Local here; yeah, you basically understood pearl street correctly. It's always been this way somewhat but the vacancy is new; coincided with the renovation of MANY single family homes into large mcmansions and mansions. Fewer ordinary people live here now. Crocs at least used to be local though! With what density we do have, a relatively compact and well connected (bike paths, busses) urban fabric, and a large student population, not to mention OG Streetcar suburban development, I'd love to see boulder be a "small town" proving ground for a return of streetcars in some form. Best college town? One of the most beautiful and with an institution that ranks highly in many regards, but overall, it has too much else going on to be just a college town (one of the best recreation towns in USA, national laboratories, many tech companies, and even outdoor gear/healthfoods industry). We can let a town with only the 'college' scene have that title.
As someone who comes up from Denver via the FF, I’m really hopefully that the city heads will see that adding a few streetcar lines outside of RTDs control makes sense for the city, especially to connect the Boulder Junction station where FRPR will go at some point in the future-the distance from the destinations riders want to be being a major challenge of the regional rail location. They could do their own BoulderTracks transit tax, if they wanted, despite contributing to the RTD one as well.
Boulder is super car oriented - the only good aspect of car-free life in Boulder are the grade separated trails. The public transit is also super lacking, the regional buses are top notch but everything else is unreliable if you live car free.
If you've got the footage, a Ft. Collins video is definitely worth it! It's a great example of small-town urbanism, including a BRT system on a dedicated road south of College station.
it has so much potential but needs more political will to tie its endless suburban development together. Also, do they still ban bikes on CSU campus? What's up with that? But yes it has tremendous potential. Much more affordable than Boulder.
@ Bikes aren't banned on the CSU campus. There are bike racks all around the campus and many paths. The city has also put quite a bit of effort into tying the suburbs together with transit, and the local council of governments is even considering a rail line along the Great Western Railway to Greeley.
As a CU student, Boulder really is such a great city. I love the walkability, though there are some weird areas for pedestrians. Mainly Canyon Blvd. Sidewalks are just really narrow and while there are a lot of pedestrian crossings you just never know if cars are going to stop for you on a 4 lane stroad. And Will Vill, the off campus island of campus where the newer dorms are isn't the most walkable too. It's not bad but when I was a freshman and had friends in Will Vill, it was weird having to cross 3 highway on/off ramps, walk under an overpass, and cross Baseline to get to another part of "campus." Personally I do love the Pedestrian only part of Pearl Street though there are better businesses in the car areas, or on Walnut. Boulder Bookstore is definitely worth checking out. I've always gotten weird vibes from West Pearl street because of the Yellow Deli and Pasta Jay's lol. Also this is before my time but the hill used to have about twice as many businesses, before they tore a whole block down to build an ugly luxury hotel.
I’ve been living in Boulder for 1.5 yrs now without a car. The regional bus connections to Denver are awesome, but I’ve been told they used to go later in the night than they do now. But local bus coverage is spotty; I’m very lucky to live just a block away from a pretty important bus stop. The main sticking point is the affordability. There’s just not enough housing stock to meet the demand, which is why cities like Broomfield, Superior, Longmont, and Erie have been booming for years now. Also, attempting to travel car-free can be scary when you’re not on a select few designated bike routes; the vast majority of bike infrastructure is still gutter lanes. They don’t even bother to plow snow across the whole city unless it snows more than 8 inches-making the roads extra dangerous for a large portion of the year outside of a car. It’d be slightly more expensive yet a much bigger convenience to just have a car. That is, I think, the limit of this New Age hippie environmentalist urbanism.
The pedestrianized part of Pearl has some gems, but isn't really better. I've noticed that it gets busiest on weekdays at lunchtime (office workers), and on weekends (tourists). The segment of Pearl west of the pedestrianization was temporarily pedestrianized during covid, and it was magical. The sidewalks there aren't large enough for the amount of foot traffic and stuff businesses put out, especially on the southern side of the street. One of the problems with the 16th Street Mall in Denver is that it has been under construction for a few years, and has been difficult to navigate. The free shuttle that runs the length has been detouring for years. The walk from the Mall to the trailhead has been a great walk for me, and is something that I point to as a better form of suburb, with a nice mix of housing types, and easy ways to get to important destinations without a car. Broadway desperately needs bus lanes. You missed the glory of sitting in traffic on 28th, and the entire North Boulder arts district, up at the north end of Broadway, and the Boulder Junction area, which has been built up from industrial uses to be a train station and new neighborhood since 2004, while we wait on our long promised rail link to Denver. Check out CPR's Ghost Train podcast for more about this.
Local here; yeah, you basically understood pearl street correctly. It's always been this way somewhat but the vacancy is new; coincided with the renovation of MANY single family homes into large mcmansions and mansions. Fewer ordinary people live here now. Crocs at least used to be local though!
