Denverites love their city’s historic neighborhoods and the charming little commercial districts tucked in among them. And, thanks to our once extensive streetcar network around which most of these historic neighborhood shopping districts arose, there are still plenty of these little neighborhood spots that haven’t (yet) attained the gentrified popularity like the Old South Pearls or the Highland Squares.
One of my favorite local journalists, Jared Jacang Maher, recently explored this very topic in his “Denver’s Top Ten Underutilized Neighborhood Business Districts” blog post. Kudos, Jared! Hopefully, as we recover from this economic slump and we head into the next wave of investment in our urban core, some of these spots will reclaim their long-lost status as the focal point of their neighborhood.
Great article thanks; I say we tax the heck out of suburban sprawl and invest in these neighborhoods. I like the idea of bringing back the street car (what a shame, they were removed to begin with) or at least connecting all these neighborhoods by bus. SLOW TRAFFIC DOWN!!! Denver has ruined these neighborhoods with one ways and little pedestrain signage or enforcement creating mini highways! You can't even park or cross the street without getting run over. Something must be done or we will continue to lose good neighbors that value a walkable/liveable community.
That article is interesting, and seems to invite a broader conversation on the role of cultural and ethnic diversity in urban planning.
Most of the neighborhoods Maher listed are in ethnic neighborhoods, Latino or black. I'll focus on this sentence he wrote: "I don't know why this strip of businesses in the mostly-African American neighborhood of North Park Hill hasn't taken off."
I'll offer one possibility – that business owners, potential residents, customers and investors outside Denver's black community still subconsciously associate a black neighborhood with poverty and blight. Even in a city as progressive as Denver, there are still those who feel nervous in a black neighborhood. Perhaps that's something to work on.
Another possibility is that non-black investors are afraid of the political implications of contributing to the gentrification of an ethnic neighborhood, which is often criticized because it pushes its current residents (especially those who are low income) out when they can't afford the rising rents.
Then, the local storeowners and residents might have a completely different cultural understanding of the goal of business, on sustaining an intimate local setting rather than growth. I can't speak much on this because I don't know, but it's a possibility that some communities might have a different vision of success than we do.
Which leads to a whole new conversation – what is an ideal relationship between the city and local neighborhoods that helps ethnic or culturally important areas develop to their full potential while retaining their character?
I think there's a bright future that the relationship between urban planners and local communities can have, with some smart investments. The city can help build cultural museums or allow development formats that are more unique. The community of planners (which I imagine is mostly white, mostly male, and mostly middle class) doesn't want to supplant neighborhoods with their own vision, but they can do a lot to learn about the people who live there.
Good mixed-use neighborhoods with bona fide centers are the mark of a great city, much more so than a snazzy downtown.
Denver has taken a big step in the last couple of decades with reinvestment in downtown, and that's been really great. The next step has to be the neighborhoods.
This is encouraging.
Good comments above. Along the lines of wide one way streets/ I keep driving down B-way and thinking there should be some sort of bus/troller/shuttle down the middle of it. While the median improvements south of I25 will help, they would seem to rule this out in that area. Light rail covers the rest and I doubt RTD has any interest in deflecting traffic off that right now to a more user convenient and pedestrian friendly shuttle up the gut of B-way Lincoln.
Also how about areas where there a prime potential for business districts but no plans for one? I'm thinking about Stapleton, Lowry, or most of the larger new urban type developments. We've ruled out moving there because of this. Yes, there are "Town Centers" but these are not at all central but on the edge of the new community leaving a vast lack of things in between. So, if you live in between Havana and Quebec, you're still getting in the car for your bagel and cup of coffee (usually a chain rather than local). Yes, the current centers provide something to E Park Hill as well and that's not to be discounted. However, unless there are more neighborhood places or the hope of something coming up along the N and S ends of Central Park Blvd those new developments, however well intended, are just increased density suburbs lacking in services.
pizzuti one explanation you are missing is market-driven. it's possible that the shop-owners in those areas are not responding to the needs of the neighborhood.
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.
I live very near the 28th & Fairfax mentioned area and only request Satchles, which, if you havn't been there for breakfast, you should. It's cool, unique, and tastey.
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.
So what you are arguing, Anonymous, is that the reason shop owners in non-white neighborhoods are failing to expand is that, race set aside, non-white shop owners don't respond to the needs of their neighborhoods?
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.
How about diverting the conversation topic to this: what other areas in Denver might also be considered?
– S. Broadway, around Ellsworth and First is really coming to life (mixed use!)
– Downing and 22nd could be pretty cool, too.
Others?
I vote for Perry and Colfax. The Rose lady has her little empire there, but it seems to me that there is a lot more potential here especially with the West Corridor Light Rail coming on line and St Anthony's going off line. And as long as we're talking food, Taqeria Mexico at Newton and Colfax has the most amazing refried beans ever.
I just moved here a few months back from San Francisco and in doing an extensive search of all inner-Denver neighborhoods, we were generally very positively surprised by the quality of the housing stock and at the same time disappointing in the quality and number of neighborhood centers. Ended up settling about 1/2 way between Tennyson Street and Highland Square. Even Highland Square, which most people think should be the model for neighborhood centers is ultimately flawed in that a glorified strip mall sits on one of the corners and there is no actual square or public space.
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.
In response to the above comment: But you have to remember that all of these cities you list are either boxed in by bodies of water or were mostly developed pre-1950s. What this means is that they didn't have the massive sprawl that gutted vibrant commercial activity from the inner city and urban neighborhood centers. Just ten years ago Denver had no real neighborhood commercial areas, now it has several. I always laugh when people say things like 'Denver isn't as cool as SF! Denver isn't as cool as Seattle!' Well, sheesh, that's not really a fair comparison is it? When considering region, topography and history, I think it's more accurate to look at Denver in relation to places like Salt Lake City, Pheonix, Las Vegas, Albuquerque or Dallas. And, in that regard, I think Denver looks pretty darn good. –Jared Jacang Maher
SF is a beautiful city and love it. It is kind of a joke for being a big city. I'll hit some punch lines: bay bridge, muni, bart ticket machines that never work. Every time there is a downturn, half the store fronts downtown go empty. And oh yes, about a 1/3 of the city is over run by homeless people sleeping all over the side walks. I can certainly see how we want to strive for that.
Those of us living near these areas are to blame… for driving our cars so much. Get out of your car and walk/bike somewhere. Don't just go for a walk for exercise, go for an errand. I live near the Krameria/14th Ave area featured and just about everyone drives there, and also to the big box centers nearby (Northfield, Glendale) that we've been conditioned to think we need.
As for talk of street cars and LRT on south Broadway, please, if you're not already taking the zero which practically runs all the time, spending a few hundred million for a street car isn't going to make a noticeable difference. Well, unless the city goes nutts with subsidizing TODs along it but that's another story.
"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?