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Old 08-06-2007, 07:54 PM
 
25 posts, read 123,526 times
Reputation: 29

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Quote:
Originally Posted by simonjtt View Post
My family and I have been thinking of relocating to Colorado for many years and although we like Denver we are intrested in Colorado Springs. The tourist pictures look great, it seems like a great place and of course the Realtor's will always say great things! I am a great believer in a collective opinion of things, so I want to throw the question out there what are the negatives?

So you want to know the negatives about Colorado Springs. Well let me tell you that I've lived in CS for a total of 29 years and have traveled quite a bit throughout the U.S. and overseas and CS doesn't have too many negatives. After having lived in CS for so long, as you travel else where, one starts to realize that CS life is easy living. However, the negatives I know of are as follows:

- Job market is not the greatest. Although, it has improved a lot over the years, it still needs some work, but if you look you'll find something.

- City entertainment isn't that great in Colorado Springs. There is a lot of outdoor stuff around, but not that much as far as indoor things other than shopping, dining, or night clubing (limited too). The work around, however, Denver is only 70 miles north and has all the city life you could ever need.

- I'd have to agree with COFlower that the public transportation system is horrible. All that we have are buses and it will take you damn near an hour to get anywhere in this town. A car is a must have.

- The weather--the lovely Colorado weather (pun intended). Ok the weather can be a negative or a positive depending on where you come from. Generally the weather can be described as mild here. Now every one knows that Colorado is known for its' snow, but that really pertains more so to the mountains. Colorado is the second sunniest state in the Union, with more than 300 sunny days per year (second most lightening strikes too). So even when it's cold, it is often sunny. Also the weather changes in a minute here. The saying is, "if you don't like the weather, wait an hour it will change." So the good thing about Colorado weather is that it is never too extreme. GENERALLY we only have a couple of combined weeks that are real cold in the Winter and opposite as far as summer goes. So if you're coming from somewhere like the midwest, you just may love it with all of the sun and mild winters. When it does snow here it is often gone within 24 hours. For me sometimes the weather is too mild and summer is definitely too short and sometimes too mild for the season. However, when summer is in the full swing of things, Colorado can't be beat for it's beautiful weather.

- Someone (VFRPilot) mentioned bears as a negative. Well, this is only a concern if you live in the foothills and not the rest of the Springs. Bears are seldom a problem down here. In 29 years, I have never seen a bear in CS (in the mountains outside of, yes, only once).

- Jazzlover said that the city is growing way too fast. The city is indeed growing fast. I was told in my real estate class--20k people a year. However, I completely disagree with the assessement that, "Crime is bad in some areas." This is bull! Crime isn't bad anywhere in Colorado Springs. This comes from someone who obviously doesn't know what they are talking about. There is no one area of town where crime is concentrated, it is dispersed. There is no area of CS that I wouldn't go into or would be afraid of going to any time of day. I also disagree that traffic is horrible. Other than during rush hour is traffic horrible and what big city doesn't have bad traffic during rush hour. Other than during these times, you can get from the furthest reach of the city to the opposite end in 30 minutes or less.

- I agree with Black Velvets statement that there are no cultural events in CS. This goes back to my City Entertainment statement, with the same work around...go to Denver.

- We are starting to show signs of water problems as stated in some post. Like CO Flower said this is a Front Range problem. 90% of the people live on the eastern slope, yet 90% of the water is on the western slope.

- Proudmommy makes some true statements about Monument, but her following assessment is mostly just wrong:

"However, the problem seems to be everything in the middle from east of the highway 25 to west of Union. Take a nice drive down Academy Blvd. I actually get depressed whenever I find myself having to make this drive for some reason or another. Literally, except for the far Northern and Eastern parts of the city, I found myself thinking, this city is one or the most run down, dilapidated and dingy I have ever seen. It looks like there has been no updating in years, like you might see in other older cities. I mean, it was just really ugly. Or treat yourself to a drive down Nevada Ave. with its abandoned retailers and hotels. Not to mention, very few good restaurants, an abundance of cruddy looking strip malls which are half empty and a really dingy movie theater in the Chapel Hills Mall. I don't mean to sound snobby or anything, but really, is there something I am missing? What's the deal folks? I do not understand all of the hype. I mean, I guess if you are retired like Mike from Back East and can afford to sit in your home or at the local Starbucks staring at Pikes Peak, it is a great place to live! But I have to admit, I was quite disappointed when I made my travels throughout the rest of the city. I even took my kids down to Downtown CS to check it out and found that I couldn't even take them in to many of the restaurants because of the smoking, drinking loud undesirables that were there. "

She says that she doesn't mean to sound snobby, well she sounds just that snobby and foo-foo. In her words Colorado Springs is, "is one or the most run down, dilapidated and dingy I have ever seen." Obviously she hasn't seen much. I've been to a lot of places and CS is far from the worst that I've seen. Lets try Birmingham, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and the list can go on and on as far as being the way she described. She also states that she cannot take her kids to any of the restaurants downtown because "of the smoking, drinking loud undesirables that were there." Hello Proudmommy, we have a smoking ordinance here. You can't smoke in restaurants, so get your snobbery straight. Also downtown is the bar and nightclub district of town. That's like going to a rock concert and complaining that it is loud.

