Our View: Colorado Springs, best place to live

The ultra-hip Outside magazine determines the best cities to live in based on criterion such as “cultural vibrancy, economic health, and overall quality of life.” Only this year did they get it right, ranking Colorado Springs as the best.

In five previous years, in which Colorado Springs did not make the list, rankings were based on opinions of editors and writers who may or may not have spent significant time in the Springs. This year, the list is more sophisticated, based on quality-of-life and economic data rather than reputationand perception. After analyzing empirical data, editors found Colorado Springs as a place “with 249 annual days of sun, an ascendant, heavily tech-based economy and quick access to nearly 4 million acres of Rocky Mountain wilderness and a dozen world-class ski resorts.” They concluded: “It’s simply a pretty awesome place to live.”

The magazine mentioned our conservative military culture. A Gazette news article quoted an arts expert who hopes the Springs has shaken its image as a religious, conservative military town. Her sentiment is common: If only we could lose the religious right image we could thrive.

“We’ve really strengthened our arts community and realized we need to be a well-rounded community, that it takes the great outdoors and the arts to make it the kind of place where people want to live and locate their business and go on vacation,” said Susan Edmondson, executive director of the arts funding Bee Vradensburg Foundation.

That is all so true. Edmondson and the Vradenburg Foundation, along with seemingly countless others, have done a tremendous job enhancing the arts in Colorado Springs. But it also takes great military and religious institutions, and their reputations, to make this city a community where almost anyone can live freely and thrive. Religious institutions have been the greatest providers and funders of art and music throughout the history of humankind. Take religious institutions out of Colorado Springs and you lose every soup kitchen and nearly every major charity that helps the poor and reduces the burden of government. Lose religion in Colorado Springs and scores of musicians will lose their jobs. Take the military out of Colorado Springs and funding of the arts will diminish.

The Outside article brushed aside the militaristic, conservative, religious reputation of the Springs, stating: “regardless of your political bent, it scored extremely high in our education category, has the best weather of any city on our list, and, most important blew away the competition when we compared income to cost of living.”
Cost of living is low only because religious conservative voters have kept local government in check. Local governments limited in size and scope do not enact the type of Boulder-style building, growth, zoning, code and density restrictions that run up prices by limiting housing stock and retail options. Small local governments don’t impose high taxes that raise the cost of living.

For all the talk of Colorado Springs imploding because of stingy voters, it seems we’re doing quite well. After all, out-of-town experts ran the numbers and the numbers don’t lie. In their fact-finding mission, they found our religious, conservative city is the best place to live in the United States. That’s an A+ report card.