Boulder Report

Those were the days in Boulder … or were they?

Al Bartlett, left, CU professor emeritus in nuclear physics, talks with member of audience attending Boulder Sesquicentennial panel discussion looking back at city's past 50 years.

It’s so easy to say “Those were the days.” The older you get, the more you hear that comment. Fact is, you can’t turn back time.

      While “live in the now” may be a better mantra, there’s nothing wrong with looking back. And that’s exactly how it went in May when Boulder’s Sesquicentennial Celebration invited five long-time Boulder citizens to think about the past 50 years in a discussion called “Legends of Progress and Loss.”

      I’ve been a Boulder resident now for 36 years, but can’t claim the rare Boulder “native” status of both Harold “Sonny” Flowers, Jr., who has practiced law here for some 30 years, and developer Bill Reynolds, who founded the W.W. Reynolds Companies in 1966.

      They were joined by Al Bartlett, professor emeritus in nuclear physics at CU, where he started teaching in 1950; Doris Hass, a community activist who’s lived here for 52 of the past 58 years; and Dorothy Rupert, a state legislator from 1987 to 2001 who’s been in Boulder since 1962.

      CU’s Patty Limerick, chair of the Center for the American West, moderated.

      Their memories of Boulder went back to how much easier it was to settle in a small town, buy a house, perhaps on a professor’s salary, yet still be caught up in the emotions of a city entering years of long debate about growth and the environment. At least that hasn’t changed much.

      Hass remembered how the Carnegie was the best library in town, 28^th Street was a dirt road and everyone shopped at Joyce’s Supermarket (now the home of LiquorMart.) She and her husband briefly left Boulder until a friend called to tell them there was one lot left on Bluebell and 22^nd … for $10,000. That’s where they returned to build their home.

      Bartlett, a founding member of PLAN-Boulder County, left little doubt where he stands on the matter of growth. “Sustainable growth is an oxymoron,” he said. He bemoaned a “loss of local control of our economic destiny.” Most employees now work for people who don’t live here, with decisions being made in “distant board rooms.”

Listening to Bartlett, you’d think Boulder isn’t a slow-growth city at all.  The area has had “50 years of successful promotion of growth,” he said. “The changes we have seen in the last 50 years are irreversible.”

When Bill Reynolds looks back, a Boulder High and CU graduate, he sees the past 50 years in a different light. Did you know that one of Reynolds’ earliest business ventures was running Tulagi on the Hill? “We sold a lot of beer,” he told me later that evening.

As Boulder seeks to grow its business base but has fewer affordable option for housing, it has little choice but to continue to face “contentious land issues,” Reynolds said. He said the city must continue to help the University of Colorado – where Reynolds was a founding member of its Real Estate Center --  grow and prosper.

So what do you say to those who believe this is the People’s Republic of Boulder?

“I deal with this all the time,” Reynolds quipped. “I think they are all jealous.”

Rupert was working on her master’s at CU in the ‘60s when students were rioting and protesting the Vietnam War. She remembers the activism, but also things like shopping at the Green Mountain Granary, buying herbs from Hanna Kroeger and when Boulder elected its first and only African-American mayor, Penfield Tate. Before the students and police tangled in the streets, she pointed out, the Hill’s Colorado Bookstore had huge plate glass windows.

No matter how hard it tries, Boulder still struggles with diversity. “I guess there is more diversity,” Flowers said, “but I don’t feel it very much.”

He agreed with others that most of us don’t know our neighbors as well as we once did. “There is a sense of nationhood, but I don’t know if there is a sense of neighborhood.”

Gone are many of the small, friendly gathering spots like Tom’s Tavern, Potter’s or the Broken Drum. (Reynolds remembered hanging out at the Twin Burger in college.) And Flowers reminisced, “I miss the Pow Wow Rodeo and the parade.”

      Is Boulder the most liberal city in Colorado? Flowers took issue with that. “I find Boulder to be very conservative, and I have since I was a child.” When people have the wealth to live in homes of 8,000 square feet, he said, they have more influence on state and local politics than many realize.

