Boulder is well known for its commitment to preserving open space and controlling population growth. However, by 2000, limited residential growth had combined with university and commercial growth to create traffic congestion and very expensive real estate.
Boulder has a reputation as a bastion of liberalism in a predominantly conservative state. One mayor of the city described Boulder as "nestled between the mountains and reality," and the city is sometimes referred to as the "People’s Republic of Boulder." Despite its liberal reputation, Boulder has a substantial number of conservative and libertarian residents. The Promise Keepers, an evangelical organization for men, was founded in Boulder in 1990.
Boulder Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 94,673 people, 39,596 households, and 16,788 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,499.9/km² (3,884.1/mi²). There are 40,726 housing units at an average density of 645.2/km² (1,670.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 88.33% White, 1.22% Black or African American, 0.48% Native American, 4.02% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 3.50% from other races, and 2.40% from two or more races. 8.24% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 39,596 households out of which 20.0% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 33.3% are married couples living together, 6.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 57.6% are non-families. 33.7% of all households are made up of individuals and 6.2% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.20 and the average family size is 2.84.
In the city the population is spread out, with 14.8% under the age of 18, 25.9% from 18 to 24, 33.0% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 7.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 29 years. For every 100 females there are 106.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and older, there are 107.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $44,748, and the median income for a family is $70,257. Males have a median income of $41,829 versus $32,100 for females. The per capita income for the city is $27,262. 17.4% of the population and 6.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 10.4% of those under the age of 18 and 6.5% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Boulder Geography
Boulder is located in Boulder Valley where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains. Just west of the city are imposing slabs of sedimentary stone tilted up on the foothills, known as The Flatirons. These are iconic of Boulder and often appear on city-related paraphanelia.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 65.7 km² (25.4 mi²). 63.1 km² (24.4 mi²) of it is land and 2.6 km² (1.0 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 3.94% water.
Boulder History
In the early to mid 1800s, nomadic Arapaho Indians frequently wintered at the base of the foothills in the Boulder area. The first recorded European settlers in the area were gold prospectors who arrived in 1858. Mining in the Boulder area continued to be a prominent part of the local economy through the mid 1900s. Colorado statehood in 1876 led to the state's creation of the University of Colorado at Boulder, which opened in 1877.Government preservation of open space around Boulder began with the Congress of the United States approving the allocation of 1,800 acres (7.3 km²) of mountain backdrop/watershed extending from South Boulder Creek to Sunshine Canyon in 1899. In 1967, Boulder became the first city to levy a tax on residents for the acquisition and preservation of municipal open space to form an undeveloped buffer around the city.
Law and government
Boulder was the second city in the United States to implement the Hare (or Single Transferable Vote) method of voting in 1917. It was repealed in 1947.The "Boulder Riots"
On May 2, 1997, following a police effort to enforce the state drinking age, about 1,500 people (mostly students) rioted on University Hill, a retail, bar and restaurant district neighboring the University of Colorado. Although the riot lasted only a day, property damage estimates ranged from $350,000 to $500,000. Following the riots, CU fraternities voted to ban alcohol at in-house parties. (Source and more information: CU Students Riot Over Underage Drinking Crackdown by NewsBriefs)
Economy and industry
Major employers in Boulder include:
- University of Colorado (7,500)
- IBM (4,500)
- Ball Aerospace (3,000 )
- National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (1,700 )
- City of Boulder (1,600)
- National Center for Atmospheric Research (1,100)
- Tyco International, Tyco Healthcare Group, Valleylab division (1,000)
- Amgen (750)
- Lockheed Martin (450)
- Celestial Seasonings (250)
Outdoors
The open spaces in Boulder are spectacular and extensive. There are ample opportunities for hiking, biking and rock climbing. Most of the trails are a short drive from the city. The trails vary in easiness: some are quite easy while there are some that are technically challenging.World-class rock climbing is found in nearby Eldorado Canyon, near the small town of Eldorado Springs, Colorado, six miles south of Boulder. Eldorado Canyon is a wonder of natural beauty, but it is most famous for its hundreds of world famous rock climbing routes.
Transportation
Boulder is easily visited from Denver via the Denver Regional Transit District's (RTD) B bus line. The B runs from Market Street Station in Downtown Denver to Downtown Boulder near the Pearl Street Mall, which is a popular stop with tourists. Hiking trails start just at the edge of town within a mile away.Boulder is a city where the bicycle is used as a serious form of transportation, and the city has high rates of bicycle commuting and walking. The League of American Bicyclists has awarded its highest level of bicycle-friendliness, Gold level, to the city. The city is part of the RTD, yet it tends to go its own way with transportation policy. The city's transportation office, Go Boulder, operates an extensive busing program, including the high-frequency bus route called the "Hop."
Go Boulder and the RTD run several other similarly branded bus routes, including the "Skip," "Bound," "Dash," and "Jump." These have become increasingly popular and visible parts of Boulder's public transportation; many residents and businesses pay for transit not by the ride, but by the year, under a program called "ECO-Pass." Under the same program, entire neighborhoods have banded together to buy a bus pass for everyone living in the area. Additionally, all students at the University of Colorado at Boulder are issued bus passes as part of their school ID, paid for by student fees. Many buses have devices that communicate with the NextBus satellite tracking system, which allows riders to check on the status of buses in real-time.
