🏚️ Denver’s affordability crisis, in your words

🏚️ How is Denver’s Affordability Crisis Affecting You?

That’s what we asked our readers last week, and you responded with honesty and heart about what’s been hard lately. Here’s what a few of you had to say.

• Costs are “inexcusably high”: “We purchase [our health insurance] on the marketplace and pay $1,500 a month for two healthy people with very few health requirements … In the coming year, my husband and I will be trying to find another state where we can claim residency and then spend only a few months less per year in Denver. And hopefully recruiting our kids away from Colorado as they have to think more seriously about buying houses and raising families.” —Ann S.
• Seniors face a crisis: “It is crushingly humbling and discouraging to think, I may not be able to live in my own place in a town that I love without compromise. In and around town, I talk to people and find I am one of hundreds, if not thousands of seniors without a decent roof over their heads to call their own in metro Denver. I am trying to buy into a ‘senior co-op’ that won’t be built for three years. The monthly fee will be $700 more than what I was paying for my home.” —Beth H.
• Paychecks don’t go far enough: “My taxes TRIPLED this year which means my mortgage payment jumped significantly; however, it is not commensurate with any cost of living increase that I may have received at my job. Add that to increases in the cost of insurance and wow. My paycheck has little left over to buy overpriced groceries and gas after I pay to live in my house.” —Sarah A.

🏍️ Recreational Vehicles Cause Nuisance on Local Roads

After a spate of accidents involving minors, Denver is working on stricter regulations meant to help keep four-wheelers, dirt bikes, and other restricted vehicles off Denver roads. Colorado law already prohibits this kind of “off-highway vehicle” on public streets, and City Council is reportedly considering adding fines, confiscations, and possibly criminal charges. “Everything should be on the table,” Councilmember Kevin Flynn said. [Westword; TikTok]

• Maybe you’ve seen something like this recently? A recent video depicting a group of more than 100 people riding down South Broadway, some of them juveniles, illustrates the scope of the problem.

🍻 The Pearl Co-Owner Sets Sights on New Venture

Ashlee Cassity, who formerly co-owned the shuttered lesbian bar The Pearl, now plans to open an Asian-fusion restaurant and nightclub called Peach & Jack’s Bar and Grill. The new spot is set to open in a Capitol Hill building formerly occupied by Denver Sweet, featuring signature dishes like smoked turkey fried rice, peach bourbon hot honey wings, and a raw bar. [BusinessDen 🔒]

🚄 Tax Hike for Colorado Connector Could Appear on Ballots

To help fund the full $2.7 billion buildout of the Colorado Connector train, or CoCo, from Fort Collins to Pueblo, the Front Range Passenger Rail District’s board is considering asking Coloradans along the route to vote on a one-third cent sales tax hike this November. If the vote doesn’t make it onto the ballot this year, or if voters reject it, a shorter version of the route connecting Denver, Boulder, and Fort Collins will still be ready for three daily trips between Denver and Fort Collins by 2029. [Colorado Sun]

• What would Coloradans get for that money? The Lever's Editor in Chief, David Sirota, joins host Bree Davies on the podcast today to dig into the recently released plans.