Highlands Ranch Info (Aurora: HOA, neighborhood, buy)

[WilliamPacker]

I don't see HR as being overly conservative. More conservative than Denver and most of the metro area but it isn't like you would be run out if you were liberal. I like the west side of HR, close to Santa Fe and Shea Stadium. Very good mounain views and a lot of parks. The east side of HR feels like a traffic nightmare to me. Maybe it was just my old route home from work and our location but it drove me nuts.

[steveindenver]

Can't rep the love MobyLL else I would.

[kimmer]

We just moved to HR in December after house-hunting for months. Saw many many "Obama" signs in yards so that was very encouraging to me. Our development is a nice mix of families and with kids, you gotta love all the cul-de-sacs and parks. Lots of socializing in the summer.
We have a daughter who happens to be Asian and our neighbors have 2 kids who are Asian. Every week while grocery shopping I see at least 1 or 2 families who are Asian or who have Asian children. I don't feel out-of-place down here like I did in Arvada.

[socalover]

Folks, I live in Highlands Ranch and am a proud tree hugging liberal. Douglas County going conservative is no fault of Highlands Ranch. There were much more Obama signs on lawns and cars throughout HR prior to the election. The Mc Cain supporters were from further south Douglas County.
I guarantee you that if you look at HR only as a voting block, I will bet anything that Highland Ranch was BLUE BLUE BLUE for the last election.

[MobyLL]

Originally Posted by socalover

Folks, I live in Highlands Ranch and am a proud tree hugging liberal. Douglas County going conservative is no fault of Highlands Ranch. There were much more Obama signs on lawns and cars throughout HR prior to the election. The Mc Cain supporters were from further south Douglas County.
I guarantee you that if you look at HR only as a voting block, I will bet anything that Highland Ranch was BLUE BLUE BLUE for the last election.

I'll take that bet... the number of Obama vs. McCain signs is not a good indicator. There was much more enthusiasm for Obama so therefore his supporters were much more likely to go to the effort to get and display a sign. Here in Denver city/county the vote was roughly 3 to 1 for Obama (75% Obama, 23% McCain) but the Obama vs. McCain signs in Denver were probably at a 10:1 or even 20:1 ratio.

I have no doubt that overall McCain had more votes than Obama in Highlands Ranch; I'll bet you a drink at the next happy hour on that.

[the3Ds]

Good Grief! What is with all of us trying to define ourselves as Liberal or Conservative? If your neighbors take care of their yard, say hello when they see you, don't have 10 broken down cars in their driveway and aren't sacrificing animals every Saturday night, WHO CARES WHAT POLITICAL PERSUASION THEY ARE!!!!!!! (can I indicate I'm yelling enough?!?!?!?!)

If you are worried about moving into a conservative or liberal area when you feel the opposite of your neighbors politically, you must not be very secure in your beliefs. I went to a Catholic university as a Protestant and guess what? Still not a Catholic! I worked with Air Force fighter pilots and while I am sure there are exceptions, most of them are wild living, many times divorced, beer drinking party animals (I think it comes from the dangerous occupation). Many of them went to the AF Academy in the much maligned Colorado Springs. Many of them, upon retirement, moved back there. Somehow, I'm sure they are not driving minivans around spreading the Gospel. Ask yourself this question...if you were to live in Berkley, CA (which I stereotype as a very liberal area), are your kids going to be less shocked when they move away and realize that not everyone feels the same way? Probably not any more than a person moving from Salt Lake City. As a parent, your job is to teach your kids to make up their own minds and when faced with someone who feels differently, to either accept them for what they believe, try to convince them to "see the light" or just move on. Just because you have a Mormon (sorry about the references to Mormons....we just have them in our neighborhood on a weekly basis) come to visit your house and give you a brochure, are you planning on attending their church? Being around people who differ from you usually helps you secure your own beliefs. If it doesn't, you probably weren't that sure to begin with.

Now, back to the HR question. My family moved here 2 years ago. We had never before stepped foot in Denver before we arrived with the moving van. Having spent literally months on this site (and others) I had narrowed our choices to Parker or Highlands Ranch. Most of the reports on the area were glowing and I wanted my kids to live in a safe area with good schools. So, when we started our seach, we looked at literally dozens of homes. Most in our price range (which we were not going to go above, no matter how much we qualified for) were merely okay. The first time we drove into Parker and Highlands Ranch, I was expecting a ray of light to shine down upon us and for music to play. However, Parker and Highlands Ranch look pretty much like any other area of Denver. The houses are all crammed together (unless you live in one of the multi-million dollar homes on acreage) and all the same shade of beige. Some have nicer landscaping or more square footage, but otherwise, there is nothing unique about either area. You wouldn't even know you were there except for the street signs. Every city in Denver has chain stores...you can find a Best Buy, Linens and Things, Wal-Mart, Target, etc.