      So what do you think has been the biggest change in Boulder in the past 50 years? Tell me your memories here. It’s OK to look back to the good ‘ole days.

 

July 4th Sesquicentennial Stroll invites residents to enjoy Boulder’s history, culture

_{Boulder's July 4th Pow Wow parade in early 1930s marched down Pearl Street for the holiday. Photos courtesy Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, Boulder Historical Society Collection.}

BOULDER – Continuing the celebration of Boulder’s 150^th birthday, Boulder residents, families and friends are invited to participate in a historic Sesquicentennial Stroll on July 4.

 Organized by the Boulder 150 Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee, the Stroll is a daylong series of celebratory events inviting people to stroll through the city, visiting many of Boulder’s historic landmarks. Maps will be available at all of the Stroll stops.

 The day kicks off at 11 a.m. with an official welcome ceremony in the historic Chautauqua auditorium and concludes with Boulder 150 tie-ins that evening at Boulder’s July 4 fireworks at Folsom Field – a city tradition since 1941.

 Parking at Chautauqua is very limited so participants are urged to park cars at the Twenty Ninth Street retail mall and use free HOP buses running every 15 minutes from there to Chautauqua, Baseline Road, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Buses also return to Twenty Ninth Street after fireworks at Folsom Field. Bike riders are encouraged to participate.

 Food will be sold along the Stroll. The Chautauqua Dining Hall will be open for service with barbeque on its patio following auditorium program. Some Farmers’ Market vendors will remain open during the afternoon. The Millennium Harvest House is offering reservation-only July 4 barbeque, and the St. Julien Hotel is hosting a special July 4, 5-7 p.m. happy hour and live music from 7-9 p.m. on its outside terrace.

Participants who complete the full Stroll route, with maps stamped at each stop, will receive a commemorative award in recognition of the Sesquicentennial (limit one per family).

 A full schedule of all Sesquicentennial events, as well as links to stories and interesting facts about Boulder’s history are online at www.boulder150.com.

Schedule for the July 4 Sesquicentennial Stroll is:

11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Welcome Ceremony presented by the Chautauqua Association. Rocky Mountain National Park Superintendent Vaughn Baker will present National Historic Landmark plaque. Welcome by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis. Special performances will celebrate the history of arts past and present in Boulder.

12:15-1:30 p.m. Colorado Music Festival Brass Band will perform under tent  on the Green, barbeque available from Chautauqua Dining Hall. Event will be zero-waste, with Eco-Cycle assisting.

Visit Sesquicentennial Quilt display in Chautauqua Dining Hall June through July. Quilt program, 7 p.m., Wednesday, July 1 in Community House.

 

1:30–4:30 p.m. Stroll to these sites:

 Columbia Cemetery, “Stroll with the Spirits” presented by Historic Boulder, Inc.

Boulder History Museum serves “Happy Birthday Boulder” cake and hosts the opening of  “Only in Boulder” exhibit. Activities for children include gold panning and arts and crafts.

CU Heritage Center presents “Boulder and CU Through the Years.” Since 1876 Boulder’s growth and development have been closely tied to that of the University of Colorado. Learn about CU’s colorful history.

2-5:30 p.m. Bluegrass Concert at Central Park Band Shell featuring Boulder Acoustic Society and Blue Canyon Boys. Some Farmers’ Market food vendors will remain open. Welcome by U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet.

2:30-3:30 p.m.  4^th of July Children’s Bike Parade in Central Park organized by Parenting Place; come early to decorate.

2-5:30 p.m. Stroll “globally” and celebrate ties with Boulder’s Sister City communities in Africa, Asia and Central America at Municipal Building Plaza. Learn about projects and exchanges in this people-to-people program.

8-10 p.m. Ralphie’s Independence Day Blast at Folsom Field featuring a Boulder 150 birthday party.

Following the July 4 celebration, the next major event for Boulder’s Sesquicentennial will be a “Coming Back Home” gathering, extending the city’s friendship with the Northern Arapaho tribe, Aug. 7-8, on the Pearl Street Mall.

