The Union Station Neighborhood is growing up.

The dust has settled on the Historic Union Station debate leaving plans underway for a new hotel. The arguments for the hotel involved financial models and a world of NPV’s and IRRs (I imagine, that’s what I’d look at) but what I prefer to talk about urban planning elements.

I’ve listened to a number of my friends share their hopes for the project including a few architects and planners. For those who love the hotel solution it means a 24 X 7 influx of energy and activity.

I remember roughly 6 years ago the topic was how to make Downtown Denver more of a 24 X 7 city. Why, you might ask? Have you ever visited a city that clears out when the offices empty out. You may have visited one of those cities on a business trip or vacation. Perhaps that’s the city you moved from. You know what I mean… by 6:30 the city is a ghost town.

I’m not a fan of those cities.

I like cities where the streets are filled with foot traffic. I like eyes on the street for crime prevention. I remember reading a simply story written (I think by an Urban Planner) that talked about the 24 hour city where the streets were always alive. By the time the entertainment, bars and late night diners were closing down the early morning bakers and vendor were starting up their storefronts or kitchens.

The hopes for the hotel are to help contribute to a 24 X 7 city. It must be a good idea, because I hear rumors of another hotel in Union Station as well. Add in the new King Sooper (at least that’s the brand in the rendering) at 20th and Chestnut and the new Union Station Neighborhood is rocking.

Need a little more… how about more bodies with the Manhattans new phase of it’s Apartment Building on Bassett and 18th. More? How about the sale of land at 20th and Little Raven to AMLI, a Chicago Developer planning a 242 residence apartment complex. And the new grocery store will have 307 apartment units above it per designs at the Architect Mulhern Group Website.

Hotels, Apartments, Grocery Store…. sounds like a lot of bodies are going to keep those streets alive.

Cheers Denver!

Well Denver, tomorrow shopping at IKEA just got easier.

I don’t actually have too many IKEA items, just one to be precise.  I like to geek out how I furnish my home.   My couch is a Mitchell Gold extra long single flat cushion sofa so when Ali and I curl up on it to watch a movie there’s no falling between the cushions.   I also learned that dogs love the single cushion as well for often I would return to catch Bear (I miss you bud) happily dozing away and I half expected him to have a remote in his hand watching Animal Planet.

My chairs are mid century modern I acquired years ago for my first post college apartment (quite the dump but in the Columbus Ohio version of LoHi… location is everything) and have hence been restored with new leather.  My farmers table is hand made from reclaimed barn wood by the gifted table maker back east named David Ellison.  I decided to have one of his hand crafted tables because I wanted to have a special place for friends to come and share meals and laughter together.  I also realized the prices at the popular Cherry Creek design stores were simply out of my reach, but kudos to David as it looks like his business is doing well enough that he can charge more (or I got a deal for being early in his career as a furniture builder).

Everyone has their own special ways to make their urban home special.  For me that was organic sheets and an organic mattress from the Denver Sleep Store, several potted plants from City Florist, a full size drafting table (oh yes.. some cartoons or animation is well overdue), and a historic tanker desk for me to write at.

Some things were an investment as I hope to keep them for my lifetime, some things were more of a scavenger hunt on Craigslist (the tanker desk was FREE… although I had to pay someone to pick it up).

But the one thing I found difficult was the location of an IKEA Expedit bookcase.  I already had found an old Globe Wernicke stackable bookcase on ebay that I got for a steal.. until I factored in the shipping.  By then it was just a “good” deal and I do love having it in my office.

But I needed more storage as space is valuable in Urban Living.  I was also overflowing with my vinyl records (love the sound), books, and different bins of bike gear, ski gear, workout get, etc.

The IKEA Expedit was the perfect solution.  Inexpensive, simple, and reliable.  But IKEA doesn’t ship the larger or store only items, and if the do the shipping takes affordable to expensive in a flash.  Some smaller companies had been started doing truck deliveries from out of state IKEA stores but again.. expensive.  And since you know my opinion on excessive driving I didn’t want to take my gas guzzler out to do a pick up myself.. the fuel would destroy any cost savings.

Finally after weeks of searching one appeared on Craigslist in Boulder and I raced over in the early AM to meet with the seller who had been FLOODED with calls.  First come first served he said.

I was first, and even saw another potential buyer racing to their door as I was headed out, bookcase in the back.  That was just last year.

Well it’s time for a new bookcase.  I have a Swiss Fondue pot from our trip to ParPan Switzerland with memories, I have cookbooks, Ali has cookbooks, and we just have STUFF that would go in so many places better than wherever they are stashed now.  I also have one empty wall next to the dining room table waiting for some character.  So guess what?  It’s time for another Expedit and my second IKEA item.

