Make other cities envy us, Denver!

[Cos_Denver]

Originally Posted by RyanD

Dude, you take some awesome sports photos! I hear ya, it's a relief sometimes not to take urban landscapes / construction for me but I kind of suck at everything else haha. I have a T3i but I definitely have my sights on the 70D that comes out this fall(?). Might just have to upgrade to that yummy piece of camera.

Thx, man. I better be somewhat good since I am pursuing a career in it. 70D is nice. Not too much from the 60D, but it will take great photos. I heard its in the 1100.00 range, which isn't too bad. Its all about the glass, really.

[CharlesCO]

Alright, I'll contribute. Most of these are from my archives, but I don't think I've shared very many of them on here. I haven't taken very many city pictures since I've been home recently either— I'll have to fix that.

You can also find more of them on my own humble website. [/plug]



I colored these images blue in Photoshop and enlarged them as posters for my apartment in the Bay Area:













I really like the reflection that the EPA building gives:



Ninth Street Park — hooray for urban renewal:



I like this one, but what's that weird blue light at the top of that one building? Anybody know?



Finally, the Mayan:

[Cos_Denver]

[QUOTE=CharlesCO;6196604]Alright, I'll contribute. Most of these are from my archives, but I don't think I've shared very many of them on here. I haven't taken very many city pictures since I've been home recently either— I'll have to fix that.

nice photos. The EPA one looks like a Vegas strip bldg. Thx for the contributions.

[John Martin]

Okay, well, I'm doing this.



I don't know who took the picture and I don't know where it came from but what's done is done.

[bunt_q]

What is that a picture of? Am I supposed to know? Some little ski town someplace?

[pablosan]

Maybe Salt Lake City?

[John Martin]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

What is that a picture of? Am I supposed to know? Some little ski town someplace?

ufunny

[Cos_Denver]

Originally Posted by John Martin

Okay, well, I'm doing this.



I don't know who took the picture and I don't know where it came from but what's done is done.

It's SLC.

[Cos_Denver]

nice photos Charles...

[bunt_q]

I actually did not know that. Why would I? It is not a terribly distinctive looking city, at least not in that picture.

The hills in the background look like the ones outside of Golden. The building in the foreground is neat looking, but not anything recognizable.

[RyanD]

I figured it was SLC but it also looks straight out of Scandinavia! I like that shot a lot! Here's my find for the day. It made me smile.

• Video Link

[Wizened Variations]

The tragedy about so many city municipalities in the US today, is that their pension funds are slowly pushing them into bankruptcy.

DENVER IS NOT UPSIDE DOWN FINANCIALLY!

[bunt_q]

Originally Posted by Wizened Variations

DENVER IS NOT UPSIDE DOWN FINANCIALLY!

Umm, yes, actually. PERA, at least, is only about 60% funded. (I remember because some national report came out saying it was 50-something-percent funded, and PERA's response was, "No, you're wrong, we're at about 60%." As if that somehow was better. Not sure about Denver-city, but I doubt it's much better (I think DPS was at ~80% before they transitioned). But in any case, the state pensions fund is still supposed to run dry in the next 10 years. (Which will put public employees in the same position as the rest of us poor saps in the private sector, so I am not losing any sleep over it.)

[John Martin]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

I actually did not know that. Why would I? It is not a terribly distinctive looking city, at least not in that picture.

The hills in the background look like the ones outside of Golden. The building in the foreground is neat looking, but not anything recognizable.

Oh, I thought you were joking. Simple deduction, I guess, given my avatar, the preceding discussion of making this a mountain west picture thread, and the buildings in the picture/size of the city. The 'unrecognizable' building in the foreground is SLC's city hall. I don't know of any other major richardsonian romanesque structures in the mountain west. The building behind it is SLC's library, designed by Moshe Safdie. At least I would consider them distinctive.

[bunt_q]

Nah, I would say that city halls and libraries are only very rarely recognizable to outsiders. Even state capitols rarely tell you much, except that city is a state capital. The only building in Salt Lake City that outsiders are likely to recognize at first glance is probably the temple. You show me any picture that doesn't include the temple, and I'm more likely to think Boise than Salt Lake.

(btw, can't really see the avatars on a phone.)

[RyanD]

Here's two from today!


From Set: Denver By Day by Me

I've never taken a shot down 15th... I really like it!


From Set: Denver By Day by Me

[FunctionForm]

Beautiful city. It actually took the library for me to place it as Salt Lake. I should pay more attention to those old Richardsonian Romanesques.

[Wizened Variations]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

Umm, yes, actually. PERA, at least, is only about 60% funded. (I remember because some national report came out saying it was 50-something-percent funded, and PERA's response was, "No, you're wrong, we're at about 60%." As if that somehow was better. Not sure about Denver-city, but I doubt it's much better (I think DPS was at ~80% before they transitioned). But in any case, the state pensions fund is still supposed to run dry in the next 10 years. (Which will put public employees in the same position as the rest of us poor saps in the private sector, so I am not losing any sleep over it.)

You are partially correct. In 2009, the DPS which used to be funded through the city of Denver, was rolled into PERA, via SENATE BILL 09-0282. The fund was upside down in the sense of not being fully funded then.

This relieved the City of Denver of the funding responsibility and put that shortfall on all Colorado State Employees (actually all who contribute to state taxes).

There is an important difference between where private sector employees like you and I are, and, state (and city) employees are. Our pensions- if we have any- are not protected by law at tax payer expense to a large extent. Rather, unlike PERA employees whose pension funding gaps are a state level liability, our pension funds are a company responsibility, with some federal protection of our monthly payments, once we begin to receive them.

This type of issue is what the Detroit quandary is all about, where benefit recipients appear to be protected from benefit reduction by state law.

And PERA, as you surmise, is becoming a real stinker!

From a financial standpoint, Denver moved brilliantly in 2009. From a citizen standpoint, as a tax payer outside the City and County of Denver, I have now assumed a share of a liability that I was not responsible for prior to that date.

[bunt_q]

There is no such thing as a private sector pension anymore. Stinker or not, they shouldn't count on PERA and won't get a lot of sympathy when it never comes, or it reduced. Since the rest of us are left with 401k's, a 3% company match, and the slim prospect of someday collecting a social security check. And health care with a $5,000 deductible. Anyways, back to the pretty pictures.

[Wizened Variations]

Originally Posted by bunt_q

There is no such thing as a private sector pension anymore. Stinker or not, try shouldn't count on it and won't get a lot of sympathy when it never comes.

Yes. It's not black helicopters attacking, it's the inexorable advance of a glacier scraping our financial innocence away....