For more information on the Boulder Sesquicentennial and 150 banner sales, go to the Boulder 150 Web site at www.boulder150.com.

 

Vic's opening in South Boulder

Vic's opening in South Boulder
Originally uploaded by Jerry W. Lewis

Take this you North Boulder coffee snobs. We're about to get our own SoBO (south Boulder) Vic's, and ours will have a drive thru window. So there.

I've been watching the new coffee shop go up at the former site of a MacDonald's on Table Mesa Drive and got a short walk-through today. The interior is especially sunny, with a modern design. The drive-thru window will be operated separately from the rest of the shop, with its own separate espresso machine.

A big plus here should be ample parking vs. the often-crowded parking lot at the Vic's on Broadway. And this site should get good traffic of commuters returning to Boulder, coming in off U.S. 36 and Highway 93.

Vic's should be a welcome addition to the independent local coffee scene in South Boulder, where Cafe Sole is a favorite with the locals on this end of town.

The new Vic's could be open very soon, with the finishing details (and a new phone line) going in this week. I'll try to keep you posted.

Own a piece of Boulder's history

Now you can own a piece of Boulder’s history, the PR & Marketing Committee of Boulder's 150th anniversary says.

The Boulder Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee is selling the limited art Sesquicentennial banners presently hanging on Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall.

 The colorful banners, designed by local artist Steve Lowtwait, are being sold with first-come, first-served orders. Banners will be delivered to buyers “as is” as soon as they come down in early fall.

 Fewer than 100 of these original art banners are available, and your purchase is a tax-deductible donation used to fund citywide Boulder 150 events.

 There are three sizes of the banners available, and they are priced:

4-foot banner: $75

9-foot banner: $100

14-foot banner: $125

 There are also six different designs: Hotel Boulderado, Flatirons, Pearl Street Mall, CU Old Main, Chautauqua Auditorium and Historic Neighborhoods.

 To order your banner, please download an order form from the Boulder Sesquicentennial Web site at www.boulder150.com, or call Sesquicentennial Fundraising Chairman Bob Yates at 720-888-2283.  Please give your choice of size and first, second and third choice of design. Also indicate if you are willing to purchase a different size if your first choice sells out. 

Join Facebook fan page for Imagine! SmartHomes

Mark Emery, left, executive director of Imagine!, and Bob and Judy Charles show architectural drawing of the new SmartHome, which will open in Boulder this summer. The home will be one of the first in the nation, and serve as a model for future of residential care for people with cognitive disabilities.

I'm excited to help spread the word that Imagine!, a Lafayette, Colo.-based nonprofit providing care to people with cognitive and physical disabilities, has just launched a new "fan" page on Facebook, and is making more plans to expand its reach through social media.

This summer Imagine! will complete and open its new Bob and July Charles SmartHome at 18th and Iris streets in Boulder. This home, and another to be built in Longmont, will be national models for how the latest technologies, as well as green building, can be used in a community home to assist the residents. The technologies will make the caregivers more effective, too, by allowing them to track medications, computerize reminders about client needs and monitor sensors for better awareness and accountability of residents.

The SmartHome project will be exciting to watch, and much more information is available online from Imagine! including photos, videos and architectural drawings of the new homes.

I serve on the Imagine! Foundation, which was started to raise money to help pay off the mortgages of several existing homes, and now we're in a new fund-raising capital campaign to complete the SmartHomes. You can make a secure online donation for the SmartHome campaign, or you could contact me personally for information about the campaign and how you could help.

Imagine! will be putting out a lot more information and news as the SmartHomes project advances. I hope you'll follow the progress.

Will screen staring be the demise of printed news?

I’m an avid morning newspaper reader, a habit developed from years of working as an editor and that bred-in fear of being beat on a story.

Knowing there are several newspapers in my driveway and how good that morning coffee is going to taste gets me out of bed early.

Reading the headlines lately, I often think to myself: I already knew about that. These are stories I care about, but the news is already stale. The future of newspapers is now a national debate, but it’s being played out in everyone’s hometown newsroom.

