HELP! Moving to Denver on short notice with my family! Need advice. :}

[RetroGamer1971]

To all of the lovely people on DU in Colorado, I could use your help. My wife is getting laid off as a librarian in AZ due to budget cuts, and her city spending 300 million dollars on a hockey stadium. She is a finalist to be the Branch Manager at the Montbello Public library in Denver. Here is what I need help with. If she gets this, we will have four weeks to get from Phoenix to Denver, and get installed in our new digs. We are moving with our 10 year old, and two insane jungle cats. Any advice on good neighborhoods to live in (not too pricey), good schools for our geek child, and best places to rent a house would be GREATLY appreciated. I would also love to hear any advice about great things Denver offers. ETC. Thank YOU in advance! AK

[niyad]

1. welcome to DU--and welcome to CO. cannot help with schools, neighborhoods, but can help

with some things to do in Denver-- Denver Botanical Gardens, the Denver Art Museum, LoDo, Elitch Gardens, Tattered Cover (bookstore), just to help get you started.

oh, and since the holidays are coming, one cool florist to visit is La Grues on Broadway--wonderful holiday decorations.

[MADem]

2. I am kicking your request in the hopes that someone will see this and help you.

I have no answers for you at all, but I hope you get some from knowledgeable people.

I have a suggestion that might make your plea for help more "known"--put an abbreviated form of your request as your signature line, temporarily, with a link to this thread, for example:

Help--I am moving to Denver on short notice and need some advice about neighborhoods, etc! If you can help me, go to http://www.democraticunderground.com/1041399

That might draw a few more people to your post--good luck. When you have enough answers, you can delete the sig.


Here are a few old threads about moving to Denver that might give you a research starting point...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/harveywasserman.com/bcnews.go.com/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=142x5043

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=142x6469

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php/http:/www.democraticunderground.com/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=142x5747

[intheflow]

3. I work at the Denver library.

Would love to have your wife join us! I'll say a prayer for her that she gets the job.

As for where to live... you probably don't want to live in the Montbello area. It's not the best part of town, for sure. The Highlands area is very nice, but getting expensively trendy. Still, there are deals to be had on the south side, around the Edgewater/Sloan's Lake area. Very pretty. The Stapleton-Lowry area seems to be the new growth area, but it's too new for my tastes, and only affordable if you get an apartment, methinks. (Houses in that area border on McMansion.) An easy commute to Montbello, though. Stay away from Colfax Ave. (the red light district). My best housing advice would be to find a 2-br apartment in one of the many reasonably-priced housing complexes on the SE side of town for 6 months and scout out different areas.

If child is artistically inclined I have friends whose children love the Denver performing arts school (sorry, don't remember the name of the school exactly), and other friends whose kids are excelling at the Denver Center for International Studies, which I think is a small K-12 magnet school. Both are run by DPS.

Not sure about the schools north of the city, in Thornton or Brighton, but both are an easy commute to the city and house prices will definitely be lower - for a yard for the child and the jungle cats.

Again, best of luck to you all! And feel free to PM me with your phone number if you come in. I'd love to get together with your wife and give her all the dish on DPL! Bwaahaahaa!

[meadowlark5]

4. There are a couple of areas that have been re-develped near Montebello

One is the Stapleton redevelopment. That's where Stapleton airport used to be and now it's homes, condos/townhomes etc. You might be able to find something there with affordable rent. Schools I'm not real sure about but you might be able to do a search for that area and it's schools.

Another that isn't too far that is really cool is around the Lowry Airforce base. It used to have barracks for the military back in the day, but the area is redeveloped with pretty homes and condos/town homes etc. I would assume you could find nice rentals around there. Prices, I'm not sure about but I do believe their schools in that area are very good.

If I think of more, I'll come back and post.

[RetroGamer1971]

8. Thank You!

:}

[Voice for Peace]

5. a kick (I'm in NM so have no Colorado advice)

best luck for your family.

[DenverDad]

6. The Green Valley Ranch neighborhood is affordable

and near the Montbello area, but somewhat on the outskirts of Denver. For rentals, I am biased towards east Denver. With a family and pets I recommend being at least two or three miles (east or west) from downtown in order to get a modest to decent size yard.

If you live in Denver, the Denver Public Schools offer school choice, in which you are not restricted to your neighborhood school and can apply to any school in the district. There are two Denver School of Science and Technology Campuses and a Denver School of the Arts, but both start at 6th grade, I believe.

If I think of anything else, I will bump.

[SheilaT]

7. We moved to Colorado from AZ ourselves

many years ago, long enough ago that I can't begin to give advice about areas to move to. My husband's job then was in Westminster, so we rented a place in Golden for about 8 months then moved to Boulder, which we loved. Then his job got moved to Kansas a couple of years later.

But the advice about renting first is, in my humble opinion, the best one. You do risk having to change schools for your child after the first year, but if you are absolutely honest with the kid that this might happen, that may help.

And what I absolutely loved the best about that area was that it was by far the most liveable climate ever. Tied for first place was the fact that there were so many places to visit and things to do either in the Denver area itself or within an easy day trip.

You will love it there.