I don't get all the hate (Denver, Colorado Springs: assessors, crime, house)

[vnodak]

Originally Posted by esas

I don't HATE the Springs - but I am leaving after 2 years for the following reasons:

1. Weather: I don't care what anyone says - the weather is pretty bad. It is either snowing, raining, lightning, 40mph winds or hail on 'most' weekends (granted this weekend is pretty nice).
2. People are just strange as hell here...can't put my finger on it, just unfriendly people everywhere.
3. Infrastructure: this is a city that wants to pretend it is a quaint mountain town with a population around half million. Property taxes need to about double in order to fund the government to take care of the roads, bridges, etc.
4. Outdoor rec: let down on this one....2.5(ish) hours to nearest skiing, closest fishing is sitting in a lawn chair trying to hook trout in Rampart Reservoir or the Catamounts, hiking trails are PACKED (normally with a$$holes and their annoying dogs) unless you get 1.5-2 hours away.
5. Transportation: Half million people - must drive to Denver to get good flights....unless you enjoy the 12 minute flight on United from COS-DIA to connect.
6. Jobs: If you're not an Air Force Space guy....look elsewhere. 20 years ago when population was ~half of current - the economy could get away with DoD dependence. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be much attracting new business....

If I ever moved back to Colorado it would be to the West side of Denver or North of Boulder toward Fort Collins where you can access better outdoor areas, closer airport, slightly better infrastructure. Beautiful mountains when you get up into them, and I absolutely loved skiing here...
.
Just my thoughts.

Obviously, this is not a fit for you in your stage of life and I respect that and wish you luck on your move to another venture that meets your needs and desires. If we were all the same, it would be boring. I grew up in North Dakota and the weather here is just fine by me---ha ha.

[BornintheSprings]

I think the weather here is fantastic. Way better than the midwestern states by far.

[davebarnes]

Let's start with:
Doug Lamborn
Focus on the Family
Douglas Bruce
shortage of decent restaurants (compared with Denver)
Gordon Klingenschmitt

[phetaroi]

I moved here 6 years ago (in retirement) and am hoping to move to Phoenix area this fall.

It isn't that Colorado Springs is a bad place, but I see nothing special about it...other than the view of Pikes Peak...and after a while that just gets to be "everyday".

Just about everything here is second rate. Shopping and roads being 2 examples.

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Let's start with:
Doug Lamborn
Focus on the Family
Douglas Bruce
shortage of decent restaurants (compared with Denver)
Gordon Klingenschmitt

Comparing restaurants to Denver isn't really fair.

Focus on The Family, they are fairly innocuous now, but they do still push agendas locally. Nothing like in years past.

Every thing else, yeah, we need to figure out how to deal those. Although, quite frankly, I'm surprised there isn't a greater push out of the Denver metro area to overturn Tabor. Perfect opportunity with DB in jail.

[DoodlemomCoS]

I love the weather here. Coming from Albuquerque where it's sunny nearly every single day, the change up is refreshing. To each there own though. I remember being very bummed out in New Mexico because of the constant blue skies. People thought I was nuts because I actually like weather. So I moved. The US is so big, I'm sure everyone can find their spot.

[lovecrowds]

Originally Posted by esas

I don't HATE the Springs - but I am leaving after 2 years for the following reasons:
2. People are just strange as hell here...can't put my finger on it, just unfriendly people everywhere.
3. Infrastructure: this is a city that wants to pretend it is a quaint mountain town with a population around half million. Property taxes need to about double in order to fund the government to take care of the roads, bridges, etc.
4. Outdoor rec: let down on this one....2.5(ish) hours to nearest skiing, closest fishing is sitting in a lawn chair trying to hook trout in Rampart Reservoir or the Catamounts, hiking trails are PACKED (normally with a$$holes and their annoying dogs) unless you get 1.5-2 hours away.
5. Transportation: Half million people - must drive to Denver to get good flights....unless you enjoy the 12 minute flight on United from COS-DIA to connect.
6. Jobs: If you're not an Air Force Space guy....look elsewhere. 20 years ago when population was ~half of current - the economy could get away with DoD dependence. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be much attracting new business....

If I ever moved back to Colorado it would be to the West side of Denver or North of Boulder toward Fort Collins where you can access better outdoor areas, closer airport, slightly better infrastructure. Beautiful mountains when you get up into them, and I absolutely loved skiing here...

Many people in Colorado Springs are very stressed out. I think the older residents in this city are friendlier then the younger residents.

Colorado Springs has one of the highest household debt to income ratio's in the nation.

I think there is a pretty big gap income-wise between younger and older Colorado Springs residents compared to Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins.

Lots of younger Colorado Springs families live in very crappy living conditions and have baby after baby. It seems like younger Colorado Springs residents in their 20s and 30s have lower then typical income's and are trying to raise huge families on it with relatively high housing rents on 3 or 4 bedrooms.

