Colorados growth

[Ezzzzy1]

What a cluster FU(K driving is!

I was talking with a friend that owns an auto body shop and they are on a 2+ month wait and are up 200% because of how much work they have. He said that most of it is from inexperienced drivers from out of state driving in the snow.

If this translates into anything for the riding season we may be in for a crazy one.

[mdub]

I hear you . And all the mdus being build al well. It is awful driving/riding for sure. Denver Metro is booming and tha infrastructure is lagging.

[Snazzy]

The traffic on 270 is INSANE! I stop on that road every day and I leave work at 2:20!

[bulldog]

Last year my company closed our Highlands ranch office and I was forced to locate to out downtown location on the 16th street mall and use the light rail…...I am too frugal to pay $200+ a month to park. At first I was so annoyed by this, but I noticed now I don’t miss the daily commute as I always would get pissed at some idiot driver and I get home much calmer nowadays. Now I kick back and read a book on the light rail and get home in about 20 minutes.

My new 2014 car only has 11K miles; daily commute really racks up miles!

[Gramps]

Agreed

From my experiences of moving to other parts of the country and returning several times now the traffic has migrated lately. In the last three years it has become totally eroded and unpleasant.

We all love CO though!

[bulldog]

100 best places to live? 7 are in Colorado (http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_28810153/100-best-places-live-7-are-colorado)


Seven of the cities ranked in Livability's 2016 list of 100 Best Places to Live (http://www.livability.com/best-places/top-100-best-places-to-live/2016)are in Colorado, led by No. 5 Boulder (http://www.livability.com/co/boulder), which has been among the top 10 since the list started in 2014.
Livability.com, a website that assesses what makes small and medium cities great places to live, ranked more than 2,000 cities with populations between 20,000 and 350,000 based on more than 40 data points.
Boulder gets props for its cultural amenities, including a robust farm-to-table food community. Note: Boulder has dropped from No. 2, that first year, and No. 4 last year.
Fort Collins hit the list at No. 13 (http://www.livability.com/co/fort-collins), cited for access to good jobs and good outdoor amenities, as well as a deep bench of microbreweries, moved up from No. 24 last year. Longmont, new to the list this year, was listed at No. 23 (http://www.livability.com/co/longmont), selected in part for its affordability and impressive public art program.
Metro Denver suburb Littleton ranked No. 24 (http://www.livability.com/co/littleton), cited for its walkability and robust selection of community events, including Western Welcome Week, which dates to the 1920s. Lakewood, No. 26 on the list (http://www.livability.com/co/lakewood), was called out for a deep employment base as well as a growing assortment of shops and restaurants — and the stunning Front Range views. Lakewood was ranked at No. 34 last year.
Loveland, also new this year, slipped in at No. 41 (http://www.livability.com/co/loveland), ranked in part because of its residents' access to quality health care, strong economy and fine arts community.
Finally, Lafayette is new to the list at No. 44 (http://www.livability.com/co/lafayette), with acknowledgment of its convenient location for commuters, varied housing options and politically and socially active community.
Westminster, ranked No. 75 last year, is absent from the current rankings.
The rankings were based on data from EMSI with help from urbanist Richard Florida and Steven Pedigo, a professor at New York University School of Professional Studies' Initiative for Creativity and Innovation in Cities.


And of course:
http://png.clipart.me/graphics/thumbs/182/cannabis-icon-vector_182956523.jpg

[Gramps]

We like it here more every time we come back.

We do think some of the traffic and stupid people are in excess here but we still love living here.

We are crazy I guess.

[madvlad]

Haha there's no of course man, it's all about the weed, that's the only reason why this state is interesting to people now. Before nobody gave a shit about this state or else this would've been a problem long before weed was legalized lol... I personally will be getting rid of my street bike, too many idiots out here to do this and let alone have any kind of fun, riding is not supposed to be stressful. Will look into a cheap race bike at some point just to go out and have some track day fun but about it. Love the state, hate the clusterfuck lol. May be relocating at the end of the year, few offers came through for some places so we'll see.

[FZRguy]

I've had no issues on the bike path. I have a 2011 truck with less than 7,600 miles and pretty much will not drive in the city. I can get anywhere in the metro area via the bike path system, streets with bike lanes, back roads, trails, and the like. Not for everyone but it works great for me.

