Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Colorado
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-16-2017, 10:12 AM
 
385 posts, read 322,257 times
Reputation: 1578

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt View Post
There is a group in Boulder trying to get rid of straws. Frankly, they seem a little more hygienic than drinking straight out of the glass.
Boulder environmentalists set their sights on disposable plastic straws - Boulder Daily Camera
Like Pikabike said, I don't think I would "outlaw" straws.

Have you spent much time picking up trash, e.g., in common areas or in a city park? I did this consistently for about six months (in a park near my house in Plano), and plastic straws were fairly common as an item of trash, along with plastic and styrofoam cups. The latter ought to be outright banned -- styrofoam breaks "up" into pieces after it breaks "down," and offers no benefit over plastic cups (enough of a trash problem already).

If you are worried about hygiene, best solution for both trash and hygiene is to "bring your own cup" and fill it up at the convenience store. And you can bring your own straw as well (reusable, that you could rinse out and wash at home)!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-16-2017, 10:18 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,475,124 times
Reputation: 35920
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikabike View Post
LOL, that is exactly the street that I noticed, in a bad way, the first time I ever went to Boulder. It is not ugly as in blighted crime zone, but it is just so...generically suburban/shopaganza sprawly. Pretty much every fair-sized city has such a shopaganza strip. They are what replaced the old-school downtowns as basic shopping centers. Now the downtowns tend more towards cutesie tourist and niche markets, unless they are down in the dumps economically.

There is much more parking space available in the outlying areas than downtown.
That describes Boulder perfectly. I love Pearl St. Mall, but you can't buy clothes to wear to work, household items, etc. You can get some good meals, and some great books at the Boulder Book Store.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2017, 10:19 AM
 
Location: USA
1,546 posts, read 2,950,374 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikabike View Post
LOL, that is exactly the street that I noticed, in a bad way, the first time I ever went to Boulder. It is not ugly as in blighted crime zone, but it is just so...generically suburban/shopaganza sprawly. Pretty much every fair-sized city has such a shopaganza strip. They are what replaced the old-school downtowns as basic shopping centers. Now the downtowns tend more towards cutesie tourist and niche markets, unless they are down in the dumps economically.

There is much more parking space available in the outlying areas than downtown.
Well of course. Ample parking and sprawl are correlated. Nobody has said that Boulder has no sprawl, but it compares favorably to most Colorado cities (28th and 30th streets not-withstanding). Consider:

City - Pop. - Area (sq. miles) - Density (pop. per sq. mile)
Boulder - 108,090 - 25.88 - 4181
Ft. Collins - 164,207 - 57.05 - 2878
Co. Springs - 465,101 - 195 - 2385
Denver - 682,545 - 155 - 4403
Denver Metro - 2,814,330 - 4532 - 620(!)

I live in Ft. Collins and used to live in Boulder and you can see why I never complained about 28th street again after I moved.

Last edited by xeric; 08-16-2017 at 10:30 AM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-16-2017, 10:48 AM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,475,124 times
Reputation: 35920
I think the low density number for the metro area comes from the rural/mountain parts of Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson counties being included in the stat. In the Boulder/Greeley metro you have rural/mountain parts of Boulder County (including part of RMNP) and Weld County.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2017, 07:34 PM
 
Location: Blah
4,153 posts, read 9,247,538 times
Reputation: 3092
I agree with people on Boulder being on the higher end of the green scale. We used passed a law requiring every business to have multiple trash bins for various recyclables and trash. Our garbage service trucks have a separate section just for recyclables. These things really help people recycle. Sadly enough though, Colorado was really low on the list of green states. We're hoping to improve this soon. The local power company is also shutting down it's coal plant as well and part of the county is working to build large solar stations. It's a slow process but people are working on it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2017, 08:07 PM
 
Location: Breckenridge, Colorado
59 posts, read 59,794 times
Reputation: 78
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikabike View Post
Boulder doesn't have sprawl or ugliness?
Not like other areas and especially not like the Northeast. Boulder has some sprawl but it's contained. There's lots of places to walk and bike. The creek runs right through the city and the houses don't look cookie cutter. It's got character. It's why it's so expensive to live there. They don't allow unlimited and new development. You can only rebuild and refurbish what's already there. You don't get that sprawl that surrounds other cities and it's rather green until you hit the actual city. As a result, it's pretty nice. My daughter just moved there.

