Sharing Boulder: Recent Episodes
Sharing Boulder
Exploring housing and land use issues in Boulder Colorado so that we can make this city more inclusive and beautiful.
For episode fifty, I spoke with Glenda Russell who is a historian of the LGBTQ movement as it has unfolded here in Boulder and Colorado and beyond. Glenda has had a long career as a clinical psychologist, educator, and writer and has a PhD in psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder (’84). We talked about the struggle to get ‘sexual orientation’ included in Boulder’s human rights ordinance which was added in 1987 by means of a ballot measure that won by a very small margin after a similar ballot measure was crushed thirteen years earlier. This story includes […]
For episode forty-nine, I spoke with Ren Q. Dawe who is a trans activist, comedian, writer, and educator who lives and works in Boulder and has been performing his comedy all over the front range. I have mentioned a few times in passing that I enjoy performing comedy, but I’ve never said much else about it on this podcast. So, it was especially fun for me to have a chance to explore the world-changing power of comedy with Ren in this interview. This episode features significantly more swearing and adult-oriented content than most Sharing Boulder episodes and may not be […]
For episode forty-eight, I spoke with Sarah Wells who is a partner in the real estate agency Live Work Denver which specializes in co-buying real estate which is simply a way to buy homes with other people. Sarah is one of the founders of the Queen City Cooperative and is the Board Chair for the Boulder Housing Coalition which is a non-profit that develops affordable rental cooperatives. Sarah and I talked about co-buying as a way for more people to be able to build equity in their home in a housing market gone mad, speed-dating for finding co-buyers, and the […]
For episode forty-seven, I spoke with Eric Budd who is a political activist and organizer who has been involved in various issues such as occupancy reform, even year elections, and advocacy for cycling. He is also involved in various organizations including Boulder Progressives, Better Boulder, Boulder Housing Coalition, and Community Cycles, among others. In 2016, Eric started writing an annual voter’s guide that he distributes widely around the city to help inform voters and promote his progressive values. These guides are rich with background information, links to relevant resources, and detailed commentary about the why’s and what’s of the various […]
For episode forty-six, I spoke with Annamarie Pluhar who runs a nonprofit organization named Sharing Housing. She is the author of a book titled “Sharing Housing: A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates” which extols the virtues of sharing housing and provides practical advice on how to find compatible housemates. Earlier this year I posted a blog article where I estimated that the number of empty bedrooms in Boulder is approximately 30,000 using census data. Recently Boulder city council updated the occupancy restrictions which could potentially make it easier to make better use of those empty bedrooms. I think […]
For episode forty-five, I spoke with Tina Marquis who is a candidate running for city council. We met at the main branch of the Boulder Public Library and talked about a wide variety of subjects including her work on the BVSD school board, homelessness, the introvert revolution, middle income housing, her leadership style, and climate change among others. I admire Tina for her tireless work defending transgender students in our BVSD and Colorado schools and for her thoughtful and careful approach to decision making. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Tina Marquis.
For episode forty-four, I spoke with Dan Williams who is a civil rights lawyer who has worked on issues related to homelessness in Boulder. We talked about a recent effort by a consortium of service providers who got together and created a detailed proposal for providing low barrier services. This proposal was submitted to city council and was sidelined in favor of a city process which has emphasized community feedback over expert opinion. I admire Dan for his tenacious advocacy for helping bring meaningful solutions for homelessness in our community and for his historical perspective that helps us understand how […]
For episode forty-three, I spoke with Terri Brncic who is a candidate running for city council. I sat down with her at her kitchen table in her North Boulder home. We talked about the Safe Zones 4 Kids ballot measure, homelessness solutions, affordable housing, infill development, zoning and parking reform, and e-bikes among other subjects. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Terri Brncic.
For episode forty-two, I spoke with Katie Farnan and Doug Hamilton about their efforts to encourage voters to reject a ballot initiative called Safe Zones 4 Kids. Their campaign is called Solutions Not Safe Zones which challenges the conventional wisdom that a ballot measure that addresses the safety of our children is necessarily good policy. We met outside the Boulder Public Library and discussed the merits of voting for a ballot measure that they argue is both not helpful but worse will be counterproductive. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Katie Farnan and Doug Hamilton.