[bulldog]

I've had no issues on the bike path. I have a 2011 truck with less than 7,600 miles and pretty much will not drive in the city. I can get anywhere in the metro area via the bike path system, streets with bike lanes, back roads, trails, and the like. Not for everyone but it works great for me. Your expecting people to exercise and save gas....this is America man :lol: ;)

Seriously, I love our bike path system and many people have no idea how great it is :up:

[Ezzzzy1]

I remember when people from other states would make fun of Colorado, now they all would suck each other off for a chance to rent a 1000sf apt for $2k a month :lol:

I have a shitty feeling that there are going to be a lot of Auto/Motorcycle issues this year :cry:

[madvlad]

I'd recommend riding out in literally all your senses and then some and also get some cameras rolling every time you ride out. Can't be too cautious, it's getting real lol

[The Black Knight]

Haha there's no of course man, it's all about the weed, that's the only reason why this state is interesting to people now. Before nobody gave a shit about this state or else this would've been a problem long before weed was legalized lol... I personally will be getting rid of my street bike, too many idiots out here to do this and let alone have any kind of fun, riding is not supposed to be stressful. Will look into a cheap race bike at some point just to go out and have some track day fun but about it. Love the state, hate the clusterfuck lol. May be relocating at the end of the year, few offers came through for some places so we'll see.

Now you know how many of the states natives feel about the mass migration into this state. I'm a born and raised native(with family that's been here since the 50's) and my issue is not with the people coming to this state to live, it's how they treat this state when they get here. This whole state looks like a f**kin dump, I mean you can't go 500ft down the road without running into some form of trash blowing either in the medians/right-of-ways, or being tossed out by some douchebag driving down the road. In my line of work, I see it more than most as I'm outside 99% of the time. I remember growing up in the 80's how beautiful this state used to look. Our cities were clean and our highways were clear and well kept.

It's not just the people who've migrated here either. It's their snot-nosed offspring that treat where they live the same way their parents do. I can't count the times I've seen some loser kids walking out of a 7/11 immediately throwing their plastic donuts bags on the ground as soon as they hit the door. These same adolescent slobs and teenage pigs can been seen driving down the road chucking their garbage out the window, laughing and thinking it's funny.

Then you can see it when you go through the neighborhoods. People's homes reflect how they live in public. I look in the back of people's yards when I've gone down a utilities easement to do some work and it looks like a bomb went off in their yards, with sh*t everywhere.

And don't get me started on the whole legal marijuana nonsense. I can't drive two blocks downtown without smelling that sh*t saturating the air with the rancid pungent skunk smell. If it's not some troll on the sidewalk, it's the dirtbag in the car next to me just toking it up while driving. If it ain't those two, it's a combination of all the pot shops that have infested and grown like a cancer throughout the city.

I'm with you Madvlad, I love this state, it's my state but I gotta tell you. It's starting to suck and suck bad....

[Wrider]

I'm with you MadVlad and Black Knight. Colorado Native, born and raised, one side of the family here since the 70s, the other since the 1890s. It's getting ridiculous.

On a side note, we have some Brits here at work this week to work on a new product. Their entire country will fit inside of Colorado's borders with plenty of room to spare, and they've somehow crammed 70 million people into it... Fuck that.

[bulldog]

On a positive note, the house I bought 16 years ago for $135K has nearly doubled in value! Damn can you even buy a house in Littleton for $135K anymore!

After staying in New York City (Time Square) for 6 days, Colorado never looked so nice. You want to talk about dirty! Evidently they do not have alleys like us, so everyday you see piles of garbage right on the sidewalk and smells so bad. Streets were nasty dirty and subways even worse......took me that to really appreciate how clean CO really is! Not to mention how much nicer the people are.

[mdub]

......... This whole state looks like a f**kin dump, I mean you can't go 500ft down the road without running into some form of trash blowing either in the medians/right-of-ways, or being tossed out by some douchebag driving down the road. In my line of work, I see it more than most as I'm outside 99% of the time. I remember growing up in the 80's how beautiful this state used to look. Our cities were clean and our highways were clear and well kept.

It's not just the people who've migrated here either. It's their snot-nosed offspring that treat where they live the same way their parents do. I can't count the times I've seen some loser kids walking out of a 7/11 immediately throwing their plastic donuts bags on the ground as soon as they hit the door. These same adolescent slobs and teenage pigs can been seen driving down the road chucking their garbage out the window, laughing and thinking it's funny.

Then you can see it when you go through the neighborhoods. People's homes reflect how they live in public. I look in the back of people's yards when I've gone down a utilities easement to do some work and it looks like a bomb went off in their yards, with sh*t everywhere.

And don't get me started on the whole legal marijuana nonsense. I can't drive two blocks downtown without smelling that sh*t saturating the air with the rancid pungent skunk smell. If it's not some troll on the sidewalk, it's the dirtbag in the car next to me just toking it up while driving. If it ain't those two, it's a combination of all the pot shops that have infested and grown like a cancer throughout the city.

