I was about to rant off about the rampant elitism that is exhibited here, sometimes, when I realized that you may have a point.

Now here are some things we can both agree on:

We live in a capitalistic society, not a socialist society. In this case, it means that we are not obligated, as citizens of the US, to care for the well being of others in our society. Yes, the state can use our tax dollars to provide welfare services. But this is only possible because we, the taxpayers and voters, give consent. The reality of living in a capitalistic society is that there will always be inequality all the time.

Now it is important to understand that it doesnt have to be this way. The world doesnt have to be…."unfair". But any other way would be considered UN-AMERICAN, wouldn't it? And in such a scary world, where our way of life and freedoms are always in danger, who would want to challenge capitalism? Don't you owe those who have died protecting your freedoms?

Anyways, my point is that the taxpayers/voters and the government that represents their interests determine the plight of the homeless.

He didn't mean to exclude all of Nebraska. Obviously, it was just a pun. He might as well have said "Nunavut". Relax.

I take offense at your post. Everyone knows that the King Soopers at 9th and Corona is the lamest in the state! Shame on you.

I thought it was interesting that you started your argument with 'we need an Apple Store?' You're kidding right!? How about something substantial like a Best Buy? Or better yet, an urban Target with groceries?

Also, in any true convention city, such as New York or Chicago, you'll find plenty of novelty stores anywhere near the conference facilities. I feel that having such stores adds to the flavor of the city. It is actually quite wonderful to see so many conventiongoers venture to the 16th Street Mall versus just crossing the street from their hotels. If we replaced most of the exciting and unique shops along the Mall with bland, name-brand stores it would simply be another copy of Park Meadows or Flatiron Crossing!

(a) We need immediate leadership in attracting quality retail to downtown. It's great that there's Cherry Creek Mall, but we need all that stuff downtown. If that means Cherry Creek has to close, so be it, but we cannot be held hostage to it. We need an Apple Store, we need 4 more Pavilions-like entities between the Pavilions and the Tabor Center with marquee stores. We need to get rid of the junk novelty stores on 16th Street (or consolidate them all into interior sites) and replace them with name brands. The DURA should set aside funds for fascade work with strict requirements for all businesses on 16th. It should be like Times Square. Exciting, vibrant, and alive with light, color, and so on.

(b) We need our city council to visit Chicago's new Millennium Park and see how they've connected the park across Lake Shore Drive (10 times more unfriendly to pedestrians that Speer could ever hope to be) to the lake front using a marvelous new curvy bridge. It's indescribable. We need our people to see what a great city can be. Denver is in precisely the same position Chicago was in the 1960s when the Hancock was built and people started moving back downtown. There is much to be learned from the Chicagoans about how to handle it, what to do and what not to do etc.

(c) Downtown is in immediate need of full-fledged, walking-distance grocery store(s). Chicago has some fine examples of downtown grocery stores and how they've been built and designed into condo towers. Our 8-story building developers don't get the value and principle of having a mixed-use facility. We need a Water Tower Place with a real indoor shopping mall, hotel, and condo tower in one. Not sure why the Spire people didn't figure this out. So you build two buildings three blocks apart to house potentially more than 1000 people and give them no where to buy groceries? They have to drive up Speer to the lamest King Soopers in the state? How is that Pedestrian-friendly? Oh, I know there're 'plans' for one in the redevelopment of Union Station…which is good, but there need to be a couple of them available.