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Hello, I was writing a response comment to a YouTube video entitled “Ten Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Move to Denver” and it sorta got away from me. Overall I thought the video was a pretty oversimplified listicle and I thought I’d just post my response here for anyone who is considering a move to Denver or anyone who already lives in Denver-
I was born and raised in a Colorado mountain town and moved down to Denver in 2010 (arguably, right at the beginning of the “Denver Boom”) and bought a historic house, a small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom bungalow, for the high $200,000 range in the Washington Park neighborhood. That was really high priced even then, but I love the location and the close proximity to the park as I’m an avid runner and I took advantage of Obama’s “1st time home Buyers Tax credit.” I also love the character and charm of the old houses. I have put a lot of equity into the house and turned it into a home I really love.
In my 10 years of living here, I have seen a lot of . . . changes. Just in my neighborhood (although pretty common throughout Denver) , I’ve seen a lot of “scrapes” and “pop tops” (where the original homes are either demolished completely or modified to accommodate larger living space and modern conveniences) and I’m fine with that. If you have the money and a growing family, older homes just aren’t going to cut it. It’s when I see an ultra modern, ugly white box shoved in between two traditional homes, that I have pause. Currently, in 2020 my house is now worth upwards of $600,000. Which really doesn’t make any sense. It’s still a SMALL 850 sq foot house with two bedrooms and one bathroom. No matter how you slice it. I’m not rich. I can’t afford to just tear my whole house down and start from scratch.
I’ve seen “urban planners” (*cough* greedy real estate agents *cough *cough*) squeeze ugly townhomes and high rises onto TINY lots, and throw up their cheap “mixed-use residential and retail” buildings as fast as they can, all over town. Sorry, I don’t wanna live above the busy restaurant downstairs, thanks but, no. There’s also been numerous studies proving this kind of “urban living” doesn’t really work for anyone.
I’ve seen traffic on I-25 and I-70 go from bad, but manageable, to a downright nightmare. I-25 is the only free parking lot in town. I really don’t know where it will end. Will it be like the 405 in Los Angeles? A highway that’s FOURTEEN LANES WIDE? Cuz honestly, that’s what I feel like we need sometimes. To drive back up to the mountains to visit my family, I completely avoid the weekends now and try and take time off during the week. You’re not going anywhere in the mountains fast on weekends, during ski season, on I-70.
I’ve seen Denver’s homeless problem, again, go from bad to worse. Recent efforts to clean up 16th Street Mall, Civic Center Park, the State Capitol, and surrounding areas have only misfired, (with a series of hostile homeless encampment sweeps) raising the tension between cops and the homeless. No one has really tried to offer a solution, to try and get these people rehabilitated, they’ve just dispersed the homeless problem around the city a little more.
Lastly, and probably most personally (this is TMI but I don’t care) I’ve seen myself, finding it harder to connect with people in Denver. Relationships have always fizzled out, the “dating scene” seems like it’s filled with people who are “here for a good time but not a long time,” and I have noticed a certain “vapidness” and “shallowness” become more and more pronounced over time. I’m not blaming anyone moving here from other states necessarily, but the vibe is starting to feel uncomfortably close to Los Angeles or San Francisco. Again, not blaming California necessarily, but I do think it has something to do with the huge amount of people moving here. I have a few good friendships in Denver but . . . meh.
So as I move into my mid thirties (faster than I’d like, why doesn’t anyone tell you how fast time moves as you get older) when I go on vacation, I’m always wondering . . . “could I live here? . . .would this be a cool place to live? . . .” I’ll keep you posted. Actually, I probably won’t. But I do know I’m ready for the next chapter.
So now I ask, what have YOU seen change over the course of 10 years in Denver? Am I alone in these observations?
More restaurants
Light Rail
Exploding brew pub culture
Widening I- 25
Well maintained parks
Losing the “cow town” image
Nice infill developments like Lowry and the turning of old neighborhoods like LOHI, Riverfront, etc into unique places to live with a cohesive plan.
Improving the art museum, building the Pepsi center, a new soccer stadium and the new Mile High
The Bad
Horrible traffic movement making all the downtown amenities hard to get to on a weekend night.
Homeless increasing especially downtown
Increasing density.
