Best Places to Live 2007: No. 3 town
What do you think of the No. 3 town on this year’s Best Places to Live list? What makes it a great American town? Are real estate prices reasonable? How are the schools? What activities and events does it offer? Is it a place where you can live a low-stress life? If you don’t live there now, would you consider moving there? Tell us what you think. The best replies will be published here, and possibly in a future story on CNNMoney.com.
I was born in Boulder, and raised in the same house in Louisville for 21 years. I am a product of their educational system. Louisville is truly great place to live. If you want a community with friendly people and strong ties, this it the place.
The schools give you a great start for life, with very high scores. The teachers do care how a child is doing. The people are friendly and quick to help.
If you are looking out just for yourself and not try to become a part of the community it can seem like Louisville is boring.
Just last year there was a couple that moved in across the street. They were invited to the neighborhood events, yet never came. They stuck to themselves. They never were respectful to others (let their dogs run all over peoples porches at 6 a.m.).
When the awful winter arrived last year; when everybody was snowed in. They got both their cars stuck in the snow. All the neighbors helped dig out their car and push it into their driveway, without being asked.
My mom got stuck on US36 (the main highway), my neighbors, brother and I cleared a spot for her car to go when my dad towed her back. The neighbor across the street took his car out of his garage to park it in the spot for his car. He wanted to clear out his driveway and I guess wanted extra room for working. He just didn’t understand that we all worked to open that spot and a path for my mom’s car. He told the neighborhood that he was looking out for himself and his own. Two of my neighbors told him that we all try to work together and make a community effort, so that no one has to work alone. He still didn’t understand. He walked away in a huff after re-parking his car. After that he didn’t emerge from his house for the rest of the bad snowfall.
Our neighborhood looks out for everyone. Pulling out cars is done by everyone. Shoveling snow out of the road is contributed by everyone. In fact my father and another neighbor shoveled everyone’s snow out of their sidewalks for 2 days.
The couple moved out to Denver after that because they said that our neighborhood just didn’t make sense. This is an example of why it is good to live in Louisville.
If you want a fast-paced life and places where your “just another customer,” Louisville isn’t the place for you.
I am now 21, the age of drinking, living someplace where the younger live would be fun. However, I know that I can drive to Boulder (with a D.D.) and still have my community.
The only con I can give Louisville is when your a teen. If you aren’t involved in extra-circular activities there is not much for a teen to do (when it’s cold). My friends and I would drive to Flatirons mall(5 mins away) or go to someone’s house. There are only two things that I can think of to do in winter. One is the new ice rink. The second is the parade of lights, on main street.
I think I will live in Louisville when I start a family of my own.
Sorry this is so long. I just wanted to give a semi-detailed explanation of the story, to explain the close knit community.
Someone made a comment about Superior. Though Louisville and Superior share a ZIP code, they are very, very different cultures. Superior has not integrated or balanced its Old Town core with the new housing developments. Louisville is much more cohesive. I wouldn’t want to live in Superior, either. I like the people just fine (I don’t agree that they’re depressed and 10 years behind the times), but Superior does not have the sense of community and continuity that Louisville does.
You asked about schools. I have had kids at 4 schools in the Boulder Valley School District (3 schools in Louisville plus 1 in Boulder) and have been really pleased with the educational experience for my kids. BVSD always gets high scores on the standardized tests, but I don’t think that’s the true indicator of a good school system. Academics are strong and challenging and often allow/require the students to bring their own interests to assigned projects. The teachers and support staff are very engaged and attuned to the individual needs of each student (from Talented-and-Gifted on one end of the spectrum to learning disabilities at the other end). The school administrators make good use of technology to keep parents informed about what’s happening at the schools and with their kids. Parents and administrators support programs to encourage the development of respect and tolerance in our kids. There is plenty of opportunity for physical education, both organized team sports and individual athletic pursuits (running, climbing, cycling — this is Colorado, after all!).
