What Does The Rest Of Colorado Think Of Denver? (Colorado Springs: camps, quality of life)

[Snikt]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

I loathe what Denver and the Front Range has become. It is a poster child of how to take a formerly beautiful and livable place and degrade it almost beyond recognition for those of us who knew it "back when." A lot of people in the metro areas have a real arrogance about the Front Range and how it really doesn't need the rural areas of Colorado or the greater Rocky Mountain West for its survival. They think that the Front Range is a free-standing economic island that is no longer dependent on the "hinterlands" around it for survival. Bluntly, that's crap. The Front Range is an economic center of the region still in large part BECAUSE of what goes on in the greater region. Resource extraction, agriculture, non-metro tourism still provide--either directly or indirectly--much of the economic activity that supports the metro areas.

As for living there, I have in the past. I've had to work there some even when I did not live there--that's the economic reality for a lot of people in rural Colorado. I've also had numerous job offers and opportunities to relocate there at far higher salaries and with less work than I have had to do to earn a living in rural Colorado. Well, money isn't everything--I've turned down those opportunities. If I had to live in a metro area to make a living--it would not be in Colorado. There are nicer places with a better overall quality of life at lower costs elsewhere. As much as I love many facets of the Colorado climate and the mountains, they aren't everything. There are other things that are also important and, at some point, those may override my vision of the "quality of life" in Colorado--especially when so many people are pouring into this state seemingly hell-bent on destroying what remains of the state's endearing qualities and growing the things that I hate about it at cancerous rates.

What are some of these other major metro areas with much better quality of life?

[griff09m]

I grew up in the Denver metro area, and I thought it was a great place to live. I still love to visit. I think that most of the stuf Jazzlover complains about in Denver is happening in every large urban area in the country. As far as arrogance, though, I'm not sure I see much of that. It's more like total forgetfulness.

Growing up in Golden, we just didn't think of places like Grand Junction or Sterling or Craig or Trinidad. Those were places you might drive through on your way out of state, but otherwise they just didn't figure into our thinking.

Now I'm in Grand Junction. I haven't gotten a strong sense of dislike towards Denver. Of course, Jazzlover would say that GJ is turning into a mini-Denver, so our opinion probably doesn't count. So many people here have family in Denver or other connections that it's hard to get very negative. Usually people will say which mall they like to visit and how much they dislike the traffic. And that goes for the Western Slope natives, not just the Front Range transplants like me.

[flcstud]

I grew up in east Aurora, farther away from the Denver border. I also lived in Durango and Fort Collins at different points in my life. I have a mixed opinion of Denver.

I think that Denver is too much of a transplant city. There are too many people from big cities in the midwest and east coast who are bringing the vibes of those cities with them. I remember attending a party in Denver last year where every single guest was from another state. I think the dilution of true locals is one reason that Denver seems to lack a culture of its own. Rather, it seems that all of these transplants are morphing Denver into the places they were trying to escape.

Currently, I'm trying to save up and get away from the metro-Denver area. I grew up during a period where there was mass migration from California and Texas, and even I think that Denver is getting too crowded. Having lived in a couple of different places, I deftly don't think that Denver is the best that Colorado has to offer as far as quality of life goes.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by flcstud

I grew up in east Aurora, farther away from the Denver border. I also lived in Durango and Fort Collins at different points in my life. I have a mixed opinion of Denver.

I think that Denver is too much of a transplant city. There are too many people from big cities in the midwest and east coast who are bringing the vibes of those cities with them. I remember attending a party in Denver last year where every single guest was from another state. I think the dilution of true locals is one reason that Denver seems to lack a culture of its own. Rather, it seems that all of these transplants are morphing Denver into the places they were trying to escape.

Currently, I'm trying to save up and get away from the metro-Denver area. I grew up during a period where there was mass migration from California and Texas, and even I think that Denver is getting too crowded. Having lived in a couple of different places, I deftly don't think that Denver is the best that Colorado has to offer as far as quality of life goes.

It's different from when I was a kid in the late 1970's, 80's and early 90's. Denver has grown so much with many people from elsewhere. It used to have it's own identity but the number of transplants has changed that.

I feel the same way, Denver has gotten too big for me.

[new2colo]

I see this thread is dissolving into an us vs. them (native vs. transplant). I am a native Nevadan and my family has lived in the Las Vegas area since 1915. Las Vegas, much like Denver, has changed dramatically since I was a child. I find it interesting how many Colorado natives and longtimers seem to long for the good 'ol days, which I gather ended around 1990 or so. I would imagine that Denver was still considered the "big city" to people outside of the metro area even 40 or 50 years ago. I guess I'm having trouble understanding the general animosity and distaste concerning newcomers as if the dynamics of the state are beyond repair. It still seems like a nice place to live to me with plenty of open, uninhabited space if someone needs to get away.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by new2colo

.... It still seems like a nice place to live to me with plenty of open, uninhabited space if someone needs to get away.

It is.

[jazzlover]

The "newbies" don't understand three basic things:

1. They don't understand the sorrow long-time residents of Colorado feel for what has already been lost. How could they understand? They never saw the way it used to be.

2. They don't understand how quickly growth smashed so much of what was great about Colorado, and how at risk what is left of Colorado's natural beauty and historic heritage really is from continued basically exponential growth, particularly in the 1970-2010 time period.

3. They also don't understand that resource depletion and environmental destruction increases at a rate even faster than the population, especially in the area of water resources, destruction of streamcourses and riparian areas, and destruction of things like critical wildlife habitat.

Exponential equals:

It took from 1860 to 1940 for the state to reach 1 million people.

It 30 years to double to over 2 million (1970).

In 30 year it doubled again to over 4 million (2000).

It's now over 5 million. It would probably be even more, but Colorado's economic engine is starting to fail (thanks to the real estate bubble and the state's escalating fiscal crisis) as the state becomes more hostile to productive commerce and employment.

[randomparent]

The changes to Colorado aren't unique. The same could be said of old-timers living most anywhere in the U.S. What you're describing sounds very much like a re-hash of standard generational tension.

[McGowdog]

Well the SGT of Wyoming is minimal.

[Prodigal Native]

Originally Posted by randomparent

The changes to Colorado aren't unique. The same could be said of old-timers living most anywhere in the U.S. What you're describing sounds very much like a re-hash of standard generational tension.

Add in the increased population (so the rate of growth and change are ever increasing) as well as the Internet (so we can all talk to each other and do it in real time) and you have the basis for most of the complaints regarding things aren't the way they used to be.

They may be happening faster and we may hear about more, but the complaints are the same.