What is the absolutely best/worst place in CO? (Denver: motel, income)

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by harrylime5

I like the Front Range for the most part. Fort Collins is great. It's a nice sized city/town (but not too big) close to the mountains/outdoors and Denver with it's big-city attactions.
Colorado Springs is in a great location, but it is a little scary due to the ultra-conservatism.
There are some great towns in the mountains, but I would rather just visit them instead of live in them.

Colorado springs has alot of child sex offenders too. Who da guessed. I do love the layout of the town and its beautiful mountains. Love the zoo there too.

I chose Loveland. I don't hear much abou it on these forums. It just had some great shopping centers built, houses are affordable, and it has some pretty lakes in town (although no one can use them if you don't have a house on one). Its also one of the gateways to the Rocky Mountains.
I new, and I want to know where one goes to rent a ski boat for some fun in the water. Any lakes good for this in the area?

[bigtallredhead]

Originally Posted by Rawlings

Ha! Hilarious! Yes!

I love it, Jazzlover. You are 100% completely right. Boulder is Colorado's black eye--it's filled with Massachusetts and Chicago hippies who would be spewed out of the rest of Colorado should they ever choose to leave Boulder city limits. You'll be lucky to find any real coloradan there.

My favorite part of the state--besides where I live--is the Eastern Plains down by Bent's Fort near La Junta and Lamar. The folks down there represent the down-home, resilient, patriotic spirit that Colorado embodies. They may not have fancy doctorates and drink the poshest wine--but they're hard-working, God-fearing Americans and they are what it means to be a Coloradan.

I went to school in Boulder and I could frankly care less about Boulder' "honors." I don't see what's so great about Boulder and the spandex-clad tofu-slurpers therein. In Colorado we care about our country, our families, our jobs, our faith, etc. In Boulder they care about lattes and trees. You tell me me which is the better place to live.

True hippies are NOT the same as yuppies or "urban hipsters". Most true hippies were actualy working class, now most that remain are growing old. -True hippies are now a dying breed. My mom was a hippie. I do not at all condone all the drug use and reckless sexuality of that Ara, however. But I like the relative egalitarian and self suficiant spirit, and lack of materialism and adventuristic spirit of the true hippies. I think vegetarianism, and organic agriculture is great, too. At this point, my mom agrees with me.

I hate how the yuppies have more and more taken over places like the S.F. bay area (where I live), and it seems so many once affordable and liberal communities. I think it is becuase of the decline of true leftism in the U.S., replaced by neoliberalism (called liberalism but not the same thing at really!):

However, there are still many young people today with similar attitudes and social characteristics. Free spirited, adventurist, political leftist or libertarian, idealist, -and yet NOT pretentious, snobby, or elitist, nor overly materialistic. But yes, the number of such people is in a long term decline...

-Emil.

[bigtallredhead]

Originally Posted by Ted62

As a very general economic principle, the "best" places to live in Coloarado are those with the highest prices for housing, and the "worst" places to live are those with the lowest prices for housing.

These housing prices are established by the supply of residential land in every community, and by the demand for residential land by various groups of people with differing preferences.

If you happen to be someone whose preference is to live in isolation on the plains of Eastern Colorado or the high plains of Western Colorado, with great views of sagebrush and "big skies" but little water, employment opportunities, or anything else, then you will be able to find very cheap real estate, because the supply is high and the demand is low.

The same is true is you are willing to live in communities that are home to "dirty" (but essential) industries such as livestock processing, mining, and petroleum refining. (Personally, I'd classify "gaming" (gambling) as another "dirty" industry that is non-essential.)

On the other hand, if your preference is to live in a place that has gorgeous mountain views unobstructed by other people's houses or commercial/industrial development, and also has amenities such as restaurants, shops, art galleries, live theaters, pedestrian/bicycle trails, trout streams and ski slopes, then there will be a limited supply and a high demand that will make real estate EXTREMELY expensive. Think Aspen and Vail.

Both Aspen and Vail are at the heads of valleys in the watershed of the Colorado River that meet at Glenwood Springs. Real estate prices are highest at Aspen and Vail (where they are determined by the national market for luxury second homes) and taper off towards Glenwood Springs and west of there in communities such as Silt, Rifle, and Battlement Mesa.

I am wealthy but not super-rich, am mostly-retired, and have my only home in one of these "down valley" communities. For me, it's the best place on earth. But the unfortunate reality is that there isn't enough room here for everyone in the U.S. and on earth who wouold like to live here, and for better or worse, the things that prevent them all from moving here are the high real estate prices and the very limited number of jobs that pay enough to enable "working people" (as opposed to wealty retirees) to live here.

But before you younger people criticize this situation too much -- bear in mind that growing older is traumatic, but gaining the wealth required to live in a really beautiful place is some compensation.

