How do you connect with your neighborhood peeps?

To see how spring is shaping up in NoBo, here’s a quick video taken on a beautiful, quiet morning at the corner of Yellow Pine Ave and 14th Street.

April in NoBo from CO Homefinder on Vimeo.

The Casey neighborhood is in north Boulder, near the Boulder Old Town, Mapleton, Downtown, Newlands, Melody Heights, and other Boulder neighborhoods.

Below is some (very) short video of the construction. Note the giant girders holding up the walls while construction crews work behind them.

Boulder’s Casey Middle School Construction from CO Homefinder on Vimeo.

Casey Middle School Construction 2 from CO Homefinder on Vimeo.

Today, it’s a luxury home/office/studio that was remodled in 2007. You can see this piece of north Boulder history during open house hours: Sundays, 12-3 PM.

The Senate recently backed a bill in Colorado enabling more Colorado locations to use photo radar vans and detectors to fine drivers for speeding. Only three cities now use photo radar: Boulder, Fort Collins, and Denver.

According to an AP Wire, “Currently cities can use photo radar only near parks, schools, construction zones and streets with speed limits under 35 mph. Democratic Sen. Bob Bacon’s bill would also allow it on streets with speed limits up to 55 mph. Fines would be capped at $40.”

If you’ve spend any time on the roads in Boulder, Denver, or Fort Collins, you may have noticed an unmarked van on the side of the road, not coincidentally just down the road from a posted sign that says, “Photo radar in use.”  Inside is an automated camera system and radar detector that records the speed of each passing vehicle.

The system takes a photograph of the driver and license plate, and the registered owner then receives a ticket by mail. If a ticket goes unpaid or unaddressed after a certain number of days, a member of the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department usually attempts to collect at the home of the registered owner of the car. In other words, your prize for speeding past an unmarked van is a very expensive picture of you most likely talking on your cell phone.  And if you’re slow enough getting your check out the door, you get a visit from law enforcement’s own welcome wagon.  (You might want to remove that “Bad cop, no donut” bumper sticker you thought was so funny last year.)

But it’s not just about the vans.  From the City of Boulder Web site:

Photo Red Light
Running a red light is one of the most frequent causes of accidents at intersections in Boulder. Red light enforcement through traditional officer-based efforts is difficult and potentially dangerous. In response, Boulder has implemented photo red light, an automated camera and computer system mounted on a traffic signal pole at an intersection. Photo red light takes pictures of any vehicles that run a red light, records the time elapsed since the light turned red and the vehicle entered the intersection, and issues a ticket. The photo red light systems are installed at key Boulder intersections that have a high number of accidents.

At present, photo radar and red light systems are for fining speeders only.  Offenders are not fined for secondary offenses, such as not wearing a seat belt. Also on the horizon, talking on a cell phone without the use of a hands-free device is not illegal in Colorado now, but lawmakers are considering backing a motion towards its prohibition.

My in-laws and I all laugh together now at the perceptions of “big city folk,” but on one issue their assumptions were pretty close: Wildlife encounters do exist, and seem to be heading toward the more frequent end of the scale.  Yes, it’s normal to find deer grazing on the lawns of homes all over Boulder, especially those close to open space areas, and especially if you’ve landscaped the yard with tasty flowers.  It’s wise while driving at dusk to watch for foxes crossing the road, and my dog has harassed a coyote or two–from afar. But it’s also not that rare to see a family of bears lumbering down the streets, especially on trash pickup day. Usually, coexisting with all this wildlife is a perk. It makes things interesting and serene, and reminds us how lucky we are to live near nature.  However…

The principal of South Boulder’s Bear Creek Elementary recently issued the following letter (excerpted):

“A mountain lion was seen in the South Boulder neighborhood as recently
as two days ago. Although mountain lions are in our area, unseen,
much of the time, this is a good opportunity to remind ourselves and
our students of safety as it relates to mountain lions.”

To learn more about mountain lions, including information about how to avoid encounters with mountain lions and what to do if a close encounter occurs, the Colorado Division of Wildlife tells all at:
http://wildlife.state.co.us/WildlifeSpecies/Profiles/Mammals/MountainLion.htm

A Dakota Ridge Playground waiting for the summer rush

For starters, NoBo is making a name for itself as a burgeoning residential community where there wasn’t previously much going on.  Once an area for more industrial/commercial concerns, the area where Broadway and highway 36 converge is coming into its own.  One example: the Holiday neighborhood. Another: the Uptown developments and the Off Broadway live/work units (which are actually on Broadway, for the most part.) And now: The Boulder Armory.

For now, the site of the future Boulder Armory neighborhood is actually…the Armory. It’s the Army National Guard’s training facility and storage dept. But it’s got its sites on something more homey.  For more information on the re-development in store for the corner of Broadway and Lee Hill Road in north Boulder, and to weigh in with your opinion, see the Boulder Armory’s Web site.

Tom Wasinger, a Silver Wave producer and Boulderite was first nominated for a Grammy in 2000 for producing Joanne Shenandoah’s Peacemaker’s Journey, released on Silver Wave Records. No stranger to the Grammys, he won his first Grammy in 2003 for Mary Youngblood’s Beneath the Raven Moon, and garnered his second in 2007 for Youngblood’s Dance with the Wind.

This year, Wasinger was up for the Best Native American Music Album award for his collection Come To Me Great Mystery, and won again. Congratulations, Tom.

Today at Facebook, our friends at Downtown Boulder announced that, when you print out this coupon, you could become the lucky winner of a FREE Downtown Boulder canvas bag.

“To receive the limited edition bag,” they say, “be one of the first 50 people on Saturday (Feb. 14) or one of the first 50 people on Sunday (Feb. 15) to bring the coupon into our Visitor Information Center (1303 Pearl Street) between noon and 4 p.m.!”  Sounds good, especially if you’ll be hitting the downtown bricks this weekend for some of the February Boulder events that are always responsible for giving folks a serious case of spring fever.
What’s happening around Boulder this weekend:

• The Boulder International Film Festival at the Boulder Theater
• Love. A performance by Boulder’s own Ballet Nouveau Colorado
• The Pearl Street Mid Winter (sidewalk) Sale.
• It’s the last weekend for the Ice Rink at One Boulder Plaza’s 2009 season.

We’ll see you downtown.

Photo by Flickr–Creative Commons, by Brian_and_Shannon

Located near the University of Colorado, NCAR and other national laboratories, the Chautauqua area is often considered where the scientists and scholars live. And upon first glance at a map of Chautauqua Heights, it’s easy to see why Chautauqua has been the Boulder neighborhood of choice for generations. The beauty of the Flatirons, the natural surroundings, the gentle climate, and the people who care about wild places are hard to argue with.

What’s There Now?

According to the Colorado Chautauqua Web site, “Boulder civic leaders and Texas educators had joined together to create a cultural and educational summer retreat. Today, the Colorado Chautauqua is one of three remaining Chautauquas in the United States, and the only site west of the Mississippi River, in continuous operation, with its original structures intact.”

What that means is that the good people of Boulder love their Chautauqua. It’s a well-kempt, well-loved institution where weddings are celebrated, symphonies play, meetings are held, picnics are assembled, Thanksgiving dinners are served, kites are launched into the springtime wind, and much, much, more. And, it’s where people live, learn, and work.