Help me with this

Old Apr 24th, 2017, 02:18 PM
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Help me with this

Hi I am an African American female wanting to relocate to Colorado but I'm not exactly sure what part of Colorado would be the best for me. What is the safest location where I can live? Are the people friendly there? Of course I will visit first before deciding to move but what are some good places I should look?
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Old Apr 24th, 2017, 02:27 PM
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What kind of work/job are you looking for - that might dictate area.

Lots of snow and winter in some areas. Is that an issue.

Do you drive or will you need public transit?

Denver is safe, very liberal and very expensive.

Colorado is a big state; any additional input from you might help.
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Old Apr 24th, 2017, 02:35 PM
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Oh hi..yeah I drive but of course I'm not familiar with the surroundings. Ugh do y'all really get a lot of snow? I don't work or anything yet. Im just looking for a good area to possibly relocate too. I love the mountains and scenery.
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Old Apr 24th, 2017, 02:53 PM
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>>Ugh do y'all really get a lot of snow?>I love the mountains and scenery.
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Old Apr 24th, 2017, 03:24 PM
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Denver rent for a 2 bedroom apartment approx $1800 plus all utilities [heat $$$]

State Income Tax, City Income Tax

You have to pay tax on the value of your car each time it is registered and renewed [entire state of CO]

Depending on your job skills, a single person can't find an apartment alone, must share with roommate[s]

google "living in colorado: lots of youtubes with pros and cons

My 32 year old son lives just outside Denver. He loves it but he struggles to make ends meet.
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Old Apr 24th, 2017, 05:21 PM
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I live currently in Denver. It is not in the mountains - many folks refuse to believe this because everything is called "Rockies" this and "Rockies" that, and the city is known to be at an elevation of a mile high, but, no, Denver is on the (almost) flat, where the Rocky Mountains come down to form a huge plain that extends eastward.

We don't get very much snow, and when it snows, it usually comes off the roads within a day and driving is back to normal. Rarely a big mess for more than a few hours.

Winters are cold-ish, this winter was ridiculous, more summer weather than not, folks never put their shorts and t-shirts away for more than a few days at a time.

So, Jennifer, on that front you have nothing to worry about. However, whenever you want the mountains, they are only a half-hour away - the first "wave" is called the Foothills (along the Frontrange), and then it goes higher up, of course.

We are having a successful black mayor, and he's not the first - we fondly remember Wellington Webb from the '90s, too. We have a few predominantly black areas, and gang problems, but it is not the L.A. Watts of yesteryear, things are fairly calm on the racial front. People mix freely, are generally nice and mellow (not least because Marijuana is legal...), especially the young ones.

As has been mentioned, life is not cheap - it's not San Francisco, but still...

There are towns up and down the Frontrange (look at a map and follow freeway I25) where life is cheaper and lots is going on - Longmont is nice, an hour north of Denver, and Fort Collins a bit further north.

Companies are looking for specialized hirings, so if you have a specialty, make it work for you.
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Old Apr 24th, 2017, 06:23 PM
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Without knowing where you are coming from it is hard to give a comparison. Michel gave a more moderate and accurate overview.

The Denver metro would probably be a good choice for you. The population at the last report I read was about equal divided between whites, blacks, and hispanics and good hand full of lots of others. As an old white guy I think race relations in the area are good. But then old white guys have been know to have blinders, also. We don't have any large poor areas with public housing etc., but we do have some problems with poor and homeless.

At the last census we were one of the youngest states with one of highest educational levels. The state economy is decent and we are continuing to attract industry and people. It was reported last year we had over 100,000 in-migration and true for the last several years. That has had an impact on rentals and property values. Rentals can be high but still less than many major cities.

Denver has a very active and aggressive public transit system that serves the area very well. Much better than cities similar in city to us. And we have about 500 miles of mostly paved biking and walking trails in the metro area. Many of the paths totally separated from traffic. With a solid four seasons with related activities, Denver has a reputation for being a very outdoor orientated town. If you are an over weight, coach potato, this might not be a good choice.

We average about 60" of snow in the Denver area. I don't think we made 30" this year as it was warmer than average. Summertime temps will rarely a hundred although 30 days or so 90s is not uncommon. The summers tend to be very low humidity often less than 10%. IMO Denver has one of the best year around climates.

Denver has a very active and well fund art community. With the best performing arts center between Chicago and LA.

State taxes are reasonable and if you buy a house later, property taxes are cheap. You may pay an little extra tax on your car but total tax burden for Colorado is about average for the country.