Perfect timing with the new IKEA opening tomorrow in Centennial.  Now I won’t be there on opening day, or even opening weekend.  Crowds are just not my style.  But it’s nice to know that we have a new affordable option here in Denver.

Cheers Denver, IKEA realized what we all knew… that this is the city to be in.

Check out the new IKEA Centennial and you can even register for a $1000 gift card contest.  Good Luck!

And yes, that is a vintage Star Wars Lunchbox blurred on top of the bookcase. Now share with me your favorite item of furniture in your home and if there is a special story behind it on this blog or on the Urban Brain Facebook Page.

The District of Columbia Office of Planning is doing something pretty cool with their new Live Near Your Work (LNYW) pilot program.

It’s really really simple…

If you move to within two miles of work or to within a quarter-mile of a qualifying bus or train station the government will match incentives paid by your employer up to $6000 for a grand total available of $12,000.

The goal is to get people to either greatly reduce or totally eliminate their commute.

Really… you want to pay people to give up driving in their cramped cars giving up hours every day to traffic, road rage, and white knuckle driving.  You expect people to be happy to stop paying what is now over $4 a gallon and expected to continue to increase painful fuel prices.

That’s just…AWESOME!   Let’s get this pilot program a whirl and then bring it to Denver and even retroactively reward people who already live downtown or don’t commute.  Nah, that probably won’t happen but at least those of us who love living downtown or who ride public transportation, bike, even gas efficiently scoot or (ugh) drive are doing something to help.

But the real reward is probably that we don’t give up those hours of our life every week.  The real reward is the bike ride or walk we DO enjoy instead of driving… or even reading the newspaper on the rail.  The reward is taking those dollars we are NOT spending on gasoline and spending it on Sushi (my pick anyway).

So Denver.. what do you think of the new DC Live Near Your Work program.  And I know not all jobs are downtown but remember that Riverfront Park, LoHi ,and LoDo are all within the right distance to be close to the new Union Station metro station so you could connect with light rail out to so many locations throughout Denver.

Now if we could only get access to some of the Federal High Speed Rail Funds that Florida walked away from (Jackwagon) to build ourselves a I-70 Corridor solution Mountain Rail.

My other modes of transportation are my scooter, my feet, the occasional cab, and I’m checking out the car share systems like gocar and connect by hertz (See my previous post about the best car share).  And of course the real question about how my car optional lifestyle he was asking was if I had stuck with it.  After all, it’s not like I sold the car.   Someone who cares about me has it and I could go back to driving it if I gave up this goal.  But I haven’t given up.  In fact quite the opposite, I find that the more I live without my car and change my habits the easier it gets.  I have borrowed it on a couple specific occasions so It’s not like I refuse to drive.  The first was a situation I always planned on… the vet trip.  With a 100 lb older pup his comfort comes first.  He had a trip to the vet last week and I borrowed my old wheels for the trip.  The other instance was when I found a bookshelf on Craigslist that was in Boulder with a “first one who gets here can have it” offer that got me in my car again.  At least I had to bike to get over to where the car was so a little exercise was involved.

My answer was “so far so good”.  The real test will be when the weather changes and I’m not riding a bike or a scooter with the sun keeping me nice and warm.  I do remember riding with freezing rain/snow pelting my face.  I remember arriving at my destination cold and soaking wet.  Brrrrrrr.  But I also remember how nice it was to warm up with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and feeling the comfortable ache of a well maintained body and soul.  I’ll take exposure to the environment any day.  It gives me an excuse to buy cool winter duds and toys.

I’ll keep you posted on how I do on my car optional journey.  I’ll share the good and the bad.  The wins and the losses.  It’s not all about forcing yourself to bike across the city.  Some of it is about shopping more locally, eating within your own neighborhood, and the occasional cab ride that you probably should do after that second glass of wine anyway.

Cheers all.

Oh, and the second part of my post is from an article in the New York Times this past week announcing that Google is finally getting their bike map application off the ground.  Other sites have tried but I think that only the mighty google will have the user base to get this tool to the level it needs to be.  Soon my journey across Denver to a new destination could be made easier with the right path.  Even better, visiting other cities could become easier with this handy tool.  So give it a try and come back here and let me know how good or bad the Denver bike guide is… and then submit some help to their site to make it better.

Google Bike Maps

Thought this might be a good follow up to my previous post about the Denver car optional lifestyle.