For example, the Camera reported this morning on tire slashings around the city, including my neighborhood. That’s news I need to know. But yesterday our neighborhood online discussion group lit up with everyone’s first-person reports of the vandalism. By the time the morning paper even went to print, meetings had been organized for a Neighborhood Watch group. That wasn’t mentioned in the story.

I read about the demise of the Rocky Mountain News from a friend on Facebook, not the newspaper. Sports pages are really full of  “old” news. Fans don’t wait, they read scores or even the game’s play by play online, often on their phone.

As I’ve added more online social media, particularly Facebook, Twitter and Boulder-based companies’ tools, like Filtrbox and the Business Report’s Daily E-news, I expect breaking news to reach me all day, much of it customized to exactly what I want.

This is why I agree with a recent Editor and Publisher column by newspaper industry watcher Steve Outing, who writes bluntly: “Charging on the Web won’t work for general-news publishers.”  So-called “pay walls” are the last thing newspapers need right now, despite their disgust with aggregators like Newser, with the tagline “Read less, know more.”

Outing’s column, “Getting Money from Readers Who Won’t Pay for Online News,” not only disputes the latest pay-for-Web-content strategy announced by MediaNews Group of Denver, owner of both the Post and the Camera, but also lays out several reasonable alternative solutions.

New ideas to save newspapers are plentiful. Here’s one of them. What would happen, do you think, if the front page of your morning paper had an appeal sounding very much like those frequent fund-raising drives that support public radio?

It would read something like this: In order to keep bringing you the quality news reporting you’ve come to expect, we’re asking you to make a tax-deductible contribution every month and become a paid member of our new nonprofit newspaper.

As newspapers lose subscribers to free online sites and blogs, lose (make that lost) classifieds to Craig’s List, and lose automobile, real estate and large national advertisers to the Internet, is the day of a philanthropic, nonprofit model so far fetched?

Several working journalists (except for the two recently laid off) approached this topic at the CU World Affairs Conference.

Investigative journalist Roberta Baskin, who broke stories on Nike’s sweatshops in Vietnam, described the “tsunami of change” sweeping the media industry, saying in many cases “It’s a race to the bottom right now.” Not only are investigative reporters being fired because of their higher expenses and salaries, but media executives fret much more about the costs of possible litigation.

Baskin doubted the sustainability of philanthropic donors supporting newspapers, and another idea -- “nationalizing” newspapers similar to the BBC -- doesn’t sit very well with anyone. In fact, several foundations, journalism schools like Columbia University, and even private benefactors have begun funding in-depth reporting efforts. Journalism schools might need to start teach grant-writing classes. “These are perilous times,” Baskin said, “and I don’t think the public is paying attention to this.”

Margaret Engel, a former Washington Post and Des Moines Register reporter who’s now executive director of the Alicia Patterson Journalism Foundation, which supports investigative journalists and photojournalists, described newspaper’s woes as the “revenge of the screen starers.” (Is that what I am becoming?)

“People don’t have the visual desire to hold a newspaper anymore,” she said.

        Newsrooms are more fearful than ever. “Those of us in the trenches knew the suits were not really behind us,” Engel said.

  All is not lost just yet. Reporters, editors and publishers are a resourceful group. New ideas like mobile phone apps or charging for content on Kindle e-readers are being tried, and so-called “niche” publishers, including ethnic publications, are even growing. News that is “hyper local,” including more “citizen journalists” attending school board meetings, is finding some footing.

You might try reading The Huffington Post, an Internet-only newspaper with blogs, videos, e-mail alerts, Twitters, and I just learned from The Economist, just four reporters in a staff of 60. The InDenver Times is being run by former Rocky staffers. IWantMyRocky.com is still online, but needs a new name.

Yes, I’m staring more at computer screens these days. But I refuse to do it with my morning coffee.