For episode forty-one, I spoke with Jenny Robins who is a candidate running for city council. I sat down with her at the Boulder Office for the post-production company 11 Dollar Bill on the west end of Canyon Dr. where her husband works. We talked about the importance of safe and convenient public transit that […]
The post 041 Jennifer Robins, City Council Candidate first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
For episode forty, I spoke with Aaron Gabriel Neyer who is a community builder and technologist with a background in computer science and ecopsychology. Aaron is running for city council and so I sat down to talk with him about his vision for what’s possible in Boulder. We sat together in the shade at Growing […]
The post 040 Aaron Gabriel Neyer, City Council Candidate first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
For episode thirty-nine, I spoke with Taishya Adams who is a servant leader, environmentalist, social justice advocate, and an amazing human being. She is also running for city council this fall. I sat down with her at her South Boulder home and we had a long conversation covering a wide variety of topics including her […]
The post 039 Taishya Adams, City Council Candidate first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
For episode thirty-eight, I spoke with Ryan Schuchard who is a Boulder resident that is running for city council this fall. Ryan is a member of Boulder’s transportation advisory board and his campaign is focused on transportation solutions as our best way to mitigate the climate crisis. When Ryan talks about transportation solutions it makes […]
The post 038 Ryan Schuchard, City Council Candidate first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
For episode thirty-seven, I spoke with Waylon Lewis who is a Boulder resident that is running for city council this fall. We met at Columbia Cemetery on the hill and talked about a wide variety of subjects including West Pearl, fire mitigation, biking in Paris, white metal roofs, homelessness, affordable housing, and occupancy, among others. […]
The post 037 Waylon Lewis, City Council Candidate first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
For episode thirty-six, I spoke with Silas Atkins who is a Boulder resident that is running for city council this fall. We met at Keeywayden park in Southeast Boulder and talked about a wide variety of subjects including making government work better for people, the need to build housing in the short, medium, and long […]
The post 036 Silas Atkins, City Council Candidate first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
Nicole Speer is a member of Boulder’s city council and is running to be Boulder’s first directly elected mayor this fall. We met at a park near her house in South Boulder and talked about a wide variety of subjects including her new e-bike, homelessness and the camping ban, agrivoltaics, and why she is running […]
The post 035 Nicole Speer, Boulder Mayoral Candidate first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
For episode thirty-four, I spoke with Bob Yates who is a member of Boulder’s city council and is running to be Boulder’s first directly elected mayor this fall. We met at a park near his house in North Boulder and talked about a wide variety of subjects including the possibility of building a gondola that […]
The post 034 Bob Yates, Boulder Mayoral Candidate first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
For episode thirty-three, I spoke with Tara Winer who is a member of Boulder’s city council and is running for reelection this fall. Our conversation wandered around and through many topics including affordable housing, the need for more transitional housing with wrap-around services, missing middle housing, building housing at the airport, whether housing supply is […]
The post 033 Tara Winer, City Council Member first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
For episode thirty-two, I spoke with Darcy Kitching who is a community builder in Boulder. Darcy is the author of the book The Best Urban Hikes: Boulder, is finishing her Ph.D. in Geography, Planning, and Design at the University of Colorado Denver with a study of youth and family weekday transportation in Boulder County, and […]
The post 032 Darcy Kitching, Community Builder first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
For episode thirty-one, I spoke with Laura Rossbert who has helped develop a framework called Trauma Informed Design in her role at Shopworks Architecture in Denver, CO. Laura has collected data that measures the under-utilization of parking at affordable housing buildings and we discussed the negative impacts this has on current and potential affordable housing […]
For episode thirty, I spoke with Aaron Brockett, the mayor of Boulder. We talked about the all-new direct election mayor’s race in Boulder and his candidacy in the upcoming election this fall. We talked about gun violence prevention, affordable housing, rank choice voting, learning Spanish, the diagonal highway corridor project, and solutions for unhoused people […]
The post 030 Aaron Brockett, Mayor of Boulder first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
I am excited to announce the imminent arrival of season 3 of Sharing Boulder. In this mini-episode I talk about the upcoming season, introduce the Sharing Boulder theme song, and talk about what I’ve been up to.