Air quality getting worse, quickly
Dramatic rise in unrest, riots and public crime.
Continued segregation
Charging for parking at Cherry Creek.
Proposed moving of Elitch’s ...again
Taking on the image of being a “pot” town. Just ask an Uber driver, LOL.
The slow decline of the 16th mall.
Closing the Wazee Supper Club
Over development of areas already congested like the old Univ of Colorado Hospital area, The Blue Bird neighborhood, etc adding street facades that don’t fit the character of the neighborhood.
I tried to avoid anything political because I would like to see this thread stay open.
Not sure if this qualifies, as we have only lived in metro Denver, but FWIW --
We moved to metro Denver in 1986, and we have always lived in the suburbs, but during that time, but we lived in rural Maine from 2004-2007, and even though we moved back to the same town (south Jeffco, Littleton address) and the same kind of middle-class neighborhood, and these are the two major changes from pre-2004 to post-2007 (and the 2007 changes increased over time, I think) --
1. People were much more insulated -- it was rare to see anyone outside their homes just talking with their neighbors.
2. Downtown Denver went from being a "clean" city to an overcrowded mess, with homelessness continuing to be more evident. Until 2004, I felt safe walking with my husband from the Buell to a restaurant a few blocks away for dinner, but I did not feel this way after 2012 or so. (In fact, the last time we went out to dinner and to see a show was three or four years ago, I think.)
3. Much more of a Hispanic "presence" once you leave the middle class suburban enclaves, and even businesses seemed to act as though there were just as many Spanish-only speakers as there were English-only speakers. Almost all signs on all major highways are in Spanish and English; and many in-store customer service announcements are in Spanish and English, even in areas where the population is 90% Euro white. (Or at least this has been MY experience, although YMMV.)
In short, Denver seemed to go from a clean and thriving city to another urban "mess" of a city. The following is a trailer to the film that is also on YouTube.
These are all inevitable changes, the reasons why you moved here are some of the reasons why the "next" person is going to move here. Its really economics 101 stuff. Funny thing is no matter where you live you'll hear about negative changes for traffic, for housing costs and for access to amenities whether it be outdoors or a great restaurant. I have friends in suburban Detroit complaining about this stuff too and just think about it, the Detroit area isn't net growing its population. It's just people in that area are gravitating to the more attractive areas and amenities driving up the traffic and costs too.
All this is easily explained, the majority of "us" want some variety of similar things and over time the good attracts more until it becomes too much. Planners can't stop this and new laws or regulations only create other unwanted consequences. Eventually (over decades) the cycle moves onto a phase where a place is no longer that attractive to overcome its warts and people start moving onto the next places which will go through the same cycle.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Probably the most significant change in the last 10 yrs affecting the Quality of Life in Denver (and many other major cities in the USA...) is the power / strength and vast number of homeless. Usually homeless by choice, who have no interest in building up the community., but rather... taking what they can get from it. (for free). Seattle and Portland are a good snapshot of what to expect in Denver within 5 more yrs. Some areas (including previously very desirable park neighborhoods) with no longer be livable.
Desirable places are having a housing cost boom that will exclude many residents who could have been good citizens of the community. More gated / private spaces, more HOA, more rules, less community access, higher taxes, and traffic ... burdens of a growing region all contributed to why we had to leave Colorado in the 1970's. I was in Denver everyday on my trucking route, (Some days 4 trips / day) but never a place I would choose to live, then or now.
Air quality is actually much improved. The SPRAWL has significantly eroded the 'sense of community' required to enhance livability and desire to make communities nice and accessible and vibrant and warm (welcoming) communities.
“…moved down to Denver in 2010 … and bought a historic house, a small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom bungalow, for the high $200,000 range in the Washington Park neighborhood….”
I moved to Denver in 1982 from the Boston suburbs. Rented, and then bought a house in the Indian Creek neighborhood.
“In my 10 years…I’ve seen a lot of “scrapes” and “pop tops”…when I see an ultra modern, ugly white box shoved in between two traditional homes, that I have pause.”
In 1987 we bought a 1200 sqft bungalow in Bonnie Brae and popped the top (no one did scrapers then) and doubled the square footage. Got ants in our pants, decided to downsize and sold it in 2011. Moved into an ‘ugly white box’ duplex in the Berkeley neighborhood. Our new/current neighborhood is so much better than Bonnie Brae. We know many more neighbors. There are more independent, local business nearby. Our duplex is easier from a maintenance perspective.