I see far more women pushing dirty strollers with multiple kids in tow in Colorado Springs then Denver.

With the real estate gold rush in Denver the only poor women pushing strollers are either lucky enough to have section 8 paying most of the rent or they are living with relatives in small homes in Southwest Denver or Park Hill that could be sold for $300,000-$400,000.

I find older Colorado Springs residents friendlier and the older demographic neighborhoods are very nice in Colorado Springs with people in their yard's making them look perfect.

It seems like most social events in Colorado Springs are skewed towards retirees. Younger Colorado Springs residents usually have large families and are too overwhelmed.

I have been to a few events in Colorado Springs in the past and it is mainly retirees who attend.

I actually don't find the infrastructure in Colorado Springs that bad. The potholes in side-streets are huge but the major roads are in very good shape compared to most cities.

I agree about the transportation. Colorado Springs has buses with infrequent service but the coverage is decent. The sidewalks are terrible.

Colorado Springs does have a terrible economy for a metro of 697,000 people. It had a much better economy when it was half it's size.

Colorado Springs had a much better economy in the 1980s and 1990s.

1980s were good for the city because of the influx of tech firms and the military spending under Reagan.
1990s were also excellent years for the Colorado Springs economy, seemed like new companies were moving in every day

After 2000, this city really seemed to economically fall-apart. There has been a stunning loss of information and manufacturing jobs.

The have gained jobs in Colorado Springs since the recession but it is either very low quality, cyclical jobs or jobs reliant on government spending.

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by davebarnes

Let's start with:
Doug Lamborn
Focus on the Family
Douglas Bruce
shortage of decent restaurants (compared with Denver)
Gordon Klingenschmitt

I see your negativity and raise you:
Pete Lee
Jim Daly (Has anybody even been paying attention since he took over in 2005? Apparently not. C'mon now people it's been over 10 years since Mr. Dobson went on Larry King Live and picked a fight with several cartoon characters he considered a bit ... ahem ... femme. Get over it already and don't blame an entire city of 500K for the questionable opinion of one confused old guy who should've retired years earlier. Sheesh.)
John Suthers
Abundance of top-tier school districts (compared with Denver)
Mike Merrifield
Richard Skorman (let's just throw him in as an added bonus, you know for extra credit)
Richard Celeste (he's still around doing good if iirc)


The list of reasonable and decent people living in COS and trying to do good is long. To label us all with a "Doug Bruce" brush is worse than unfair. How exactly are we supposed to rid ourselves of the miscreant so long as its a "free" country and he's in between jail terms? Not our fault he left Southern Cal and moved here to cause trouble back whenever.

[shanen]

Originally Posted by lovecrowds

Many people in Colorado Springs are very stressed out. I think the older residents in this city are friendlier then the younger residents.

Colorado Springs has one of the highest household debt to income ratio's in the nation.

I think there is a pretty big gap income-wise between younger and older Colorado Springs residents compared to Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins.

Lots of younger Colorado Springs families live in very crappy living conditions and have baby after baby. It seems like younger Colorado Springs residents in their 20s and 30s have lower then typical income's and are trying to raise huge families on it with relatively high housing rents on 3 or 4 bedrooms.

I see far more women pushing dirty strollers with multiple kids in tow in Colorado Springs then Denver.

With the real estate gold rush in Denver the only poor women pushing strollers are either lucky enough to have section 8 paying most of the rent or they are living with relatives in small homes in Southwest Denver or Park Hill that could be sold for $300,000-$400,000.

I find older Colorado Springs residents friendlier and the older demographic neighborhoods are very nice in Colorado Springs with people in their yard's making them look perfect.

It seems like most social events in Colorado Springs are skewed towards retirees. Younger Colorado Springs residents usually have large families and are too overwhelmed.

I have been to a few events in Colorado Springs in the past and it is mainly retirees who attend.

I actually don't find the infrastructure in Colorado Springs that bad. The potholes in side-streets are huge but the major roads are in very good shape compared to most cities.

I agree about the transportation. Colorado Springs has buses with infrequent service but the coverage is decent. The sidewalks are terrible.

Colorado Springs does have a terrible economy for a metro of 697,000 people. It had a much better economy when it was half it's size.

Colorado Springs had a much better economy in the 1980s and 1990s.

1980s were good for the city because of the influx of tech firms and the military spending under Reagan.
1990s were also excellent years for the Colorado Springs economy, seemed like new companies were moving in every day

After 2000, this city really seemed to economically fall-apart. There has been a stunning loss of information and manufacturing jobs.

The have gained jobs in Colorado Springs since the recession but it is either very low quality, cyclical jobs or jobs reliant on government spending.

Can you hurry up and move away from our horrible city and its dirty strollers? You clearly are a very unhappy person here.

[DoodlemomCoS]

Where did you find debt to income ratio for CoS?