Extra Space in Your Community

Eleven years ago, according to today’s Denver Post, the New York Daily News called Denver “Cleveland with a nice backdrop.” Even today those words still rankle — which I guess is why the Post reprinted them. No offense, Cleveland. You are still the Rock ‘n Roll Capital of the World. But Denver — Denver is the Mile High City. It’s within spitting distance of the Rocky Mountains. It’s the West, for goodness’ sake, not the Midwest. And culturally, that makes all the difference in the world. It’s not the backdrop that makes a city. It’s the people.
I don’t know why Fortune 500 companies are leaving Denver. In case you haven’t heard, we’re losing another one — this time it’s Qwest, which was just taken over by CenturyTel. CenturyTel is based in Louisiana and it doesn’t care to have a Denver subsidiary, so Qwest is heading for the Deep South. It’s like losing Frontier Airlines all over again (Frontier moved after it was bought by Republic Airways). It’s not quite as bad as when MillerCoors packed up and left for Chicago (where are you getting that Rocky Mountain spring water now, Coors? out of Lake Michigan?) What I do know is this — a community does not need a requisite number of Fortune 500 companies in order to thrive. The United States economy was built on small businesses — businesses like self storage companies, for example. Denver’s small businesses can support our economy just fine.
We are going to have to find another sponsor for the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo, though…
Qwest employees, if you decide to head for hurricane country along with the company, my advice is, put your possessions in self storage. No sense in moving them if you’re only going to turn around and come back. I think you’re going to miss Denver. And even if Qwest never makes it back here — my guess is that you will.