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Colorado Springs used to be the "Girl Next Door" city when it was better off but now it is trying to be a Supermodel city.
The Colorado Springs of the 1990s was so much better then what they have now.
The people moving here in the 1990s were mainly here for employment purposes.
The people moving to Colorado Springs today are retirees which is a perfect match for the community but also people moving here for lifestyle purposes and an influx of poor people.
Denver's poverty rates are plunging while the rate has gone up.
This time 20 years ago they were in the midst of a huge economic boom here and it is was a very salt-of-the earth, interesting place.
Now, its trying to a supermodel city with residents who have one of the highest household debt to income ratio's nationally.
I think it is interesting the debt to income ratio's of Colorado Springs metro compared to other metro areas of similar per-capita income like Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
It will be very interesting in Colorado Springs when there is a downward business cycle.
Colorado Springs tends to take longer to fall into recession but it always takes this city years and years to recovery compared to others.
Went from 152,000 jobs to 246,000 in the 1990s
Went from 260,000 jobs in 2006 to 279,000 jobs in 2016.
Lots of population growth, but very little job growth.
Colorado Springs sure has transitioned from one little niche to another. But one niche doesn't sustain a metropolitan area of 700,000 people.
Colorado Springs just punches way beneath it's weight for such a large city. Everything about this place is small potatoes compared what other similar sized cities have.
Perfect city for retirees, pensioners and the few thousand people working for defense contractors.
UCCS is small, small potatoes compared to what other metropolitan areas this size have. There are about 11,000 students who go there, thats very small.
Only 2% of Colorado Springs population goes to UCCS. Compared to over 30% in Boulder and 15% in Fort Collins.
Even Pueblo has 5% of its population going to CSU-Pueblo, compared to just 2% of Colorado Springs population going to UCCS.
I doubt there is a city of it's size that is less of a college town then Colorado Springs.
I have lived in many cities with massive state flagship universities. UCCS is so small that you only know it is there driving up Austin Bluffs.
The city of champions is nothing more then a marketing line. They are so desperate to market this place, it is comical what they come up with.
Steve Bach and John Suther's city of champions marketing gimmick is like Mary Lou Makepeace world-class city marketing gimmick.
Having lived in so many college cities, the little 40 million dollar sports medicine building is small potatoes, it would be a drop in the bucket compared to many universities.
The USOC with it's 200 million dollar budget per year is no match for Omaha which is in a similar population class that has Berkshire Hathaway with 200 billion in yearly revenue.
Also, the cyber-security firms here tend to live off federal contracts. I wonder what happens to company when they don't get another round of welfare funding.
Ok now I'm completely depressed....been here in COS since May.... hmmmmm..... all this you say, I actually see it around me. I am even starting to think, buying a house in Pueblo West is a better bet than COS...????
Ok now I'm completely depressed....been here in COS since May.... hmmmmm..... all this you say, I actually see it around me. I am even starting to think, buying a house in Pueblo West is a better bet than COS...????
There is no place, city, or person on earth for which one could not come up with a LOOOOOOONG list of negatives. To actually do so is generally depressing and counterproductive. I could very easily sit around writing down pages of complaints about my wife that focus on her various imperfections but to do so would simply obscure the fact that she is FREAKING AWESOME and the best person I could have possibly married and really I struggle to deserve her. Sure you can head to Pueblo West if that's where your life belongs but honestly please don't let mr. negativity dude with an axe to grind for who knows what reason insert his poison into your mind. That's what I presume he wants. Be strong. Find your own path and perspective and experience. All things can be improved. Bashing others is the easiest thing to do on this earth. The type of poisonous personality that continually bashes others never EVER seems to be capable of improving anything or helping anyone. They just gripe and complain. I've known dozens of these people and so have you. The trick is to not let them bring you down and change how you see and approach the world. It's like a zombie type deal. They want to eat your brain and make you one of them, yo.
Just wanted to revive this with some recent thoughts:
I have mixed feelings about recent development in CO Springs.
The downtown reconstruction near Highway 24 and I 25 should be interesting and hopefully add some zest to downtown. It'll be exciting to see what comes about. The expansion of Powers near Airport was desperately needed and that should help traffic in that area. Also it's cool to see some decent sized denser apartment complexes come in.
However, there is a ton of new pretty bland IMO suburb development on the northeast side. More of the same of what CO Springs already has tons of. Likewise with the north end development near I 25, which feels more and more like a exurb of Denver and an extension of Castle Rock. Also, there's still a lot of vacant office space, somewhat indicative of the economy.
I think the development from 2000-2015 has made CO Springs mildly better, but with more of the same type of development on the horizon, I do wonder if the costs will outweigh the benefits.
I'm looking forward to the redevelopment project of south Nevada, I think that should be interesting.
While I am not a fan of quite a bit of the development projects we've had because many seem very short-sighted to me and all about a quick return in a developer's pocket, I also really appreciate the long foresight of some of our original founders who provided us today with some of the best city parks, etc., in the country like Palmer Park, North Cheyenne Canyon and Garden of the Gods instead of letting those be private and developed, and who put remarkably wide streets back when it was a simple dirt road horse and carriage tiny town.