However, like most of the other major metropolitan areas in Colorado, the car is by far the most visible form of personal transportation. But with recent increases in traffic load and little room for further roadway expansion within the city, alternative forms of transportation have become increasingly popular even among the middle and upper classes of Boulder.
Happy Thursday
Every Thursday in Boulder, a group of bicycle enthusiasts, ranging in numbers from just a couple riders in the colder months, to over 250 riders in the warmer months, meet at a local bike shop and ride their bikes around town as a group with some shouting "Happy Thursday!". Unlike Critical Mass, Boulder's Happy Thursday has no political agenda and no official organizers. Riders often wear costumes ranging from Halloween-like fare to sexually suggestive uniforms. Usually music is provided by portable stereos and the ride tends to end at The Republic, a bar named after Boulder's nickname, "The People's Republic of Boulder."
Shopping
Downtown Boulder, particularly the Pearl Street Mall, is host to a variety of restaurants, bars, and boutique stores. However, it has relatively few grocery or hardware stores and is therefore more of a "shopping destination" than a neighborhood with stores supporting the local population.
Between 28th and 30th streets was the Crossroads Mall, an indoor mall anchored by Foley's and Sears. It closed in 2002 and is being replaced by a new development project called Twenty Ninth Street. Twenty Ninth Street is intended to be an up-scale and pedestrian-accessible mall and will be anchored by the existing Foley's, a new Home Depot, and a movie theater. Organic retailer Wild Oats Market will have their flagship store and new headquarters in Twenty Ninth street. Crossroads Mall and Twenty Ninth Street are owned by Westcor.
Non-grocery stores in Boulder include King Soopers and Safeway. Organic retailers include the local Wild Oats Market, Whole Foods Market, Vitamin Cottage and the Boulder Food Co-Op. Hardware stores include local McGuckin's Hardware and Ace Hardware. Home Depot has not yet opened in Boulder.
Colleges, universities, science institutes
Colleges and Universities
- Boulder College of Massage Therapy
- Naropa University private university
- University of Colorado at Boulder, public university which contributes roughly 30,000 residents to the population - http://www.colorado.edu/
- Ruseto College private two-year college
Science institutes
- Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy (CASA) - http://casa.colorado.edu/
- Engineers Without Borders - http://www.ewb-usa.org/
- Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) - http://lasp.colorado.edu/
- National Center for Atmospheric Research / University Corporation for Atmospheric Research - http://www.ncar.ucar.edu/
- National Institute of Standards and Technology - http://www.boulder.nist.gov/
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research center - http://noaa.gov/
- NTIA - Institute for Telecommunication Sciences Boulder - http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/
- Space Science Institute - http://www.spacescience.org/
- Southwest Research Institute Department of Space Studies - http://www.boulder.swri.edu/
People
Notable births in Boulder include: Scott Carpenter (Project Mercury astronaut), Arleigh Burke (United States Navy Admiral, Chief of Naval Operations), Kristin Davis (Sex and the City actress), Tony Boselli (five-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle), Russell Nachman (artist, 1989), Charles Boettcher (entrepeneur; 1979), Anna Conway (1974; author), Joel Button (Nobel Prize winner; 1954).Integral philosopher Ken Wilber lived in Boulder for about 20 years, but now resides in Denver. Musician Stuart Davis, originally from Minnesota, lives in Boulder. Experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage lived near Boulder from the mid-1960s until 2002, and taught several film courses at CU-Boulder.
Music
Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys is originally from Boulder, as are The String Cheese Incident, Leftover Salmon and The Samples.Every year during the second week of January, Boulder is the host city of MahlerFest, an annual celebration honoring Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, on the University of Colorado at Boulder campus. Volunteer orchestral musicians donate their services for two performances of one major work by Mahler each year; a symposium is held on the Saturday of the festival, in which Mahler scholars discuss aspects of that year's work; and a series of "Visualizing Mahler" art exhibits, which feature artists reactions to that year's Mahler composition, are held in various places throughout Boulder.
On Thursday nights (7–9pm) from June through mid-August, free live music can be heard outdoors on the 1300 block of Pearl Street, just south of the Courthouse. Each week, Bands on the Bricks, as it called, features a different band, ranging in styles from zydeco to oldies, and bluegrass to funk.
Boulder in fiction
Boulder was a setting for Stephen King's book The Stand (1978), and for the sitcom Mork & Mindy (1978–1982). Some houses and the NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) building overlooking the town were used in the filming of Woody Allen's Sleeper. Boulder may also be part of the basis for the town of South Park in the animated show South Park, the creators of which (Trey Parker & Matt Stone) attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, which also makes appearences in South Park. (Though "South Park" generally refers to a valley nestled within the mountains of central Colorado).The author Stephen White has written a series of mystery books using Boulder as the primary backdrop and featuring lead character Alan Gregory.
Sister cities
Boulder has six official sister cities:- Dushanbe, Tajikistan
- Jalapa, Nicaragua
- Lhasa, Tibet
- Mante, Mexico
- Yamagata, Japan
- Yateras, Cuba
Dushanbe presented its distinctive Dushanbe Tea House as a gift to Boulder in 1987. It was completed in 1990. More information about Boulder's sister city relationships can be found at Boulder's official website.
External links
- Official city website
- A Brief History of Boulder County
- The Boulder Community Network serves all of Boulder County, Colorado. It is the second-oldest web-based community network in the world, and went on-line on March 15, 1994.
- Official MahlerFest website
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Boulder,_Colorado".