Yes N. Nevada is run down looking, but keep in mind this was the city's first industrial area.

No city is perfect as we all know, so CS is not a perfect eutopia. However, CS is a great place to live and raise children. If you're looking for a metropolis, your looking at the wrong city. If your looking for a low crime city, with a beautiful backdrop and tons of outdoor things to do, then this is your future home.
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Old 08-06-2007, 10:31 PM
 
Location: Las Flores, Orange County, CA
26,338 posts, read 93,407,924 times
Reputation: 17827
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoolColoradoDayz View Post
So you want to know the negatives about Colorado Springs. Well let me tell you that I've lived in CS for a total of 29 years and have traveled...
This was a very realistic post. Good job. I do, however think that proudmommy has a point; This is evidenced by plans to improve both Academy and Nevada.

Metro: Academy stretch part of revitalization plans | city, academy, area - Gazette.com

Powers has provided the competition. And ten years from now Marksheffel will be competing with Powers. Marksheffel is planned to be another retail corridor.

(Fun Trivia: Marksheffel is named for Colorado Springs auto manufacturer Marksheffel Motors. This plant was active in the 1920s.)

Photo Digitization Project (broken link)

"Marksheffel Motors" - Google Search



Quote:
Originally Posted by CoolColoradoDayz View Post
- We are starting to show signs of water problems as stated in some post. Like CO Flower said this is a Front Range problem. 90% of the people live on the eastern slope, yet 90% of the water is on the western slope.
Regarding the above paragraph, I read this comment in the Gazette: "There isn't a shortage of water, just a shortage of pipes."

Mulholland brought water to arid Los Angeles from Northern California in the 1920s. It can be done.

Last edited by Charles; 08-06-2007 at 11:03 PM..
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Old 08-06-2007, 10:50 PM
 
Location: SE Florida
135 posts, read 598,451 times
Reputation: 60
Default coolcoloradodayz...

"- Proudmommy makes some true statements about Monument, but her following assessment is mostly just wrong:

"However, the problem seems to be everything in the middle from east of the highway 25 to west of Union. Take a nice drive down Academy Blvd. I actually get depressed whenever I find myself having to make this drive for some reason or another. Literally, except for the far Northern and Eastern parts of the city, I found myself thinking, this city is one or the most run down, dilapidated and dingy I have ever seen. It looks like there has been no updating in years, like you might see in other older cities. I mean, it was just really ugly. Not to mention, very few good restaurants, an abundance of cruddy looking strip malls which are half empty and a really dingy movie theater in the Chapel Hills Mall. I don't mean to sound snobby or anything, but really, is there something I am missing? What's the deal folks? I do not understand all of the hype. I mean, I guess if you are retired like Mike from Back East and can afford to sit in your home or at the local Starbucks staring at Pikes Peak, it is a great place to live! But I have to admit, I was quite disappointed when I made my travels throughout the rest of the city. I even took my kids down to Downtown CS to check it out and found that I couldn't even take them in to many of the restaurants because of the smoking, drinking loud undesirables that were there. "

She says that she doesn't mean to sound snobby, well she sounds just that snobby and foo-foo. In her words Colorado Springs is, "is one or the most run down, dilapidated and dingy I have ever seen." Obviously she hasn't seen much. I've been to a lot of places and CS is far from the worst that I've seen. Lets try Birmingham, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and the list can go on and on as far as being the way she described. She also states that she cannot take her kids to any of the restaurants downtown because "of the smoking, drinking loud undesirables that were there." Hello Proudmommy, we have a smoking ordinance here. You can't smoke in restaurants, so get your snobbery straight. Also downtown is the bar and nightclub district of town. That's like going to a rock concert and complaining that it is loud.

No city is perfect as we all know, so CS is not a perfect eutopia. However, CS is a great place to live and raise children. If you're looking for a metropolis, your looking at the wrong city. If your looking for a low crime city, with a beautiful backdrop and tons of outdoor things to do, then this is your future home."

I was glad to read your post...hopefully it's pretty on target. I figured there would be some sort of smoking ordinance going on downtown. I've heard from more than one source that COS is a low crime city. What is your opinion on Academy Blvd, btw? I like truthful and realistic....

Oh, is there a Carabba's and Dunkin Donuts chains in COS?
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Old 08-07-2007, 12:31 AM
 
2,756 posts, read 12,931,864 times
Reputation: 1521
Quote:
Originally Posted by proudmommy View Post
Take a nice drive down Academy Blvd. I actually get depressed whenever I find myself having to make this drive for some reason or another. Literally, except for the far Northern and Eastern parts of the city, I found myself thinking, this city is one or the most run down, dilapidated and dingy I have ever seen. It looks like there has been no updating in years, like you might see in other older cities.
(laughing) Have you ever been down East Colfax in Aurora/Denver, Havana in Aurora/Denver, South Federal in Denver? Take a day trip to the Mile High City and come back and THEN tell me if Academy Blvd still looks like the ghetto? LOL...