You would need to spend sometime here to get a better feel but there are a lot more worse place you could go.
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Old Apr 24th, 2017, 07:17 PM
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Thanks everyone..yeah I know it's not safe anywhere but I heard and read about Colorado and hang problems. I heard the homeless thing was kinda bad too. I live in louisiana but I really love the mountains and stuff. Colorado looks beautiful.
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Old Apr 24th, 2017, 07:18 PM
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*gang problems
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Old Apr 24th, 2017, 07:29 PM
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What or where have you read about gang problems? Sure they exist, cause some local headaches but they don't control large section of any part of the metro area. Nowhere the issues that you would find some places like Chicago or LA or NO. And I would view Denver as very safe. I cannot think of anyplace in Denver that I would not be willing to walk at 2am. But then we moved here from the south side of Chicago and Gary, Indiana, so I might have a different attitude towards urban safety.
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Old Apr 24th, 2017, 09:56 PM
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Grab a friend and come spend a few nights, look around, rent a car and go up into the mountains a bit, maybe to the Rocky Mountain National Park (via Estes Park). Southwest flies direct at reasonable fares from MSY (I just came home from the French Quarter Festival in you fabulous city of Nawlins). It won't take you long to get a feel for the place.
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Old Apr 25th, 2017, 10:05 AM
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Okay. I will definitely visit. I will see.
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Old Apr 25th, 2017, 10:06 AM
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I read about it online.
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Old Apr 25th, 2017, 11:08 AM
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We have gang problems where I live in Wash DC and I think it is mainly immigrants from Central America (MS13 etc). I think I've also read about those type of gang problems in Colorado, actually, and others. I have clients and relatives in the Aurora area and I think that is a problem there. Denver isn't the worst area, so that would be a good idea compared to some other places.

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/10/21...deral-charges/

http://www.denverpost.com/2016/03/12...e-in-colorado/

http://www.denverpost.com/2015/05/02...on-high-alert/

Denver police dept. has a Gang Hotline and a Gang Bureau, they don't have that because there are no gangs.
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Old Apr 25th, 2017, 02:36 PM
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Let's not make too much of this "gang problem" in Denver. I regret having even mentioned it in passing. In the big picture it is negligible. We don't have gangs terrorizing entire neighborhoods. This is not Baltimore. A visitor to Denver isn't likely to be impacted.

On to something more productive: What we haven't discussed is Jenniferdiana's prospects for living somewhere other than the Denver area or along the frontrange. I don't know how one would come to live in places in the mountains - not seasonally but longterm, what prospects there are and where? Maybe some folks have constructive ideas?
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Old Apr 25th, 2017, 03:13 PM
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Without knowing any specifics as to OP's work needs etc, hard to come up with anything but generalizations.

I should have stated in my post that $1800 is what my son pays in Aurora. Not sure what Denver rentals are going for.

Not to offend, but what old white males [per fmp's own description] see is not what a 20 something sees. My guess, OP is fairly young and that means wants and needs are different along with $$$
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Old Apr 25th, 2017, 04:18 PM
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My reference as an old white male related to race relations. While it seems OK to me, I just have no way of relating to what the true situation is or how a young, black, female would perceive race relations in Denver. And since several of the prior posters are not Denver residents I don't know how they would know either.
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Old Apr 25th, 2017, 05:04 PM
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I'm 33. I guess I won't know what anything is like until I visit there myself. I just wanted to know some safe areas and get an idea of it. I don't know. I will have to see. I just want to get out of la. And relocate somewhere better.
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Old Apr 25th, 2017, 05:12 PM
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Need to answer the question of what is your work area or type of position you want. The the key to making a successful move.
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Old Apr 26th, 2017, 07:15 AM
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I agree that you need to inquire into the job market in Colorado. Because it's a desirable location, you pay a price to live here. Rent is high, as Deb says. A two-bdrm house in central Denver is going to run about $2200/month.

But, you can find studios for rent that you might be able to afford on your own. Look at the NextDoor site or app for the neighborhoods you might like, and see if there are rentals mentioned there.

For your age group, the Highlands is a hot area right now in Denver.
https://www.denver.org/about-denver/...des/highlands/
But prices have escalated. Some friends sold a new, Craftsman home there for about $1.2 million last month.

Another up & coming area is now called "RiNo", River North. Parts of it used to be called Five Points, and were rundown. But now it's becoming the hot place to hang out.

Our winters are relatively mild in the flatlands, as described above.
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