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Old 12-30-2015, 10:45 AM
 
930 posts, read 700,201 times
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I bought a condo in a nice, gated community near Havana and Florida (the Dayton Triangle neighborhood). The area is peaceful and lovely. There is a newer "main street designed" shopping center nearby called Aurora Gardens. There is an abundance of retail (King Soopers, Sprouts, Safeway, Target, Kohl's, Lowe's, Costco, Dick's), restaurants, and bars within walking distance. I'm very close to areas like Glendale and Lowry. And I'm about a 40 minute bus ride to downtown (~8.5 miles away).

Whenever I tell people I live in Aurora, there's an instant change in their expression. "Aurora?!?! Ewww..." seems to be the mentality expressed by many folks. It got to the point where I just tell people I'm in East Denver, because the association with Aurora is such a negative one.

When and why did Aurora get such a negative reputation? Where I come from back in the Rust Belt Midwest, Aurora would be considered an archetypal blue-collar-ish suburb. It'd be considered a decent, quiet place to live. I know that there are certain parts of Aurora (near Colfax) that aren't very desirable. But that can be said about most cities. So why do those small problem areas represent Aurora as a whole?
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Old 12-30-2015, 10:52 AM
 
Location: Aurora, CO
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Old habits die hard. We moved to Colorado in the early 80s and even then Aurora had a negative reputation. It really spiked in the 90s when gang violence flared up in Denver. Truth be told Montbello is almost as bad as the worst parts of Aurora. Realistically, though, nothing in the Denver metro area remotely resembles a true ghetto a la parts of St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago, etc.
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Old 12-30-2015, 11:00 AM
 
930 posts, read 700,201 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bluescreen73 View Post
Old habits die hard. We moved to Colorado in the early 80s and even then Aurora had a negative reputation. It really spiked in the 90s when gang violence flared up in Denver. Truth be told Montbello is almost as bad as the worst parts of Aurora. Realistically, though, nothing in the Denver metro area remotely resembles a true ghetto a la parts of St. Louis, Detroit, Chicago, etc.
That's what I'm saying. I'm from the Detroit area. So I'm just scratching my head when people here think that Aurora is the worst ghetto around. It seems to be a very hoity-toity attitude from sheltered white people (I'm white).
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Old 12-30-2015, 11:13 AM
 
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO
556 posts, read 762,814 times
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I don't live in Denver yet, but when I hear Aurora, I instantly think of a crappy part of town. I couldn't even tell you why I think that, it's just the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe I read something somewhere? Maybe proximity to airport? No idea really
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Old 12-30-2015, 11:14 AM
 
Location: Prescott Valley, AZ
3,408 posts, read 4,628,760 times
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Aurora south of Mississippi is getting into the decent to nicer parts.
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Old 12-30-2015, 11:16 AM
 
930 posts, read 700,201 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by guyatwork37 View Post
I don't live in Denver yet, but when I hear Aurora, I instantly think of a crappy part of town. I couldn't even tell you why I think that, it's just the first thing that comes to mind. Maybe I read something somewhere? Maybe proximity to airport? No idea really
Proximity to the airport? The airport is at least 10 miles from any living community. Stapleton is closer to the airport. Heck, Stapleton used to be the airport.

Your comment is perplexing. Does Aurora Borealis sound ghetto to you, too?
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Old 12-30-2015, 11:26 AM
 
977 posts, read 1,327,767 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Analyst View Post
That's what I'm saying. I'm from the Detroit area. So I'm just scratching my head when people here think that Aurora is the worst ghetto around. It seems to be a very hoity-toity attitude from sheltered white people (I'm white).
Every city, I'm using city to describe a metro area, has it's red-headed step child that locals look down on. Aurora is that for Denver. Aurora is the perceived poor area for the locals, it doesn't help that Aurora has a HUGE inferiority complex that causes the city leadership to have tons of "Look at me! I'm important!" moments, and I don't see that changing. Aurora is the ghetto(asides from the Southlands but that's pretty much Parker-lite), Commerce City is stinky town, Highlands Ranch is full of rich white kids who snort cocaine, Boulder is the People's Republic, Denver is the Big Dog (or the Sanctuary City), the northern suburbs are the blue collar areas, etc.

Just get used to people looking down their noses at you when you tell them where you live. It's not changing.
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Old 12-30-2015, 11:27 AM
 
930 posts, read 700,201 times
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Originally Posted by wong21fr View Post
Just get used to people looking down their noses at you when you tell them where you live. It's not changing.
Well I guess this confirms that people are idiots.
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Old 12-30-2015, 11:40 AM
 
3,129 posts, read 1,331,165 times
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When I moved to Colorado, I had no preconceptions about the Denver area or which areas are better than others.

But I didn't move to the front range. I moved to rural Colorado, where there are no TV stations. All that is available is satellite with local stations, so Denver is my local TV.

All I can say is that when I watch the news, it seems crime reports of all kinds frequently originate in Aurora. If there is a positive, feel-good story, it seems to frequently originate from Highlands Ranch or Boulder.

Based solely on local TV news, if I needed to reside in the Denver area, I know where I would want to live and where I wouldn't. Until that changes, I don't know how Aurora could ever overcome its reputation.
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Old 12-30-2015, 11:45 AM
 
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In the late 80s and early 90s Aurora had a lot of violent crime related to gang activity. By no means was this type of crime limited to Aurora.

Especially in the early 90s, west Denver to east Lakewood, and north Denver, were places nongang people avoided like the plague. A coworker had a divorce party (yes, you read that correctly) at his home in Denver. He warned every guest to wear neither red nor blue. Another coworker had spent a lot of time fixing up a house in north Denver, only to find its value had plummeted below what they had paid years earlier, thanks to the taint of gangs in the area.

It took a while, but Aurora became a better place to live. When I moved out of CO a few years ago, Aurora had lost much of the taint from 20 years ago.

BTW, once a week in the warm season my husband and I went to Aurora Reservoir., almost an hour's drive from our home. We did this for about 10 years and thought it was the best-managed, cleanest, safest water recreation park in the Denver area. I had no bad reactions from anybody when I said we went to Aurora.

People who give you the snobby replies are not worth associating with.

Last edited by pikabike; 12-30-2015 at 11:53 AM..
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