Present History of Boulder (1980-Today)
From the 1980s onward, Boulder has primarily built upon ideals of health, land preservation, and technology. Beginning with the end of the 1970s, in 1979 Bolder Boulder was established which is a 10k race ran on Memorial Day through the streets of the city. Eventually it became the world’s second largest 10k race. In 1982, the state of Colorado experienced Exxon ending its Western Slope oil shale operations and Colorado Fuel and Iron ending its large blast furnaces. In 1985, building upon the Comprehensive Plan adopted in 1978, 35,000 acres were rezoned with conservation easements for the purpose of permanent preservation.
In 1987, “Wild Oats is founded in Boulder. It became one of the largest natural grocers in the world and, eventually, would be purchased by Whole Foods” (41). Following the establishment of Wild Oats, Gaiam was founded in 1988 to “bring ecological awareness to consumers and became a world leader in ecological and health information and goods” (41). In 1992, Horizon’s organic yogurt is established in Boulder, which would become the “largest single U.S. organic brand by sales and distribution “ (41). During the same year, Colorado votes to pass Amendment 2 that is the banning of local laws protecting gays. This brings protests on a national level, and in 1996 the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Amendment 2, ruling it unconstitutional. These protests exemplify Boulder history of activism.
Denver International Airport begins operation in 1995, which is one of the nation’s largest by area and makes the state much more assessable. Now into the mid-1990s, Boulder is the first U.S. city to require a residential Green Building Code (in 1996), which the entire state adopted by 2006. Contributing to the city’s environmental events, The University of Colorado Boulder is “the first university in the nation to use renewable energy, powered by wind” (41) in 2000. Also, the first Moondance International Film Festival is held in the city.
The 2000 designation as Denver the “Hispanic Capital of Colorado” confirms that Boulder does not have much of an attraction for an immigrant or non-white population, and they are going elsewhere- concentrating in the capital. It also supports the idea that Boulder is not spatially divided by income class because there is little racial diversity. This could explain why the wealthy has not exclusively retreated to the enclaves of surrounding neighborhoods outside the city; they are surrounded by their race and only experience income class diversity.
After that in 2002, CU-Boulder Bio-diesel creates a machine that alters waste grease into fuel for diesel engines, which all CU-buses and a portion of city buses will run on by 2006. Naturally Boulder forms in 2004 with the purpose to unite the city as the center of industry for natural products. In 2005, “Boulder County adopts Zero Waste as a guiding principle” (41) and Boulder’s Farmers’ Market is the first regularly occurring zero waste events in the United States; and the EPA deems the city a “Green Power Community." In the year 2006, Boulder issued the first municipal carbon tax to offset global warming and subsequently Boulder’s Best Organics started, which continues environmental awareness.
In 2005, “Brothers John and Ken Salazar become the first Hispanic Coloradans elected to, respectively, the U.S. House and U.S. Senate” (48). This political event was of particular importance, not because of their race, but because in the half century between 1954 and 2004, Colorado politics had come full circle. In 2004, Democrats gained command of both houses of Colorado legislature with the election of the Salazar brothers, which has not happened since the 1960s. It is notable that in the 2004 Salazar-Coors Senate race, 20 million dollars were spent. Colorado was had a history of the states’ richest residents influencing political outcomes, so much so that in “1996 Coloradans passed a statute initiated by Common Cause that severely limited the amount of money any one person could donate to a candidate” (48). And again in 2002, voters “approved Amendment 27, which again tried to limit the money state candidates could take from donors” (48).
In the early 2000s, “Its rich sought protection in gated communities. Its middle class feared the faltering economy,” and “with home process soaring, young Coloradans wondered if they would enjoy the same standard of living as their parents” (49). It was a “rocky period for a rocky mountain town” (51) for Boulder but the technological age was well suited for the city, which kept it afloat. However, the 1,000-year storm of 2013 put a 200-mile stretch of Colorado underwater. The extremely rare flood (once every 1,000 years or less) caused over 2 billion dollars in damages.