So my new lifestyle is feeling good. I’m speaking of the fact that I gave up my car, rented out both of my two parking spaces, and have decided to get around via foot, pedal, public transportation and scooter (hey, it’s only $1 in gas roughly once a week…. that’s still green to me). I’m also looking into the various car share programs for those emergency situations where a car is needed. I already new about the connect by Hertz program that is being started from the base of SPIRE at 14th and Champa and a friend turned me on to e-Go Carshare. She and her husband share one car which he primarily uses since he doesn’t work downtown like she does. She is a kindred spirit in that we both love traveling in any way except by car. However she sometimes has client trips that require a car so she has the system scoped out. Here is the scoop on rates.

e-Go Carshare

Economy cars are generally older model cars, some of which are manual transmission.  Most of these cars have lock boxes rather than keyfob technology.

Standard cars are newer model cars, such as a Toyota Prius, Honda Fit, or Ford pick-up truck.  All standard cars are automatics and are equipped with keyfob technology.

• Free Wheelin Plan
  • Economy Cars
    • $10 / month
    • $2.50 / hour + 0.30/mile
    • $49 / day
  • Standard Cars
    • $10 / month
    • $4.00 / hour + $0.30/mile
    • $65 / day

• Peace of Mind Plan
  • Economy Cars
    • $0 / month
    • $4.50/hr + $0.30/mile
    • $59 / day
  • Standard Cars
    • $0 / month
    • $6.50 / hr + $0.30 / mile
    • $75 / day

They also have something called a Go Trip if you need a car for a full day or more and includes the first 100 miles for free.  Just check with them for rates.  Also they advertise that Night Owls can rejoice because they don’t charge hourly from 11 PM to 6 AM.  Hmmmmm… does that mean I can  take it from 10 PM until 6 AM and only pay for an hour?  Sounds like a good time to do errands.. that can’t be right can it?  They also have quite a few locations close to me (16th downtown or one in th highlands) so I’m going to have to check them out.

Connect by Hertz

• Connect Plan
  • $50 annual membership
  • $25 application fee
  • 180 free miles per day
  • From $8.00 per hour with free gas
• Connect 50
  • $50 per month, no annual fee
  • $25 application fee
  • 180 free miles per day
  • From $7.65 per hour with free gas
  • $50 driving credit per month
• Connect 125
  • $125 per month, no annual fee
  • $25 application fee
  • 180 free miles per day
  • From $6.80 per hour with free gas

But the magic part of Hertz is that right now you can sign up and have your $75 waived ($50 membership + $25 application).  Since their are just getting ready to open their very first Denver location they are doing this promotion to get new folks signed up.  The code you need to enter is 1886465 and I believe they have it on the big signs right in front of SPIRE.  Of course all new SPIRE residents get this deal to.

So my friend and I were discussing this and it’s kind of nice that you could take advantage of the promotion at Connect by Hertz AND the Peace of Mind plan at e-Go Carshare and have no monthly fee but have options for cars in case an emergency trip comes up.  Since it takes about a week or so to process either application it makes sense to get set up before you need a car, not when you need a car.

So this is the final piece of my car optional lifestyle.  I hardly used my car at all for the past year, renting out both parking spaces just made it official that I didn’t have a car.  I’ve got a new lightweight get around town bike, sold the funky Electra cruiser, and keep my scooter tuned up.  Jenny turned in the lease on her car and is now keeping my truck for her occasional photo shoots out of town and she helps me take my 100+ lb pup Bear to the VRCC Doctor appointments (dog medical appointments are emergencies to me).  So I recycled my car to someone who now doesn’t have a lease payment.  Hmmmmm… what next?  Ah the next post will be about groceries I think.

If you are out there trying to live car optional I hope these tips help.  I’ll keep you posted on what my first car optional year is like.  It’s easy to scoot and bike in the summer months but this winter I think you will find me exploring some new winter bike gear.  Brrrrr… I think I’ll just enjoy the summer. I had some easy rain scoots the last couple days that reminded me that the weather will not always be so perfect.  It’s okay, I’ve braved worse storms.