For episode 29, I spoke with Jennifer Fluri who is a Professor of Geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder and co-founder and co-director of Boulder Affordable Housing Research Initiative also known as BAHRI. I became aware of Jennifer’s work from the Boulder Housing Equity Symposium which took place about a year ago. A few […]
For episode 28, I spoke with Junie Joseph who is running for state representative in Colorado house district ten which includes large portions of Boulder from Broadway. Junie was not on the primary ballot in June but was instead selected by a special vacancy committee assembled by the Boulder Democratic Party after Edie Hooton withdrew […]
For episode twenty-seven, I spoke with Jill Adler Grano who is the chair for the campaign to move city council elections to even years. The name of the campaign is People For Voter Turnout and the measure will be listed on the ballot as 2E. Currently, members of city council are elected in odd years […]
The post 027 Jill Adler Grano, People for Voter Turnout first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
For episode twenty-six, I spoke with Mark Fearer who is a political activist and op-ed columnist who is passionate about tenants’ rights and rent control. Mark writes a bi-weekly column for The Boulder Weekly called The Unrepentant Tenant which argues for better protections for renters, educates readers on the rights of tenants, advocates for rent […]
The post 026 Mark Fearer, Tenants’ Rights and Rent Control first appeared on Sharing Boulder.
I spoke with Ed Byrne who is a former Assistant City Attorney for the City of Boulder, was a member of the Boulder Daily Camera’s Editorial Advisory Board, and runs a private law and mediation practice specializing in land use and development-related permit approvals. Ed and I met downtown and set up folding chairs in […]
For episode 24, I spoke with Maura Dudley who is an outspoken advocate for car-lite living, zero waste solutions, inclusive neighborhoods, and math education. We met up in her neighborhood at Melody Park in North Boulder and started talking. We geeked out over our e-bikes before taking a ride to Nude Foods Market where we […]
For episode 23, I spoke with Verity Noble who is one of the founders of Nude Foods Market a local zero-waste grocery store near Boulder Junction that is on a mission to fundamentally reshape the way we shop for groceries. Nearly all items come in glass jars or other reusable containers which can be returned […]
Bryan Bowen is an architect and founder at a local firm named Caddis. We hit record and just let it rip and dove right into all kinds of topics related to building beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive neighborhoods including co-housing, cooperative housing, bikeways, cool shit permits, raising kids, among others. I love how Bryan can imagine […]
I am excited to announce the arrival of season 2 of Sharing Boulder! I have just completed editing two episodes and have recorded footage for two more and have another couple more in the works in addition to a long list of people I intend to contact. To read this post on the blog, please […]
For episode twenty-one, I spoke with Sam Fuqua about the proposed library district for the Boulder Public Library System. Sam was a member of the Boulder Library Commission for five years, was an elected member of the BVSD school board of education for eight years, and worked at KGNU for twenty years as news director and […]
For episode twenty, I spoke with Ralph Frid who is a systems engineer who volunteers his time with the BVSD District Accountability Committee as the chair of the Budget and Finance sub-committee and Meghan Carrier who is the deputy directory of Together Colorado which is a non-profit that brings faith communities together to work on issues such as immigration, health care, criminal justice, and affordable housing among others. Ralph came to my attention at a BVSD board meeting in January where he talked about how enrollment trends, the rising cost of housing, and staff shortages are converging to create difficult challenges for the district. Enrollment is going down, housing costs are going up, and teachers and other staff cannot afford to live here. One bullet item in his presentation that stood out for me included the following: “Re-purposing of [BVSD] properties as affordable housing for BVSD employees, first responders, etc.” Of course, I was eager to hear more about that! Ralph admitted that he was not a housing expert and so he recruited Meghan to join our conversation. This was exciting for me because last year I attended Together Colorado’s series on housing in Boulder County and so I was already familiar with their great work. Ralph and Meghan proved to be great conversation partners as we explored ways that we can make Boulder a more welcoming and inclusive community.
As the new city council prepares for its annual retreat in January where they will prioritize their agenda for the coming year, David and I want to promote gentle infill in established neighborhoods as a solution that addresses so many of the values that have been identified by the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan. We hope that you will listen, learn, get motivated, and share this with your favorite city council person! David has a long history of heroically planning for and promoting inclusive and affordable housing in his North Boulder neighborhood. But he is swimming against a tide that is the current housing market which incentivizes scraping smaller homes and replacing them with mansions or building luxury condos where affordable housing once stood and city codes that regulate against building the kind of beautiful, compact, inclusive, and affordable housing that he is trying to develop. We talk about a specific housing pilot that he is working on and how his neighborhood and all of Boulder could benefit from this kind of innovative and inclusive housing. We hope you enjoy this conversation about the future of housing in Boulder.
