out that it's not "small town" enough for my taste.

Originally Posted by CharlotteRJ

I've noticed a good many mixed race couples.

What kind of "mixed race" couples? The most common type I see here is white-Asian.

Hm. We haven't gotten into the religion/politics factor on this thread. Any questions about that?

Nope. I know that COS has a reputation of being religiously conservative and my family and I are fine with that. We are looking for an area with high church attendance.

Originally Posted by otowi

A typical school district in Colorado Springs or Colorado in general will be about 50-60% white, 20-40% hispanic, a few percent Native American, a few percent Asian, 5-15% African American and a few to 10% multiracial.

A lot of people in my current area would consider that mix very bad for their kids' schools!

On the plus side though (perhaps, depends on your perspective I guess), our diversity has from day 1 always been mostly intermixed - unlike many cities back east that have 'black neighborhoods', 'asian neighborhoods', 'hispanic neighborhoods' - this part of the country has always been mostly an 'all of us together' kind of place.

I took a look at the handy dandy interactive tool from the University of Virginia that looks at racial distribution throughout the whole country. First of all, in rural areas of this country, the population is almost entirely white, except in the deep South where there is significant rural black population. In most urban areas, black population share has declined tremendously as gentrification has proceeded. The big residential segregation in most cities now seems to be whites and Asians on the one hand and Hispanics on the other. I noticed that COS is an NOT exception to this rule.

Originally Posted by otowi

This is what diversity (i.e. normal) looks like in Colorado Springs, imho.

Otowi: Mesa Ridge Grizzlies 2014

This is a local basketball team heading to the final four this week at state, I have some family associated with the team. (wish them luck!)

I don't think that one can gain an accurate sense of ethnic diversity in a given area from a sports team. There are schools around here that are almost exclusively white and Asian but the sports teams may have majority blacks.

Originally Posted by Sonic_Spork

To briefly revisit the matter of serpents, if you're in the woods in VA or surrounding states, yes, you may encounter a copperhead or even a cottonmouth/water moccasin. And here, you may encounter a rattlesnake. None are extremely likely, all are quite possible. And if you get bitten by any of the above, the last thing you want to worry about is if one is more or less venemous than any other, you need medical care immediately. I've heard of people dying from bites from any of these without medical intervention. But just as you don't worry about it much, neither do we....because it simply isn't likely.

I used to frequent the woods in NoVA and Blue Ridge mountains quite a bit. Never ran into a copperhead once. I knew they were there though. And copperheads are NOT that venomous... not that I care to be beaten by one. On the other hand, there seem to be many articles about rattlesnakes in COS especially the Garden of Gods area -- apparently there is even an area there called Rattlesnake Ridge: Don't get rattled by the region's only venomous snake.

Really, I am more worried for my dogs than anything else.

One more question. I hear it's very dry there, which is great for not having bugs and such. But does it get so dry indoors that most of you use whole house humidifiers there, perhaps year-round? I have one here and I use it for about 3-4 months during the winter.

[Carrera32]

MF001 - I think you're making this much more complicated than it needs to be. You really need to come out here and visit to get a feel for the community as a whole; there's no way you can find out what you're looking for by checking crime statistics or Google Earth; 2) From what I can gather from your previous posts, you're not going to be hanging out in the biker bars in Southeast COS, just like I'm sure you don't hang out in the dives along Rt. 1. My point is that in a town of 450K people, there are going to be affluent areas, poor areas, areas with virtually no crime, and some where crime is prevalent and concentrated. FFX county includes the sketchy areas along Rt 1, but you don't live there; you live in crime-free Oakton. OK, so in COS you can live in virtually crime-free Peregrine, Kissing Camels, Broadmoor, Pinecliff, Gleneagle, Woodmoor, Briargagte, or any of the other areas we've recommended (I'd throw in Old North End where I live, as well, but that's downtown and probably a bit too close to sketchy areas (akin to Rt. 1) than you'd prefer. You'd probably never have any reason whatsoever to go to SE COS along Fountain Blvd, which is located several miles from the areas I noted above. As for downtown, others may disagree, but my wife and I (semi-retired) frequent downtown establishments all the time, with no hesitation whatsoever. My auto mechanic is located in an industrial area downtown and I often walk to there from my house to pick up my car with no second thoughts.

I'm not sure what you meant by your comment about the COS diversity percentages being "bad." Maybe you'd like to explain more fully what you mean. What do you consider a "good" mix?

As for snakes, keep your dog on a leash (required in all our parks, though often ignored) and keep to the trails and I doubt you'll have any problems with rattlesnakes. However, we live in the West, and so do rattlesnakes. We also live on the outskirts of national forests and municipal parks with a lot of ungroomed natural trails. Just be careful and you'll probably never see a snake.

As for dryness, I love it. My wife, however, likes to use a humidifier in the house. We just use a portable room humidifier. Works fine for us.

Bottom line: You really have no reason to obsess about crime in COS. Yes, we have some. But I'm sure it won't be concentrated in any of the areas you'd live, socialize, or patronize.

[Mike from back east]

Ditto what Carrera says.