If you are thinking about making the switch I will share one more observation.  I see the world so much more clearly from two wheels.  When I am biking around town (my favorite choice) it’s much slower, much more tactile.  The scooter feels the same way and their is no chatting on the phone, sending texts, or other distractions.  I might catch myself observing the scenery but that’s about as distracting as it gets.  What you also notice is how many folks are drifting in their lanes or driving dangerously while they chat on their phones and text or worse.  I did it.  I remember trying to discipline myself to stop.  But when that phone rings everyone answers it.  For most people its all about business.  I’ll have to do a post about this thought later as well but it’s funny to think about how technology changes us.  I saw a history excerpt from the 70s or 80s discussing how technology was going to make our lives easier and give us more leisure time with family and friends.  Nope.  It just brought out the competition in everyone to get more work done every second of every day.   Pbbbbbbbbtttttt.  It took me getting out of my car to see how dangerous that can be on the road.  And if you are missing the scenery when you drive what are you missing in your life by being constantly distracted?

Enjoy your weekend Denver.  Just some thoughts.

In the article “High-Rise, or House With Yard?” a family takes a close look at the cost comparison between living in the Suburbs or living in the city. I am guessing that most would assume the more expensive option would be the city loft. Well that’s not the case in this analysis. That big house in the suburbs can actually be more expensive. I’ll tell you how they got to this conclusion.

Before I begin I’ll make one thing clear… this is not a square footage to square footage comparison. Basically, the city residence was half the square footage of the suburb home. The purchase price was higher for the city home, just not the square footage (okay.. that is what you would expect). That is often the trade off between these two. When you live in the city I like to think you trade some private space for so much more community space. Maybe you don’t have the fenced backyard but you do have public parks, green space, bike trails and other outdoor features outside your front door. Perhaps you don’t have as big of a kitchen, or a breakfast nook or media room. Instead you have (for Denver) three stadiums, movie theaters, stage and life theater venues, restaurants, coffee shops and bars. You have less space within your private domain but if you don’t mind sharing you have so much more to experience.

I’ll come back to the sharing aspect.

So you might be asking… if the mortgage on the city is higher how can the suburb be more expensive. Two big factors stand out to me. The first is transportation. Denver hasn’t quite made it to a car optional city for most (although I’m giving it a shot right now) but the transportation factor for cost is major. Car loans, car insurance, gasoline, car maintenance, parking, etc. all add up to one great big expense every month. City living with bicycle commutes, light rail and other public transportation, or simply using your own two feet is a wonderful and healthy lifestyle change that puts more money in your pocket.

The second big expense is tied to all that extra square footage in the form of utilities and maintenance. That’s right… that extra square footage is more expensive to heat, cool, and keep maintained. Over the course of a year these various suburb related expenses add up to make city living a cheaper alternative. For me that is great news because I love the city lifestyle. But I also love the social impact my new lifestyle offers.

Of course, looking at it with a BP oil leak perspective both of these expenses are also likely to grow in importance over time. Fuel costs are likely to continue to increase bringing both fuel and utilities higher and higher. Even with electric cars or other alternatives it is likely that fuel from all sources will continue to go up in price. As everyone points their fingers at BP, government oversight or any other third party for the devastating and tragic oil leak in the gulf I find myself blaming myself. After all, I’m the one using all that oil based gasoline for my fuel, my utilities, and my oil based products and services. Heck, I’ve flown more air miles in the past 5 years than most probably do in a lifetime. The best way to help protect the environment is not to blame the producer of the oil but instead to correct my own personal consumption.

So here is my own personal plan….

• I live in a condo downtown
• I travel the city by bike, foot, and for longer distances scooter ($1 a week in gas) or public transportation
• I gave up my car (although I have access to one when I need it)
  • The car optional lifestlye started July 1… so wish me luck
• I rented out my owned parking spaces (so I save car expenses and created income from the choice)
• I shop locally and support local businesses

Granted, it’s not much and I still have more than my share of transgressions but this article was just a terrific reminder of the cost realities of the two lifestyle choices.  Something to consider.  The couple in the article did end up selecting the suburb house for the needed square footage even with the higher expense after their children were born but others discussed in the article chose downtown living.  It was always the city lifestyle that was preferred… it was the square footage that was the main driver of a suburb choice.  How much private space do you need?  I told you I was coming back to this point.

I value my private space.  I do.  I lived in a residence in a suburb about twice the size of my current square footage now.  I had more space, more bedrooms, more rooms, more yard… more more more.

And only after living in downtown Denver in a shared high rise did I realize how much that suburb lifestyle also meant a lack of community.  I just like people.  I like meeting and greeting my neighbors in the hallways, at the gym, picking up my mail, or at the local coffee shops and restaurants.  I don’t want to live in spacious isolation, I want discussions and laughter and an exchange of ideas.  Granted, not everyone is friendly but you take the good with the “challenging”.  Even within the downtown condo lifestyle I would rather live in a larger denser building than a small condo.  Before this I lived in a building that had fewer residences.  Sure, it had nicer counter tops and cabinets and touted itself as a more private building but for me that wasn’t a plus.  I’d rather see others and know my neighbors that never see a soul.  Now I know that in the ‘burbs folks do build relationships with neighbors.  But I there is something about life in a city, a dense city, that is unique and magical.  Try it sometime and maybe you can trade in that car payment for a new bike and some funds for the local coffee shops.

