Colorado Springs tops Denver to rank No. 2 in magazine's Best Places to Live list - (CO) - Page 7 - City-Data Forum

TCHP · 04-17-2018, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colorado Rambler

orngkat has nailed it. Colorado Springs has oodles of potential, but a decidedly conservative population which looks at innovation with suspicion and the smallest tax hike to improve roads and/or education with outright horror. This sort of thinking has left the Springs all too often just spinning its wheels and getting nowhere except more over-crowded.

You couldn't ask for more scenic attractions, great educational facilities like Colorado College and UCCS, an outstanding county-wide library system, an up and coming live entertainment/night scene and more.

Yet so many of the things that go into the making of a great city are lacking. There's no mass transit system to make it easier to get around and cut pollution/climate change. Good luck getting Springs voters to let go of so much as an extra penny in taxes for road improvements, better schools for the region's children, and help getting the ever increasing numbers of homeless people off the streets to name but a few.

My opinion on that lacking part of the equation is this; historically, Cos depended on wealthy benefactors to provide for those perks that make places great. Palmer and his donation land & parks, Stratton and the trolley lines, civic buildings, and family concerts, the Penroses and their arts and entertainment promotions, the Hunts and their promotion of local natural history attractions, and now some people sit back and waits for Anschutz and Sanders to continue the tradition. Since the Penrose era is still recent enough for the successful boomers from that time to remember, they are not motivated to enact the change. They are waiting for it to come to us. There are not enough Gen Xers to push the change. Perhaps there is opportunity in the upcoming generations to push it over the top. They are large in number and demand progressive improvements. They collectively are redefining work/life practices. They may be the ones to make that change through sheer numbers and since we actually are attracting large numbers of them, they may be the best hope of change. Even just my reciting of this demonstrates a "lets see" attitude that is a core trait of Cos. I can envision a huge and sweeping change to a certain portion of the city that is not seen by others, yet I do nothing to pursue it. Perhaps, we are our own worst enemy to the change.

DrDog · 04-17-2018, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colorado Rambler

orngkat has nailed it. Colorado Springs has oodles of potential, but a decidedly conservative population which looks at innovation with suspicion and the smallest tax hike to improve roads and/or education with outright horror. This sort of thinking has left the Springs all too often just spinning its wheels and getting nowhere except more over-crowded.

You couldn't ask for more scenic attractions, great educational facilities like Colorado College and UCCS, an outstanding county-wide library system, an up and coming live entertainment/night scene and more.

Yet so many of the things that go into the making of a great city are lacking. There's no mass transit system to make it easier to get around and cut pollution/climate change. Good luck getting Springs voters to let go of so much as an extra penny in taxes for road improvements, better schools for the region's children, and help getting the ever increasing numbers of homeless people off the streets to name but a few.

If you are wondering why, part of the answer may be in DrDog's post:

Housing costs are the primary component of the overall cost of living just about everywhere in the US, Colorado Springs included. How can you possibly believe otherwise unless you've been a trust funder or something all your life and never have had to worry about paying the rent.

And nobody much enjoys the experience of coping with the funky bus system in the Springs - be they young and professional or old and (re)tired. But when the Washington DC area first put the new metro system into operation, I was very impressed. At the time, I could easily envision myself getting a cute little place in Arlington and riding into DC to my cool new job as the head of the science collection at the Library of Congress. And there are plenty of other mass transit systems in various US cities that seem to be doing a good job. I think they're a great way to avoid the constant battle with traffic, on-going searches for parking places, and a way of saving on expenses by moth-balling your car during the week.

You seem to be arguing just for the sake of argument Dr. D.

And you seem to miss my points as you only see your own.

Building a 100 or so affordable condos for those living in poverty will do nothing for the average price of a house.

Getting on a bus, especially late at night in a bad part of town is not what gen-x’ers do. They call Lyft, or Uber or they drive their car.