[BoulderCouncilHotline] Downtown Boulder

[Yates, Bob]

Fellow Downtowners:


While I was traveling earlier this week, I was distressed to read in the Daily Camera and elsewhere the comments about Downtown Boulder made at Tuesday evening's city council study session. Moreover, I was disappointed that this important retail strategy discussion was even held on a night when it was known that four of the nine council members would be absent. Suffice it to say, I don't agree with comments made by some of my colleagues about the role that visitors to Boulder play in our community's economics.


Visitors to Boulder--and particularly visitors to downtown--fund with their sales tax dollars many of the community amenities we Boulder residents enjoy, including our parks, our open space, our bike trails, and our cultural facilities. Sales tax receipts are by far the city's largest source of revenue and, by some estimates, half of the sales tax we receive is paid by people who don't live in Boulder. People coming to Boulder from Westminster, Colorado, or Westminster, England, allow us to have these municipally-provided amenities in far greater number and quality than a city of our size would normally enjoy. Moreover, because we are a destination for visitors from near and far, we are blessed with world-class restaurants and innovative retail places that would not exist if the only patrons were Boulder residents.


Here are a few facts, courtesy of our excellent Convention & Visitors Bureau:


- Tourists spend $420 million each year in Boulder.


- As a result, more than $15 million in sales tax pours into the city's coffers to pay for parks, police, streets, and open space; this is the equivalent of $363 for every Boulder household.


- An average out-of-town visitor to downtown will spend three times as much as a local resident coming downtown.


- More than 11,000 workers serve visitors to Boulder; one out of eight jobs in Boulder is in the hospitality industry.


Yet, notwithstanding the importance of tourism to Boulder's economic health, downtown Boulder is still beloved by local residents as well, with Boulderites being more than half the people on Pearl Street on any give day. On average, we Boulder residents visit downtown seven times a month, more than 80 times a year. It never grows old.

Almost any other city in America would crave to have the discussion we're having about retail mix and whether we have too many tourists. So, thank you for all you do for Boulder and for our downtown. We could not have one of the best downtowns in the country without your work, your creativity, and your vision.

Best,

Bob

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