Colorado Springs vs Denver area (crimes, house, school)

[bl415tx]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

There are areas in COS that are walkable and devoid of suburban tract housing. Those areas also tend to be much less conservative.

Could you name some of these areas?
Thanks.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by bl415tx

Could you name some of these areas?
Thanks.

Most of downtown, especially north of Uintah and south of Fontanero.

[TCHP]

Downtown, Ivywild, Hillside, Patty Jewett, Old North End to include the Weber/Wahsatch district, Mesa Springs, West side, Old Colorado City, Bott, Manitou.

Basically everything built prior to WW2.

[MsMetal]

I live in the Springs & would much rather be in Denver. There are plenty of houses one on top of the other here & have been for several decades. Been here 16 years, moved from a large liberal city in the midwest & was shocked at how close the houses were to one another back then even. It was better than Denver though, in that respect & still is. If you're looking for a new home though, it is likely going to be in cookie cutter suburbia, where the homes are practically touching one another. It is more affordable home wise, but there's a lot less job opportunities.

It is very beautiful here with lots of outdoor activities within a quicker, easier drive, than you'll find in Denver. The traffic situation & overcrowding has gotten pretty bad in Denver, but many would say it's bad here too. To me, it's not b/c I'm used to much larger cities, BUT, the big difference is in the attitudes, values & culture of the town. Denver is a fairly liberal live & let live city. COS is not. Someone already mentioned the heavy military presence. I know people will disagree, but look it up, COS also has a reputation as being super conservative, ultra religious (evangelical) & a lot of people want to shove their religion & values down your throat. That may be fine for you, if you share those religion & values. 80920 frequently touted as one of the nicest areas to live in the best school district, is also one of the most conservative zip codes in the country. It's getting better, it has improved over 16 years. Many here will tell you that the whole city isn't like that & perhaps they are right. However, having lived in 80920 for almost all of my time here, I can tell you that it *is* like that up here between Focus & New Life. It was extreme culture shock moving here from a liberal city. Like I said, it doesn't mean you can't be happy here, even if your values are different, but know what you're getting into.

These attitudes caused the passage of something called TABOR (look it up), which basically means no tax $$ can be spent on anything without voter approval & voter approval is very hard to come by. Though that is getting better too. The infrastructure of this town is crumbling & the services are extremely lacking b/c of TABOR. There have been some improvements the last few years b/c people are getting fed up & also I think b/c people who value paying taxes for services are moving here more from outside areas, but it still lags way behind. Of course on the flip side, taxes are super low LOL. We were used to high taxes & getting lots of services for those high taxes & that was fine with us, but that is not the prevailing attitude here. You'll see ballots like you've never imagined before. The things that most city administrations handle, as part of their job in running a city, are all put on the ballot here, in excruciating details for voters to vote on every tiny little thing.

All that said, it's beautiful enough here, that that outweighs many other issues for us & we've gotten used to it & are staying. But definitely makes sense to do some research on some of this.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by TCHP

Downtown, Ivywild, Hillside, Patty Jewett, Old North End to include the Weber/Wahsatch district, Mesa Springs, West side, Old Colorado City, Bott, Manitou.

Basically everything built prior to WW2.

Yep. All good suggestions.

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

Yep. All good suggestions.

I forgot Shooks Run. There are some parts of Divine Redeemer and Pleasant Valley that are unique, but these two are also where the cut over to cookie cutter starts.

[abcdefg567]

We vastly prefer Colorado Springs, after growing up in Denver. It's a wonderful and beautiful place.

You may like many of the other areas that have been suggested above. Downtown Colorado Springs is cute & walkable. Sometimes there's more homeless than others, but they're pretty friendly.

What we live about the springs:
-Mountain Views.
-Lower Pollution.
-Heavy military presence.
-No retail marijuana.
-Lots of churches.
-Variety of areas & people.
-Easy access to many activities.
-Not as crowded/traffic.
-More affordable.
-Lots of retired & young families.
-Something for everyone.
-Near zero enforcement of 4th of July firework laws. At least where we were.
-Very friendly.
-Great library system.

Not so great:
-Some older/poorer areas seem to be in need of a renewed interest.
-Some roads.
-Some of the job prospects. (If my husband wanted to take a non military Network Administration position (they're aren't many regardless) he'd have to take around a $35k pay cut & it would be more of a dead end.) My step dad has worked with two programmers who commute to S. Denver suburbs (and have for years) because they couldn't find a position in the Springs. Hopefully that changes over time!
-Lack of city run rec centers unless in security/Widefield.

[MsMetal]

I forgot to mention one of the pluses ABCD mentioned about the pollution, much lower here. Another plus, the airport is a nice size for getting in & out of, tho' not conducive if you have to travel for a living b/c of very few non stops.

It really is a matter of what you want, as several things on ABCD's plus list are minuses for me. I like my downtowns large with lots of things to do & at least 3-4 options for every type of cuisine. Which reminds me of the other thing I forgot, if you're a foodie or value much diversity in food & many ethnic options, COS doesn't have it. This is a chain restaurant mecca. I HATE that the fireworks laws are not enforced.

I agree with the IT job issues tho', I was in IT when I moved here too. Very few options & at around a 50% (!!!) pay cut. I retired rather than taking a job here. DH was able to commute to his co in CA & later telecommute. We'd be BLEEPED if he had to get a job here.

Where are you coming from OP & aside from cute, walkable burbs, are you looking for?

[abcdefg567]

Originally Posted by MsMetal

I forgot to mention one of the pluses ABCD mentioned about the pollution, much lower here. Another plus, the airport is a nice size for getting in & out of, tho' not conducive if you have to travel for a living b/c of very few non stops.

It really is a matter of what you want, as several things on ABCD's plus list are minuses for me. I like my downtowns large with lots of things to do & at least 3-4 options for every type of cuisine. Which reminds me of the other thing I forgot, if you're a foodie or value much diversity in food & many ethnic options, COS doesn't have it. This is a chain restaurant mecca. I HATE that the fireworks laws are not enforced.

I agree with the IT job issues tho', I was in IT when I moved here too. Very few options & at around a 50% (!!!) pay cut. I retired rather than taking a job here. DH was able to commute to his co in CA & later telecommute. We'd be BLEEPED if he had to get a job here.

Where are you coming from OP & aside from cute, walkable burbs, are you looking for?

Agree on all points. With the food, you may be able to find more than one option for say Japanese, but they won't necessarily be good options. You sort of have to pick the place and sick with it in some cases. We still haven't found Pho that we're in love with, or even would eat twice.

*Eta. I was really surprised about the fireworks MsMetal. They had all these signs up about it being illegal...I was worried about our sparklers, and then before it was even dark we had several neighbors shooting off near professional level shows. It was pretty cool, maybe dangerous. I knew it was going to be good however when the large Mexican family across the street had about 10 additional people over and they set up lawn chairs and food around 5 pm. I thought, "They must know something we don't!" It was absolutely crazy all night from multiple house without a police car in sight & our house was very close to the police station.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

I will say that the areas that are the most walkable tend to have the least amount of military presence and the fewest chain restaurants. Based on my own observations, they also tend to be less religious. Colorado Springs really is a city that is hard to pigeon-hole because the prevailing culture varies tremendously based on the part of town one is in.