I'm with you Madvlad, I love this state, it's my state but I gotta tell you. It's starting to suck and suck bad....


I moved here via Army back in 93' ..I remember back then when 5 o'clock, M-F rush hour was nil. Now I cant stand driving anywhere unless I have to. There are a lot of sub-humans among us. How about those jack-asses who throw their cigarette butts out the window...Only time to really enjoy this lovely state are early week days. But then you'll run into welfare recipients every now and then enjoying the same air as you,,,,worthless FUCKERS...

Yeah,,,pot should have never been legalized here...I do see these brainstems toking at stop lights. Thinks its a badge of courage to take in sooo much carcinogens and showing everybody the cloud they make from exhalation..Yea...times a changing for SHIT. I done my share of pot smoking ,,,,but hey...I out grew it....and it was more fun when it was illegal..

[bulldog]

So you all must be Native American's because those are the only people that never "migrated" to Colorado :D ;)

Just kidding, I know what you guys mean, but always cracks me up to think really none of us really are "natives" as we or our ancestors came here at at one time too: and probably annoyed the people living in CO at the time also.

I am annoyed by all the people moving here too, but really I moved here at age 19 so I can't really talk; just got here sooner than the rush we see now :dunno: Although I do have Native American ancestry, but that goes back to NM area.



I feel similar with sportbikes. 19 years ago when I started riding sportbikes very few people rode them, but now so many people have one and have saturated the sport. So yeah, I am annoyed at the growth of sportbikes as should have been all mine like back in the days :devious: :lol:

[madvlad]

I moved here for a better life, not weed lol. I'm not a US native but have been only here since 99 and lived nowhere else in the US. Sure I'm a transplant but long before this bullshit was even an issue lol

[bulldog]

I moved here for a better life, not weed lol. I'm not a US native but have been only here since 99 and lived nowhere else in the US. Sure I'm a transplant but long before this bullshit was even an issue lol There are down sides to the weed, but I can guarantee living in Colorado you are also reaping the benefits as it brought in over $70 million last year in tax revenue!

The tipping point has finally occurred in Colorado: The state is raising more revenue from marijuana taxes than from alcohol.
According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, the state has received nearly $70 million in tax revenue from marijuana from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2015, easily beating the nearly $42 million in taxes on alcohol.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/debraborchardt/2015/09/16/colorados-pot-tax-revenues-are-higher-than-alcohols/#126e25ed716b



Colorado may get to spend the $66 million in tax money it collected from marijuana sales after all. (http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/04/news/marijuana-colorado-vote/)

As of Wednesday morning, 66% of voters had cast "yes" ballots for Proposition BB, which lets the state keep the tax money it collected. The funds are earmarked for school construction, law enforcement, youth programs and drug education initiatives.



Colo. pot users helping build schools with tax dollars (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/17/colorado-marijuana-revenues/23565543/)

DENVER – Colorado's marijuana users are helping to buy new roofs, boilers and security upgrades for public schools across the state as the first round of special pot taxes gets allocated later this year.
The state's voters in 2012 legalized pot sales – and taxed them heavily – in part because the constitutional amendment promised that $40 million dollars a year would go toward school construction across the state. In the first full year of sales, however, the state expects to collect only about $17 million in special school taxes levied on the marijuana industry. Still, it's better than what the state collected the year before: nothing.
"The people who were smoking marijuana before legalization still are. Now, they're paying taxes," Gov. John Hickenlooper said.

[~Barn~]

I woke up looking like this.

[Ezzzzy1]

Motorcyclist killed on 36 today.

[mdub]

Motorcyclist killed on 36 today.


And the warm season is just beginning

[Ezzzzy1]

Another rider/car accident on 70 and Havana this morning.

"I didnt even see the motorcycle"

[Darth Do'Urden]

I moved my family here 5 years ago because I fell in love with the view and atmosphere whilst on a business trip to Lockheed Martin (my present employer). I voted to legalize weed only because I believe people should be free to do what they want (within all the disclaimed reasons and whatnot), even though I never have and never will smoke the crap myself.

5 years doesn't qualify me as being able to bitch about anything. I think Colorado is the most splendid state ever, and I've been to most now. But in general, there needs to be much better awareness of motorcycles.

Now...you wanna talk about bad drivers...check out Chicago. That blight of a city has the most RETARDED drivers I've ever had the displeasure of experiencing, and I've driven in several major cities. That whole city of Chicago can just implode for all I care. Worst place I've ever been (and yes, that includes NYC).

[salsashark]

I'd be more than happy to trade places with any of you who want to leave CO...

So ready to get back out west.