For episode nineteen, I got on Zoom with long time Boulder resident and Just Sustainability Activist Tim Thomas to talk about a set of prioritized issues he would like to see Boulder city council work on. Tim has put together 12 items that he would like to see given priority and energy in the new year by city council. Each item is informed by a framework called “Just Sustainability” which has been pioneered by professor and author Julian Agyeman which seeks sustainable reforms that meaningfully address social justice, economic vitality, and environmental protection. In this interview we work through his list of 12 issues. To review the list, please see the episode show.
The Boulder Housing Network is a newsletter, blog, and grassroots political advocacy group that promotes “ethical housing beneath the flatirons”. Their goal is “to get more people involved where and when it matters most: in the early stages of the City’s planning processes.” I subscribe to their newsletter and it is full of useful information. Frequently, articles in the newsletter relate to development projects that are in the planning or approval pipeline here in Boulder along with commentary about the fitness of these projects as they relate to affordability and sustainability along with encouragement on how to get involved in supporting specific projects. There’s a lot of good stuff in these newsletters and I hope you will subscribe today and get involved as you can. The Boulder Housing Network, or BHN is one year old this month. I thought I would help them celebrate by reading the latest edition of the newsletter which came out on Saturday, November 20th. You can subscribe and read more at boulderhousingnet.wordpress.com. I hope you enjoy hearing the latest from BHN!
Sharing Boulder Q03 Tapestries, Throwing Starfish, Amway Economics, and Good Parties
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For episode seventeen, I spoke with Alex Weinheimer in his apartment in central Boulder to discuss all things transportation. Alex is a transportation planner and engineer for a consulting firm based out of Texas and he also volunteers his time on Boulder’s Transportation Advisory Board. We spoke about VisionZero, micromobility, the pavement management program, car-free living, and much more. Alex lives downtown without a car but he has an EcoPass and a pair of shoes. He gets around by walking, transit, and the bike share. I appreciate his perspective on transportation issues which is informed by his lived experience of growing up in Boulder riding the bus and now organizing his life around car-free living in the heart of Boulder. It is clear that he has a deep working knowledge of Boulder’s transportation system and that his dedicated efforts to help improve our city reflects his love for this community.
For episode sixteen, I spoke with Claudia Hanson Thiem over zoom to discuss cohousing, cooperative housing, and car lite living. Claudia is regular opinion writer for the Daily Camera, Boulder’s local daily newspaper but is on temporary hiatus from that work while she manages the campaign for city council candidate Nicole Speer. I admire Claudia for the way she shows up for housing justice in Boulder and the way she articulates a clear and positive vision for building inclusive communities in our city.
For episode fifteen, I spoke with Steve Rosenblum in my back yard to discuss his candidacy for Boulder City Council. Steve is a formidable conversation partner and we sparred and brainstormed and explained and explored for over three hours as we compared and contrasted our ideas about how to address a wide variety of issues that Boulder faces. I appreciate Steve’s tenacious approach to problem solving, his depth of knowledge of the issues, his attention to relevant facts and experiences, his independent streak, and his love for Boulder. My brain was buzzing long after our conversation ended and I appreciate the way he challenged many of my ideas and assumptions. I have never been quite so tempted on this podcast to play the role of “Monday morning quarterback” by adding commentary on things I might have said differently or open threads that I might have circled back on. Such is the nature of unrehearsed conversation. We hope you enjoy this conversation with Steve Rosenblum.
For episode fourteen, I spoke with David Takahashi on a zoom call to discuss his candidacy for Boulder City Council. David is running as a climate change champion and sees his role in fighting the climate crisis as way to address the needs of an important contingent of underserved people – future unborn generations. He articulated that every decision we make as individuals or as a city need to be made in the context of the climate crisis and our urgent need to address this pressing issue. Our conversation ranged from how to make our houses and our city carbon neutral, the housing shortage, bicycle highways, resilient communities, and how church parking lots could be repurposed for affordable housing, among many other subjects. I was surprised when we realized we had been talking for over an hour because it felt like we were just getting started! We hope you enjoy this conversation with David Takahashi.