I do sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed by the city's growth in my lifetime - for someone born here, I do sometimes have nostalgia for a simpler, smaller city. But I also have appreciated some of the development in my area - closer access to various stores I use, etc. So it is a mixed bag.
I think our city could benefit with some leadership with true vision - but again that is a mixed bag because whenever there is a leader with a vision that means a very strong leader and not everyone will agree with that vision. I mainly wish that leaders and developers were thinking more long-term and less about the immediate $ return. That would apply not just locally but everywhere at every level.
I'm not understanding the logic of the post originally from "lovecrowds", criticizing the small student population of UCCS. If we extrapolate the 30% number boulder has to Colorado Springs, then UCCS would have a student population of 200,000? That's what needed to make Colorado Springs a legitimate city?
The bland suburban housing is what people want, though; they want cheap huge houses, and the place to buy them is in the north east... I can't tell you how often people visit me or find out I live downtown, and respond wistfully that "they wished they lived downtown"... but reality is that they aren't willing to pay the higher prices and live in an older home. Brand new homes that are large is what is desired. Who cares if they get wind 24/7 in Falcon? So the developers are giving people what they want- supply and demand. There isn't, or doesn't seem to be much of a market for renovating the 1950 and 1960 houses on the hill by Wasson High School. Infill simply isn't happening as people want the new modern houses.
Maybe we just need to market them as mid-century modern. Throw some subway tile on the backsplash in the kitchen, outfit it with white Shaker cabinets, quartz countertops, and people will come running. :P
There isn't, or doesn't seem to be much of a market for renovating the 1950 and 1960 houses
So different from where I just moved from. Infill housing was in high demand as people didn't want to have to drive long distances and preferred the "charm" of old houses and the ability to fix up as they wished. All the cool stuff was central so that is where people wanted to be. Seems like edge city in Springs is nothing but chain stores and sprawl.
So different from where I just moved from. Infill housing was in high demand as people didn't want to have to drive long distances and preferred the "charm" of old houses and the ability to fix up as they wished. All the cool stuff was central so that is where people wanted to be. Seems like edge city in Springs is nothing but chain stores and sprawl.
You don't get infill until the sprawl goes far enough to make commutes really long. The sprawl in the Springs is less than a lot of places and limited by the mountains, and the military installations. And the type of sprawl with single family homes and strip malls is the standard throughout a lot of the country.
I'm not understanding the logic of the post originally from "lovecrowds", criticizing the small student population of UCCS. If we extrapolate the 30% number boulder has to Colorado Springs, then UCCS would have a student population of 200,000? That's what needed to make Colorado Springs a legitimate city?
I don't either. UCCS, while being more practical than cool, is one of the fastest growing universities and is pretty decent from my time there. I liked that is was practical and affordable and fit the needs of CO Springs as the local university.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hollyt00
The bland suburban housing is what people want, though; they want cheap huge houses, and the place to buy them is in the north east... I can't tell you how often people visit me or find out I live downtown, and respond wistfully that "they wished they lived downtown"... but reality is that they aren't willing to pay the higher prices and live in an older home. Brand new homes that are large is what is desired. Who cares if they get wind 24/7 in Falcon? So the developers are giving people what they want- supply and demand. There isn't, or doesn't seem to be much of a market for renovating the 1950 and 1960 houses on the hill by Wasson High School. Infill simply isn't happening as people want the new modern houses.
Maybe we just need to market them as mid-century modern. Throw some subway tile on the backsplash in the kitchen, outfit it with white Shaker cabinets, quartz countertops, and people will come running. :P
Exactly. The way CO Springs looks is revealing about the people who live there. You have some very ecclectic, unique houses (and people that live in them), but the majority is cookie cutter sub divisions. There's more people living east of Powers than there is on the west end.
And in those sub divisions, you can tell that price/sqft was the focus. My issue with them isn't necessarily how they look now, but how will they look in 15-20 years. Will the paint start to come off the siding? How will the landscaping look? Will the roads have potholes? Will CO Springs leap frog over Powers in the 2020's like it did over Academy back in the 2000s?
One of my biggest issue with CO Springs people is that they seem overly concerned about their house, car, and keeping taxes low, without thought to how it will impact things down the road. That, and they constantly complain about the government and how government messes everything up while nearly everyone in the city is at least indirectly a benefactor of government spending.
One of my biggest issue with CO Springs people is that they seem overly concerned about their house, car, and keeping taxes low, without thought to how it will impact things down the road. That, and they constantly complain about the government and how government messes everything up while nearly everyone in the city is at least indirectly a benefactor of government spending.
I'm not necessarily defending "CO Springs people" but your bleak description is a pretty accurate description of the human condition in general, at least as I've observed it in post-WWII-era USA. Very few exceptions. Very few. Certainly not enough to make an impact against the prevailing current.
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So the developers are giving people what they want- supply and demand. There isn't, or doesn't seem to be much of a market for renovating the 1950 and 1960 houses on the hill by Wasson High School. Infill simply isn't happening as people want the new modern houses. 
