Is it me or is all of the Washington DC area moving to Denver? (Boulder: rental car, real estate)

[jazzlover]

I don't consider what I say about the future of Federal government "bombastic." mod cut

My personal opinion is that Colorado would do well not to encourage more Federal government employment growth in this state, but rather try to wean ourselves from it and build a stronger private sector employment base that is NOT dependent on government spending.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

I will ignore all the snarky personal remarks directed at me and answer the question.

First, Denver has one of the largest presences of Federal offices outside of Washington, D.C. That has been the case since World War II, when the Feds thought it wise that a chunk of Federal offices should be located in an inland location, away from any potential coastal invasion. Of course, that threat is pretty much a moot issue now, but, bureaucratic inertia being what it is, Denver remains a very large Federal "outpost." The location for that initially was a site occupied by the Remington Arms Co. as a munitions plant in Denver, also located at that inland location for security reasons. That became the Denver Federal Center.

Colorado Springs achieved similar status in the 1950's, during the Cold War, with the location of the Air Force Academy and the Cheyenne Mountain facilities there. The latter probably made some strategic sense during the Cold War, but the former was pure pork barrel politics. Dwight Eisenhower, the then President, had a direct Colorado connection--his wife lived in Colorado for some time--so, it likely was not too difficult to persuade him to shovel some pork Colorado's way. (Parenthetically, the first "official" Air Force One's, Lockheed Constellations, were named Columbine II and III, named after the state flower of Colorado.)

Second, Colorado has always been sort of a "revolving door" for many federal employees. I suspect that nearly as many federal employees have been transferred from Colorado to Washington, D.C. as have been transferred from there to Colorado. For example, in agencies with which I have had a long relationship--the US Forest Service and BLM, doing a career stint with them in anything above a mid-level position almost always involved "doing time" (often a lengthy time) in DC. In fact, a career path in those agencies to a high administrative level almost precludes a person from refusing a transfer to DC, no matter how much the individual may dislike having to relocate there. Certainly, Colorado would likely be considered a prime "duty station" compared to some of the pits where Federal employees have to go, but if one expects advancement beyond the lower levels in Federal employment, it usually means going where the government tells you to go to work.

Now, that has, for decades been an economic boon for Colorado, with billions of dollars of Federal pork directed into the state. Unfortunately, it has also made Colorado both very dependent on that pork for its economic well-being, and very lazy about trying to hold and attract private industry not directly tied to that pork. (Even age-old Coors, one of Colorado's few remaining "flagship" companies, derives much of it business from government contracts--through its porcelin products division that does much defense and aerospace work.)

One shoud not have to be much above moronic intelligence to figure out that any constriction in federal pork-barrel spending (and that is inevitable in the long run) will have a disastrous effect on the federal-dependent Colorado economy, but apparently most Coloradans, new or otherwise, want to bury their heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge that reality.

YAY! Jazzlover's back!

*does happy dance behind mods' backs*

[Virginiagrrrl]

Originally Posted by MtnJam

Since the arrival of a Hall of Fame QB in PFM, you won't see a huge Redskins showing. In fact, Mile High is probably the only remaining sports venue in Denver where you will usually see at least 90% for the home team. Long waiting list for season tickets, too. Bronco Nation rules here.

Well, we are on the waiting list already, and hoping that someone will be selling. At the very list, it will be us and friends of ours who are already in CO. My husband and hers will be in Broncos stuff though, as they are both natives and fans.

[phoenixmike11]

Redskins fans in Denver-I found this group for Skins fans in Denver area
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RedskinsFansOfDenver/

[NASH79]

I went to Gallaudet University in DC and then got a job at the Denver Federal Center seven years ago. The Denver Federal Center has the largest number of Federal government agencies outside of DC especially the Department of the Interior.

Having grown up in Estes Park, going to DC was quite a shock for me especially the rat races in the Metro and how fast everyone was going about their business. When I moved to Lakewood, I came to the realization of how laid back Denver really is compared to many large cities in this country. Whenever someone complains of traffic, I tell them about DC traffic versus Denver traffic and tell them to appreciate what they have.

