"Most of the neighborhoods Maher listed are in ethnic neighborhoods, Latino or black." – Pizzuti

Good point. After all, didn't areas that are considered successful like SoCo, SoBo, 342nd and Lowell, become "successful" due to gentrification? For example, look at Broadway between 3rd and Cedar. Not only does it have have more boutique exercise studios than bars now but it has a wine bar, a few fancy restaurants, a fancy baby shop, fancy pet shop,etc. In the meantime the Big Lots closed along with some antique shops, book stores, etc. Can we have successful neighborhood centers without gentrification?

Tennyson has great potential, but it is still very, very quiet compared with similar places in many mid-sized cities.

Comparable cities like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh or Portland have many more neighborhood centers that are much more vibrant and attractive than Denver.

Larger cities like SF have 30-50 neighborhood centers ever 1/2 mile or so that put Highlands Square to shame.

- S. Broadway, around Ellsworth and First is really coming to life (mixed use!)
- Downing and 22nd could be pretty cool, too.

Others?

The neighborhoods Maher selected are notably and objectively more diverse, but I can't find any evidence to show that diverse business owners should be "worse" at business than anyone else, and I don't see enough information to speculate that they aren't "changing" with the neighborhood unless you'd be willing to give examples of what you mean. Besides, those neighborhoods' lack of significant development cited by Westword goes beyond the corner stores and family-owned restaurants. I don't think the state of business at the hair salon should dissuade Chipotle from moving in next door, should it?

I would expect a business person from a neighborhood (and in this case "neighborhood" is linked to a racial or cultural identity) would know that community far better than someone setting up shop from outside, and would expect locally-owned shops to be at an advantage here, so the argument that they are unresponsive doesn't hold.

I don't want to get too far into this topic because of the high likelihood of sparking a vitriolic conversation on Ken's blog, which is always a risk when you post views that are sympathetic to diverse communities Online. But I would say that it's almost always a safe bet that differences in success between the dominant community and all other communities together have more to do with something about the dominant community than some speculative common trait every other community shares.

However, although I live within walking distance to here, I almost always choose not walk to get a six-pack of Fat Tire or a bottle of wine, but drive probably 3/4 of a mile to the Kearney Liquor Store. Why? Well, the 28th & Fairfax Liquor store is dirty, fails to carry the same choices of alcohol, and the clientel is suspect.

Yes. Suspect. As has been recently written in the local Park Hill newspaper, whose editorial office is located along this stretch of businesses, suspected drug, gang, and prostittution occurs along this street.

So, if we want these areas to be revitalized, it's about cleaning up the crime in and around these areas. Plain and simple.

regardless of the color of the shop owner, if the surrounding neighbors change then smart business people will respond in-kind and provide services and produccts that match their NEW neighborhood.

change happens – if business do not respond then they die. but if the streetcars came back, you would seen a continuing evolution of the neighborhood and the commercial nodes.