My observations of Colorado Springs so far... (Denver, Monument: sales, apartment complexes)

[Trump_Fan1]

After being here for a few days...

- City is extremely hilly. I had no idea it was this hilly. Many parts are separated by gullies, valleys, washes, hills, mountains. I figured it was much more flat than it is.

- Roads are just awful. Worst in any big city I've ever been to.

- Very crowded, lots of traffic.

- Drivers are aggressive, bad. I've driven all over this country, and there's more idiots here than I've seen anywhere.

- Lots of homeless. Much more than any city I've been to in a long while. This isn't something that bothers me, per se, but with more homeless you typically have more crime.

- Very limited housing in the 150k-225k range.

- Rent is generally too high, with countless apartment complexes suffering from bad online reviews.

- The famous Rudy's BBQ has some of the worst BBQ sauce I've ever tasted, basically just pepper and tomato paste. No sweetness at all. Otherwise, decent place.

- Downtown is pretty decent, with some great historic buildings and a little bit of a 'vibe', as well as Colorado College offers a nice campus. Homes east of downtown are quite nice and old.

- I don't find the city to be particularly walkable.

- A lot of areas feel 'tight', claustrophobic, high density.

- I saw the east side area on Powers Rd, new developments and shopping. It's ok, but basically just suburban sprawl out there.

- Some areas around CCSU, Chapel Hills Mall, out that way, and toward the big church, I forget the name, Black Hills area, all of that seems to be reasonably desirable, but of course limited housing.

- Some of it reminds me of Las Vegas, in that lots and lots of people from somewhere else moved into to the place real quick.

So, that's it so far. I'm not quite 'feeling' it right now, but my GF loves it, loves it here, and she used to live here. So she's happy. I'm going to do my best to give it a chance.

My biggest gripe is probably the housing -- as I am the one buying the house, and I get to look forward to bidding ABOVE the asking price (apparently, according to my realtor).

[Miss Hepburn]

Lots of people from outta state, yup...I believe cause the aggressive driving.
Then they seem to mellow.
So sorry for the high prices in rent ...happened so suddenly!

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by Trump_Fan1

- The famous Rudy's BBQ has some of the worst BBQ sauce I've ever tasted, basically just pepper and tomato paste. No sweetness at all. Otherwise, decent place.

Rudy's is famous? If so, BBQ in the Springs must be incredibly lame because Rudy's is an overrated, bottom-of-the-barrel Texas chain that's only slightly better than Dickey's BBQ Pit (another Texas chain).

[MountainEarth]

Sounds like you should go live somewhere else.

[orngkat]

I have lived here about nine months and concur that many drivers completely ignore speed limits and drive very recklessly. You have to really be on your toes when you drive. I lived in the land of BBQ for many years - there is no real BBQ here that I've found. I am amazed that a city of this size does not have better grocery and restaurant choices. Mostly a bunch of chains with Sysco food. Definitely not an innovative kind of city but I hope that's changing. However, I will never complain about the the beautiful sky and Pike's Peak. I am glad to be here as long as I'm not driving or grocery shopping

[shanen]

Originally Posted by Trump_Fan1

- A lot of areas feel 'tight', claustrophobic, high density.

- I saw the east side area on Powers Rd, new developments and shopping. It's ok, but basically just suburban sprawl out there.

Which one do you want?

[abcdefg567]

Lol, after moving from Denver #2-7 seem much better here in comparison.

Maybe it'll grow on you!

And if things continue to be out of control across the front range with our housing, just look forward to faster than average home appreciation.

Try the special things here. Garden of the Gods, Manitou Incline, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, etc. It is really gorgeous.

[Vision67]

I'll agree that the roads are really crappy.

Yesterday, while driving on Union north of Research, I was swerving to avoid the potholes and the tar that they dripped into the cracks as a temporary patch. I've decided to not drive on that patch of road; I don't like the tar slopping up my paint.

The city got way behind on road maintenance during the great recession. They are now trying to catch up. At least the citizens did approve a sales tax and those revenues are building:

Colorado Springs sales tax revenue surges 16.2 percent in April | Colorado Springs Gazette, News

I also agree that rents are too high relative to wages. Although our unemployment is low, too many of the jobs pay too little.

I would not recommend moving here unless you possess job skills that can command at least 4 times the monthly rent.

If you read the article above, you'll get a clue on why the traffic sucks. The city cannot keep up with the growth. It is always reactive; never proactive. The voters will never approve sufficient tax rates to adequately maintain all the infrastructure.

