--- "Jose J. Ortiz-Carlo" wrote: > Gang: > > I need your knowledgeable advice and opinions on a > topic which, for me, is most sensitive. > > I have two very good friends moving to Golden, > Colorado. > > How good is: > a. Public education > b. Quality of life > c. Safety > d. etc. > > For the residents of the state of Colorado? If you > know about the > particulars of this specific area, (Golden), please, > also contribute. > > All the feedback I have, so far, is that Golden High > School belongs to the > same school district as Columbine High School. True, > this is not an > indication of anything, but still... oy.
Golden is in the foothills 'above' Denver, and is the home of the Coors Brewery, if that means anything... :) Since it's at a higher altitude, I think it escapes more of the "brown haze" days, but that will be visible over Denver frequently (we recently had 14 straight days of exceeding the ozone limits). We're supposed to have 4 seasons, but winter frequently morphs straight into summer and vice versa; we do get a lot of sun, so more than 3 days of constant cloud cover provokes comments on the local news. Golden will require hardier flowers/shrubs etc. than Denver, and it's probably tougher to grow vegetables in our already-short growing season (my tomatoes and peppers haven't done squat this year, but another friend's tomatoes are going gangbusters - not sure why). According to the recently posted "Dangerous States" site, Colorado is the 30th most dangerous; you can get a concealed weapons permit but the rules vary from county to county (sheriff's discretion) and I believe that Denver has challenged a recent ruling that standards for concealed weapons must be consistent state-wide (Denver's rules are much more restrictive than Western Slope towns, frex). As far as schools go, Golden is fairly well-off in terms of inhabitants' income, so school facilities are decent->good. My friend who works throughout the Denver district said: "Jeffco [Jefferson County] has widely varying competence in education. Golden is quite good but not considered as good as Littleton." Her sister's family liked living in Golden very much (moved to Denver b/c of the commute for her husband; in winter the foothills get 'slammed' with snowstorms/blizzard conditions much more than Denver, and then it can take an hour& a-half or longer!). >From the lack of mention on the local news of murder/rape/violent muggings, Golden is much safer than Denver, where nearly weekly someone is shot/stabbed/dragged/hit&run or found dead (violently so), and also safer than Boulder, Littleton, Aurora etc (metropolitan areas). Area hospitals range from national class to enter-at-your-own risk, and HMO penetrance is high. It's close enough for cultural stuff (Denver has an active theater/orchestra district downtown), and the zoo, seaquarium, and museums are decent. Of course sports are all the rage, and Denver has professional football, baseball, hockey, soccer, basketball (well, almost ;} ) teams, and tons of kids' leagues. People are very active with skiing, snowboarding, hiking & backpacking/camping, biking (road and mountain both), tennis, golf, fishing, etc. etc. Lots of shopping, lots of good restaurants (which was _not_ the case 20 years ago), with everything from Ethiopean to Thai to wild game. There are organic grocery stores here, and I presume in Golden too (Wild Oats, Alfalfa's), and seasonal farmers' markets also. 'The Tattered Cover' is one of the best independent bookstores in the nation - easy to lose yourself there for a half-day or more! :) Open space parks (for hiking and mountain biking) are scattered about the metro area, and at least one is right by Golden (some canyon or another); Jeffco has a lot of open space and you can horseback in many (that's with your own horses; 'rentals' are more scarce). :D Denver is also a big dog city (Golden Retrievers and Labs are most popular, with a fair number of huskies & other large dog mixes, with active agility clubs and rescue training (fairly stringent requirements for the latter WRT your time and the dog's temperament/trainability). While cheaper than New York or San Francisco, coming from Dallas I found most things to be more expensive, and it's ridiculously expensive compared to Louisiana. Overall, I like living here; the only place I'd rank 'higher' that I've lived for a while would be Oregon, which has phenomenal garden potential and forests west of the Cascades, and lots of sun east of them. (I found the perpetual clouds/drizzle of winter in Portland intolerable, though.) Debbi Travelogues 'R' Us Maru :) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
