Family friendly Colorado towns.. (Denver, Colorado Springs: condos, high crime, school districts)

[theoaks]

Originally Posted by movingto...

A small town is not ideal, but neither is "the big city". I know there's a happy medium somewhere, so I'll say more than 30kish but not a 300k kind of place . Having access to said stores (which isn't a make or break, just preferred) is all I need. I drive 30/45 minutes to reach them where I am now. My husband has a degree in a profession that it literally everywhere. Commuting isn't ideal considering he has a 45 min+ one way now. I guess we're considered upper middle class, so an area too uppity wouldn't fit the bill.
I have not looked into Chico, CA, but I've actually been considering Bend, OR. It sounds like the regular overcast might get to us there though. Littleton looks nice, I'll have to look into that further.

I responded to another post of yours about Bend and Oregon in general, as for Chico, California - FORGET IT if you have kids ! That is Meth Central along with nearby Redding and Oroville ! Bend has a huge drug problem but Chico is 100X worse ! And, the gangs, murders, rapes, it's horrible.

Also, you mention politics. While Corvallis is Very Liberal, Bend and all of Eastern Oregon are Very Conservative.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by theoaks

I responded to another post of yours about Bend and Oregon in general, as for Chico, California - FORGET IT if you have kids ! That is Meth Central along with nearby Redding and Oroville ! Bend has a huge drug problem but Chico is 100X worse ! And, the gangs, murders, rapes, it's horrible.

Also, you mention politics. While Corvallis is Very Liberal, Bend and all of Eastern Oregon are Very Conservative.

Bend is very conservative? I'd call it very purple. It's a very mixed city. A liberal would hardly feel out of place there.

[theoaks]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Bend is very conservative? I'd call it very purple. It's a very mixed city. A liberal would hardly feel out of place there.

You're right, they would not feel out of place, but it's definitely NOT Ashland or Corvallis or Portland ......

Outside of Bend? VERY VERY VERY conservative - Klamath Falls, Redmond, Madras, The Dalles, Pendleton, Burns, etc. etc. etc.

Native Bendites don't want the Portlandites moving over and changing their politics and telling them what to do with their land.

[movingto...]

I think after much thought, Oregon is out. There's quite a few places in Colorado that look appealing and have a very promising job market. I kept looking at Colorado Springs, but the safety is concerning me. Along with the schools. A safe area with good schools do not seem to come hand and hand for some reason. The list of Superfund sites is keeping me from heading to Denver or Boulder, even though everything else about it seems pretty good. It's kinda hard to willingly move somewhere with so many listed existing contaminants. Is there anywhere that is "clean" that has low crime and good schools? A town with more than 3 people is preferred. Hah, that seems to be the only places that meet that particular requirement!

[SkyDog77]

Budget?

[movingto...]

Don't worry about the budget. I want to know what the "best" is.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by movingto...

Don't worry about the budget. I want to know what the "best" is.

Aspen.

Seriously though, maybe Durango.

Superfund sites are keeping you out of Denver though? That's strange. There are plenty of parts of Denver that are not anywhere near superfund sites.

[philberf]

Southern and eastern suburbs of Denver are pretty darn safe with pretty darn good schools.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Well, moving to......, if you are worried about contaminants, then pretty much nowhere in Colorado will be safe for you.

One Superfund site in Boulder County (Captain Jack Mill) is not near the City of Boulder but up in the foothills. It was an old site for mining gold and silver, and there are old mining sites all over the state. The other site (Marshall Landfill) is an old municipal landfill, which can be found in many areas around the state. I assume that since you since you ruled out Denver and Boulder due to Superfund sites, that you are particularly sensitive. I've never hear any talk from anyone about suffering from contaminants from either of these sites in Boulder County.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by philberf

Southern and eastern suburbs of Denver are pretty darn safe with pretty darn good schools.

OP won't discuss budget, but Denver and its suburbs are so much more expensive than anything comparable in STL or KC. It's also apparently one big superfund site.