Came here from western FFX County, love it here. The dry air is good, we run a humidifier most of the year on the central system. Only a tiny part of the area is anything like the Penn Mar area of U.S.1 on that eastern fringe of FFX County and IMO you shouldn't have any problems in the areas mentioned.

Anyone else remember the old Dixie Pig BBQ on US1?

[Dean Trails]

Originally Posted by Carrera32

Not so much. The facility was built well before the city started expanding...and it's buried inside a mountain. Aside from the antenna array on top of the mountain, you wouldn't even realize it's there.

The funny thing is the facility is all a ruse. The actual defense center is decentralized and in other states. Why else would it be so easy to find?
You never want to place your eggs in one basket!

[Carrera32]

Mike - I used to live in Hollin Hills, which is very near the Dixie Pig. Travelled that section of Rt 1 all the time. Great place; lots of character. Food wasn't bad either.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Carrera32

Mike - I used to live in Hollin Hills, which is very near the Dixie Pig. Travelled that section of Rt 1 all the time. Great place; lots of character. Food wasn't bad either.

Cool. There was a Howard Johnson's down that way too, IIRC Friday night was clam dinner night. I loved their coffee, bought a case of it once, they'd sell you anything they served. We lived at 1515 Jeff Davis Hwy at that time, in the large apartment tower there, man that was convenient, metro subway in the basement!

At least we're getting a Trader Joe's here next year, we transplants from many states will have one more good choice.

Now if I can just get a great crabcake.....like those in my hometown of Baltimore....

[CharlotteRJ]

Originally Posted by MF001

I appreciate all the information you have given me about COS, but your view of FFX as a suburb of DC is, I think, outdated.

Well, I moved here less than a year ago from Maryland. Yes, FFX is very much its own area. But it still has a different feel than a stand-alone city, and is considered part of the DC statistical metro area.

[CharlotteRJ]

Originally Posted by Carrera32

MF001 - I think you're making this much more complicated than it needs to be. You really need to come out here and visit to get a feel for the community as a whole; there's no way you can find out what you're looking for by checking crime statistics or Google Earth;

This. We absolutely insisted on a "sanity trip" before we made the decision to move out. Don't spend it touristing, spend it driving around the places you think you'll exist.

[otowi]

"
I've noticed a good many mixed race couples.
What kind of "mixed race" couples? The most common type I see here is white-Asian."

All kinds. black-white, black-asian, hispanic-white, hispanic-black - whatever!

"Quote:
Hm. We haven't gotten into the religion/politics factor on this thread. Any questions about that?
Nope. I know that COS has a reputation of being religiously conservative and my family and I are fine with that. We are looking for an area with high church attendance."

Colorado Springs is not known for high church attendance. The data doesn't really bear that out.


"Quote:
A typical school district in Colorado Springs or Colorado in general will be about 50-60% white, 20-40% hispanic, a few percent Native American, a few percent Asian, 5-15% African American and a few to 10% multiracial.
A lot of people in my current area would consider that mix very bad for their kids' schools!"

Why? Are people afraid of certain races or something?


"This is a local basketball team heading to the final four this week at state, I have some family associated with the team. (wish them luck!)
I don't think that one can gain an accurate sense of ethnic diversity in a given area from a sports team. There are schools around here that are almost exclusively white and Asian but the sports teams may have majority blacks."

Not here, the sports teams at the high school are generally a decent representation of the schools themselves. That's one of the differences between here and there, I guess. The team won state, btw.

[MF001]

Originally Posted by Carrera32

I'm not sure what you meant by your comment about the COS diversity percentages being "bad." Maybe you'd like to explain more fully what you mean. What do you consider a "good" mix?

Many white and Asian parents in my area would go berserk if the ethnic mix in their school districts were such that Hispanics were 40% as another poster mentioned about school districts in COS. A lot of such parents seem to flee districts with high black/Hispanic enrollments. And many such parents are "nice liberals" who talk a lot about diversity on the surface.

Thankfully, I don't have to be a part of that madness as my wife and I home school. I have to admit, though, my home schooling group is mostly white, a sizable minority of Asians, one Hispanic family and no blacks. That's not by design or by any attempt to exclude. Just how the cookie crumbles in the home schooling world.

Originally Posted by Dean Trails

The funny thing is the facility is all a ruse. The actual defense center is decentralized and in other states. Why else would it be so easy to find?
You never want to place your eggs in one basket!

I just love the fact that the entrance is in all kinds of movies that feature the imminent prospects of "global thermonuclear war" (War Games) and is located yards away from some homes in Broadmoor Bluffs.

Originally Posted by otowi

Colorado Springs is not known for high church attendance. The data doesn't really bear that out.

"High" is relative. I think it does compare to many other cities of its size, especially outside the South. It certainly seems to have FAR higher church attendance rate than cities like San Francisco and Seattle (as well as other Front Range cities).

Why? Are people afraid of certain races or something?

See my answer above. It's not a secret that schools with high black/Hispanic enrollments have far lower test scores than those with whites and Asians. Like I wrote above, that doesn't affect me. I home school. But, to be realistic about it, it does affect home value.