In this Sharing Boulder extra I test out my new microphones with my nine-year-old son Ocean and we talk about the kinds of things fathers and sons talk about in our family – namely land use, housing policy and transportation. I have frequently seen him imitating frenetic and overly enthusiastic YouTubers so it did not surprise me that he naturally dropped into the role of pensive podcasting interlocutor and was quite eager to talk about gentle infill, alternative transportation, homeless shelters, and urban farming. We hope you enjoy his fresh take on how to make Boulder a more welcoming and beautiful city.
For episode thirteen, I sat down with Lauren Folkerts in South Boulder to talk about her candidacy for Boulder City Council. Lauren is passionate about city council and jokes that it is like a spectator sport for her because she enjoys watching the meetings online and follows them on Twitter. Lauren showed me her garden and I enjoyed a handful of raspberries as we walked through her neighborhood to a nearby park where we sat and talked about a wide variety of issues including housing, building codes, transportation, social services, and bedrooms are for people, among others. A favorite moment of the evening for me was after the interview when we geeked out over her VanMoof e-bike which is wicked cool. I appreciate Lauren’s thoughtful and inclusive approach to problem solving and I admire her depth of knowledge on a wide variety of topics that we discussed.
For episode twelve, I sat down with Dan Williams in his backyard to talk about his candidacy for Boulder City Council. This fall the city of Boulder will be electing five representatives to city council. Boulder Coalition, a consortium of several progressive organizations including Open Boulder, Boulder Progressives, and United Campus Workers Colorado, have endorsed four candidates including Dan, Nicole Speer, Matt Benjamin, and Lauren Folkerts. Dan’s campaign is gearing up for a busy election season. He has qualified for the city election matching funds and has boxes of yard signs and campaign stickers in his garage. Despite the swirl of new activity in his life, he made time to sit down for a long conversation to discuss his values and what he hopes to accomplish on city council. I appreciate the calm and thoughtful way that he discusses the issues without trying to soften or downplay the urgency of the problems we face. We hope you enjoy this episode with Dan Williams.
For episode eleven, I sat down with Jennifer Livovich at a park in southeast Boulder. Jen is the founder and executive directory of Feet Forward a 501 c-3 non-profit organization that provides services to individuals experiencing homelessness. As a person who has experienced homelessness herself, Jen has deep connections with Boulder’s unhoused population and leverages her first-hand knowledge to provide services that are thoughtful, compassionate, and meet people where they are at. I really appreciate Jen’s no-nonsense, pragmatic approach and I learned a lot from our conversation.
I am excited to announce that Sharing Boulder now has a blog! We hope you find it interesting and educational and that you will share it widely with other people concerned about making Boulder more inclusive. The first post on the blog is titled “Green Urbanism for Boulder” and I am going to read it here for this podcast episode. It helps make the important connections between climate change and the environment and housing policy.
For our tenth episode I sat down with Matt Benjamin in my backyard. Matt is running for city council this fall. We covered many subjects in our marathon conversation including rank choice voting, parking minimums, zoning, the role of city council, the city budget, effective governance, and a living wage for city council, among many others. Matt knows a lot about how the city of Boulder works and he was eager to get in the weeds on just about any subject and he taught me quite a lot along the way. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Matt Benjamin.
For our ninth episode I sat down with Nicole Speer near her house in Tantra Park. Nicole is considering running for city council this fall and has a lot to say about the city’s most pressing issues including diversity, equity, and inclusion, housing, and transportation. We covered all these subjects and more including what 14-year-olds worry about and the CU South annexation proposal. Nicole brings a wealth of leadership experience to the table and articulated what it means to be a visionary and inclusive leader that brings people together in the face of crises and change.
I give an update on the quilt I’m sewing for a fundraiser and wax philosophical on the importance of diversity in the context of the books I’m reading.
For our eighth episode I sat down with Taylor Jaworski in his office at the University of Colorado where he is a research faculty. Taylor is an economist studies regional economics and is passionate about what makes cities work. Our conversation ranged across topics including what’s so great about cities, why is housing expensive, collective action in the context of incumbents and newcomers, tax policy, whether Boulder residents are uniquely greedy, dynamism, diversity, radical markets, and more. Taylor tends to wave his hands around while speaking in generalities – but when I really pinned him down on what policy changes he would make in Boulder, he singled out exclusionary zoning, occupancy restrictions, and NIMBY attitudes more generally as being important impediments to having the kind of dynamic city he wants to live in.
