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Colorado Springs


RestedTraveler

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cs is way cool my parents just moved there last year lots to do if you are outdoorsy, as far as the downtown is concerned it prolly wont ever get real big all the companies are in denver why go to cs when denver is right next door and there are a ton of liqor stores but no night life downtown too consevative but oh well. cs is just an overly sprawled miltary town the good thing is that all the roads are big there, i live in boise idaho which is pretty nice but they cant plan for roads here to save their lives

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Just to clarify, to say there is NO nightlife in downtown Colorado Springs is simply not true, though it can't compare to Denver and Boulder.

Think about it, all of those soldiers need somewhere to drink and pick up ladies on the weekend :P

Off the top of my head, the more popular night spots in downtown Colorado Springs include Bourbon Street at Rum Bay, Vue Nightclub, C-Bar, V-Bar, Eden Nightclub, Sodo Nightclub, The Underground (gay club), Jack Quinn's, Southside Johnny's, Rendevous, Old Chicago, McCabes, The Metropolitan, Jose Muldunes, Phantom Canyon Micro Brewery, The Warehouse. You'll also find a few back alley art galleries, and countless other little places, not to mention Meadow Muffins in Old Colorado City. Tejon Street has to be shut down at last call on weekends because of the crowds that pour out of the clubs, pubs, and bars onto the street.

Blurry photo of people going into Rum Bay on a cool Friday night in early May. Now you can see why I don't have more night time pictures.

NightBeforeWedding003.jpg

Personally I don't like clubs where I'm squished in with a million people, can't move, can't think, can't hear over the music and yelling... For my money, I'd rather go down into the pub at The Underground and drink a pitcher of beer. There are people, but it's pretty relaxed. You can actually hear yourself think, and the person who is talking to you. It's not all extremely loud and packed in. You can play pool. it's nice. The place has a club with a dance floor and a roof top balcony area too but... I like the bar. Their website is right when it say's they are "the gay cheers of Colorado."

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I don't know how many of your questions have been answered TR, and I know from previous posts you already have some of this info... but I have nothing better to do, so, some thoughts...

Generally speaking, what part of town you want to live in depends on what your looking for. The north end of town where you would be working is generally upper-middle class and very suburban. Traffic seems to be worse up there than in other parts of the city, probably because the large number of sprawling office parks that are home to multiple 3 to 6 story office buildings. There are a few 10-story hotels on the drawing board for that area of town, I would expect the traffic woes to get worse. It's especially bad right now because of COSMIX "Colorado Springs Metro Interstate Expansion." Hopefully when the work is done, the drive will be easier. The north end is generally covered by Academy School District 20, which is regarded as one of the best in the city.

Colorado Springs doesn't have a unified school district, several different districts cover the city. Academy School District 20 on the north side,Falcon School District 49 on the north and east sides, and Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 on the southwest side are generally thought of as "the best" school districts in town. Colorado Springs School District 11 is the largest.

The city has an excellent Parks and Recs department and YMCA system. I've only ever been to the southeast YMCA and it was awesome!

Home values are lower than other parts of the country, but too high for the market. Foreclosure rates are pretty high right now.

The east side is also very suburban and residents there generally live in slightly lower income brackets than their northern counterparts. Traffic along the Powers Corridor is very heavy and plans are in the works to expand Powers into a freeway with more than 20 overpass interchanges.

As you might expect, the central parts of the city, as well of the west side are generally more well established and more urban. What I call charming and urban in the central area, someone up north or out east would call old and dirty.

The southwest side is where the Broadmoor Hotel is. Million Dollar mansions, yuppies.

The southeast side is lower income... generally suburban though denser than the northern and eastern suburbs. This is the highest crime part of town and the lowest income part of town. If there is a meth lab, or a shooting, or a stabbing, it's probably on the southeast side along Fountain Boulevard. The intersection of Fountain and Chelton comes up a lot in the news.

I live in an unincorported suburb southeast of the city. It's generally regarded as a lower income "bad" area. It's really not anymore, but it was 20 years ago and bad reps die hard. The cost of living down here is still lower than in the rest of the city. The area is called The Fountain Valley and is home to The City of Fountain, and the unincorporated communities of Security and Widefield. Altogether, the valley is home to about 50,000 people. In a way, Widefield School District 3 acts as local government out here. It maintains the local parks and recs department, the library, and hosts many civic events. If it were not for my desire to move to Denver and be in an urban environment, I would love to stay in Security-Widefield. I love it here despite it's suburban nature, I love the small, close-knit community feel. Plus most of my family is here and has been since the 1950's.