Sesquicentennial panel to examine Boulder from 1959-2009, 50 years of ‘Progress and Loss’

Come join the celebration of Boulder's 150th anniversary this Wednesday with a free, panel discussion looking back on the past 50 years of the city. This is information on the event, released by the Boulder Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee.

BOULDER -- A panel of Boulder community members active in politics, education, community issues and real estate will discuss Boulder’s transformation over the last 50 years in a panel discussion Wednesday, May 13 titled “Legends of Progress and Loss: Boulder from 1959 to 2009.”

 The public event is part of the Boulder Sesquicentennial Celebration, which continues throughout 2009 celebrating Boulder’s founding in 1859. The discussion will be from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the University of Colorado campus in the Wittemyer Courtroom, Wolf Law Building. 

 Panelists include Albert Bartlett, CU professor emeritus of physics; Harold “Sonny” Flowers Jr., a prominent Boulder attorney; long-time Boulder resident and community leader Doris Hass; developer and businessman William “Bill” Reynolds; and Dorothy Rupert, former state legislator.  Patty Limerick, director of CU’s Center of the American West, distinguished professor of history and MacArthur Fellow, will moderate the panel.

 Topics will include Boulder’s development over the past 50 years under the slow-growth Danish Plan; the impact of the city and county open space plans; and various issues and community debates that have developed around Boulder’s growth from a “sleepy college town” in the 1950s to the city of today.

 “Those of us who moved to Boulder several decades ago have witnessed many changes, some of which we like and some of which we don't,” said Dan Corson, Intergovernmental Services Director at the Colorado Historical Society, a former Boulder city councilman and chair of the sesquicentennial committee.

 “This panel, comprised of five active citizens from diverse backgrounds who have lived in Boulder for at least 50 years or so, will offer its perspectives on Boulder's "progress" and "losses" during that period,” Corson said.

 Program sponsors include: the Boulder Sesquicentennial Celebration Committee, the University of Colorado’s Center of the American West and the Boulder History Museum. A reception will follow the discussion.

 The panelists will bring a wealth of information about Boulder’s past to the discussion based on their respective backgrounds, detailed below. For more information on the Boulder Sesquicentennial Celebration, go to the Boulder150 Web site at www.boulder150.com.

Proud Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird

Proud Derby Winner
Originally uploaded by Jerry W. Lewis

I'll probably never get this close to a Kentucky Derby winner again, but if it had to be one, I have to love the chance I got this morning to meet Mine That Bird, the 50-1 long shot that came out of nowhere to win down the rail.

I was in Louisville for Derby weekend, and on Monday a friend invited me over to the back side of Churchill Downs, where we hoped to see some of the Derby horses. As we walked toward Barn 42, where Mine That Bird was stabled, there he was, out enjoying snacking on some green clover, with his owner, Leonard Blach. 

We had a good chat, took lots of photos and probably were some of the first to hear, right from the owner, that the Derby winner had a good workout that morning and they are now "aiming at the Preakness."

Mine That Bird with owner Leonard

Blach, a very happy guy.

We also walked over to a live TV interview with trainer Chip Woolley and jockey Calvin Borel, two pretty happy guys although Chip doesn't seem to smile too much. Calvin won both the Oaks and the Derby, so I don't think he can quit smiling. What a Derby weekend for him.

The story of Mine That Bird is a great one, of course, becoming the second-highest payoff in Derby history with $103.20 for a $2 win ticket. Mine That Bird probably wasn't even going to come to the Derby, but race officials kept calling, trying to fill out its 20-horse field.

Jockey Calvin Borel and trainer Chip Woolley, giving a TV

interview at Churchills Downs the Monday after the Derby.

it's already been a pretty exciting week here in Kentucky, but getting to see Mine That Bird so close really made the trip special.

Economic woes cross the border, hurting Baja’s tourism

New developments are being built in La Paz on the Baja, but will the economy and tourism downturn slow sales? That's the big question.

Penny-pinching American tourists, a devalued peso and endless stories of drug cartel shootouts are hammering Mexico’s tourism economy at a time when new projects are searching for time-share and vacation home buyers. Old tourist haunts are missing their regular customers.