Regards Denver, check out the New York Times article here.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Wow, I am accumulating bikes.  First living in the mountains it was a mountain bike.  Upon moving to Denver years ago I began the gradual accumulation of a skinny tire cruiser bike, a road bike, then a fat tire cruiser bike, then restored my old mountain bike from college (everyone needs a “no one would want to steal this” bike) and now a single speed.

What can I say, I love bikes.  I love the idea of not driving.  I love the freedom from traffic.  I love getting around on my own power.  I love the sun on my back and a cool morning breeze.  I’ve accumulated messenger bags, horns, lights, reflectors, racks, and more as part of this lifestyle.  Yet lately I haven’t been riding as much.  Excuses excuses excuses… here they come.  My felt cruiser bike is perfect for cruiser bike rides but the truth is the darn thing is heavy.  I found that out when I tried to put it on a wall rack.  Not my brightest moment.  My road bike is too over the top.  It’s a road bike with clip in pedals.  I don’t want to carry around a change of shoes for running errands and I also don’t want to leave it out on the street even with a lock.  I figure it’s only a matter of time before it disappears and I’d prefer to save it for long weekend rides.  My skinny tire cruiser bike (a black Electra Amsterdam) is for sale on Craigslist (if you are interested I’ll cut you a deal) to make room for the single speed.  I’m babbling but the fact is I’m hooked on a low maintenance light weight single speed for buzzing around town.  I’m checking out the bikes around town (Pearl Velo has a pretty cool local shop to check out btw) and have pretty much made up my mind.  Soon it will be in.

So ONE MORE bike.  I’m making the leap more official this time.  My own vehicle has just been gathering dust.  Except for the occasional dog transport, mountain trip, or heavy errand I really don’t use it.  So I’m giving it up and renting out my parking space (more than pays for a single speed) and embracing a car free lifestyle.  I’ll still have access to my vehicle (I’ll have to bike to it) but it will be in far better hands most of the time.  They say downtown life is car optional.  I’m going to give it a shot.  Of course I still have my $1 to fill up the tank scooter to buzz around on as well but for the most part it will be bicycle wheels or my own two feet that will get me around.  Summer is a great time to start and get some healthy habits in place before the winter returns.  At that point I’ll be spending that parking money on winter riding gear.

So fellow cyclists wish me luck.  I’m taking the next step.  Bye bye car.

And for those of you who are as upset as I am with this whole BP debacle this follows a philosophy of reducing dependence on oil.  They say that boycotts don’t do anything because BP doesn’t own the stations.  The way I look at it, and this is just my opinion, we are all guilty in the situation we are in.  As a society we have ignored our own responsibility as consumers who have created such incredible oil demand and support the irresponsible action of oil companies and government with our dollars every day.  If we really want to make a difference we need to look for a different way to live.  This is a small step.

P.S. Can we please build a train to the mountains now.

But the real point of my safety comment is tied to the common fact that almost 50% of the folks I saw driving home were either talking on their phones or appeared to be texting. The New York Times recently reported of a study where a clown riding a unicycle rode into the vision of someone talking on their cell phones. Those individuals were questioned later on whether they recalled seeing anything unusual, or specifically if they noticed the clown. Numbers were as low as 8 to 20%.

That means there are a lot of people disconnected from the world operating tons of heavy machinery.

My point is simply this.. You don’t have hands free to talk on the phone when you are on a scooter or a bicycle, the two modes of transportation that have replaced my car. Even if I went hands free the wind would make it difficult to talk. Now I know that there are solutions for this, expensive motorcycle helmets and such. So even if the whole city of Denver started riding scooters and bicycles we would simply have more mobile headset salesmen on every corner… but I can still dream.

If you have taken two wheels into traffic lately, without trying to incorporate a cell phone, you know what I’m talking about. There is simply a greater sense of awareness and observation. Somehow while insulated inside the car reaching from texting on the phone to adjusting the radio the mere act of observing the road (or fellow road travelers) goes to the bottom of the list. It’s kinda scary.

Anywhoo that is my rant for the day. Until everyone starts scootering or biking to work I guess it’s just a matter of defense, defense defense. Be safe out there.