[lovecrowds]

I agree with you on almost everything. Very nice summary of the city of Colorado Springs.

The city does have very nice topography and scenery. That is certainly the highlight of the Pikes Peak Region.

Colorado Springs is fairly lush for a western city, great topography, great library system and good parks system. Those are positive things about the area.

The negative far, far, far outweigh the positives in Colorado Springs these days though.

It is hilly especially the west side of the city. The east side has some hills but not nearly as many.

Colorado Springs does have rushed, rude drivers. There is alot more road rage in Colorado Springs but then again there are lots and lots of unhappy people there. It was rated by a national publication as one of the rudest cities in the country.

An Arizona news story did a story on road rage and they have a map during the news story with Colorado Springs being one of the worst cities for road rage shootings.

Study shows Phoenix as one of the worst road rage cities - ABC15 Arizona

This news story profiles road rage and there is a map of road rage shootings with Colorado Springs is on the national map with one of the highest amount of road rage shootings.

The city has major issues besides the unusually high amount of road rage from the cities many stressed residents. Colorado Springs now has a higher homicide rate then Denver or Los Angeles so far this year.

Not only that but they also have shockingly high suicide and high illicit drug use mortality rates.

So many people seem to move from other parts of the country with ailments and other issues and think Colorado will be the magic potion to cure it all it seems.

There is huge, huge mismatch between good jobs in the area and the population. The loss of manufacturing and information jobs that have left Colorado Springs since the turn of the century has left the city in the economic gutter.

https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.co_coloradosprings_msa.htm

14,400 in 2001 to 5,800 information jobs today

24,600 in 1998 to 11,300 manufacturing jobs today

https://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet

https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/SMU0...de_graphs=true

The city might on paper have a low unemployment rate, but many of the new jobs are in lower wage sectors then the the city had in the 1990s.

The city used to be much, much friendlier then it is now. There is a quite a bit of pretentiousness that it didn't have before at all. People there just seem stressed out for some.

Colorado residents in general have lots and lots of financial debt per-capita. Colorado Springs is like that also
but the incomes in Colorado Springs is quite low compared to the state averages.

Colorado Springs nicest areas are the sprawl up north. Lots of retail selection in the northern part of the city and luckily it is closest part of the city to Denver.

I find Colorado Springs overpriced with one exception and that is for big houses. Apartments are extremely expensive compared to what they were a decade ago. Smaller single-family homes aren't a good deal, but large McMansions tend to have decent prices per square foot.

I was born in Colorado Springs, mostly raised there and am there often but I am not impressed with what sort of a city it has become.

Colorado Springs was much nicer when it was smaller. Now, it's just sort of overpriced medium-sized city with lots of crime issues and unhappy people.

The very high suicide, illicit drug use mortality rates, top 10 unfriendly lists and unusually high amount of road rage issues in the city speak for itself and what the has become.

[DoodlemomCoS]

Sounds like you really hate it here, probably best to move on. No place is for everyone. I was miserable in Albuquerque and I lived there for 40 years. Life is too short.

I hope you can find a place that suits you better because it's awful living in a city you hate.

To respond to a few of your issues not for you but other readers:

Yup, where we live in the north part of CoS, it's hilly. I love the hilly terrain. It provides variety and makes my exercise more interesting and challenging. I hate super flat (see Albuquerque). Of course off of powers it gets flat so I'm not really sure why that wouldn't suffice.

Roads aren't the greatest. If potholes really bother you, don't move here. Many of us live here despite the potholes, so obviously we are staying for a reason.

Crowded?! ABQ was more crowded than CoS so I have a different definition I guess. Unless you are talking about driving from Monument to Denver. That's a congested nightmare that many of us discuss. Which leads into bad drivers. I agree with you there. There are a lot of crazies on the road. I've got nothing there. Lol!

I don't see many homeless folk. At least it's not like ABQ. Then again, you can't get a house for under $350k up north so maybe that's why.

Obviously people are wanting and willing to move here or prices wouldn't be that high.

Rudys is also in Albuquerque. It tastes like burnt tires. I wouldn't eat at Rudy's in ABQ either.

As for the rest of the list, I feel like the OP is wanting a city that COS simply isn't. Some on that list almost sounds like Denver. But of course rent or home prices are way higher there.

Not everyone will like it here. I don't understand why people don't research before they move somewhere. If you have to move for a job that's one thing but some of these complaints are like, "CoS is awful because there are no beach front properties and a boardwalk here.".

I would not buy a house in a place you hate unless it was the only way to keep my job.