With what density we do have, a relatively compact and well connected (bike paths, busses) urban fabric, and a large student population, not to mention OG Streetcar suburban development, I'd love to see boulder be a "small town" proving ground for a return of streetcars in some form.
Best college town? One of the most beautiful and with an institution that ranks highly in many regards, but overall, it has too much else going on to be just a college town (one of the best recreation towns in USA, national laboratories, many tech companies, and even outdoor gear/healthfoods industry). We can let a town with only the 'college' scene have that title.
As someone who comes up from Denver via the FF, I’m really hopefully that the city heads will see that adding a few streetcar lines outside of RTDs control makes sense for the city, especially to connect the Boulder Junction station where FRPR will go at some point in the future-the distance from the destinations riders want to be being a major challenge of the regional rail location. They could do their own BoulderTracks transit tax, if they wanted, despite contributing to the RTD one as well.
Boulder is super car oriented - the only good aspect of car-free life in Boulder are the grade separated trails. The public transit is also super lacking, the regional buses are top notch but everything else is unreliable if you live car free.
Considering the price for housing and rent for Boulder it's no wonder the place is so pleasant.
Great video, really enjoyed it. Hope to see more similar content. 😊
If you've got the footage, a Ft. Collins video is definitely worth it! It's a great example of small-town urbanism, including a BRT system on a dedicated road south of College station.
it has so much potential but needs more political will to tie its endless suburban development together. Also, do they still ban bikes on CSU campus? What's up with that? But yes it has tremendous potential. Much more affordable than Boulder.
@ Bikes aren't banned on the CSU campus. There are bike racks all around the campus and many paths. The city has also put quite a bit of effort into tying the suburbs together with transit, and the local council of governments is even considering a rail line along the Great Western Railway to Greeley.
@@maitrilazaroff138 oh I distinctly remember several areas where you could not ride, but maybe that has changed
As a CU student, Boulder really is such a great city. I love the walkability, though there are some weird areas for pedestrians. Mainly Canyon Blvd. Sidewalks are just really narrow and while there are a lot of pedestrian crossings you just never know if cars are going to stop for you on a 4 lane stroad. And Will Vill, the off campus island of campus where the newer dorms are isn't the most walkable too. It's not bad but when I was a freshman and had friends in Will Vill, it was weird having to cross 3 highway on/off ramps, walk under an overpass, and cross Baseline to get to another part of "campus." Personally I do love the Pedestrian only part of Pearl Street though there are better businesses in the car areas, or on Walnut. Boulder Bookstore is definitely worth checking out. I've always gotten weird vibes from West Pearl street because of the Yellow Deli and Pasta Jay's lol. Also this is before my time but the hill used to have about twice as many businesses, before they tore a whole block down to build an ugly luxury hotel.
I’ve been living in Boulder for 1.5 yrs now without a car. The regional bus connections to Denver are awesome, but I’ve been told they used to go later in the night than they do now. But local bus coverage is spotty; I’m very lucky to live just a block away from a pretty important bus stop. The main sticking point is the affordability. There’s just not enough housing stock to meet the demand, which is why cities like Broomfield, Superior, Longmont, and Erie have been booming for years now. Also, attempting to travel car-free can be scary when you’re not on a select few designated bike routes; the vast majority of bike infrastructure is still gutter lanes. They don’t even bother to plow snow across the whole city unless it snows more than 8 inches-making the roads extra dangerous for a large portion of the year outside of a car. It’d be slightly more expensive yet a much bigger convenience to just have a car. That is, I think, the limit of this New Age hippie environmentalist urbanism.
Impressive summary in
I just moved away from Boulder. I love that place. Amazing weather and awesome people
The pedestrianized part of Pearl has some gems, but isn't really better. I've noticed that it gets busiest on weekdays at lunchtime (office workers), and on weekends (tourists). The segment of Pearl west of the pedestrianization was temporarily pedestrianized during covid, and it was magical. The sidewalks there aren't large enough for the amount of foot traffic and stuff businesses put out, especially on the southern side of the street.
One of the problems with the 16th Street Mall in Denver is that it has been under construction for a few years, and has been difficult to navigate. The free shuttle that runs the length has been detouring for years.
The walk from the Mall to the trailhead has been a great walk for me, and is something that I point to as a better form of suburb, with a nice mix of housing types, and easy ways to get to important destinations without a car.
Broadway desperately needs bus lanes.
You missed the glory of sitting in traffic on 28th, and the entire North Boulder arts district, up at the north end of Broadway, and the Boulder Junction area, which has been built up from industrial uses to be a train station and new neighborhood since 2004, while we wait on our long promised rail link to Denver. Check out CPR's Ghost Train podcast for more about this.
My only complaint about Boulder is the cost of housing. I've been wanting to move back but it's just unaffordable if you want to buy a house.
Davis, CA is a cool college town too
Boulder mentioned 🗣️🗣️🗣️
P.S this place is the worst, don’t move here (I am trying to gatekeep) from a local 🙏🏽
Please make on video about Columbus Ohio