A book that Taylor recommended to me about a year ago quotes the famous economist John Maynard Keynes as saying the following: “The ideas of economists both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.” Taylor is no defunct economist – he is brimming with energy and ideas and is passionate about seeing Boulder become a prosperous and diverse city. And I think that is totally funct!
For our seventh episode we sat down on David’s front porch and caught up with each other on a sunny summer Sunday morning. The topics we explored in our conversation included Bedrooms are for people, Nextdoor.com, the upcoming elections, how the housing market should work, how to make friends and influence people, and future episodes.
Welcome to “Nightmare on 4th Street” – a live action short film, written, directed, produced, acted, and filmed by Philip Ogren. This true-life adventure story takes place on a lovely residential street lined with beautiful single-family homes. I hope you enjoy this Sharing Boulder exclusive extra – bring your shades and sun hat because it is summertime in paradise. Or is it?
In the first episode I explicitly did not promise that we would never wander from subject to subject and free associate and pontificate about whatever pops into our brilliant minds. In this Sharing Boulder extra I faithfully stand by my word and fulfill this non-promise by letting my mind wander in juxtaposition with video footage of myself engaged in the hyper-focused creative activity of making a quilt.
For our sixth episode we interviewed Sarah Wiebenson who is a senior project manager with the Community Vitality Department for the city of Boulder. I first met Sarah a couple of years ago through a program called the Boulder County Leadership Fellows which we both completed during the 2019-2020 cohort year. Sarah is a big believer in developing community through walkable neighborhoods that are tightly integrated with local retail and her efforts working for the city reflect those values. The names of many organizations and projects were mentioned in this episode. Please visit our website at https://sharingboulder.us/show-notes/ for links and other information related to this episode.
Hello Boulder and the wider world. This is the Sharing Boulder podcast. My name is Philip Ogren and for our fifth episode my co-host David Adamson and I interviewed the co-chairs of Bedrooms Are For People; Chelsea Castellano and Eric Budd.
Our guests today run Bedrooms Are For People, a grassroots political organization focused on occupancy reform in the city of Boulder. When this interview was recorded on April 17th, Bedrooms Are For People was working at full capacity collecting as many signatures as possible for an online petition to get occupancy reform on the ballot in November. As of the release of this episode they have collected three thousand four hundred signatures which is a few dozen more than the 3,336 required by the city for the petition to be certified. People living in Boulder are going to be hearing a lot more about this important reform in the coming months as voters prepare to decide which way to vote. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Chelsea Castellano and Eric Budd.
Hello Boulder and the wider world. Welcome to the Sharing Boulder podcast. My name is Philip Ogren and for our fourth episode my co-host David Adamson and I interviewed planning board member Dave Ensign.
If you are a developer that wants to build more housing in Boulder of any significant size, then your plans are probably going to be reviewed by the Boulder Planning Board. The Boulder Planning Board is a committee that reviews development projects to make sure that they conform to Boulder’s zoning ordinances and are consistent with various land-use goals. In addition to reviewing projects, the other primary role of the planning board is to help shape land-use policy in the city and county of Boulder. One major focus of effort is to help author the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan which is a document that articulates our collective values around land-use and lays out a detailed outline for how to realize that vision. The current comprehensive plan is 165 pages and covers a wide range of subjects such as housing, open space, the economy, social equity, transportation, energy use, among many others. The plan is full of beautiful photos and detailed maps and is a fantastic resource for appreciating all the work that goes into making our city and county a better place to live for its residents – so you should definitely check it out.
All members of the Boulder Planning Board are community volunteers that are appointed by city council. They represent the public and are a voice from the community that helps shape land use decisions in Boulder. Our guest today is the senior member and chair of the Boulder Planning Board, Dave Ensign. We spoke with Dave about what the planning board is and what they do and then had a very interesting conversation about the gap that exists between the vision laid out the comprehensive plan and the reality as we see it on the ground. Our conversation covered a range of subjects including diversity and inclusion, traffic, and the challenge of changing zoning laws. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Dave Ensign.