Boulder, Colorado: Explains a Lot About the World

I have been living in the Boulder, Colorado area for approximately 6 months. In many ways this makes me unqualified to opine on the city, and in other ways more qualified. I am both less knowledgeable and less biased than those who have lived here a long time. But after I saw that Boulder was rated as America's smartest city, it explained a lot about why the world has the problems that it does. Human beings are bad at making sound judgments. If Boulder is the smartest city in America, God help us all.

I refer to these headlines as just smatterings of counter evidence pulled from the local newspaper the past 2 weeks:

Boulder City Council Wants to Impeach Bush

Boulder Wants to Shut Down Strip Club

Now that I see how the City Council spends its time and energy, the rest sort of makes sense: housing is so unaffordable that it should be nearly criminal for any CEO to build a company in Boulder; the drug problem in Boulder schools is, according to my colleagues with school age kids, rampant and worsening; the violence pouring from the UC Boulder campus into the city's living and shopping areas is uncontrolled (I've personally been threatened with assault twice since my arrival); the hypocrisy between the so-called progressive ideology of Boulder and the actual behavior of its government is so off-putting that I wouldn't be proud to call this home; the traffic and overall living density are very high, decreasing basic quality of life (from what I can tell); the homeless population on Boulder's main shopping artery is so high that I don't want to take my family there for the weekend; employees who live in Boulder have a very odd view of work (as in, work should not be "work"; I've confirmed my experience is not unique with the CEOs of companies employing thousands in Boulder), and so on ...

Now, I have friends who moved to Lake Tahoe 3 years ago, from Boulder, and then moved back to Boulder after a year. They missed it. So my view is partial and I can see from my own Boulder experience that there are some really great things about the city. But every one of them - the people, the mountains, the politics, the shopping - are seriously tarnished to the point of now being repulsive. Reno, where I come from, is far more liberal than Boulder. Lake Tahoe is in a different universe of natural beauty than Boulder. And smarts? Hmmm, the results speak for themselves.

A reasonable reply to this criticism is that I should leave Boulder to those who love it. Fair enough, I probably will. But it would be nice if Forbes and other rating agencies would do their homework before handing out these rankings, because if Boulder is the smartest city in America, the world has a long way to go before that really credibly means anything.

Comments

[Robert MacNaughton]

Poorly worded rating in my opinion... I believe the "smart" they refer to is the fact that Boulder has more phds per capita than anywhere else in the country; but with half its population made-up by students, this only helps so much. Like most towns--it's good for some things, not for others. I've been digging in Boulder for 10 years and it took a long time before I was able to find any real gold... but it's down there...

[Casey Capshaw]

There's a lot of charge here my friend. Sounds to me like this might be an opportunity for introspection. I would invite you to limit the hyperbole when referring to "the reality" of Boulder. People that don't live here would get a dramatically skewed perspective from reading this post. For people like myself, that do love this town, I feel compelled to come to its defense.

I have lived in Boulder for 3 years after living in Santa Monica, Ca, a few years in a Colorado mountain town, and growing up in Oklahoma. Now Boulder certainly has its faults, but the same is true for every place I have lived. I never lock my door here, usually leave my car unlocked, never worry about violence when I am out and am actually surprised if i hear a police siren.

I agree that the cost of living is high, but that is just the reality of supply and demand right? Cost of living in oklahoma is about half that of Boulder, because nobody wants to live there. I guarantee Tahoe real estate is comparable to that of Boulder if not higher.

"the people, the mountains, the politics, the shopping - are seriously tarnished to the point of now being repulsive." I call that the "mind-virus" I have known it well at times. I also know that it has more to do with the interior of the individual than any exteriors.

I am not saying my perspective is right, just pointing out that it is another possible perspective on this city.

[Robb Smith]

Casey, I'll buy that and agree. Probably comes from my disappointment with Nevada in how it ran its own affairs in different problems but with similar distractedness. But I still maintain that Boulder has a very high-minded view of itself, and seemingly it hasn't done a good job of reality testing. In any case, I recognize in retrospect that I came off too strong and overreacted to the silliness of the news articles I posted.

[Casey Capshaw]

Right on Robb, great to see you receive that gracefully. I mention it because your perspective is generally balanced and intelligent and I value your insights.

[Boulder Colorado Real Estate]

I'm sure there are still some who would agree that Boulder is a good place but then, not as America's smartest city. Thanks for sharing your view on this.

-Audrey

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