Thinking about moving away from Colorado? Get in line and fill this out….. (Denver: relocation)

[Mikieo415]

I can't help but believe that a hidden agenda exists with this thread. This appears to be a vain attempt to steer people away from moving to Colorado. I understand that there are some growing pains with sprawl and water and traffic, but hey, come on. This is AMERICA the land of ingenuity. We in Colorado will get through these "tough" times. (Tough being a relative term) People want to move here. This is a beautiful area with a great economy and awesome amenities. That should make every native Coloradan proud to be in a state that is going places, not greedy and trying to scare people away. I am passionate about this because I transplanted myself here for all the good reasons. And I am not sorry for my contributions to the inevitable "water shortage" or "land beauty destruction" by new house construction. I am here to stay and there are more behind me.

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by hello-world

do you think it's possible that the same politics that wish the government out of their lives might have something to do, as well, with the impressive growth around denver (that, some say, is at least partly due to the "hands off" when it comes to development interests)? i also read that social services and education suffer a bit in colorado due in part to TABOR (surplus tax revenue back to the tax payers rather than tilled into some of these things).

most of the impressive growth was originally fueled by the lower taxes that were placed in effect by Tabor, the low cost of living, the beauty of Colorado, and the fact that Colorado had a huge supply of educated potential employees. This state was decidedly pro business/ growth for much of the 80s and 90s after the oil busts about destroyed the state.

As for trying to blame the sprawl on handoff people, I would say you have that more then a little wrong, most of it was spured by the city father's greed in wanting to grow their cities and the booming tech industries and overall job market that was seen in Colorado in the late 90s-early 2000s.

While social services and schools may have had problems, I think it is hard to point at tabor as the reason. Tabor allows for growth, inflation, and a little over that amount year over year, with the ability to get additional taxes raised with voter approval. Instead of spending the money on education and social services the state has decided to use the money elsewhere. nobody but the politicians fault.

Also I would love for someone to find me one study done by anybody outside of teachers unions that show the amount of money spent by each state has an affect on the education of children. I have read studies that show many of the worst schools in the nation are the best funded, which goes to show once again that throwing money at a problem is not going to solve that problem.

[Chris19]

Colorado has its features that impress me: natural beautry, progressiveness, and climate. I thought about heading there after high school for college or after college, but decided against it due to it being more expensive to live there compared to the Upper Midwest. To me, it is a nice place to visit but would not care to live there.

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by Mikieo415

I can't help but believe that a hidden agenda exists with this thread. This appears to be a vain attempt to steer people away from moving to Colorado. I understand that there are some growing pains with sprawl and water and traffic, but hey, come on. This is AMERICA the land of ingenuity. We in Colorado will get through these "tough" times. (Tough being a relative term) People want to move here. This is a beautiful area with a great economy and awesome amenities. That should make every native Coloradan proud to be in a state that is going places, not greedy and trying to scare people away. I am passionate about this because I transplanted myself here for all the good reasons. And I am not sorry for my contributions to the inevitable "water shortage" or "land beauty destruction" by new house construction. I am here to stay and there are more behind me.

IO personally have no hidden agenda, and in fact people moving here would help my family many of whom are in landscaping and real estate. However I came on this board as a fluke while doing research on areas I am considering moving into, and decided to give an honest answer on why I am leaving. Now if people want to know, I can give them plenty of reasons why this state is great, but acting like there are not plenty of problems here, is foolish and people have a right to make an informed decision.

[livecontent]

Originally Posted by Mikieo415

I can't help but believe that a hidden agenda exists with this thread. This appears to be a vain attempt to steer people away from moving to Colorado. I understand that there are some growing pains with sprawl and water and traffic, but hey, come on. This is AMERICA the land of ingenuity. We in Colorado will get through these "tough" times. (Tough being a relative term) People want to move here. This is a beautiful area with a great economy and awesome amenities. That should make every native Coloradan proud to be in a state that is going places, not greedy and trying to scare people away. I am passionate about this because I transplanted myself here for all the good reasons. And I am not sorry for my contributions to the inevitable "water shortage" or "land beauty destruction" by new house construction. I am here to stay and there are more behind me.

I agree that it is a vain attempt to keep people away from their backyard which they claim is their sovereign "rights" of nativity. I am getting very tired of this pedantic lecturing that permeates many of the JazzLover's posts.

Livecontent

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by jwiley

most of the impressive growth was originally fueled by the lower taxes that were placed in effect by Tabor, the low cost of living, the beauty of Colorado, and the fact that Colorado had a huge supply of educated potential employees. This state was decidedly pro business/ growth for much of the 80s and 90s after the oil busts about destroyed the state.

As for trying to blame the sprawl on handoff people, I would say you have that more then a little wrong, most of it was spured by the city father's greed in wanting to grow their cities and the booming tech industries and overall job market that was seen in Colorado in the late 90s-early 2000s.

