Here's the thing: I am ambivalent. One the one hand a lot of the development in Colorado Springs is of the soulless, corporate variety. One needs do little else than drive down Powers "Boulevard" (read: "State Highway 21/extended big-box free-for-all), to see that substantiated readily, desparingly before one's eyes. On the other hand, a lot of great things are happening. Buildings are being brilliantly repurposed (http://csbj.com/2013/07/01/academy-experiences-repurposing-of-buildings/), and there are new creative approaches to design especially in the downtown areas: http://www.csindy.com/coloradosprings/architect-ryan-lloyd-wants-to-change-everything-one-wild-goose-at-a-time/Content?oid=2959785.

I think what might be key here to meeting the American impulse toward velveta-ization (yeah, I made that up), is to create local organizations that meet the same needs. Why go to some here unnamed Corporate chain coffee place, when you have local options:

http://www.csindy.com/coloradosprings/coffee-culture-comes-of-age-in-colorado-springs/Content?oid=2851095

Why advertize with some large company, or with the (increasingly irrelevant) yellow pages, when you could go customized and local? (Yes, that was one of the factors in naming my company "Local Reach.")

Why go to a chain when you could go to Poor Richard's?

Why go to some soulless bookstore, when you could attend a poetry reading at a place like Mountain Fold Books?

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Local places like Seeds Community Cafe (https://www.facebook.com/SeedsCafe). are taking advantage of growth in local culutre, and a very human impulse toward community, toward person-to-person contact. An irony worth noting is that the latter is often fueled by cyberspace-based platforms like MeetUp and Facebook! Here's hoping this continues in my hometown!