The schools also try to build a sense of community. While it perhaps doesn’t directly impact the classroom experience for the kids, it’s definitely a plus for families at the schools. It enhances the sense of community for Louisville residents. I love going to the city’s Concert in the Park series, seeing lots of familiar faces from school, and watching my kids take off to throw a ball or ride bikes with their school friends.
There are certainly things I’d like to see changed about Louisville, but overall it has been and still is a great place to live.
I thought I shriveled up and died in Superior, CO. Boring, beyond belief. Everyone seemed depressed and 10 years behind the times.
The amount of delusion in some of these entries is quite amusing. The chain-store references are an obvious indicator that those people have spent little or no time in Louisville, since the downtown has no chains whatsoever. Joseph’s description applies much more to Boulder, where the “liberal” veneer not only has worn thin due to the arrival of massive amounts of money, but is no longer even a disguise. Boulder is overcrowded, with too much traffic, and populated, for the most part, by wealthy, snotty people who feel a strong sense of entitlement. The gentleman who complains about “ultra-liberal” Boulder also has missed the point.
Yes Louisville has some problems, but I’ve lived in Boulder County for 22 years, including 13 in Boulder, and Louisville is a wonderful place to live. It is the only town I’ve encountered in the metropolitan area that DOES retain a small-town feel while providing quick access to the cultural and economic advantages of a large urban center and a smaller college town.
Home prices “sky high”? I would beg to differ. I live in Marina del Rey, CA and a house around here costs $1M+ unless it’s next to a crack house (of which there are plenty up the street in Venice Beach, CA). However, I didn’t see “# of quality surf breaks within 15 miles” or “% of residents who surf regularly” or “% of restaurants that aren’t either Applebees, TGI Fridays, Denny’s, or Olive Garden” on the list of criteria for great places to live. In a nutshell, that’s why I’m still in California.
I used to live in Boulder and moved to Louisville because it is such a great place to raise a family. Boulder is a much more expensive place to live compared to Louisville and it greatly affected by the tourist scene and the college atmosphere. If you think Louisville is only about the chain stores visible from the highway then you don’t really know our city. The classes offered for kids at our rec center are outstanding, the parks and playgrounds are abundant, the library is wonderful and the parades and festivals offer such a wonderful community feel. I wouldn’t live anywhere else in Colorado.
nota bene: Money Magazine is only looking at communities under 50,000. With over 90,000 population, Boulder was not examined.
[But if Boulder were to be considered, its higher crime rate (higher even then the U.S. average for property crimes) and its very high housing prices would rank it lower on those two variables.]
Boulder has wonderful qualities mentioned by previous commentators–I work there, so I take advantage of them all the time. If money were not an issue, we might very well live there. But upon moving to the area, the Boulder houses in our price-range were small and run-down (or smallish cookie-cutters on the edge of town). We are two professionals with advanced degrees and reasonably well-paid. But we couldn’t afford the average Boulder half-million dollar home.
Finally, sense of community clearly weighs heavily in Money Magazine’s analysis. The magazine took the time to walk around the town, observe, talk to people, and thus pick up on the very subjective sense of community that you can’t detect by looking through the windshield as one drives past our affordable, sometimes cookie-cutter, houses that some apparently find a bit vulgar.
Boulder, six miles up the road, is a million times more amazing than Louisville. I’d agree with the comment that Louisville lacks a real identity of its own, it’s a stop along the highway between Denver and Boulder.
Just curious - I know nothing about Louisville or whether it should be on “a list” - but I live in Fort Collins. How can Fort Collins be chosen as #1 in 2006 and then completly miss the list in 2007? I don’t know if it should have been there then - just a puzzling difference. It hasn’t gone THAT downhill!
Someone please apply some common sense to these “lists”. It’s all fun with numbers!
In understanding why Louisville is such a great place to live, several things are key:
1) Louisville is not simply an exit off Highway 36 between Boulder and Denver. You must go beyond the exit (with its chain restaurants) into the old town (the heart and soul of our city), where you’ll find great family-owned restaurants and generally a wonderful, friendly small town environment.