 “What a lot of Americans forget,” said Steve, the American owner of the Cabo Cabanas he built six years ago in Loreto, “is you fly right over the troubles they’re having in the north.”

He laments that business was down this winter and spring, although a top rating in the new Moon tourism book helped bring in new customers. But just a block away, a recently redeveloped five-star historic hotel, La Mision, looks nearly empty, with no one sipping margaritas around its enormous pool.

April, I’ve decided from years of Baja trips, is great weather to escape south for a fishing trip and relaxing getaway. I dodge the crowds (and prices) at Cabo San Lucas in favor of smaller East Cape hotels and La Paz up the coast. Every year, I stare in amazement at new developments spreading out from Cabo.

In recent years, several projects broke ground around La Paz, a city visited more by Mexicans than gringos for its uncrowded beaches, malecón restaurants and awesome sunsets. A new marina is open, and three new golf courses are going up, including the Costa Baja Resort, Gary Player’s first course design in Mexico.

The only question right now is who’s going to buy? Sales offices were usually empty as I strolled by them in downtown La Paz.

One Colorado couple I met had been in La Paz for two months. “Sometimes we’re the only people in the restaurants when we go out,” they said.

According to the Gringo Gazette, a Cabo-based newspaper, “off the record” discussions with local Realtors say real estate sales have ground to a halt, maybe down 75 percent from a year ago.

A big part of the disconnect is the slumping peso, which tumbled about 40 percent against the dollar in the past few months, as well as the closed credit windows in the U.S. When sales prices of vacation properties are translated into pesos, sellers must pay the capital gains tax at a much higher peso price. A million-dollar sale a year ago was 10.6 million pesos, but today, it’s about 15 million pesos, with the higher tax rate eating into profits, if there are any. According to one Realtor, this is kicking an already slumping real estate market in the teeth.

Despite the gloomy news, developers are betting big on the Baja’s “desirability” factor. Entire hillsides outside La Paz are marked with white paint, showing lots for new homes. Glossy magazines still promote homes priced anywhere from $7 million in Cabo to $300,000 and less in Los Barriles, Todos Santos and La Paz.

Near our fishing spot around Isla Cerralvo, prolific for dorado, sea bass and larger sailfish and marlin in the summer, there’s now a speed bump on the dirt road and signs promoting a project with the theme “The dream is worth the drive.” From here, Mexican captains launch their pangas, sturdy but basic fishing boats, from an area called Muerto Bay in the Sea of Cortez.

But “muerto” or “death” in translation didn’t seem to fit with the developer’s desired image. So now the area has been renamed “Bay of Dreams,” or Bahia de los Sueños.

It’s a hot, dusty region where agriculture, a salt mine  and fishing were the only businesses. Today, workers scoot around on golf carts, and water pipes are being laid for the GranSueño hotel, golf course and private “casitas”. A new paved road now makes the area just an hour drive through the desert and mountains from the East Cape, and an airstrip is ready for private aircraft.

One thing for certain, Mexican resorts have learned the fine art of enticing Web sites, and on the Baja, the coastal mountain and deep blue ocean views are as scenic as anywhere. For bargain hunters like myself, more pesos to the dollar make the Baja even more affordable, and our Frontier flight was packed with Coloradans heading for the sun and resorts.

Mexico is making a big investment on repaving roads and rebuilding bridges, and our four-hour drive up to Ciudad Constitución to Loreto on Highway 1 was completely safe and pleasant, passing through just one checkpoint where the military police looked in our cooler and waved us through.  Walking around Loreto, police would stop traffic, smiling and waving me across. Somebody down here put the word out – be nice to visitors.

There is word that increased checkpoints, and possibly fingerprinting and digital photos, are being put in for a “Southern Baja, Safe State,” keeping out any bad guys fleeing from the north. Although an inconvenience for visitors traveling by car or camper, it’s probably better to be safe than sorry.

 

Downtown Boulder businesses diving in head first to social media

Dave Rogers gets a plug for his new social media startup, Localbunny.com, at Downtown Boulder's breakfast meeting discusson on using social media.

