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NOT Lakeside. Maybe Edgewater, or for a more mountainy feel something like Evergreen or Conifer.
What's to walk to in Edgewater, other than that big shopping center on Sheridan and the Edgewater Inn? Evergreen and Conifer are not in general walkable.
you are going to have a hard time finding suburbs/ small towns that are liberal and walkable. golden and boulder area would qualify. also consider some of the original streetcar suburbs in denver which have a main street feel- highlands, platte park, gaylord, etc.
What's to walk to in Edgewater, other than that big shopping center on Sheridan and the Edgewater Inn? Evergreen and Conifer are not in general walkable.
Edgewater does have good transit access with close proximity to some very prominent bus lines. Walking distance to Sloans Lake and other parks.
There are a couple restaurants, a grocery store and some other shops within walking distance.
Walking distance to schools.
Sure, not the most walkable neighborhood, but certainly more walkable than say, Highlands Ranch that was mentioned earlier. They could use a movie theater in close proximity and a recreation center.
Edgewater does have good transit access with close proximity to some very prominent bus lines. Walking distance to Sloans Lake and other parks.
There are a couple restaurants, a grocery store and some other shops within walking distance.
Walking distance to schools.
Sure, not the most walkable neighborhood, but certainly more walkable than say, Highlands Ranch that was mentioned earlier. They could use a movie theater in close proximity and a recreation center.
Now I have to ask, and I'm not being snarky, have you ever been to Highlands Ranch? I had not been there for a long time until a few weeks ago, when I went to an open house there following a wedding. I was most impressed, to tell you the truth. There's at least as much as in Edgewater.
Now I have to ask, and I'm not being snarky, have you ever been to Highlands Ranch? I had not been there for a long time until a few weeks ago, when I went to an open house there following a wedding. I was most impressed, to tell you the truth. There's at least as much as in Edgewater.
An aunt of mine owns a house in Highlands Ranch. Its a couple mile walk to anything but parks. Or at least, it seemed like it. Perhaps I'm missing something.
What makes me think Highlands Ranch is less walkable is the fact the streets aren't connected. There are lots of cul-de-sacs and everything seems more sparse.
Edgewater, on the other hand, is 0.7 square miles and is essentially one grid. Everything is more compact.
It has curving streets and a few cul-de-sacs, but things seem fairly well connected, not like the cul-de-sac neighborhoods where we lived in Abany NY, where there was a cul off a busy road, then another cul a ways down the road, etc. The Tattered Cover has a branch there; we went there after the open house. We also saw the library, several churches, a King Soopers, and other commercial ventures. The houses look similar but not the same. I'm not saying I'd want to live there especially, just that it's not the H*** Hole some people make it out to be.
My house is rated as very walkable. It is not anything special about the neighborhood but it is just a common area near a main street intersection that has many basic stores, a big grocery store, a hardware store, drug store, a movie theater, auto repair garages, banks, hair salon, liquor stores, etc. It has the chain fast foods but some independents with Mexican and Asian foods. I can even walk to a old roller skating rink that is reminiscent of the 1950s. http://www.usonwheels.com/#!__page-7 Years ago I rented skates for those evocative evenings with all the strobe lights and the music. Today I stay out of the hospital and watch. There is neighborhood park and a reservoir with trails. A main bus route is there and a rail station being constructed--with that it will not be so common of a place as being able to walk to a rail station is something special.
There are many such neighborhoods in this area that offer the same walkability. You do not have to choose a specific small town but you only need to find that small town neighborhood in the metro area that serves your needs. Denver and its suburbs are a collection of neighborhoods, just find your own place and create your own small town.
I live just 1 and 1/2 miles from the Denver City Limits and today I took a drive to Berkeley Lake Park which is about 2 miles from my house. On the way, I crossed Lowell Ponds, a nature preserve and Clear Creek and its trails. If you have not seen Berkeley Lake Park recently, it has changed because they have done a big renovation with new trails around the lake. It is one of my favorite spots which I would bike over the years but I cannot do it anymore. There are old building with very large old trees and a Denver Recreation Center--it is very peaceful park.
It has one of these original small Carnegie Libraries in the Park on West 46th Smiley Branch Library | Denver Public Library I just sit and relax; absorbing the mellow aromas of the books. If you see a older man with a cane sitting with a faraway look--you will know who I am.
Sometimes I just head a little down Tennyson and walk around the varied stores in the Berkeley Neighborhood http://www.tscd.org/the-district/ This is a very fine place to live. I have seen that neighborhood evolve over the many decades that I have lived just north. It has recently been renewed with new sidewalks, lighting and trees and yuppified but there are still many remnants of the old. An interesting place that brings me back many years is an old ballroom http://wardcarterdance.qwestoffice.net/ I just have to dust off that old dance outfit (hopefully squeeze in) and my dance shoes; find a lady with an opening on her dance card...and the way we go. There is Tennyson Street Hardware that has been there for years. You like bowling, get a look at this little bowling alley http://elitchbowling.com/#
Going south on Tennyson you will come to Highland's Village Garden, the redeveloped original site of Elitch's Amusement Park http://www.highlandsgardenvillage.net/ at 38th. A Sunflower Market, located there, is my favorite place for produce and I was there yesterday.
All this is my small town. You would think I live farther out but I just live 6 miles from Union Station in Downtown Denver. You can find your own, if you would only get out of your car and look around.
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 06-21-2012 at 10:34 PM..
I have never thought of HR as being very walkable. It has a walkability score of 42 (car dependent). Check out the map on the link to find the most walkable areas.
The walkability score algorithm is as good as can be without looking at each and every address one by one and for each person but it is flawed. It assumes that what everybody wants to walk to is the same. It doesn't take into account that one person never wants to go to the bar or get coffee but someone else want those but never goes to the library or needs an elementary school. It also can't take into account what someone considers 'their' walking distance and generalizes. Its categories aren't fully refined so it marks the local gas station as a grocery store and the address of a local resident as an Art Museum so it doesn't take into account the quality of stuff. It gives a higher score to someone who lives a few blocks from a couple of things than someone who lives a little bit further (maybe 1/2) from a whole lot of things. So it needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
Denver is basically a big megalopolis. There are suburbs like Littleton, Arvada, WheatRidge, Golden, that have maintained some sort of identity, but they are really just visually extensions of a larger population area. You can't tell where one ends and the next begins. When you say "30 minutes of a metro area", do you mean a large airport, shopping malls, cultural facilities?
There have been lots of discussions here about what makes a great school, and basically the "best" school districts are considered to be Cherry Creek and Douglas County. You may consider Highlands Ranch (see other threads on this forum); not really a "town" but you will find great walkability and plenty of rec centers and family-oriented activities. Also discussed a lot are Stapleton and Bradburn. If you do a forum search, you'll find enough information to keep you reading for a while.
Which raises the question, did the OP mean safe neighborhoods and trails to walk on, and / or walkable access to services? Highlands Ranch may have the former, but is definitely lacking in the latter.
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