Dreams of a Future Denver

The Denver Post has a nice collection of visions for Denver, ca. 2030, a while ago, they include:

*“a new underground train that would take the same route as the mall bus does from Civic Center Station to Union Station. It would stop every two blocks instead of every block. People would be able to get off at Union Station and board a different train to Denver International Airport.”;

*“I see a downtown where people live down here, they work down here, their recreation is here . . . It's less about attracting one big store than having a host of unique stores that stretch for blocks and blocks.”;

*“a downtown with 120,000 residences within 10 years. . . . A new vision for downtown should build on former Mayor Robert Speer's vision of creating a city within a park, which would include reactivating the numerous fountains throughout downtown.”;

*“Denver needs to give developers who own parking lots incentives to replace them with housing . . . ‘Great downtowns are not places for special events. They're about variety and diversity where real people live all the time.’”;

*“’Because Denver is home to many, many immigrant people, businesses in the downtown area are going to need to be able to communicate with people in a variety of languages Spanish, Russian, Japanese,’ Downtown also needs its own public and private schools.’ . . . Particularly elementary and middle schools, because families with small kids always like to have a quality school that is nearby.’;

*"measures should be taken so that residents and tourists feel safe riding the mall bus at night. . .“I'd love to see a mini-department store like a Jacobson's or a Macy's";

*"street markets, outdoor dining and climate-controlled spaces that make the 16th Street Mall as appealing in the winter as it is in the summer";

*"If the Rockies were doing well, it would boost everyone's business for the entire summer.";

*"increase the number of jobs downtown by more than 50 percent. . . see downtown's numerous surface parking lots converted into residences, offices and retail.";

*"'You could tear them [downtown's buildings] all down and start over.' . . . more . . . high-rise residential projects downtown."