Denver: 20 Years, 20 Changes

I was recently asked if I'd be willing to relocate to Chicago in a year or two. I surprised myself by not saying no. I arrived in Colorado two decades ago hoping to settle down - plant some roots if you will. Well, like airports, convention centers, Frontier Airlines, and sport/concert venues, my roots have gone deep, been dug up, replanted, and dug up again. Nothing stays the same long in this town. Why should I? Here's a sampling of the changes I've seen since 1989:

1. May D&F department stores - GONE
2. Cinderella City, once the ultimate in malls, THE place to go see Santa - GONE
3. Convenient local airport - GONE - replaced by a more modern, state-of-the-art version way out on the plains (no pun intended). One of the world's most sophisticated airports, the circus tent-like roof tears under heavy snow.
4. Elitches amusement park - GONE - I'm talking about the real Elitches, the one that was in northeast Denver forever; the one where my grandparents married in 1910.
5. Celebrity Fun Center - GONE - a Home Depot has replaced the billiards, games, and indoor pool with a slide - a great place to dump the kids on a cold day.
6. The old Tattered Cover bookstore- GONE - but now there are three new Tattered Covers.
7. Light Rail Transit - the opposite of gone.
8. Union Station - still here, but that was a close one ...
9. The Art Museum used to look like a prison. Now it looks like – I don't know what it looks like – a boat that fell over or something.
10. LODO is transformed and trendy - LOwer DOwntown used to be a vast and vacant warehouse district. It's now home to Coors Field and lots of popular breweries, lofts, galleries, and trendy hangout type places.
11. Cherry Creek Mall - here, again (there was an old one in the mid 20th century that featured a Sears instead of Saks Fifth Avenue).
12. The Mousetrap - rebuilt; doesn't look as much like a mousetrap as it used to; now more often called the intersection of I-25 and I-70.
13. Architecture is more interesting now: for example, the renovated Denver Public Library (main branch).
14. Frontier out - Continental out (mostly) - Western Pacific in then out - Frontier back in - Southwest in - Frontier probably about to be out again.
15. The Denver Country Club has had its first African American member - Former Mayor Wellington Webb, only because the mayor automatically becomes a member.
16. Television: Channels 7, 9, and 4 are all affiliated with different networks now. Channel 2, once known as Channel 2, is now "The Duce."
17. Toll roads. TOLL ROADS for crying out loud!!
18. TABOR*
19. The fall and rise and fall again of the Republican party, and right-wing extremism - not that those two are necessarily linked.
20. And finally, the biggest change to hit Denver in the past 20 years: I'm here now!

* Tax Payer Bill of Rights - a tragic over-reaction to wasteful government spending which actually harms education, law enforcement, transportation, and other publicly funded necessities.


So I didn't say no, but I have to think about my price.

What would it take to move me to Chicago? Perhaps that's the subject for another blogcast.