[CosmicWizard]

Virginiagrrrl wrote: Is it me or is all of the Washington DC area moving to Denver?

Somewhere in between, but much closer to just you. It appears that the population of the DC area is holding quite steady and even growing a bit.

[Teckeeee]

I am curious what are these federal employees doing in CO? 30k where? I know we have NSA, we have the threat fusion center in Lakewood, are we including the military in this headcount? I guess we are. The domestic division of the CIA was supposed to set up shop here don't know if they ever did?

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by MtnJam

Since the arrival of a Hall of Fame QB in PFM, you won't see a huge Redskins showing. In fact, Mile High is probably the only remaining sports venue in Denver where you will usually see at least 90% for the home team. Long waiting list for season tickets, too. Bronco Nation rules here.

Seriously? When we went to a Broncos-Steelers game a few years ago, there were more people in Pittsburgh apparel than Broncos. There were so many people cheering for Pittsburgh, it was hard to figure out what was happening on the field. (We were high up.) Even at the Broncos-Ravens playoff game in Jan (brrr!) there was a representation of Ravens fans. A lot of people are from somewhere else. They keep their hometown loyalties for a long time. It took me about 30 years to convert.

[CosmicWizard]

I am somewhat like the fans you describe above. I rarely ever root for a sports team based on their location relative to mine. I tend to have favorite players or groups of players and root for the team they play for.

EG: Throughout most of the '90s I was big fan of the Atlanta Braves. Firstly, at that time I got to watch them play almost every day because Ted Turner owned the team back then and he aired all of the games on TBS. Being able to follow them that closely was big plus. The Braves team of that era had a magical chemistry amongst the players. I loved watching the likes of Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Ryan Klesko, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Andres Galarraga, Mark Lemke, Dave Justice, Terry Pendelton, Fred McGriff, Denny Nagle, Francisco Cabrera and Sid Bream, manager Bobby Cox......and the list goes on and on. It was simply magical.

I lived in Virginia Beach at the time, so Atlanta was not exactly the back yard home team. Baltimore was closer and many of the local fans rooted for the Orioles. Another local favorite was the Philadelphia Phillies.

Simply because I moved to Colorado had no effect on my love of the Atlanta Braves, so I continued to root for them. But over the years, ALL of my beloved Atalanta Braves of that era have ridden into the baseball sunset and I now have no affinity with the current Atlanta Braves whatsoever.

After 7 years of half heartedly following the Rockies I've not yet developed an affinity for the players. Not sure why that is, but that is my reality. Currently, there is no professional baseball team that I am passionately rooting for. The Braves thing was a beautiful experience while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end. Now that Chipper has retired it's all just a wonderful memory.

[Sonic_Spork]

Tell ya one thing...it's remarkable to me how well represented former northern VA residents are on this board. Does feel like there's a lot of traffic between VA and CO, much related to government, specifically military. It feels very odd to me that VA has more gun-friendly laws than CO though. The culture here feels more gun-friendly than the culture in VA ever did to me, but then I lived in the more urban parts of the state. Hm.

I'm planning another visit "back home" in VA, but not doing the beach thing this time because I want to try and spend more time with some friends I neglected last year. Of course my family wants to see me too, and dangled a little financial help with the trip to tempt me up to Fredericksburg (like that was necessary .) And my main draw is the GWAR-B-Q, in Richmond, a festival my favorite band is putting on...what is cool this year, is that I helped network up the band with a Florida homebrewer who had a good recipe, and he involved a bigger brewing outfit (Cigar City Brewing Co.--has anyone heard of them?) so there will be "GWAR Beer" at this year's shindig, and it's quite possible the band will pay for my flight out as a promoter of this. The rather ironic bit is that I don't even drink alcohol. But I thought it was a good idea, advantageous to all parties, so I was excited to help out some friends and get it happening. They'll also be marketing their own "GWARBQ Sauce" made by Grinders out of Kansas City, and that's pretty neat too.

More than anything though...I'm just longing to go feel the sticky summer air of my home state on my skin, smell the honeysuckle and listen to the cicada--and ride the AWESOME rollercoasters at King's Dominion!!! Colorado is OK. But I miss home...