Why does everyone dislike Greeley (Fort Collins, Loveland: home, airport, to move)

[Ignatz]

I live in Greeley--don't like it much, but it does have up sides. Up sides: You can find a nice house for relatively cheap. Our house is a beautiful 1920s bungalow, 3000 sf-cost 200,000 3 years ago and would be less now. Our neighborhood, near the college, is pretty. The town is totally unpretentious. There's a nice age range, many older people and lots of kids. About 35% Hispanic. Downsides: Very racist. Coming from Austin, TX, I was repulsed by the total lack of respect for Hisp. cultures that many whites show here. The schools are low-performing; the district is on "accreditation watch." And the district admin seems clueless about what to do. An hour and a half away from Denver, 2 from the mountains. Environmentally clueless compared to other towns near Denver-- bad recycling program, parks not well-maintained, etc. Smell isn't so bad once you get used to it, though.

[Tom Emmerling]

Greeley has been a blanket community for quite some time now until recent years. People lived there for the affordable housing but there were few jobs so they drove to Denver and other surrounding cities. Greeley has more gang violence than surrounding communities. For the population of Loveland/Ft Collins those two cities don't see as much crime as Greeley does. That along with all the cattle ranches and meat packing plant which makes the city smell bad is why I think it is unappealing to people. There are several good spots in Greeley now though. The city is really building the business market there and getting out of the Blanket Community category.

[NIkki091971]

Originally Posted by Ignatz

I live in Greeley--don't like it much, but it does have up sides. Up sides: You can find a nice house for relatively cheap. Our house is a beautiful 1920s bungalow, 3000 sf-cost 200,000 3 years ago and would be less now. Our neighborhood, near the college, is pretty. The town is totally unpretentious. There's a nice age range, many older people and lots of kids. About 35% Hispanic. Downsides: Very racist. Coming from Austin, TX, I was repulsed by the total lack of respect for Hisp. cultures that many whites show here. The schools are low-performing; the district is on "accreditation watch." And the district admin seems clueless about what to do. An hour and a half away from Denver, 2 from the mountains. Environmentally clueless compared to other towns near Denver-- bad recycling program, parks not well-maintained, etc. Smell isn't so bad once you get used to it, though.

Just wanted to make a correction for statistical purposes;
-Denver is an hour drive
-You can be in the mountians in 45 minutes to an hour depending on where you are going.

Otherwise I agree completely with Ignatz.
Might I note that the City Council is completely worthless - and the crime continues to increase every year! Greeley has also passed up many opportunities for LARGE businesses that wanted to call Greeley home - they went to either Evans, Windsor, Ft. Collins or Loveland instead. No tax money for Greeley!

[aperfectingangel]

I hate to be negative but as a native of Greeley I feel I should give you some info about why people hate it.
I think there should be a shirt that lists the top 10 reason why people hate Greeley - because it seems like most hate living there.

Good things about Greeley:
-You can fart and no one will smell it
-You can go to the mountains to get away from Greeley

Bad things about Greeley:
-The Smell of Cow Poop
-The Smell of Cow Blood being Burned (the meat packing plant does this)
-Drugs - There is a serious Drug problem in this town - my grandpa can never find decent employees for his shop because they all turn out to be alcoholics or drug addicts
-There is a lot of crime - its kind of sad because my dad tells me that in the 70's the crime/gangs wasn't half as bad as it is now. I know this is true for a lot of cities - but Greeley isn't that big and it has gang violence like a big city would.
-Not enough people speak English - and I'm not against hispanics I'm just FOR ENGLISH!
-Most of the shopping areas are pretty run down and old. Although they have built some nice new ones on the west side - I think they need to clean up the east side it's pretty trashy
-There's not a whole heck of a lot to do, the town doesn't seem to be that 'community oriented'.

I personally, would not raise my kids there because I was raised there and saw so many good people go bad. I've lived in other places and Greeley just seems to have so much negative energy to it. Its icky.

****It would be nice to see someone care enough to make the community more oriented and give teenagers more to do so they wouldn't get involved in bad things.........then again this probably needs to be done in a lot of cities!

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by randalmartin

Too bad there isn't fewer feed lots and simply grass fed cattle raised on the range. Far more healthy for us and the cattle.

