Wake Up Boulder
-
11/28/2006
I agree with the last comment posted regarding Boulder’s increasingly homogenous nature compared to the resident’s perception of the city as a cosmopolitan place. I live in Denver and go up to Boulder occasionally, but this last time I realized how much I’ve begun to dislike the city. I moved to Colorado a few years ago because it’s a beautiful state and I love the outdoor opportunities, climate (in the front range), and the lifestyle generally. So naturally when I first arrived I was enamored with Boulder, given its abundance of natural beauty, vibrant downtown and laid back atmosphere. But the opinion of Boulder I’ve developed can be summed up in one statement – it’s not real. Of course its reality for the people who live there and don’t see any reason to venture out much (I can’t blame them with the amount of activities Boulder has to offer), but I’ve had many people agree with me lately that the city almost seems like more a Disney created playground for wealthy, outdoorsy white people than a real city. The city is a walking contradiction with reality – people like to celebrate the community as an open minded, diverse place but in reality you don’t see much of anyone but wealthy white people who can’t seem to find a better topic of conversation than potential gear purchases or just how great living in Boulder is. It’s the type of place where you see the Land Rover with a hundred bumper stickers promoting the most liberal causes – not because they are knowledgeable about the candidate or the issue – but because dammit it’s Boulder, and I’m liberal so there. The city has done a lot of great things to be eco-friendly – being very bicycle friendly, open space preservation, etc. - which is great. Denver certainly isn’t the most diverse city in the country, but it’s a lot closer to reality than Boulder is. I used to go up to Boulder and come back thinking how great it would be to live there, now I come back to Denver refreshed to be in a real place.
jeff | Denver, CO