And by the way, I'm not knocking Denver here at all... I live in Denver and think it's a great city. But even great cities have somewhat rundown sections. I'm not even sure that's such a bad thing, provided the run-down sections are not also crime-ridden (and Academy really isn't). People of all stations in life need a place to live and get their needs met -- it can't all be "the shops at Briargate."
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Old 08-07-2007, 11:45 AM
 
Location: Colorado Springs
1,312 posts, read 7,886,108 times
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CoolColoradoDayz - well said!
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Old 08-07-2007, 12:33 PM
 
25 posts, read 123,526 times
Reputation: 29
Quote:
Originally Posted by mes3fils View Post
"I was glad to read your post...hopefully it's pretty on target. I figured there would be some sort of smoking ordinance going on downtown. I've heard from more than one source that COS is a low crime city. What is your opinion on Academy Blvd, btw? I like truthful and realistic....

Oh, is there a Carabba's and Dunkin Donuts chains in COS?
Thanks Mes3fils. As far as Academy goes, it's the back bone of CS. It is the corridor in which the city was built around. When I was a kid most of Academy was empty, particularly North of Constitution. It blows my mind, how much of this city that I have seen built in my life. The problem with Academy is that it became one of the main routes through the city, which lead to conjestion. Then the city planners made the stupid mistake of making Academy II, a.k.a. Powers. So right now they have fallen into the same trap in developing Powers. I personally feel that they would have been better off building a freeway with on and off ramps to get to the cross roads and business. The Texas highway frontage road system would have been perfect for Powers. Charles is right, Marksheffel is the next Academy (III). There has been no indication that they are going to do anything different with that road. I just thought of another negative about CS, lack of an east/west freeway passage. The only one you have is MLK in the south, but nothing in the central or northern part of town.

As far as Carabba's and Dunkin Donuts go, yes we have them. I know of two Carabba's and two Dunkin Donuts (as they have closed several, we use to have four at least).
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Old 08-07-2007, 12:35 PM
 
25 posts, read 123,526 times
Reputation: 29
Quote:
Originally Posted by tfox View Post
(laughing) Have you ever been down East Colfax in Aurora/Denver, Havana in Aurora/Denver, South Federal in Denver? Take a day trip to the Mile High City and come back and THEN tell me if Academy Blvd still looks like the ghetto? LOL...

And by the way, I'm not knocking Denver here at all... I live in Denver and think it's a great city. But even great cities have somewhat rundown sections. I'm not even sure that's such a bad thing, provided the run-down sections are not also crime-ridden (and Academy really isn't). People of all stations in life need a place to live and get their needs met -- it can't all be "the shops at Briargate."
Right on TFox! Perfectly said!
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Old 08-07-2007, 04:50 PM
 
26,111 posts, read 48,696,623 times
Reputation: 31481
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoolColoradoDayz View Post
...snip...The problem with Academy is that it became one of the main routes through the city, which lead to conjestion. Then the city planners made the stupid mistake of making Academy II, a.k.a. Powers. So right now they have fallen into the same trap in developing Powers. I personally feel that they would have been better off building a freeway with on and off ramps to get to the cross roads and business. The Texas highway frontage road system would have been perfect for Powers....snip....
Good stuff. Agree that the city/county/state blew it with the way they built Powers. If they had separated the northbound and southbound lanes by about a quarter mile (not that much really) and if they had put the commercial development in the middle between the north/south lanes it would have been a blessing. With that kind of separation, the traffic lights in each direction could be sequentially timed, making it move with the speed and throughput very close to that of a true freeway or interstate highway. It would do away with the massive traffic signal delays at the left turns. Anyone who has seen a real city traffic scheme of alternating one-way streets knows the beauty of it for traffic flow. Too bad they blew it here when they had a chance to get it right; and it would've improved access to the commercial strip, whereas the current scheme actually detracts.

s/Mike from back east
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Old 08-07-2007, 11:51 PM
 
638 posts, read 2,274,952 times
Reputation: 294
Wow. How come noone has pointed out that the biggest negative by far about the Springs is the religious right that runs it? If you take your kids to the park the other parents are talking about church, PERIOD. They glance at you smugly, as if proud of themselves for discovering this great religion, as if they are the only ones clever or priveleged enough to be in this club of theirs. You are smothered constantly by the church talk, its frankly repulsive and sad and a huge stain on this city. The "normal" people I know in the Springs joke about it all the time, and they all hate it. I would never have moved here had I known that it had zero diversity and zero tolerance for anything other than white ultra-right christians. Good riddance, so glad I'm leaving.

And dont forget how much they hate gays in the Springs, the mayor wont even endorse a gay parade because it doesnt represent what these bigots want for their city. My best friend in high school was a gay male, other wise I would not have survived it. Jesus would have never hated as much as these Springs people hate, really. Its sad. They hate , period. Im a white strait mom by the way, just not a bigot.

Last edited by MorningGlory; 08-08-2007 at 12:19 AM..
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Old 08-08-2007, 01:12 AM
 
Location: CO Springs
149 posts, read 321,949 times
Reputation: 54
Wow, parents talking about church and Jesus. Thats a positive to me. That is the main reason I moved to Colorado Springs.
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