boulder pictures

[colin]

This was the first stop on my Mountain West trip. I have a friend there attending CU, so he drove me around to a few places. I like that there are relatively few chain stores and restaurants there, but the town itself was a little too wealthy for my liking.

Downtown Boulder:

Pearl Street Mall:

CU Campus:

[MJLO]

I don't know that much about boulder other than it's the home of the University of Colorado. Also I think it has substantial enough population, to where it should have some mid rises, does it have any?

[colin]

I don't know that much about boulder other than it's the home of the University of Colorado. Also I think it has substantial enough population, to where it should have some mid rises, does it have any?

Boulder's not really that big. Less than 100k, I believe.

Boulder is very anti-development. It has a lot of height restrictions to preserve the mountain views (like Tucson, but stricter) and has a preservation/anti-gentrification law in place that prohibits the razing of old buildings to build new buildings. The only reasonably tall buildings that I saw in town were all on campus.

[teshadoh]

"Anti-development" might be too strong, I would call Boulder's policies "pro-responsible development" as the city & county are attempting to curb sprawl. There are some major projects - such as the redevelopment of the mall into a more pedestrian oriented outdoor retail center, as well as a few new urbanist mixed use projects on the edge of town.

But as for tall buildings - Boulder doesn't allow any building over 4 stories - in order to protect the mountain view from most angles. Nonetheless, Boulder in many areas seemingly looks like a suburb - but it's the only pedestrian friendly suburban area I've ever seen in my life.

Thanks for the photos - I was at most of the locations just 2 weeks ago & will be moving there sometime in July or August (hopefully will sell my house in time).

[angel]

Okay I have a couple Boulder pictures from where I have hiked on open space! I am leaving Boulder soon...YES..and thought I would post a few photos before I flew away! ENJOY!

Mesa Trail

View of the Flatirons

View of the city from North Boulder

Viewing the Flatirons from the North

[Randy@Tacoma]

I beg to differ, by creating building heights that shallow, yes they protect the mounatin views, but they CREATE urban sprawl. People have to build somewhere, and if it isnt up, then its gonna be out. I would agree, however, that Boulder does a good job requiring builders to be responsible, in that you dont MASSIVE parking lots that consume cities like Houston or Atlanta.... so.... yea.... :-)

[teshadoh]

^ But one of the greatest misconceptions of high density is that everyone thinks it has to be high rises. The massive parking lots that are not as evidant in Boulder is because people simply don't drive as much - this is without high rises. YOu can build a pedestrian oriented community without them, with small single family building lots & a larger ratio of multi-family housing complexes.

High rises - as can be seen in many sunbelt cities such as Charlotte, Atlanta or Houston have not drastically altered commuting choices or even resulted in an efficient building pattern. In fact - I would say the opposite may be occuring, speculative building sites are more likely to occur in these cities, which results in a 'temporary' parking lot (Midtown Atlanta was even far worse in the 1980's) & condo high rises provide more than enough parking in their parking decks. This all results in far greater car traffic with only a minimal increase in transit usage.

... my point is really just this - don't assume higher densities will result in efficiency in building or in less car usage. I would think you should be aware of Portland, OR that has height limits on buildings but is nonetheless densely built & is more pedestrian oriented than many cities.

Angel - thanks for the pics...

[colin]

But Boulder's policies have made housing prices skyrocket in an otherwise small community. My friend pays over $600/month for a lower-end 1 bedroom apartment over a mile from campus, all this in a city with less than 100,000 people. I mean, it's cheaper to live in Downtown Denver.

I wouldn't be too quick to criticize Houston and Atlanta. There are some vibrant, high-density, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods in those two cities that have not resulted from high-rise development, nor from preservation, but rather more from mid-rise constructions and other higher density developments, even house-apartment conversions, especially in Houston, which has no zoning. It's important to maintain the character of the neighborhood and the greater town with sensible preservation, but you also have to keep up the potential for redevelopment.

To me, heavily restricting development is the quickest route to gentrification.

[angel]

Hey All,

I drove up to Montana recently for a job interview. Bozeman is relativley similar to Boulder in regards to the town being right by the mountains. There are building codes but not as strict as in Boulder. In Boulder there are some high rise dorms for CU. But, after they built those the codes stopped any other building similar to those being built. In addition, Billings Montana is like a city plopped down on the plains. The city has high rise buildings too. The town is very conservative as compared to Boudler and therefore there are no codes. Google Billings and you will see what I mean.

