High R Ground » Denver

Public Transportation Becoming a Better Option with Rising Gas Prices

Lane Hornung — Thu, 03 May 2012 21:44:42 +0000

With gas prices already on the rise, and with the likely chance they’ll only continue to climb over the summer, it might be time to consider alternate transportation methods in the Denver Metro area. Whether you’re trying to get to work, the airport, or to a Rockies game, there is an option for you. Denver has one of the best public transportations systems in the nation, it’s time we utilize it!

According to the RTD website, there are 140 Local, Express, and Regional bus routes serving 10,000 bus stops, five light rail lines providing 35 miles of light rail service and over 70 Park-n-Rides. This means there are very few areas that don’t have access to some form of public transportation!

If you work in the downtown area, you know how expensive it can be to park day after day. Add that to the gas you’re using to get to and from, and the wear and tear done to your car, and you’ll find the bill racking up quite a bit. Why not try a bus? You can pick one up at any transfer center, Park-n-Ride, or bus stop, and parking is almost always free. There are numerous stops throughout Denver, and the Market Street Station is central for many businesses. They make trip planning easy with their handy Trip Planner that you can find on their website. It allows you to enter your starting destination and ending destination, and informs you which route is the best to take.

Worried about the cost? You can buy a monthly or yearly pass that will be the most cost effective, or you can pay per ride. The most expensive would be for a regional ticket at $5.00 for a one-way ticket. It goes down from there with $4.00 for an express trip, and $2.50 for a local ride. RTD also offers discounts to seniors and veterans. Whichever route you happen to be on, it will most likely be less expensive than driving your own vehicle.

If you’re headed to the airport, consider hopping on an RTD SkyRide bus. These buses operate 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They can be picked up at select Park-n-Rides, and run at least once an hour. Some even run every 15 minutes depending on the location and the time of day. The bus driver will help you with your luggage, and will drop you off right outside the ticket counters at the airport. These rides tend to be more expensive ranging from $9.00 to $13.00, and you might have to pay for parking depending on the transfer center. However, it will still save you gas money and parking fees at the airport.

How about a day of fun enjoying an all-American game of baseball? If you’re heading to a Rockies game and prefer to avoid the hassle of stop-and-go traffic along with the sky high parking prices, you might want to try RockiesRide! This direct bus service can be found on the weekends at many Park-n-Ride locations. It runs for all of the Rockies weekend home games and fireworks games. They leave up to two hours before the game, and arrive near the stadium within 30 to 60 minutes of the first pitch. These buses are all clearly marked with the route number followed by the letter “R” on the destination sign.

If you prefer to be slightly more modern in your transportation, you might be more interested in taking the light rail into the city. There are five light rail lines and over 35 stops that they cover. However, you might be slightly limited in where you can pick them up as it doesn’t cover as much ground as the bus lines do. If you happen to live within Denver’s city limits, or south of Denver in the Littleton area, you’re in luck. The light rail is fast and easy. It has twice as many pick up times as most bus routes, and is very user friendly. If you’ve never ridden the light rail before, you can find a 7 step tutorial on the RTD website.

If you live west of Denver towards Golden, have no fear, the light rail is moving in that direction. Crews are currently working on the rail system, and are projecting the completion date will be in the spring of 2013. The station will be located at the Jefferson County Government Center and will run all the way to Downtown Denver.

There Will be a New School in Denver

Lane Hornung — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 04:58:32 +0000

In July, Denver residents and the City of Denver decided that the once Byers Middle School would remain a school, rather than selling the land for residential redevelopment. Byers Middle School was closed due to under-enrollment.

When the once Byers School reopens, it will be called the Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST). It will not only bring new educational opportunities to the West Washington Park neighborhood but other students from around Denver will also benefit.

The DSST was originally granted a charter for a school in Stapleton by the Denver Public School board. At that time, in 2009, it was decided that it would be allowed for two more DSST schools to open in Denver. In July of 2011, the DPS board voted to make Byers one of those locations. The schools mission is: to provide an environment that would allow all students to excel at the state standards in math, science, and English skills. Since their induction, DSST has repeatedly produced some of the highest scores in statewide testing. DSST’s curriculum and environment also work s to install a sense of civic pride in their students – something that should benefit the community in the long run.

The good news is that DSST is open for any student of Denver Public Schools to enroll. DSST works with Denver Public Schools School Choice Program to allow students to pick where they would like to get their education and then they can enter in to a lottery that will decide who is enrolled in which school.

It is still uncertain is to when the school will be ready and educate more Denver students. The facility closed in 2004, and has an estimated $10 million in renovations necessary before it can bring in students.

To helpful site to learn more about Denver school ratings is GreatSchools.org. If you are hoping to live near this new Denver school view Denver homes in the Wash Park neighborhood on COhomefinder.com. Stay tuned, 8z and the Wash Park Pulse team will let you know more when there’s news about the school’s opening date and more!

Homegrown food in your Denver neighborhood?

Lane Hornung — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 23:22:09 +0000

Have you heard? Denver has allowed residents to own chickens, ducks, and dwarf goats within city limits since June 2011.

For those who enjoy their eggs fresh from the chicken coup rather than fresh from the grocery store, this has been great news.

So if you have your Denver home, but want to explore what it’s like to be an urban farmer, here are a few resources and tips we’ve gathered, that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

First as the denverchickencooptour.com website details, ‘As of June 2011, Denver now allows each lot to have up to 8 chickens and ducks (total of and 2 dwarf goats. These must be females, although young male kids are allowed as well as neutered male goats.’

