Anyone Else Bothered by the Air Quality and Smog in Denver? (crime, house)

[Apple Tree]

Denver's dirty little secret is that we have smog. As much as we like the image of this cosmopolitan city backed by the mountains, the fact is there is a smog line in Denver more often than not. We are one of the only cities whose smog and ozone issues are getting worse, while most US cities are getting better. That, coupled with the oil and gas drilling/flaring on the Front Range, and I think it gets worse before it gets better.

Denver was recently ranked as the 5th worst out of 578 cities for man-made environmental hazards. So much for clean mountain air..... I guess we aren't in the mountains. You all knew that.

Anyone else really bothered by this? I'm surprised it is always swept under the rug. Do you think it can possibly be better in 10 years, with the drilling and the influx of people/cars?

Bad air puts Denver near top of list for exposure to man-made risks - The Denver Post

[mic111]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by saying it is swept under the rug. If you live here you know about it as you can see it and you get the pollution/ozone alerts and no wood burning on the TV. When posters who are moving here tout the clean air as one of the reasons their moving, posters such as myself tell them about the air.

Yes I'm sure people are bothered by it. Some in reality as it bothers their lungs (such as myself) and some just in concept. I have three hepa air cleaners in my house that I position by the doors whenever we have forest fire smoke to insure good indoor air quality.

Fact is Denver is popular because we have jobs. If we had no jobs people wouldn't be moving here.

No one can help peoples illusions. Many posters think it is super cheap to live here. Many posters think they are moving to a lush green area filled a dense tree canopy, green grass and plenty of plants with constantly sunny days and no humidity (how they think this will happen with all the sun and little rain is beyond me). Many posters think they will be spending alot of time on the beach in Denver because of all of our natural lakes (they often miss the part about our semi arid climate which is not conducive to natural lakes). Many posters think they will find neighborhoods just like they used to live in when they move here from Chicago/New York/Vermont/San Diego etc. that keep everything they loved about the area but none of the negatives and cost less to live in.

Fact is on balance we have a great quality of life for a reasonable cost. Our crime is low. The area is educated. People are live and let live. We have great city amenities with a healthy outdoor oriented population. The weather in general is conducive to getting outside every day. The air when you get out there isn't always great. Every place has their tradeoffs. Ours includes the brown cloud, brown landscape, thin air from the altitude, super intense sun and dry air. In return we get almost no bugs, mild but highly variable winters and ability to be outside almost every day.

[denverian]

It's not at the top of my worry list. I lived here in the mid 90s when the smog was much worse. I lived in Riverside, CA in the early 90s when the air was brown and stunk for 8 months out of the year. I lived in Orange County for a decade and the air has become noticeably better there... and throughout the L.A. basin. I'm looking out at the mountains right now and it's quite clear. Overall, the air seems reasonable here.

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by Apple Tree

Denver's dirty little secret is that we have smog. As much as we like the image of this cosmopolitan city backed by the mountains, the fact is there is a smog line in Denver more often than not. We are one of the only cities whose smog and ozone issues are getting worse, while most US cities are getting better. That, coupled with the oil and gas drilling/flaring on the Front Range, and I think it gets worse before it gets better.

Denver was recently ranked as the 5th worst out of 578 cities for man-made environmental hazards. So much for clean mountain air..... I guess we aren't in the mountains. You all knew that.

Anyone else really bothered by this? I'm surprised it is always swept under the rug. Do you think it can possibly be better in 10 years, with the drilling and the influx of people/cars?

Bad air puts Denver near top of list for exposure to man-made risks - The Denver Post

You should work for the Chamber of Commerce [/sarcasm].

[SkyDog77]

Considering that you don't live in Colorado (OP stated that they live in Minn. and once looked in to moving to Denver), I'm curious about this "we" talk and also why this bothers you so much?

Does the Minneapolis forum get a lot of troll posts from Denverites who seemingly have an inferiority complex about their city, because we sure seem to get quite a few of those in the Denver forum from people who live in Minneapolis? You're not the first, but you are the first to tell us in one thread that you picked MN over Denver, then present yourself like a Denver local in subsequent threads

[cowboyxjon]

I'm not bothered by it at all.

I'm not one of those 'Denver is the be-all, end-all of cities' type of people, but the smog isn't on my list of concerns.

[TechMike]

I've lived in the Denver area my entire life (30 years) and have never been bothered by it. I would say, I have noticed it getting better over the years.

[step33]

It's hardly a secret and has been a well publicized issues for as long as I can remember - even before I moved here.

Heck, just head over to Green Mountain on Alameda and look to the east. Many days you can see the various colors of the atmosphere, including the "brown cloud" that settles over the city. It's particularly bad a couple days after a snow storm. The snow is gone, but all the rock they put on the roads is still there, getting churned up in to dust to join the rest of the nastiness.

Yep, it's there. Doesn't particularly bother me - probably because the lack of humidity makes the air "feel" thinner/cleaner even that isn't factually accurate.

[Apple Tree]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

you tell us in one thread that you picked MN over Denver, then present yourself like a Denver local in subsequent threads

I went to school in Denver. I lived here for several years, own a property, and have much family here (I am here right now). I considered moving back, but chose a different path that I am happy with. I am still in Denver about 55 days a year. I guess with my ties I feel I have the right to say "we" but if it makes you feel better I will adjust my pronoun selection.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by Apple Tree

I went to school in Denver. I lived here for several years, own a property, and have much family here (I am here right now). I considered moving back, but chose a different path that I am happy with. I am still in Denver about 55 days a year. I guess with my ties I feel I have the right to say "we" but if it makes you feel better I will adjust my pronoun selection.

Regardless, you really seem to just want to troll the Denver section. Whatever makes you feel better about not living here full time.