Of course you like PETA and many others of the same mind forget to mention that only having free range Cattle will lower the supply to a level that very few would be able to afford, and screw up the food supply.

Originally Posted by sosobroke

1. Too many Hispanics. Though I personally think very highly of their work ethics.
2. Growning to quickly.
3. No charm...Downtown (hwy 34 business) requires knowing spanish.
4. Most good jobs require driving to Loveland or Fort Collins.
5. Not as close to the Rockies.

Depends on your definition of a good job. As much as Fort Collins and Loveland residents love to act as if they are better then Greeley, reality is that Weld county (of which Greeley is the capital and main town) historically has always had the highest per capita income in the state. The sad part is that many residents from Fort Collins and Loveland are more impressed with appearances then they are worried about reality.

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by DannyBanany

I am not from Colorado but one time when I was visiting, I stopped at the Loveland Outlets to do some shopping.

I walked into Fossil and it smelled like cow s**t. I said, "Ew! It stinks in here!"

The saleswoman apologized and said, "On days when the wind blows from the east we get Greeley."

When I looked for a school in Colorado... I skipped Greeley. Going to DU!

I love that attitude, it shows how little that sales clerk really knows about the area she lives in. That smell comes from feed lots only a few miles from Loveland, and in fact are closer to loveland then they are to Greeley.

[luckysam]

It stinks!

[ColoradoNativist]

As said before, Greeley has issues with low wages, poverty, and agriculture, and yes, too many Hispanics. Half the signs are in Spanish when you drive into town, and golly gee, the crime rate, gang rate, school dropout rate is following suit, IE: going up.
This is not Texas, this is Colorado. The Hispanics cause the gang problems, alot of the drug problems, and the schools to go down the dumpster, like they do in New Mexico, and yes, Texas. I think New Mexico is like 49th in schools, and has a very high crime rate. If you can't produce, you destroy. Ft Collins now is sort of like Boulder used to be, before it got popular with the liberals fleeing "diverse" areas of California and New York, for whiter, errr, greener pastures.

A $200,000 dollar house in Greely is NOT a good deal, that is absurd. Loveland may be a better choice if your not too liberal. Its a bit more conservative, but also dry and a bit boring, but a nice old downtown, and 10 minutes or so from Ft Collins. Ft Collins has the youth, but its not like Boulder, more middle class/working class kids, they have an agriculture program. Boulder of course, is the fantasy land of insulated liberalism, although not as much as 15 years ago. As prices rose, and immigration grew, wealthy people fled to the lilly, silly white confines of the Boulder bubble, 10 square miles surrounded by "reality" Blue collar workers, and now massive illegal alien invations, trashing the school system, hospitals, etc.

Wow, anyway, yea, you have to visit Greely and talk to people to see if you would really want to live there. There are nicer areas.

[nevada1427]

Originally Posted by patrickmich

"People accuse me of being negative,"

People have also probably accused you of being condescending because
they are looked down on by your for not sharing your view.

If you can't accept my viewpoint, that's your problem.

I don't want to live in Greeley, I think it has too many Hispanics.

I am not alone in my preference and bias. If you don't like it, tough.

Just Curious....what EXACTLY don't you like about the Hispanic community? I miss the fact that I once lived in a multicultural community in Long Beach, Ca. In my opinion, with the overabundance of white people (i'm white too) in Fort Collins and the surrounding areas makes this state feel a little "bland". Like I said before, I'm just curious...I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers.

P.S. White people are gonna have to get used to the increasing number of Hispanics...by the year 2030, they will be the majority and Spanish will be the dominate language spoken.

[Spincycle]

Originally Posted by nevada1427

In my opinion, with the overabundance of white people (i'm white too) in Fort Collins and the surrounding areas makes this state feel a little "bland".

It's probably the way some like it (as it is). To correlate whites with blandness seems to indicate you have some sort of political issue (i.e. agenda).

Originally Posted by nevada1427

Like I said before, I'm just curious...I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers.

But you seem to have a (hidden) "agenda".

Originally Posted by nevada1427

White people are gonna have to get used to the increasing number of Hispanics...by the year 2030, they will be the majority and Spanish will be the dominate language spoken.

And you see to think this is a good thing for the nation as a whole? What is your "agenda" if I may ask?