moving to Denver Metro Apr 1st (Highlands Ranch, Craig: apartments, rentals, crime)

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my girlfriend and i grew up in tampa, fl and are finally getting parolled (you're laughing, im not laughing). we're moving to the highlands ranch area. it seems to be very safe and reasonably affordable compared to tampa (lateral move, really). eventually, we'd like to move into the Capitol Hill area. we both really like the more urban lifestyle, and it seems like that kind of area. any info on life on the Hill would be appreciated. crime, traffic, people, etc.

any other info about being green to denver would also help.

any suggestions in general?

[2bindenver]

Yea! Welcome. Hey C-D/Denver gang...anyone have leftovers from the last welcome to Denver party? Mike do you still have the keys to the city?

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Cold beer will suffice!

[2bindenver]

except for the possible sticker shock - you'll be fine in HR, or Highlands, Cap Hill, Wash Park,....

Beer is always cold here. Like Coors?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

... Mike do you still have the keys to the city?

I have not one, but two, yes two, fully functional corkscrews... and clean glasses, too. Will that do?

s/mike

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Originally Posted by 2bindenver

except for the possible sticker shock - you'll be fine in HR, or Highlands, Cap Hill, Wash Park,....

Beer is always cold here. Like Coors?

nah, we're renting and getting more apt for the money in a nicer area. tampa isnt exactly cheap either.

im more of a micro brew/import kinda guy.

[2bindenver]

we got lots of those too. But Coors is the big daddy.

[tfox]

I think you'll like Capitol Hill if you want an urban lifestyle. It's kind of strange tome that you're considering Highlands Ranch and Capitol Hill -- the two oppostite poles of life in the metro area.

The best thing about it is that "the Hill" has a great location (walking distance to everything that you'd want to walk to) and it's probably the cheapest rent downtown. There's also lots of activities going on -- there's a neighbors association that's always planning events down there. It's right in the thick of Denver's nightlife.

You kind of have your choice -- the north and west parts near the Capitol are going to be the liveliest (and noisiest) parts, back toward Cheeseman park and around the Governor's mansion in the south and east sections are much quieter, but you'll be walking more.

Parking is a real hassle there, and a lot of apartments there don't have any, leaving you scrambling to find street parking which can be iffy. Some places have parking, otherwise you can try to rent a space if you like. Craigslist is a good resource for both rentals and parking (if you need it).

Crime is also an issue. Talk to some people who have been around and they'll tell you their horror stories about crime there (mostly from the distant past). It is not as bad as they say, but you will see things happen there, and late at night you will have people trying to sell you drugs, etc. If you keep out of trouble, I doubt any trouble will come to you there, but it's not your place if you're trying to escape crime altogether.

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yeah i know. the two places are vastly different. we picked HR because we're not familiar enough with the metro area. its seems very safe a quiet, so a good place to start. then, once we get out feet on the ground, we'll look at different neighborhoods and decide which one we like.

a friend of mine moved to tampa from COS. she said if we were looking in the area, to stay away from the SE part of the city because its "rough."

another friend of mine moved here from COS as well. he's originally from detroit (which can be like tampa in many parts). he says that her idea of "rough" is biker bars and tattoo joints. our idea of rough is random gunshots, gangwars, and urban destitution.

like many other things, its all a matter of perspective. crime is everywhere, its just to what degree.

so we're gonna play it by ear. thanks for the tips.

[tfox]

I know what you mean about different people having different perceptions of "bad." We do have some neighborhoods in Denver that really are bad as in genuinely scary places -- Capitol Hill really isn't one of them in my opinion.

I encourage you to look around at Denver's many neighborhoods. There are certainly some options that are less rowdy that Capitol Hill, Lodo, Ballpark, etc but still have character -- examples would be Wash Park, Highland, Platte Park, Congress Park, Cheeseman Park, and many others. There's a lot of older threads on this forum you can look at that might be a good guide.