I’ve been busier than expected this past week, plus I wanted to give it a few days for the experience to sink in, but I’m finally ready to share a few of my observations about how Downtown Denver held up during the Democratic National Convention.
I agree with what I believe is the overwhelming majority opinion that Denver really nailed it on hosting the DNC. Despite the slow fundraising and some late logistical worries, the whole thing seemed to come off without a hitch. There were two broad areas in which things could have gone horribly wrong: widespread violence or destruction due to a terrorist act or out-of-control protester/police confrontations, or major logistical failures resulting in huge traffic jams, telecommunications breakdowns, etc. Neither happened to any serious degree. In fact, it seemed that the whole convention went smoother than perhaps any of us in Denver could have hoped. Even the weather cooperated, which, for those of us who live here know, is not at all an unusual situation, but we also know that any kind of freak weather could have easily occurred (blizzard in August anyone?). Add to all of that the fact that we got lucky and hosted a convention at which historic political events occured that will be remembered for generations, and I think we can conclude that the entire event was a huge success for our city. The repeated mention in all the print and electronic media of the word “Denver” about a million times in association with the week’s historic significance is PR virtually impossible to buy.
Wandering the streets of Downtown during the convention watching people, overhearing snippets of conversation by visitors, and talking to fellow Denverites who were doing the same, I think the tens of thousands of visitors to Denver were genuinely impressed with our city. Hopefully, some of those visitors will come back and invest in Denver in some form or another or, at least, return for a visit. Certainly, our successful hosting of the DNC represents another step forward in Denver’s emergence onto the world stage.
One very obvious observation was the appeal of the 16th Street Mall. It was like a river of humanity for most of the time and an exciting example of what Downtown’s main pedestrian corridor could look like every day if we continue to invest in Downtown. What was also just as obvious, however, was the lack of pedestrians on almost all of the other Downtown streets. Sure, there were some folks wandering along California, Welton, 14th, and a few other streets around the Convention Center or near a major hotel, and most of the LoDo streets usually had decent pedestrian traffic, but venture more than a block or so beyond 16th Street and in most cases you’d find yourself one of just a small handful of pedestrians. The reason why is clear: many of our blocks in Downtown don’t offer ground-floor uses to which pedestrians would want to travel. Through additional infill developments, retrofitting retail into the ground floor of some of our 1980s office tower lobbies, improving the physical qualities of the sidewalk and pedestrian amenities, and adding thousands of more residents Downtown, we will start to change that situation.
The DNC showed us exactly the strengths and weaknesses of Downtown Denver: the appeal of the Mall versus the lack of appeal to many of our other Downtown streets; the difficulties in crossing Broadway, Colfax, and Speer as pedestrians versus the ease of walking now from Downtown to the Highland district; the great sports, culture, and entertainment infrastructure we have in Downtown versus the spotty, fledgling retail scene; the remarkable diversity of transportation conveyances we saw being used during the convention versus Downtown’s streets which are still overwhelmingly oriented to accommodating the private automobile. The DNC experience for me clearly confirmed that the goals set forth in the Downtown Area Plan are exactly what we need to accomplish in order to spread throughout all of Downtown the many great qualities we currently find today only in certain places Downtown. I look forward to the day when dozens of our Downtown streets look like the 16th Street Mall did during the DNC (minus, perhaps, a bit of the craziness) on just a normal uneventful day.
Was an amazing week, that's for sure. Couple of other observations: First, I was impressed by the number of delegates/visitors, etc., taking advantage of the free bikes. I was also struck (almost literally) by how most of the bicyclists had to ride on the sidewalk because 15th Street was so jammed with traffic. Would have been great if city could have earmarked a dedicated bike lane upon which delegates could have pedaled their way around downtown. Second, it's fortunate the weather (and the mood) was so good on Thursday. It appears that RTD couldn't handle the huge amount of people leaving Mile High (I won't call it the other name) after Obama's speech. There also seemed to be a complete lack of coordination and signage, etc., directing attendees to buses, etc., that would have carried them away from the stadium. Granted, shuttling 80,000 people after an event is a challenge any time it occurs, but I think Denver was luck to avoid a black eye from people who might have been extremely frustrated with what they had to do to attend the event. But, as Ken said, activity downtown that week was exciting and energizing. It was really entertaining just to walk up and down the mall to capture the buzz. I'm sure the mall shuttle drivers don't miss the DNC, but otherwise I thought Denver really acquitted itself extremely well. Was almost like pope's visit plus Summit of the Eight plus Bronco Super Bowl victory parade. All at the same time….
I have to disagree somewhat.
The traffic on the lower streets (14th/15th) down in Lodo was pretty imrpessive.Larimer square was busting at the seams as people where spilling out into the street. I saw similiar traffic along Market and Blake and of course the corridors leading to the Pepsi center like Wynkoop.
That said, I think it only proves your overall point. Each of those Lodo blocks has real pedestrian attraction. Restuarants, Bars, and the occasional gallery. On the other side of Larimer…not so much. I hope that the Four Seasons and Spire go a long ways towards remedying that. As the hotels get built-out along 14th, and hopefully we see a few projects get out of the ground along 15th things will very much change for the better.
The DNC turned out great not only for how well it went, but for the fact that 30, 60 or even 100 years from now, we're still going to see footage replayed on the History channel. No one could have predicted how big of a deal this would be. If Barack Obama wins the election than his speeches become the historical equivalent of King's "I have a dream" speech. Denver is definitely on the map now with this one.
It did show that when our population grows, something has to be done with the shuttles. I tried to use the shuttle a few times during the week, and they were nightmarishly slow due to people and mounted police. Just turning them to streetcars will obviously be ill suited. Either it will have to go underground or one way will have to be on 17th and the other on 15th, which will do a lot to pull spread out some pedestrian traffic.
I like saint's idea in the long run. The mall ride was crazy slow many days. I can't imagine that we would have that kind of traffic in the short term. I'm not sure where the shuttles would run if they were moved to 15th and 17th, though, unless the parking was completely removed and the parking lanes were turned into shuttle lanes.
I was hoping for snow, but unfortunately, it's never snowed in August in Denver. Factor that in with the additional hot air from all the politicians, there's no way we would have seen a snowflake.
There are a lot of good comments here. I thought the convention went well, but I found the police presence oppressive, and I'm sure the demonstrators found it provocative at times. Would it have been so terrible if some corporate lobbyist couldn't get to his party on time because there were demonstrators in the way?
Scooter Thompson is right on in saying that we need more affordable housing downtown–by that I mean below $300,000.
And Alice and Saint were right about the mall ride. It was really crowded and hot. However, it was also a great opportunity to chat with people and see what they were doing in Denver.
There is some dumpiness on the 16th Street Mall, but I for one don't want everything getting too prettied up a la Boulder. I want Denver to look like a city, not a boutique.
Beth
http://bethpartin.com
Great points Ken. I would add that most of my guests loved Denver's vibrant spaces and commented on our "boom" meaning all the construction. Denver's revitalized buildings and spaces, along with the new construction left the impression that this is one happenin' town. That's something we already know. The journalists, bloggers and other guests I met with had this pre-conceived notion that Denver would be a dressed up cow town. Well, they were pleased to learn otherwise.
I am glad you pointed out where Denver can make some improvements. Always good to look at what needs work next.