Incidentally, after looking at homes where the owners would not consider a lower price range (gasp! "We are in Highlands Ranch/Parker! We don't need to lower our prices! You are fortunate to be able to live here and should be willing to pay whatever we are asking for our beat up stairways/stained carpet/chipped granite countertop house!"), we found our little slice of heaven in SE Aurora. We are a bikeride away from Southlands Mall, in the Cherry Creek SD (which passed their school bond allowing for expansion and building to accomodate smaller class sizes...a bond which failed in Douglas County (Parker)), and actually have some diversity in our neighborhood. My daughter's elementary school boasts that they have the same diversity as the rest of the US. There are great areas to live nearby in a city called Centennial.

My only point is that you would be wise to actually look around before committing. Decide on a price range and then look at schools and school districts. You may find that you love Highlands Ranch (as many do), but don't close your mind off to another area where your kids will get the same education, there is the same crime stats and your dollar will go further.

As for being Asian...even if we in Colorado were the stereotypical moronic racists, most of that anger is not directed at the Asian community. The group du jour for picking on are Hispanics. That being said, no matter where you live, there is someone who will have a problem with you. There are many more who won't. Be a good neighbor and encourage your kids to do the same. If that doesn't work, find a group for your kids to belong to. We have a lot of Asian people in our neighborhood (and more in Centennial, if the enrollment of my daughter's swim class at The Trails Recreation Center in Centennial is any indicator...she is the only one who is NOT Asian...and surprisingly, kids of all races float the same way ). Colorado is full of transplants who have higher degrees. Most with a higher education are more open to other people having different viewpoints.

[MobyLL]

^Good Grief! That is a lot of verbiage! I think I would probably agree with you, but I don't have the intellectual capacity to get through it all.

So anyways, the important thing is my bet with socalover:

Originally Posted by socalover

I guarantee you that if you look at HR only as a voting block, I will bet anything that Highland Ranch was BLUE BLUE BLUE for the last election.

Here is a map of the 2008 Election returns by Voting District and it is RED RED RED. The overall vote in HR was 32,476 (56%) for McCain and 25,633 (44%) for Obama.
Data sources: http://www.douglas.co.us/clerk/elections/documents/2008generalelectionofficialresults_precinctlevel.p df (broken link)
http://www.douglas.co.us/clerk/elections/documents/VoterPrecincts300DPI.pdf (broken link)



However, to get back to the OP question... If you like suburbs you will probably like HR, it has all the amenities you are looking for except "liberal". It leans conservative, but if you are liberal you can still live there just fine as socalover and others can attest. If you don't like suburbs you won't like HR no matter what your political persuasion.

[socalover]

OK OK OK, my area in the Hearth went blue, I guess the older regions of HR makes it overall red. Out of the 8 homes surrounding me (3 in front, 3 behind, 2 on the sides), there are 4 Asian families around me. Look, I lived everywhere from redneck towns in Georgia to liberal and conservative areas in California. As a minority, I feel 100% comfortable in HR, the area does not have a hint of the narrowmindedness of previous conservative areas I have lived, YOU WILL LOVE HIGHLANDS RANCH (year round indoor pools for the kids at the 4 rec centers)!

If you want to pay a $6,00 toll each day (works out to about 40K in a mortgage), check out SE Aurora. I rather pay 25K more in HR and have more stable housing prices and better schools.

[socalover]

BTW, that map also includes Lone Tree, and areas south and East of HR. In the end, it's only recently CO went Blue, the state voted Bush TWICE! Unless you're downtown Denver, you might not find many blue areas.

[MobyLL]

Originally Posted by socalover

As a minority, I feel 100% comfortable in HR, the area does not have a hint of the narrowmindedness of previous conservative areas I have lived

Yeah, I know what you are saying... I have lived in redneck/racist "conservative" areas also and HR is nothing like that. However, I don't fault people who are visible minorities and are unfamiliar with Denver being concerned about being accepted; you never know what someone has gone through in the past when they ask these questions.

Glad you found a place you like... join us for happy hour, I'm always up for meeting another tree hugging liberal.