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Colorado - Thu. 05/21/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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DENVER HOMELESS NUMBERS DOWN
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Results of the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative’s annual one-night census, which tallies how many people were homeless on a single night in January each year, indicated 518 people living unsheltered on Denver’s streets on that night in January, down from 785 people last year and the decade peak of 1,423 people in 2023. The 12.5 percent decrease in overall homelessness is the first decline in almost a decade. Last year, MDHI counted 7,327 people who were homeless overall in the city, meaning that they may have shelter but don’t have a stable living condition. This year, the initiative counted 6,411. The MDHI’s metro-wide count found 9,950 people who were homeless, down 7.6 percent. Of those, 1,703 were living unsheltered, down nearly 21 percent from last year.
Under the administration of Mayor Mike Johnston, who had made the homelessness program a major focus since he was elected in 2023, the city has added about 1,000 shelter beds, bringing the overall number in the city’s system to 3,000. The city has converted several former hotels into shelters and added a handful of tiny home micro-communities to move people indoors from encampments.
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NEPALI HERITAGE ON DISPLAY AT DIA
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The public art program at Denver International Airport now has a display of Nepali heritage on the mezzanine level of Concourse C. The “Heritage in Motion: Nepali Stories of Roots, Memory and Continuity” includes six glass cases filled with wedding dresses, ornate replicas of mandalas and miniature brass lions, examples of typical celebratory foods, traditional jewelry and cooking utensils, among other items. The exhibit is curated by community organizer Binisha Shrestha and her aunt Shanti Shrestha, both of whom are Nepali transplants to the Centennial state. More than two dozen display items were brought to the U.S. in the luggage of Colorado’s Nepali community, which consists of about 6,500 people. The "Heritage" exhibit will be in place until August.
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AIRFARES UP & FLIGHT DELAYS THE WORST IN A DECADE
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A travel services website reported that as of May 11, the average domestic airfare reached $383, a whopping 30 percent higher than last year at this time, and the highest in many years, although not at the historic peak level of the year 2000. Besides facing higher fares, air travelers have also been experiencing more delays. The overall on-time performance of U.S. airlines has reached its worst level since 2014, with nearly a quarter of flights delayed, diverted or canceled. One in 12 flights in 2025 arrived an hour or more late. Travelers on U.S. airlines saw 1.66 million flights delayed, canceled, or diverted in 2025.
In Colorado, the on-time arrival rates at Denver International Airport (75.4 percent) and the Colorado Springs Airport (73.1 percent) both lagged below the national average of 76.3 percent for the largest U.S. airlines. Denver-based Frontier Airlines ranked worst among major airlines for the fourth year in a row in customer complaints and involuntary passenger bumpings. U.S. airline tarmac delays exceeding three hours increased to 708 in 2025, up by 63 percent from 435 in 2024 and 2.4 times more than the 289 in 2023.
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CAN YOU LIVE IN YOUR RV IN COLORADO?
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Memorial Day is the traditional beginning of summer and with summer vacation trips at hand, the RV season is gearing up. If you were thinking about taking an RV tour around Colorado, or having friends coming to the state in their RV, here are some guidelines for how long you can stay in your RV:
- State statute allows you to live in your RV on private land and in RV parks allowing long-term stays
- HOWEVER, local zoning ordinances mean you can’t stay too long in one spot in most urban areas of the state and even in some rural areas
- In Denver, for example, you can only stay in an RV on private property for 28 days in a year. Street parking there is only allowed for 72 hours, and the limit drops to 24 hours if your RV is longer than 22 feet. Length-of-stay restrictions also exist in Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Salida, Loveland, Carbondale, Longmont and Broomfield, among other locations
- If you are looking to live in or park an RV in a specific location, consult the local municipal code (typically found on the respective city's government website) to check for exemptions, permits or conditional use requirements
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UTE WATER TO IMPLEMENT DROUGHT RATES FOR FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS
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At the May meeting of the Ute Water Conservancy District Board of Directors, the board voted to implement drought emergency rates for all its customers. This is the first time since 1977 that Ute Water has implemented drought rates for its 90,000 customers. The emergency rates will begin in July 2026 for water used in June 2026. The vote reflects the lack of water availability following below-average snowpack, early runoff, below-normal stream flows, irrigation water shortages and increased water use in March. The drought rates are intended to encourage conservation and help manage customer demand during ongoing drought conditions.