“I’ve seen …greedy real estate [developers] squeeze ugly townhomes and high rises onto TINY lots, and throw up their cheap “mixed-use residential and retail” buildings as fast as they can, all over town. …”
Well, people want to live in the city and there is a shortage of land. This is the city and not the country. Some of these townhouse developments are hideous and others, not so bad.
“I’ve seen traffic on I-25 and I-70 go from bad, but manageable, to a downright nightmare….”
I have not seen this. The Valley Highway was always awful.
“I’ve seen Denver’s homeless problem, again, go from bad to worse….”
It is certainly more visible. It did not help when all the insane asylums were closed.
“Lastly, and probably most personally…”
Being married for 36 years, this is invisible to me.
“So now I ask, what have YOU seen change over the course of 10 years in Denver?”
During that last 38 years in Denver, I have seen these positive changes:
* An explosion in the choice and quality of restaurants. From approximately 10 good ones to 100s.
* A total transformation of LoDo and the former rail yards. All for the better.
* Young people still flocking here. As a city, we have two choices: grow or die. Do you really want to live in Cleveland?
* Many more sections of the city become desirable.
* Huge improvement in air quality.
* Improvements in certain segments of DPS. In 1982, we had forced busing and all of DPS was crap.
* Vote by drop box. And, the bars are open before 1900 on 'Election Day'. Still waiting for the free shot of whiskey from the precinct captain though.
* Being able to buy booze on Sundays.
Last edited by davebarnes; 11-21-2020 at 10:57 AM..
Three people stood around a table: an optimist, a pessimist, and an engineer.
They stood there looking at a half-filled glass of water sitting on the table.
The optimist, being an optimist, spoke up first: It's okay, half a glass will do me.
The pessimist, being a pessimist then spoke up: Aw crap, danged thing is half empty, that sucks.
The engineer, being logical, looked at the glass, looked up at the other two, and stated firmly: We have the wrong-sized glass.
Content is what matters.
Life is what we make it.
Love your city.
Work for its improvement.
Be the change you need.
Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
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^^^ As a resident who has lived here longer than me, thanks for the bigger perspective. Weird to say; but its good to know the highways have always been awful, lol.
I've never been to Cleveland so I don't know anything about it.
"A total transformation of LoDo and the former rail yards. All for the better." This is very true! I remember as a kid driving by the Rail Yards and it was pretty scary. The Union Station revitalization has really improved downtown.
Booze on Sundays! I remember being in college up at UNCO in Greeley and they had a cage around all the booze on Sunday in KMart, LOL.
I forgot one, in my ten years, I've seen the complete tear down of the Gates Tire Factory. I've been curious for a while if that redevelopment project will ever get off the ground.
And, yes we do have a lot of great restaurants. Here's hoping they will survive this awful pandemic.
Last edited by denverite1987; 11-21-2020 at 12:49 PM..
A growing city is better than living in a dying city. Yes we have lots of first world problems, but go and visit Detroit,Cleveland, New Jersey. I like the density, it helps people and government utilize infrastructure more efficiently. The traffic is a result of Surburbia where you have to drive everywhere. What about buying booze in markets? Quality of life is good relatively speaking. I-25 is now where near I-405 or even I-10 in California. Build vertical and have more mixed use development and people don't have to drive everywhere, people will be more healthy.
All major cities in the US are experiencing the same issues, Denver doesn't have a monopoly on growth. It's all about infrastructure and how we fund it in the US. If you want a better quality of life fund infrastructure. Defunding it will only cause QOL to decrease, I don't want to kill the golden goose. COVID has done that to this country. We're seeing the limits of free market in healthcare, infrastructure, gentrification. It's sad. That's our choice.
We all want to be here, we have to learn to work together to make it better. Leaving is easy and more people will move here since the word is out that Denver is a great place to live. COVID has fostered the move from other large cities which have more problems to move to Denver that won't stop. If growth does stop then we could go back to 2008 then people will complain about not having a job. The past is in the past and over. Look towards the future and try to make Denver better through the planning process.
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Is much improved