A good pounding of wet spring snow couldn't keep more than 100 downtown Boulder businesspeople from learning more about how to tweet, blog, yelp and simply try to understand the rapidly growing world of social media. 

While it's so easy to think you're drowning in the flood -- make that "deluge" -- of social media sites, there's always something new to discover. A few of us had some slightly nervous laughs learning we're getting close to an emerging "silver surfer" crowd (60 years and older). The breakfast presentation at the Hotel Boulderado also included good info on Yelp, which came to the Denver area with its restaurant and retail reviewers just about a year ago.

Flashing a Powerpoint page showing literally hundreds of social media site logos, Amy Moynihan and Ashley Cohen of GoundFloor Media told the downtowners not to panic if they're new to the social media world. "Pick one or two, and just dip your toe into it," Moynihan said to one woman who asked why she shouldn't run away screaming from the whole social media invasion.

Facebook, Twitter and Yelp could be the top three mediums to get started on in the online conversations and marketing that include everything from blogs, wikis, podcasts, vlogs, Internet forums, virtual communities and micro-blogging (Twitter.)

If you're running a "brick and morter" retail location, Moynihan said, you absolutely need to be taking a look at Yelp, because probably there's already a "yelper" posting a review of your service or product online. The really active "yelpers," she said, get to be "elite yelpers." 

Fact is, many downtown Boulder businesses, including the Downtown Boulder organization and businesses such as Boulder Theater, Tee & Cakes, Boulder Baked, Laughing Goat Coffeehouse (my usual coffee hangout), the Dish, Spudbrothers (here is their Yelp page), and others (certainly the bars and breweries) have already made the plunge. Think the 20,000 students at CU are important to your Boulder business base? Then social media is a no-brainer. 

I'm a "fan" of Downtown Boulder's Facebook page, and heard about this latest Downtown Community Exchange via their Twitter. Downtown Boulder is actively promoting various "specials" or pointing to reviews -- national and local -- of restaurants and other businesses. New DBI Director Sean Maher told me the Dish, a gourmet sandwich shop, tweeted a secret "password" to followers, offering a one-day discount to whoever knew the word. About 40 customers came in with the tweet word of the day. 

GroundFloor Media pushed home the point that Facebook and other social media are not just for teens anymore. Demographics show the fastest-growing group using social media is 25 years and older, and that includes a whole bunch of us -- let's say "somewhat older" adults (whew, found out I'm not yet a silver surfer after all) -- who are starting to "surf" with the teen set. (The leading topic right now for the next Ignite Boulder, by the way, is "My mom just joined Facebook, now what?)

eMarketer, the morning presentation showed, is predicting the number of U.S baby boomers using the Internet at least once a month (you have to wonder who uses the Internet just once a month?) will jump by 5 million to almost 64 million in 2011.

As snow piled up outside the Boulderado, Dave Rogers, former publisher of the Onion in Boulder, announced he's just launched a new social media tool called Local Bunny. This just-born startup, unveiled recently at the Boulder Denver New Technology Meetup, allows businesses and organizations to not only get their specific business noticed, but to list specific dates and schedules. Local Bunny will then push that information out to social media like Facebook and Twitter, letting users search information not just by name, but by the "time" of a class or event. 

Dave told me he's just out of the gates with this one, but quickly showed me on his iPhone how he could search Twitter by typing "@localbunny yoga, boulder" and bring up a listing of Boulder yoga classes by time. Looking for a 9 a.m. class? There they are, or at least that's the idea.

Downtown Boulder will be planning some more smaller sessions for DBI businesses on social media, and here's my suggestion: Get a bigger room. I tried to get into one of the social media sessions at the World Affairs Conference, where a whole bunch of the "silver surfers" were grabbing all the seats, and people had to be turned away.

Hey, I've got to end this blog. While writing, a tweet came in showing downtown Boulder restaurant Bimbamboo is following me. I love their "small plates" menu ... think Asian tapas. Now I'm following them, too.