Category Archives: Boulder

Boulder

Opinion: Henry Koren: Our council is keeping their promise to deliver missing middle housing

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Published in the Daily Camera 2025-02-22  – Photo by Cliff Grassmick

Anyone who walks around our neighborhoods has seen numerous homes that have been rebuilt into modern luxury mansions. These multimillion-dollar residences are attainable only by the wealthy and typically not young families. They may be one of multiple residences that the owners enjoy traveling between. Periodically vacant homes lead to less vibrant neighborhoods.

Boulder’s school-age population is declining at an alarming rate of 1.5% per year. The overall population of Boulder peaked in 2017 and has been declining at the rate of 0.5% per year. If we want our community to thrive over the long term, this should be something that concerns us. Continue reading Opinion: Henry Koren: Our council is keeping their promise to deliver missing middle housing →

Boulder

On Boulder’s Proposition 8666: “Family Friendly Vibrant Neighborhoods”

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My testimony to the Boulder City Council on January 9 2024 can be played here:

Transcript

My name is Henry Koren; I live with my family in Table Mesa. I’ll speak in support of this ordinance.

I’m going to recommend two interviews from Boulder’s Carnegie Library Oral History project:

First, listen to the 1972 interview of Ruth Cave Flowers, one of the first African American graduate of CU Boulder; she moved here 100 years ago, right after the dissolution of Boulder’s chapter of the KKK.  Ruth shared her experience of multiple forms of discrimination she was subject to, including redlining, which restricted her choice of housing to the Goss Grove neighborhood.

Next, listen to the 2002 interview of Bob McElvey, one of the founders of PLAN-Boulder County, who helped establish the Green Belt and Blue Line. Bob eventually moved out of Boulder because his daughter couldn’t find housing here; he said Boulder had become an upper-middle-class ghetto.

I don’t think those who are defending low density zoning are willfully or maliciously carrying the cross of white supremacy, but I do believe that many aspects of our zoning evolved from racist redlining. Continue reading On Boulder’s Proposition 8666: “Family Friendly Vibrant Neighborhoods” →

Boulder

Boulder voters should reject exclusivism again this November

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I moved to Boulder in 2009, renting a few feet outside the city, dwelling with unrelated roommates as would not have been legal within the city limits. While living there, I would marry my once “unrelated” girlfriend, and we would start our family. We were privileged to become homeowners and move inside the city in 2018. It was challenging then; I fear it will be near impossible for future generations.

Boulder’s population peaked in 2019 and has been slowly declining ~275 people/year in the following years. Our school district is struggling to keep classes open. If this trend continues, they will be considering which schools to close. Population decline is one of the many impacts of decades of exclusivist policies.  Continue reading Boulder voters should reject exclusivism again this November →

Boulder, Society

#BoulderPriorities Survey of Progressive Policy Preferences

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In November of 2021, the people of Boulder elected a progressive supermajority overturning 40 years of PLAN-Boulder county rule. This historic shift in the balance of power of the City Council represents a new path forward for the City. Now the difficult job of governing starts. While the election provided a strong mandate for the type of change our people want, the specifics of policy were not on the ballot.

I, Henry Koren, a private citizen of Boulder created this survey. My priorities are my family, my business and my community. I am a supporter of Boulder Progressives, and the Boulder Cooalition who I distributed literature for in October. I am affiliated with Bedrooms Are For People, but have not coordinate the creation or analysis of this survey with any local groups. While this survey’s policies are unabashadly partisian, I pledge to represent the opposition to these policies as best as I reasonably can.

Jump to: Criticism | Results | Priorities | Lean | Opposition | Comments | Policy

Continue reading #BoulderPriorities Survey of Progressive Policy Preferences →
Boulder

Boulder’s Forty Year Quest Towards Rent Control

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Let’s look back over the last 40 years and learn how Boulder has tried but failed to institute rent controls, and how it could change soon.

In 1980, the City of Boulder passed a citizen initiative to impose rent control in existing buildings that would have capped and tightly regulated maximum rental rates across the city. In 1981 Colorado enacted C.R.S. 38-12-301 that made rent controls illegal.

Continue reading Boulder’s Forty Year Quest Towards Rent Control →
Boulder

Stop Sacrificing Climate to Perpetuate the Status Quo

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Two years ago I wrote about how Boulder’s Sustainable Future is at Stake in November’s Election, and the 2021 election that concludes on November 2nd is no different. The initiatives we adopt and the city council we elect will change the path of our city.

Many of my fellow townsfolk, who probably did not vote with Donald Trump, seem to be on the same page as Trump and the GOP when it comes to urban planning. As Nationalists spent four years fighting against immigration, Boulder Localists have been fighting for decades to defend our suburban lifestyle by limiting affordable housing and defending exclusionary zoning. Localists often say they support affordable housing somewhere, just not near them, and not whatever housing initiatives happen to be under consideration, such as: CU South, Alpine-balsam, 311 Mapleton, Palo Park, Celestial Seasonings, East Boulder, etc.

Boulder instead heavily relies upon over 60,000 migrant workers who on a daily basis commute to town to work and serve the privileged residents of this city. Not just low-income service workers, but many middle-income folks. They have little choice but to congest our streets and pollute our environment with their vehicles. This is not a sustainable arrangement. This is why the Sierra Club supports Urban Infill Development to create walkable communities that don’t rely upon long-distance car travel. The Sierra Club’s position has upset Localists because it flys in the face of their defense of suburban sprawl.

Continue reading Stop Sacrificing Climate to Perpetuate the Status Quo →
Boulder, Society

Boulder Blight

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blight /blīt/
1. a thing that spoils or damages something.
2. Vacant, underutilized & sub-optimal Spaces

This photo series highlights vacant and underutilized areas of the city where redevelopment could build homes for people that are currently suffering long commutes to get into town. I started the #BoulderBlight hashtag on October 9, 2019 in an effort to atone for welcoming people to work in this town which lacks adequate housing options.

Continue reading Boulder Blight →
Boulder, Society

Boulder’s Sustainable Future is at Stake in 2019’s Election

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This article was published as a guest opinion in the Daily Camera on Oct. 11 2019 under the title “Beware of false environmentalism in Boulder”. Please support local journalism!

Let’s consider Boulder’s city council candidates and how they feel about growth. The candidate’s positions fall on a spectrum of wanting intelligent growth, not wanting growth and some who would like to shrink Boulder, eliminate jobs, and preserve the town for the privileged elites who’ve made it here. Anti-density politicians who claim to care about the environment are the most hypocritical drivers of city policy.

In the decade I’ve lived in Boulder, my small business has grown to twenty people. Not all of us can afford to live where we work. There are some who consider my business to be part of the problem. But being lucky enough to live in Boulder has transformed my preferences, from tolerating being stuck in my car for hours a day, to finding the benefits of choosing to ride my bike rather than drive. Many of my currently commuting co-workers would like to be able to live like this.

Continue reading Boulder’s Sustainable Future is at Stake in 2019’s Election →