2) Wonderful K-12 educational program. I have a very bright 2nd grader, and he gets the challenges he needs to keep him interested in learning. Families are very involved, and there are all sorts of opportunities for after-school activities.
3) The trail system is absolutely wonderful. Much of it goes through open space. Since we moved here a year ago, we’ve spent much more time outdoors, enjoying nature and the beautiful sunsets over the Rockies. And we’re definitely in better shape.
4) The housing prices are reasonable compared to nearby Boulder, where I work but can’t afford to reside.
5) Louisville is very family-friendly and community-oriented. People here are proactive about creating and maintaining that sense of community. They know it doesn’t just happen–they make that extra effort to encourage it. For example, one of my neighbors created a listserve and website for our neighborhood, where we can make announcements, ask advice, introduce new neighbors, plan community garage sales, sell fresh bread, and schedule our outdoor movie nights. This online communication, though, is only a supplement to the socializing that goes on after dinner, as we take our walks around the neighborhood.
6) I’ve lived in 8 states and no place has come close in terms of the combination that Louisville offers: sense of community, family opportunities for entertainment and education, natural beauty, ease of living, city support for an outdoor lifestyle, and weather.
One piece of advice for Money Magazine for next time: find a photo of Louisville that includes the Rockies in the background. We’re ideally situated–close enough to easily access the Boulder county hiking trails (10 minutes away) but far enough back to really take in the breath-taking vista.
I don’t really see the appeal of Louisville, Colorado. I live and work nearby, and quite honestly myself and everyone I know thinks it is a sore spot– it largely seems like just the typical “chain store” town with no real identity of its own. If living in a tiny town where the prices are sky high, there’s nothing to do, the people are snotty, and with houses on top of each other fits you, then I guess this is the place to be. As far as myself, no thanks. I have to wonder how this place even makes the list, honestly– does someone in city council have connections? I will say the Italian cuisine at “Via Toscana” in Louisville is fabulous– but they’ve recently stopped serving lunch due to loss of business to all the cookie-cutter chain restaurants in the area. It’s a real shame, just shows there is zero sense of culture and community there.
Louisville has it all. Family feel, fun for all at our Summer Street Faires. Bike paths throughout, and best of all, it’s friendly!
Schools are great, there’s still an Old town feel to Main Street, and hiking trails with awesome views a five minute walk from our front door.
Wouldn’t live anywhere else…
No. 3 - Louisville - The town is great and a wonderful place to live. Crime is low and the people are friendly. Walks in the morning, afternoon and evening are always peaceful and stressfree especially in the oldtown area where the streets are lined with old growth trees that provide great shade on those hot afternoons.
The town is a very nice place to raise a family as I have just started one and could think of no place better than my home town of Louisville to do so.
Yeah the taxes are a bit high, but then again in the end it is just a small price to pay to live in such a wonderful area. There is alot of history in Louisville and many very good and nice family’s that have been in Louisville for many generations.
The schools are great, I can truly attest to that as I am a product of them where I completed K-12 grade.
Great Town. Louisville gets a #1 in my book.
Let’s see, a sales tax rate of 8.10%. A city government that does whatever they can to spend as much as they can despite sales tax shortfalls and that recently suggested the best way to increase tax revenues were to force city residents to pay additional sales taxes on purchases made outside the city.
Louisville is a nice place to live, but the city government doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word “budget.” Sales taxes are high and would be higher had city officials had their way. County taxes are continually raised by the population center in ultra-liberal Boulder. Housing prices are sky high because the city council refuses to allow the development of new homes. All the while the city council continues to beat its residents over the head with their Money magazine ranking year after year as some type of excuse for their actions.
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I am looking to move out of Niagara Falls, N.Y (NO JOBS!!) How are the jobs in Louisville CO. Ive heard alot of good