Altitude can be a problem for newcomers. The city sits around 6,000 feet above sea level, give or take a few hundred feet depending on where you are in town. Pikes Peak is at 14, 110 feet.

We have our four seasons. Summer is usually in the 80's-90's. Sunny in the morning, thunderstorms in the afternoon. It's not very humid here which is good (I think LOL.) Thunderstorms can be nasty. The lightning out here can be spectacular and deadly, but we don't see too many tornadoes in the city. Eastern El Paso County is a different story. We do see occasional hail storms that can dump 6" of golf ball sized hail. It's a winter wonderland in the middle of summer. Spring is spring and fall is fall. October is a fun month. We can have 90 degree day's, severe thunderstorms, and blizzards all in the span of 3 weeks during the month of October. Winters are mild, but we do have cold spells. Heavy snow is really not that common in Colorado Springs though it snows more in the northern half of the city than the southern. A northerly wind is a downslope wind over the city, so you may have 6" of snow on Woodmen Road and no snow downtown. This is something to keep in mind if you consider Tri-Lakes or Castle Rock. You may have 2 feet of snow and white out conditions that close I-25 on Monument Hill, and just wind in the city. Every now and then we get walloped, but winters in Denver generally are snowier than down here. Interestingly, the most likely time to see a foot of snow in Colorado Springs is during March and April. Figure that one out. I should mention most Californians and Texans who move here can't take the cold in the winter and complain a lot, but it doesn't bother me LOL. Also the city does a terrible job with snow removal, and as little as an inch of snow will turn the roadways into a skating rink. If it snows, even a little, plan at least an extra half hour to get to work. You'd think people have never seen snow before around here. We usually have a couple of nasty wind storms in the fall. Especially up against the mountains, 70 - 90 mph gusts are not unheard of. They usually bring down a few tree's and fences, but our structures are built to handle it. 90 mph gust? Meh. No big deal.

You'll notice the military. Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, Northcom, The Air Force Academy. You can't escape it.

We have our own tv stations and our own radio stations. Colorado Springs is a much smaller market than Denver, and our news stations quality can't compare to those in Denver as a result, but damn if we don't try, and they are getting better. The main tv stations are KOAA-TV channels 5/30 (NBC), KTSC-TV channel 8 (PBS), KKTV-TV channel 11(CBS), KRDO-TV channel 13(ABC) KXRM-TV channel 21 (FOX), and KXTU-LP channel 57 (The CW.) On the radio dial you'll find a lot of country, classic rock, adult contemporary, r&b, a little hip hop, a bit of religious and NPR, normal stuff.

Parks in Colorado Springs kick butt. Garden of the Gods, Red Rock Canyon, Cheyenne Canyon, Memorial Park, America the Beautiful Park, Cheyenne Mountain State Park, and many more.

Anything else you want to know I can probably tell you having been born and raised here and worked in the media for four years, I know more about Colorado Springs than any sane person should.

www.newsblab.com (click on the "blog" link) and www.highplainsmessenger.com may give you a feel for what it's like to live in the city, though generally the latter is a place for politically frustrated people to vent about the religious right or lefty... well... whatever right wingers call us lefties. It's a very polarized city. The Independent and Gazette are the primary newspapers.

Shameless plug : www.krdo.com is a good source for news here, and if you do move here, be sure to watch NewsChannel 13. Definately DONT watch KKTV 11 News. :rofl:

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I don't know how many of your questions have been answered TR, and I know from previous posts you already have some of this info... but I have nothing better to do, so, some thoughts...

Shameless plug : www.krdo.com is a good source for news here, and if you do move here, be sure to watch NewsChannel 13. Definately DONT watch KKTV 11 News. :rofl:

very nicely done Front_Range_Guy. The other thing Ive noticed, when it snows in Denver, it usually doesnt in CS but when it does in CS, it doesnt in Denver. Go figure.

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Yeah... that hill between the cities has a major impact on the weather. A southeast wind is more favorable for snow in CS, and the more common northeast wind is more favorable for snow in Denver. In the summer however, a southeast wind can produce what is called a "Denver Cyclone" and that tends to lead to some kick ass thunderstorms over the Denver metro area and points northeastward. Denver's weather is generally a little more stormy than Colorado Springs. Another reason why I want to move up there!

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  • 1 month later...

An interesting link someone posted on another board.

None of these projects are new to me, but there are some great renderings of all three. I especially love the Cornerstone Arts Center renderings.

BTW: The big rendering toward the top center of the page is outdated... that was the original plan for Southwest Downtown, contingent on the construction of a convention center that was turned down by voters.

http://www.greatstreetsgreatskyline.org/home/index.cfm

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