What's the deal with "North of Smoky Hill Road?" (Denver: homes, neighborhood)

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by RashidWilliams

So what's the deal with these stats then? This is from a little over a year ago. I'm not saying I believe everything I read in the media but it is a bit disturbing.

Soaring gang violence in Denver on track to surpass five-year high – The Denver Post

Denver Ghetto and Denver Gangs of the East Side

7 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods In Denver

That first article is over a year old... however, crime is indeed up in Denver-- and crime is up in most cities across the country from a low point several years ago after years of declining crime rates. This is a nationwide trend, not just specific to Denver. It's a direct result of the mainstream national media's demonization of the police. Criminals are feeling emboldened and the police are scaling back a lot of their tactics.

That being said, none of the neighborhoods in southeast Aurora that you are looking at are considered dangerous. Also, is there any major US city that does not have any bad neighborhoods with gangs and crime?

[skins_fan82]

Originally Posted by RashidWilliams

Soaring gang violence in Denver on track to surpass five-year high – The Denver Post

"Soaring gang violence" LMAO!

Denver has 28 homicides this year. Chicago just hit 500. THAT is soaring gang violence.

It's all relative I guess. If you're from rural Iowa, 28 murders for Denver is a big deal. I'm from DC. I was raised in 90s, when Washington DC was the "murder capital" 3 years in a row. 400+ homicides a year on average. So forgive some of us if we don't consider 28 homicides for Denver "soaring gang violence."

East Denver/Aurora is safe, even at night. Unless you're directly involved with the gangs, no harm will come to you. Now with that said, would I advise somebody to walk alone at night through a sketchy part of town? No, I would not. But that's just common sense. Even the "most dangerous" parts of the Denver area are pretty tame compared to bigger cities.


Of metro areas with populations of 3M+ (we're at 2.9 million here I think), Denver metro has to be in the top 5 with the LEAST amount of violent crimes.

[Timmyy]

Originally Posted by RashidWilliams

So what's the deal with these stats then? This is from a little over a year ago. I'm not saying I believe everything I read in the media but it is a bit disturbing.

Soaring gang violence in Denver on track to surpass five-year high – The Denver Post

Denver Ghetto and Denver Gangs of the East Side

7 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods In Denver

Where do you live?

[RashidWilliams]

Originally Posted by Timmyy

Where do you live?

Timmyy, I currently live in Long Island but grew up in Queens and the South Bronx. I am well accustomed to rough neighborhoods -- just was doing some research and wanted to see if they were accurate. Thanks for the comments guys.

[history nerd]

It's almost as if realtors have some kind of profit motive... CAN IT BE???

Seriously though there is nothing wrong with the area north of Smokey Hill. Hell you can go way further north than that in Aurora and be alright. I usually would say that the desirable part is south of Alameda and east of Chambers for people without children and anywhere in CCSD for people with children. Even the parts that I wouldn't class as desirable are safe.

[alloo66]

I thought it was South of Smokey Hill RD.

[emm74]

Originally Posted by starryny

Hi everyone, I am Rashid's wife...jumping in here just to get input on schools. Out of the 40+ elementary schools in Cherry Creek district how do we begin eliminating some of them. I see the rankings but I don't want that to be our biggest issue because our current school is great but ranked a 5 in NY. What are some things we should look for in the schools and questions to ask?

Even if your kids are young, check out the middle and high schools, not just the elementary schools. I don't know specifics about other districts, but in Denver Public Schools, there are a number of very good to excellent elementary schools and a few very good/excellent high schools. But middle schools are lost in the middle and a lot of them, even when they get fed by excellent elementary schools and feed into good high schools, aren't at the same level.

So make sure you've got schools you are comfortable with all the way through to high school - you may end up moving while your kids are in school, but you don't want to have to move when you realize the middle school isn't up to par.

[iowegian3]

Originally Posted by mic111

When you are serious about a house or neighborhood you can look at their city or water system's web site and it will say where the water comes from. Denver had the most senior surface rights. Some cities in the metro area get their water from Denver. The south metro area is where the aquifer is so due diligence is a good idea. The cities north of town generally also have surface water rights obtained from the farmers fields where the developments are built. On occasion some city/developer will put in housing without proper access to water so you have to be careful.

You want to see something like this:
Water Supply
Water comes from streams and rivers.

Something like this is more of a concern:
ACWWA FAQ | ACWWA
ACWWA’s current supply primarily consists of deep groundwater wells and shallow alluvial wells along Cherry Creek River. There are two major components as to why ACWWA needs additional water supply.

1. The reduction of our existing supplies, as has been widely reported on the Front Range. Groundwater levels have been diminishing due to the mining of groundwater (pumping the groundwater faster than it is recharging). ACWWA is seeing evidence of this. Due to this issue, our current supplies may not be adequate to supply current demands over time.
2. While ACWWA has long been developing various water supplies, including renewable water rights, due to the limitations of our physical location we cannot simply find all the water supplies we need within our service area; hence the reason for looking beyond our borders for additional water supplies.

And that is why people should skip the ACWWA "middleman" and just settle in an area that has a lot more senior water rights, like the Arkansas Valley. The sunny, New Mexico climate is closer than you think. Skip snowstorms in May.

[RashidWilliams]

Just to put closure on this thread, I flew into DIA this afternoon and drove on Smoky Hill for a few miles just to see for myself. Will have a lot to talk about tomorrow about the local Denver people that stated this. Saw a few liquor stores here and there, a few depressed properties but NOT RUN down. No roving gangs, bodegas or the like as what was described to me. So funny how people's perspectives are different from state to state as was well explained in this thread. Thanks for your help.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by RashidWilliams

Just to put closure on this thread, I flew into DIA this afternoon and drove on Smoky Hill for a few miles just to see for myself. Will have a lot to talk about tomorrow about the local Denver people that stated this. Saw a few liquor stores here and there, a few depressed properties but NOT RUN down. No roving gangs, bodegas or the like as what was described to me. So funny how people's perspectives are different from state to state as was well explained in this thread. Thanks for your help.

You'll have to explain what bodegas are to the local folk.

It's tract home suburbia, plain and simple. Levittown. "Da Hood" by Colorado standards, based on their ethnic makeups.

It's a shame, really.