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Predicting The Future

We have never lived in a walkable community connected to meaningful places. Our life experience has been in car dependent communities. But we didn't even notice, because you only know what you know. Everything I’ve learned about walkable mixed use neighborhoods while working on the Montava development has been from listening to our team and visiting great places, but never living there. This summer my wife and I lived in Rochester Minnesota for 6 weeks and it was the first time in our lives we were able to leave our car in the garage, and ride our bikes to many meaningful places. We stayed outside of downtown, but every day I rode my bike to Barnes and Noble which served as my office for daily work.


We rode our bikes to this fantastic Grocery Coop and would pick up whatever we needed for the next day or two.


On Saturday we rode our bikes to the farmers market, and a wonderful coffee shop that had a few floors apartments above it. Fiddlehead Coffee Company is roasting right on site; something we'd love to see at Montava. The Porch is a fantastic spot for a meal, right by the tracks.


It was a surreal experience leaving our car in the garage. We rode our bikes to lunch, to the bookstore/workplace, to the grocery store, past maker spaces, to the farmers market, to the coffee shop and through a beautiful park and a regional trail network. Just a few of the things we have been planning for Northeast Fort Collins over the past 2-3 years. What a wonderful and inspiring experience.


For some of you, this is nothing new. But statistics show in America it’s a fraction of the population. Because of our car dependent development patterns of the past 50+ years most of us live in suburban sprawl. We have to get in our cars to go anywhere meaningful. I don’t know about you, but I could use a few more miles on the bike, and a few more meaningful walks in daily life.


Here’s to walkable community development patterns becoming something every city gets behind. Thank you to all on our team that have helped me understand its power. Fort Collins gets it, and we have a chance to do something very special for generations of future residents in Northeast Fort Collins.


The best way to predict the future is to create it.....



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