While social services and schools may have had problems, I think it is hard to point at tabor as the reason. Tabor allows for growth, inflation, and a little over that amount year over year, with the ability to get additional taxes raised with voter approval. Instead of spending the money on education and social services the state has decided to use the money elsewhere. nobody but the politicians fault.

Also I would love for someone to find me one study done by anybody outside of teachers unions that show the amount of money spent by each state has an affect on the education of children. I have read studies that show many of the worst schools in the nation are the best funded, which goes to show once again that throwing money at a problem is not going to solve that problem.

"impressive" can be good and bad.

handoff people? i think you're making a similar point concerning sprawl. pro-business can be good and bad.

here are some links i've come across on this forum concerning some of the rest. i agree that education and social wellbeing can have more to do with priorities and execution, while spending can be a part of that (or reflection of it):

Conservative vs Liberal States (this one's a little mean spirited - sorry; i don't like it, other than it has some interesting rankings, for whatever they're worth, to ponder)
Public Services and TABOR In Colorado, 1/13/05
http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/colorado-final.pdf

i don't necessarily agree with all of these links, but, food for thought anyhow.

btw - believe it or not, my politics are probably pretty middle of the road. i tend to try to take all perspectives into account, so, don't get me wrong on this stuff (no, i'm not a flaming socialist - it has some to offer, as free markets have some to offer...middle of the road; or maybe bird's eye on this stuff...just seems worth while to look at and think about the possibilities).

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Chris19

...it being more expensive to live there compared to the Upper Midwest.

There's a reason why the upper midwest is cheap.

[cathy J.]

Originally Posted by jwiley

TELL IT LIKE IT IS


Recently in the newspaper in the Fort Collins paper stated that there are currently over 50,000 people registered with the Larimer County workforce center as actively looking for a new job (whether currently employed or unemployed was not state), the problem is that the workforce center finds approximately 300 new jobs come available per month with the average wage around $8.75 an hour.

I have a friend who works for a car dealer in the Greeley area, recently they placed a one day add for salespeople and had over 700 applicants for a commission only job selling cars, with some applicants from as far away as Denver just needing a job.

The fact the Fort Collins paper didn't state those whose were registered with
the local workforce center were actually employed or not is an error on their part. It would be interesting to see exactly how many of those who signed up are totally unemployed.

My sister works for a similar service in West Virginia. She was telling me not long ago that about 90% of those who registered have jobs and many of those were good paying ones. Why did they sign up in the first place? Various reasons ranging from burn out ( One man who registered work at DuPont and he was sick of working 12 hour shifts 6 days a week...the pay was good but those hours were hurting his marrriage ) to those who simply want to see what is out there.

The 700 people who applied for that one job. How many of them "really" needed that job? Don't know about Colorado, but where I work at recently we had two openings and from what I heard about 800 people applied for them. About 650 of those I was told had no desire to take that job. Mainly because they want that unemployment money which part of the process I believe to get those checks is they must apply for work...anykind of work even at retail stores that are going out of business.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by livecontent

I agree that it is a vain attempt to keep people away from their backyard which they claim is their sovereign "rights" of nativity. I am getting very tired of this pedantic lecturing that permeates many of the JazzLover's posts.

Livecontent

livecontent-

i can respect your reaction to some people's apparent sense of sovereignty and nativity. yet, whether or not you appreciate jazzlover's intent (or perceived intent), my personal view is that the nature and impact of some of the growth, fueled largely by inmigration it seems, can be a bit exceptional and worth a look.

[LoveBoating]

We were in Colorado (Parker/Englewood) for 5 1/2 years. We moved there from So Calif, but are originally from Indiana and Michigan. We were not into winter sports at all, but did like to see the snow come down and having a "white Christmas" for us was real nice. It was sort of hard driving there in the winter because so many newcomers to the area hadn't ever drove in snow before or just plainly didn't care what the weather was like and would drive fast anyway. Since I was raised on a farm in Indiana, I really liked going out to outskirts east/northeast of Denver and seeing the farms/ranches. However, 5 1/2 years later (this past August), we decided we'd had enough of shoveling and driving in snow and the "below 30 degrees" weather that often happens in the region......we moved to North Carolina. This snow/cold was really affecting my hip replacement and the shoulder surgery I had from a fall in snow/ice in 2007. Our ages, 58/59, were also a "deciding factor" in our move.
Colorado is a beautiful State, but is growing quickly as well as where we are in North Carolina. It is very hard today to find a city that is not growing fast. The cost-of-living in Denver metro area isn't as cheap as it use to be and is getting more expensive as time goes on.
There are many, many people who LOVE Colorado and love winter sports and that is great. Like stated previously, "Colorado is beautiful, but getting older and having two surgeries, that was enough to say "goodbye".