Then you must consider how you will ‘coop’ the chickens and ducks to be safe from wild animals as well as warm in the winter time. Many choose to make a chicken coop, and others choose to match the architecture with their homes. Check out this photo of one taken by David at NotQuiteHippie.com:

A chicken coop taken during a coop tour by NotQuiteHippie.com

The web is also a great resource for finding the success stories of those who have been urban farming for years with chicken coops in their own backyard for years longer than Denverites have been. A Facebook page for UrbanChickens.net has many community members talking about what works from their own personal experience.

Do you have experience with a backyard chicken coop? And if so we would love to hear your recommendations on how to get started! Everyone in Denver is waiting to hear!

Denver amongst the best places for Young Adults to live

Lane Hornung — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:05:02 +0000

You may have heard the news, but if you haven’t Forbes magazine recently ranked Denver amongst the best places for young adults to live.

They looked at the 100 largest metro areas and ranked their list based on

projected job growth rates for 2010 to 2012 (data from Moody’s Economy.com)
cost of living data (data from Moody’s Economy.com)
median salaries for 24-34y.o. employed college grads (data from Payscale.com)
unemployment rates
Census Bureau data on the number of small businesses and large businesses per capita
percentage of college graduates in the local population

Denver was ranked #7 because ‘The Mile High City boasts a significant college-educated population, a note-worthy number of small businesses and a healthy job growth rate that’s bolstered by the presence of companies like Lockheed Martin and IBM’ (Forbes, The 15 Best Cities For Young Adults).

We think that Denver will always remain popular amongst the younger residents as well as those young at heart because

Denver is an active city with plenty of outdoor activities
Denver has a vibrant culture with events and venues from sports to the arts
So basically its not just a place to live but the lifestyle of living in Denver…

Trailing Denver, Colorado Springs was ranked #8 because ‘The Rocky Mountain metro area is home to an impressive number of defense contractors and universities, ensuring big business job opportunities and a notable number of college-educated residents” (Forbes, The 15 Best Cities For Young Adults).

But in case you were wondering, Des Moines Iowa took the title as the Best Place for Young Adults to live in the United States because: “The corn-belt city has the most big businesses per capita, a brag-worthy unemployment rate, low cost of living and a flourishing number of young professionals residing in the area” (Forbes, The 15 Best Cities For Young Adults).

But really? Would you really want to leave the Denver walking neighborhoods of Wash Park and Highlands for the midwest? Or would you really want to leave those foothills views from most Colorado Springs homes for the midwest? I can speak for those of us at 8z Real Estate that I think we’re pretty happy in Colorado!

Denver is apparently a popular place to raise a family

Lane Hornung — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 06:50:50 +0000

John Rebchook from InsideRealEstateNews.com recently reported that Denver was ranked 14th in metro areas to raise children based on the increase in number of children in Denver.

Over the last decade from 2000 to 2010 the number of children in the Denver area, aged 5 to 17 years old, rose by 12.8 percent. Compare that to the increase nationally of only 3.8 percent.

These statistics were put together by NewGeography.com. Analysis of the report attributed affordable housing as an important factor for states like Colorado that increased the population of families with children.

These stats are also very quantitatively based rather than qualitative. Las Vegas has had an increase in children residents in the state. This is attributed to the fall in prices and great affordability of the area in recent years. Yet many would probably still argue that there are better places to raise a family. What do you think?

Colorado is a popular family location. Certain cities like Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch, Boulder, Fort Collins, Parker and Loveland have each been ranked in different rankings for the lifestyles the are provides residents.

The local coffee shop

Lane Hornung — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 07:08:59 +0000

Every neighborhood needs a local coffee shop. Some neighborhoods even have a convenient neighborhood caffeine joint. It is the perfect place to grab a cup of coffee, read the newspaper, or boot up the laptop. While it seems that there’s a Starbucks at every other street corner, there is a novelty that can’t be denied of the neighborhood coffee shop.

8z Real Estate recently had a neighbor in the Wash Park neighborhood of Denver share about their favorite coffee shop. As 8z neighbor Jess Ramsey wrote of the Wash Perk,

But what’s better that grabbing a Sunday Post and cozying up to a Lavender Marshmallow Mate Latte. I know. Sounds like a high-end hand soap. But the taste is an exotic, floral-kissed cream tea. Trust me on this one.

The caffeine purists will find plenty of bean-based brews. Wash Perk carries fair-trade Kaladi coffee, another Denver gem. With a 2$ bottomless cup of joe, you can grab a snack and still keep it under 5 bucks.

2011 brought a newly expanded Perk, peppered with overstuffed vintage chairs along with a large common table for chatting, studying, or surfing. It’s a big Wash Park living room where all are welcome.

What’s your favorite local coffee shop?

Boulder, Denver, and the Difference

Jody Reale — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:19:35 +0000

The WSJ, not to be outdone by pubs like Money/CNN, Outside Magazine and others, have printed a list of the Next Youth Magnet Cities. I wondered, while reading the list: Do people really use these guides when conducting their relocation research? Are they helpful, or do they just sell papers? I’ve asked the same question when the college polls are published, especially when I was lured to to GQ’s rundown of America’s 25 Douchiest Colleges. (Looks like GQ took a page out of the of The Onion playbook.)

In any case, the folks who put their heads together and opined for the sake of rankings put Seattle in first place in a tie with Washington DC. Denver and Raleigh-Durhum tie for seventh. Here you can read what one of the judges/contributors, Richard Florida, had to say about the major Front Range town at his blog, Creative Class.

Just as a side note, I think it’s interesting that Richard put these two cities into the same slot. However you feel about the Boulder v. Denver debate, I think a lot of locals would agree that, while the two places are close in geography, their independent flavors are as far apart as possible.

How do you consider Boulder vs. Denver? Just another symptom of sprawl, or two distinct cities with different styles?