Quote:
Originally Posted by pikabike View Post
LOL, that is exactly the street that I noticed, in a bad way, the first time I ever went to Boulder. It is not ugly as in blighted crime zone, but it is just so...generically suburban/shopaganza sprawly. Pretty much every fair-sized city has such a shopaganza strip. They are what replaced the old-school downtowns as basic shopping centers. Now the downtowns tend more towards cutesie tourist and niche markets, unless they are down in the dumps economically.

There is much more parking space available in the outlying areas than downtown.
Boulder isn't perfect but well, go to Fort Collins, Denver, Pueblo and Colorado Springs. And that's why Boulder is expensive. You gotta pay to play. I don't live there myself. I just visit.

Last edited by Freak On a Leash; 08-21-2017 at 08:20 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-21-2017, 08:18 PM
 
Location: Breckenridge, Colorado
59 posts, read 59,794 times
Reputation: 78
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt View Post
That describes Boulder perfectly. I love Pearl St. Mall, but you can't buy clothes to wear to work, household items, etc. You can get some good meals, and some great books at the Boulder Book Store.
Many towns are like this. I lived in a town like this in NJ. The town center had restaurants, bars, clothing stores, book stores, etc.... To go shopping I had to drive to another town with a divided highway, strip malls, etc. Same here in Breckenridge. I drive or take the bus to Frisco or Silverthorne to go shopping for actual STUFF. I never drive into Breck. We have a bus or I bike in. That's how it is in Boulder. When I go to visit my daughter I always bring my bike. I park the car and leave it until I leave. She live on 19th street and we always bicycle in and around.

Personally, I like it. I guess I'm just used to it. I just think Boulder is a great town. I also liked Buena Vista which is basically the same situation. Most places I've been to like this now.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-22-2017, 11:21 AM
 
Location: Victory Mansions, Airstrip One
6,691 posts, read 4,989,427 times
Reputation: 9077
Quote:
Originally Posted by Freak On a Leash View Post
Not like other areas and especially not like the Northeast. Boulder has some sprawl but it's contained. There's lots of places to walk and bike. The creek runs right through the city and the houses don't look cookie cutter. It's got character. It's why it's so expensive to live there. They don't allow unlimited and new development. You can only rebuild and refurbish what's already there. You don't get that sprawl that surrounds other cities and it's rather green until you hit the actual city. As a result, it's pretty nice.

It's certainly a nice place. What they've done, however, is export their sprawl to neighboring cities. It would be more "green" to allow some additional housing development and not have so many people commuting to Boulder for work. All IMO of course!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-22-2017, 12:12 PM
 
9,868 posts, read 7,648,489 times
Reputation: 22123
Quote:
Originally Posted by hikernut View Post
It's certainly a nice place. What they've done, however, is export their sprawl to neighboring cities. It would be more "green" to allow some additional housing development and not have so many people commuting to Boulder for work. All IMO of course!
Exactly. The sprawl is not contained in Boulder but a good part of it happened because of Boulder policies.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-22-2017, 04:07 PM
 
Location: USA
1,546 posts, read 2,950,374 times
Reputation: 2158
Except that Boulder can't control what Lafayette, Louisville, Superior, or any other nearby cities decide to do about growth. Any of those places could decide that they want unfettered growth or they could decide to be even more restrictive than Boulder. Without some sort of regional cooperation it would be a zero-sum game for any one city to base it's own policies on what its leaders/planners think or hope the neighboring cities are going to do. And I don't see the metro Denver cities and counties agreeing on (or the state mandating) a single, all-encompassing, comprehensive, and legally-binding growth management policy (at least in the near future).

Last edited by xeric; 08-22-2017 at 04:35 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Colorado
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:28 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top