Congrats on the destruction of Leadville (Aspen, Salida: house prices, employment, buy)

[TNHermit]

As a former long time resident of Leadville I see the local regime has done such a good job of destroying Leadville it made major NY radio.

Most of it was talk of the infatuation with the O man and the disappointment at him totally ignoring the place
But it all started in late 90and early 2000's when the yuppies moved in a drove prices up on everything and good people and business out. Just couldn't leave the place alone but tried to turn it into something it wasn't ever suppose to be

Enjoy your latte,scones and 10.00 salads

I see the pop is down over 1000. But the whole corridor down to Salida is a wreck.

To bad. It was a great place to live. I miss it.

[GregW]

Leadville is not, unfortunately, the only place this happened. My own town has grown from 8,000 people to 23,000 in the last 20 years. The realators are happy but most of us old timers think it is too damn crowded.

[sunsprit]

With the shut down of the local mines ... especially with the molydenum market being flooded with product from recently discovered Russian ore deposits and a multi-year supply of ore piled up in AMAX inventory ... what other sources of revenue do you think that Leadville had for employment except tourism or being a bedroom community to the regional resorts? The local mining economics have been around for a couple of decades ever since other sources of moly were discovered in Colorado as well as in other countries, compared to the single world source of years prior at Climax.

True, Leadville isn't going to be "what it used to be" ... but at least it's found a niche for survival compared to being another abandoned mining ghost town.

[TNHermit]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

With the shut down of the local mines ... especially with the molydenum market being flooded with product from recently discovered Russian ore deposits and a multi-year supply of ore piled up in AMAX inventory ... what other sources of revenue do you think that Leadville had for employment except tourism or being a bedroom community to the regional resorts? The local mining economics have been around for a couple of decades ever since other sources of moly were discovered in Colorado as well as in other countries, compared to the single world source of years prior at Climax.

True, Leadville isn't going to be "what it used to be" ... but at least it's found a niche for survival compared to being another abandoned mining ghost town.

Everybody knew the mines were going. And it was already a tourist town. But it was the common man tourist town. And there were jobs and the place was at least holding its own if not growing slightly. But then big money and big liberal ideas came in and the rest is history.
How a place that has lost a third of its population, (according to what I find) can be called surviving is beyond me.

I had some of the best times of my life there. And what the hell was the matter with being a bedroom community. I ran a business out of there for ten years. Worked fine for me.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by TNHermit

I ran a business out of there for ten years. Worked fine for me.

Why'd you leave?

[TNHermit]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Why'd you leave?

You couldn't afford the place anymore. Rents doubled. Prices of homes were ridiculous. 150-200,000 for something that sat on dirt ??
The diner went out of business and the Latte and 10.00 salad joints moved in.
They closed the railroad bed to bikers and snowmobilers to put in a track for some yuppie runner for 200,000. CAlled it some LE BS name. Nobody used the damn thing. But we had this big chunk of Asphalt running through town.

They all thought that place had to grow into the next Vail or something. It was never meant to be that.

Then some guy tried to help the town out and completely redid one of the big old buildings and they come along and try to enforce some dumb a$$ rules that cost more than the place was worth to add and didn't amount to crap in the long run.
Last I heard the place still sat there but its been a while

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by TNHermit

Everybody knew the mines were going. And it was already a tourist town. But it was the common man tourist town. And there were jobs and the place was at least holding its own if not growing slightly. But then big money and big liberal ideas came in and the rest is history.
How a place that has lost a third of its population, (according to what I find) can be called surviving is beyond me.

I had some of the best times of my life there. And what the hell was the matter with being a bedroom community. I ran a business out of there for ten years. Worked fine for me.

Compared to quite a few single economy Colorado mining towns of the past which are nothing but dust and some old ruins of buildings/structures ... ghost towns ... Leadville is a thriving community.

Something is out of kilter with your economic analysis ... "the diner closed", but "yuppie $10 salads & scones" and such businesses are surviving?

Apparently, whatever your business was ... it didn't serve a need of the community after 10 years or you'd still be there.

Agree, Leadville will never be a Vail ... but it certainly is a bedroom community to a lot of resort workers. Compared to the prices for the Eagle Valley area, $150K homes are a bargain to live in the mountains if you don't mind the commute to work from your affordable mountain living. That's a pretty good deal for the "common man" ... as well as a number of college students (and faculty and staff) in town. And I'm coming from the perspective of having bought little 'ol (slightly rundown) victorian gingerbread houses in Aspen when they were $30,000 places back in the late 1960's .... and sold out when that got too crowded for me with the yuppie crowd in the late 1970's but you could still buy in Carbondale or Redstone for a fraction of the Aspen cost.

[wanneroo]

I wasn't aware that Leadville was destroyed or taken over by yuppies. I think it has a long way to go for that. I haven't been to Leadville for a few years now but I can't see the yuppie crowd dropping on the place.

[CAVA1990]

Sounds like what you're experiencing is inter-generational disorientation. Young people today are a bit more worldly than when we were that age so what may seem "yuppie" to you is just a normal 20 something lifestyle. The world moves on and not much you can do about it. They do call capitalism "creative destruction".

[TNHermit]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

Compared to quite a few single economy Colorado mining towns of the past which are nothing but dust and some old ruins of buildings/structures ... ghost towns ... Leadville is a thriving community.

Something is out of kilter with your economic analysis ... "the diner closed", but "yuppie $10 salads & scones" and such businesses are surviving?

Apparently, whatever your business was ... it didn't serve a need of the community after 10 years or you'd still be there.

Agree, Leadville will never be a Vail ... but it certainly is a bedroom community to a lot of resort workers. Compared to the prices for the Eagle Valley area, $150K homes are a bargain to live in the mountains if you don't mind the commute to work from your affordable mountain living. That's a pretty good deal for the "common man" ... as well as a number of college students (and faculty and staff) in town. And I'm coming from the perspective of having bought little 'ol (slightly rundown) victorian gingerbread houses in Aspen when they were $30,000 places back in the late 1960's .... and sold out when that got too crowded for me with the yuppie crowd in the late 1970's but you could still buy in Carbondale or Redstone for a fraction of the Aspen cost.

Guess I could have stated it better. The diner was a long time establishment in Lead. The guy that owned it closed it cause he got pi$$ed off as I remember. About the same time a lot of GOVT money of some kind came in and the yuppies and their 10.00 salads. People seen what was coming and started to move out in a short time. Two of my friends moved out pretty soon. They could no longer afford the rent. From 400 a month to 1000. House prices doubled. All was going to be honey and roses. They tried to condemn my building three times. Last I saw it was still there. But some big dog was trying to take the thing. I heard the Silver Dollar and the other bar both closed. Can't say for sure.
It was just a good old boys town that you could live in and enjoy yourself. Yea you had to go over the hill but that wasn't a big deal. It was kinda you guys over there do your thing and leave us alone to do ours. But that wasn't good enough I guess.
Use to big time for hunters and bikers. Guy that owned the Amoco was a guide. Don't know how that ended. I know they were closing the trails and jeep road left and right for the enviros. Course that caused a big fire down at Buffalo creek when the brush all grew up.

Oh well what the hell. just on more thing the libs destroyed. the whole country is going that way now anyway.