February 7, 2023

Seven years ago, Business Insider published, “14 reasons why Denver is the best place to live in America.”  They recommended everyone consider Denver as “your next hometown” citing a strong job market, low unemployment, great restaurants, and practical perks such as a low crime rate and good schools. That was then. How is Denver doing now as “trendy and desirable”?

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In answering that question, the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle published, “Denver becoming America’s crime capital.” That’s quite the turnaround in less than a decade, especially when we think of New York City, Baltimore, or Philadelphia as America’s crime capitals.

In 1963, an unknown singer named Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr was urged to change his name if he wanted to pursue a musical recording career. “He took his stage name from the beautiful capital city of his favorite state, Colorado. Later in life, Denver and his family settled in Aspen, Colorado and his love for the Rocky Mountains inspired many of his songs.”

The rest is history. What would John Denver think of his namesake now? Would he still, “See it rainin’ fire in the sky, the shadow from the starlight softer than a lullaby”? Probably not. Now it’s raining crime, drugs, homelessness, illegal immigrants, and many other big city urban blights.

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The Chronicle, noted above reports, “Crime in the Mile High City is now worse than New York City or Chicago, and growing increasingly dangerous as the new year begins.” This includes violent crime, where on a scale of 1 to 100, Denver outranks NYC by 2.5 points, and property crime where Denver surpasses Chicago by 4.5 points. Bet you haven’t heard that on the news.

“Auto theft is now an epidemic in Denver and the second highest in the nation”, according to Denver Police Department data. Nearly 100 vehicles are stolen every day in Denver and rather than “rainin’ fire in the sky”, Colorado is raining car thieves, now leading America in auto thefts per capita.

Other statistics are not flattering. Ranking, “U.S. cities for home and community safety, natural disaster risk, and financial safety”, Denver falls between Little Rock and New Orleans. For home and community safety, Denver sits between Baltimore and Fort Lauderdale. Not a flattering position for the Mile High City.

The plan, announced a year ago, hasn’t worked (YouTube screengrab)

If John Denver were alive today, he likely would stay far away from his namesake city, instead singing “Thank God I’m a country boy.”

Reasons for Denver descending into a hellhole are myriad including, as the Chronicle suggested, “Growing troubles with elevated property and violent crime, low first responder recruitment, high homelessness concentrations, and growing drug overdoses played large roles in the low ranking.”

What else could be at play? Start with leadership. Colorado was once a red state. In 2000, Republicans captured 51 percent of presidential votes, but in 2020, that had dropped to 42 percent. In the US House of Representatives, in 2000, Colorado elected 4 Republicans and 2 Democrats. In 2020 it was only 3 Republicans and 5 Democrats.