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Boise has walkable commercial areas outside of downtown. The downtown area is impressive considering how vibrant and eclectic and walkable it is.
Where, besides the area in the North End around Goody's Soda Fountain?
I agree that the downtown itself has kept up with the city's growth surprisingly well. But I didn't see much outside of that.
I do think Boise outperforms Reno in terms of parks in the city's core. The Truckee River waterfront east of downtown Reno is concrete-laden and unattractive, and the only decent view of the city is from tiny Newlands Park, which you can't even see downtown from. Camel's Back Park and the Idaho Botanical Garden are solid city assets (though the latter would be better if it were free or cheaper!) Boise also probably has a better food scene, just because Reno's food scene is a joke.
Thanks for explaining the parameters of this question. That said I will offer Boise, Idaho. Truly a very fast growing State capital with well over 700,000 now but may be approaching a million by 2030.
It's growing crazy fast with a CSA population of around 812,000 and Metro of nearly 750,000. It seems like there are always cranes in the sky downtown and throughout the city and even in Meridian on occasion.
Boise has several national and international corporate headquarters, three are on the current Fortune 500 list, and a tech corridor downtown which adds to the business climate in the city. The airport is growing and often adding new flights including major direct flights and in turn the hotel and convention business is booming.
It definitely "punches above its weight".
Last edited by TohobitPeak; 10-10-2021 at 05:23 PM..
Boise is another example of growth that was certainly there before the pandemic, but increasing because of it. My theory is many in Seattle, Portland, and California are looking for safer, more affordable places to live. My current location, TriCities WA is also a benefactor of this population increase. This is a major sea change from big cities to smaller. The media has ignored this, but it is real.
Boise is another example of growth that was certainly there before the pandemic, but increasing because of it. My theory is many in Seattle, Portland, and California are looking for safer, more affordable places to live. My current location, TriCities WA is also a benefactor of this population increase. This is a major sea change from big cities to smaller. The media has ignored this, but it is real.
The media has been ignoring it because even if a lot of people are leaving, even more people are coming in. Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland all grew a lot this past decade. Los Angeles is still growing but is becoming pretty sluggish compared with numbers in the past.
The media has been ignoring it because even if a lot of people are leaving, even more people are coming in. Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland all grew a lot this past decade. Los Angeles is still growing but is becoming pretty sluggish compared with numbers in the past.
The media hasn't been ignoring Boise's growth but has the Tri Cities.
Also, I notice a lot of people holding Des Moines up as a place that punches way above its weight in terms of feel. But honestly, maybe on paper it does, and the Downtown area is nice, places like Omaha still feel a lot larger, even if the gap has shrunk size-wise between the two areas.
A big factor in that is that Des Moines lacks focal points outside of the Downtown, where Omaha has a midtown, and areas like Benson really surpass any older business district in Des Moines. There has been a lot of investment in the Drake Neighborhood of Des Moines, and it has recently been really built up, but it still really isn't a destination for anyone outside the neighborhood.
Des Moines as for right now, basically only has Downtown and the Ingersoll/grand strip that extends westward of it, and the suburban Jordan Creek area in WDM as metro focal points.
Des Moines definitely doesn't feel smaller than a 700k metro but I don't think it feels larger.
The media hasn't been ignoring Boise's growth but has the Tri Cities.
I would agree with that. The Tri Cities has been exploding with population but it rarely is pointed out in the media. Boise is just a bit more “cool” so it obviously will get more attention.
The media has been ignoring it because even if a lot of people are leaving, even more people are coming in. Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland all grew a lot this past decade. Los Angeles is still growing but is becoming pretty sluggish compared with numbers in the past.
The key words in your comment are "this past decade." The numbers we see from the Census Bureau cover the period up to April 1, 2020. What they don't cover is how people have reacted to COVID and to last summer's rioting and the ongoing increase in lawlessness. It remains to be seen whether last decade's growth in Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland will continue or not.
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