Hey Moderator...how come Montana is not on the western list to chat about??? I love Montana!!

Angel

[teshadoh]

colin - Interesting points & I do agree that the cost of living is too high in Boulder. Fortunately, we found a 2 bed apt. for $800 on the east side of town, but we are preparing to likely downsize from our current home in Atlanta to a condo in Boulder.

Regarding Atlanta - of course you're right, I live in what I would consider one of the finer single-family historic neighborhoods in Atlanta that is also one of the denser populated areas in town. It is pedestrian oriented due to the era the area was developed in the 1890/1920's - but that is besides the point. High density multi-family, or condo high rises, alone will not make an area more transit-friendly or pedestrian oriented. Especially in several suburban edge cities, there are a number of high rises built nearly exclusively on automobile dependance.

But there is a fine line between heavily restricting development & being absolutely pro-development. Atlanta would still be considered pro-development, even in the city - yet gentrification accelerates. I don't blame it on conservative or liberal politics, but a natural market correction of the real estate market. Land values have been so low in many intown areas, they were bound to dramatically increase once there was once again an interest. Hopefully, I will profit off of that increase as I'm selling my house with a $110k+ mark up. Even then, 15 years ago the home was worth $100k less than that.

angel - good luck. Interesting tidbit about high rise limits, I had read that Denver until the 1950's had a limit on something like 15 stories for buildings.

[angel]

Yah...this is such an expensive city & I am leaving and at the end of this week! I was here for graduate school and couldn't stand many aspects of Boulder. Everyone is obsessively health conscious that it is BEYOND rediculous. All you see is Audi's, Volvo's, and all other luxury cars. Here I am blue collar lady from Detroit, driving my Grandmother's Ford Escort. Back in Detroit everyone had a old car or a Ford...lol!! I hardly ever saw a Ford Escort in Boulder. It was strange becuase I was never afraid of being around money or wealthy people. But, when I was in Boulder I felt really uncomfortable. Many people in Colorado do not like Boulder.

The open space in Boulder shuts out anyone that doesn't have money. Then, when you live in Boulder it is a struggle to survive. It is an exclusive community that claims that it is inclusive. I could share more on Boulder and my experiences if you would like.

I did have many positive experiences from living in Boulder and don't want the negative to take over these experiences.

[macrocosim144]

Yah...this is such an expensive city & I am leaving and at the end of this week! I was here for graduate school and couldn't stand many aspects of Boulder. Everyone is obsessively health conscious that it is BEYOND rediculous. All you see is Audi's, Volvo's, and all other luxury cars. Here I am blue collar lady from Detroit, driving my Grandmother's Ford Escort. Back in Detroit everyone had a old car or a Ford...lol!! I hardly ever saw a Ford Escort in Boulder. It was strange becuase I was never afraid of being around money or wealthy people. But, when I was in Boulder I felt really uncomfortable. Many people in Colorado do not like Boulder.

The open space in Boulder shuts out anyone that doesn't have money. Then, when you live in Boulder it is a struggle to survive. It is an exclusive community that claims that it is inclusive. I could share more on Boulder and my experiences if you would like.

I did have many positive experiences from living in Boulder and don't want the negative to take over these experiences.

[teshadoh]

^ Why does anything that is not high income equate to slums? One of the greatest issues I have with Boulder is the limited social-economic diversity, the town is highly dominated by rich white people in addition to the college students who are mostly the children of rich white people.

I like living here - but angel does have a point, which affordability has nothing to do with prefering slums.

[colin]

I agree. Gentrifying everything and driving the lower income people out by driving up housing prices does not make for a better community. Actually, it makes it much worse by creating a sterilized environment. But "lower income" does not necessarily equate to "slum".

[teshadoh]

I wouldn't call it gentrification though - Boulder wasn't a low income city previously.

[r3gul8or]

Hey All,

I drove up to Montana recently for a job interview. Bozeman is relativley similar to Boulder in regards to the town being right by the mountains. There are building codes but not as strict as in Boulder. In Boulder there are some high rise dorms for CU. But, after they built those the codes stopped any other building similar to those being built. In addition, Billings Montana is like a city plopped down on the plains. The city has high rise buildings too. The town is very conservative as compared to Boudler and therefore there are no codes. Google Billings and you will see what I mean.

Hey Moderator...how come Montana is not on the western list to chat about??? I love Montana!!

Angel