It's not just the relative demand vs supply, but also the average incomes of those demanding to live somewhere. The wealthy vs. working class often actualy have diferant desires about where to live/value diferant things, -not only have diferant ability to do so (that too though). There are many places that are beautiful where one can do fine if one dose not value affluence, -but there is relitively fewer people like that, so those places tend to be less expensive. And even with the same supply vs. demand overall, -average incomes of those wanting to live somewhere dose make a large difference. -Emil.

[onthamove]

best place for me is evergreen i can do college and work in denver and at night return to the mtns!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Katiana]

Originally Posted by bigtallredhead

True hippies are NOT the same as yuppies or "urban hipsters". Most true hippies were actualy working class, now most that remain are growing old. -True hippies are now a dying breed. My mom was a hippie. I do not at all condone all the drug use and reckless sexuality of that Ara, however. But I like the relative egalitarian and self suficiant spirit, and lack of materialism and adventuristic spirit of the true hippies. I think vegetarianism, and organic agriculture is great, too. At this point, my mom agrees with me.

I hate how the yuppies have more and more taken over places like the S.F. bay area (where I live), and it seems so many once affordable and liberal communities. I think it is becuase of the decline of true leftism in the U.S., replaced by neoliberalism (called liberalism but not the same thing at really!):

However, there are still many young people today with similar attitudes and social characteristics. Free spirited, adventurist, political leftist or libertarian, idealist, -and yet NOT pretentious, snobby, or elitist, nor overly materialistic. But yes, the number of such people is in a long term decline...

-Emil.

Rawlings was kicked off the forum. I would not put too much credence in his posts. He blames people from Massachusetts, someone else blames people from New York for Boulder's problems. I did an analysis from City-Data data (no pun intended) upthread and found that the largest percentagae of Boulderites were born in Colorado, followed by those from the midwest.

[gionje]

Hi. I've made it another step on the way to getting the job I've applied for...the process has taken me just over halfway there in over a month's time! This means moving from CT to the Denver area is more of a possibility for me. I'm still looking in the Arvada/Golden/Lakewood areas due to the shortest commute without living in the mountains per se. Job would be in Blackhawk. I can't seem to get much farther than narrowing it to those areas. Compared to where I live here, those cities are so much larger, and I don't know where to start. I want a nice apartment for myself, a single woman in her early thirties. Somewhere I can enjoy being outside, take in the views, be close to nature...yet also close enough for a ride into Denver becuse I'm interested in everything from museums, theater, sports, etc...and everything else it has to offer that I may not have heard about. A safe place for myself. Maybe the 650-800 range for rents? Any suggestions either in those cities or elsewhere is greatly appreciated. Also any infor on things to do in the area would be great as well.

Thanks so much!

[Market Mama]

Originally Posted by pittnurse70

Rawlings was kicked off the forum. I would not put too much credence in his posts. He blames people from Massachusetts, someone else blames people from New York for Boulder's problems. I did an analysis from City-Data data (no pun intended) upthread and found that the largest percentagae of Boulderites were born in Colorado, followed by those from the midwest.

Your analysis fits with the perception I get from the Boulder people I work and socialize with -- most are from Colorado or the Midwest. I work at a mid-size (200+ employees) Boulder company and last week at a company-wide meeting they introduced all the new people (all in low- to middle-income jobs). Your analysis held for the most part, but in light of the on-going postings claiming that “Boulder is a terrible place because it's scary liberal”, I was tickled to see that almost all the new-to-Colo folks (ranging from late 20's to mid 50's in age) were from the Southeast, a bastion of conservatism. And to a person they said they moved here because they'd heard such good things about Boulder, and were pleased with how friendly everyone is.

[elemental]

Karma is not something you see, it's somehow the sum of events that transpired throughout a life time or in a given place. The view from downtown leadville is breathtaking, so it has nothing to do with what I saw. It was a gut feeling. I'm sure you've walked into someplace and immediately feel that sinking feeling that you shouldn't be there for whatever reason- one you may never know - well this was that place for me at that moment. I have been back many times, but that one time, it felt dark and sad. My feeling was that many bad things happened where I was at that moment.

Originally Posted by Market Mama

I love Ward and Leadville, in part because they are so obviously *not* suburbia! They are both true mountain towns with character (and characters) and some very nice people live in both places. Maybe you mistook the fact that some people live in trailers for "bad karma", but I assure you, you are mistaken.

[elemental]

Why are so many beggars tolerated at stop lights in Boulder? There was this guy a few days back with a sign that said "Having trouble with the rent". It was mid-day, I was working and wondered if he were at work, would he have trouble with the rent?? I do not like being approached at the light by people asking me for money while the kids are in the car. Why is this behavior acceptable in Boulder?

[elemental]

Can someone throw out a realistic definition of yuppie and elaborate on whether a distant cousin of the yuppie is a super-educated eco-snob that shuns all that mainstream America adores just because the mainstream does....

Lastly, where do you fit in?