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DURANGO SCHOOL DISTRICT TO LAUNCH IGNITE MOBILE LEARNING LAB
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The Durango School District is in the process of retrofitting a district school bus to become the district’s new Ignite Mobile Learning Lab, a classroom that will travel across the 1,100-square-mile school district offering free learning experiences oriented to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM). The bus will be equipped with a classroom, cabinets for books and supplies, 3D printers, and other items to support the STEAM curricula. The school district plans to roll out the learning lab in late June or early July, with the official ribbon-cutting scheduled for Aug. 26. The district still needs to raise $35,000 to finish the retrofitting, as well as another $100,000 to cover curriculum activities and supplies.
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EAGLE AIRPORT TRAVELERS, AIRPORT PARKING, ROAD WORK ALL UNDER PRESSURE
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The Eagle County Airport (EGE) is experiencing a busy spring, and strong enplanement numbers are expected to continue through the summer, but there are also pressures from road construction on the road into the airport and limited parking. The passenger numbers and increased numbers of travelers looking to park at the airport are primarily due to the closing of the Aspen airport this month for the annual runway work. Airport officials believe up to 15 percent of those traveling through EGE are headed to or coming from the Roaring Fork Valley. EGE officials are especially conscious of the increased numbers from Aspen because the Aspen Airport will be closed for 8 to 10 months. Compounding all the airport issues is the construction work ongoing on Cooley Mesa Road, the road leading to EGE.
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WORLD CUP MATCHES ARE COMING, FIFA HAS COSTLY TICKETS, EXPENSIVE TURF
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The 2026 World Cup is at hand, with Canada, Mexico and the U.S. co-hosting matches across 16 stadiums. Those stadiums are as far south as Mexico City and Guadalajara in Mexico to Toronto and Vancouver in Canada in the north and include five that are covered by domes. As many fans in the U.S. have been upset by the increase in ticket prices that the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, has imposed, FIFA has other interests in the stadiums than the cost of seats. It is grass. FIFA has employed the expertise of John Sorochan, a professor at the University of Tennessee, aided by Trey Rogers III, a professor at Michigan State University, to ensure every field, or pitch, is perfect. They have been working for eight years, spending $5 million on grass research. They tested sample turf with bouncing balls, stomped on turf with soccer shoes, or boots, they even measured blades of grass by millimeters to find the perfect height.
Typically, sod is grown as locally as possible in soil similar to where it will be installed. The act of cutting and moving the turf can stress the plants and they often need several weeks to recover. At the World Cup, however, many of the pitches will be installed just 10 days before their first match. Interestingly, the sod for three U.S. stadiums, Dallas, Atlanta and Houston, will be grown in Colorado at Joe Wilkins III's Green Valley Turf Company. To prepare the sod, Wilkins' staff planted seed in sand on top of thin plastic. This helps to protect the roots when it is harvested and reduces the shock the plants experience. Over the following weeks, workers water and mow the grass meticulously, adding fungicide, fertilizer, humates, sea kelp and silica. With the games just weeks away, Wilkins and his staff are now undertaking the laborious process of cutting and rolling up the grass.
Using what Wilkins describes as "giant pizza cutters" attached to farm vehicles, they slice the sod into 1.2-meter (4-foot) strips. They wait until the Sun is setting so the grass is dry, then roll it up and load it onto refrigerated trucks. After the sod is unrolled at the covered stadiums, a magenta glow will blanket the entire pitch, emanating from dozens of white, metal bars just a few meters above the grass. These retractable LED grow lights can be moved into position to provide the grass with the energy it needs to grow.
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NTTO HAS NEW INTERNATIONAL VISITOR PROFILE SYSTEM
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The National Travel and Tourism Office has augmented its Country Profile Monitor to include annual international visitation, traveler characteristics, and the economic impact of overseas visitors to all 50 states and U.S. territories. The new Country & State Profile Monitor provides visitation statistics that are sortable by country or state and year, with data back to 2018. Visitor information includes helpful demographic information on international visitors such as age, income, travel accommodations, activities and U.S. destinations as well as economic impact. For example, the “Colorado” profile page includes data from 2024, and it has comparative numbers for Overseas Inbound and Outbound Estimates for Colorado from 2024 going back to 2019 with Total inbound to the U.S., percentage to Colorado, total number to Colorado, percentage change from a year earlier; and corresponding data for Colorado outbound internationally.
Other layouts are “Major Characteristics of Overseas Visitors to Colorado in 2024” with Main Purpose of Trip; demographic information; whether it was the first trip to the U.S.; average party size; average length of stay; average income; leisure activities; type of transportation used; and Top U.S. States and Cities Visited by Overseas Visitors to Colorado in 2024. The new Country & State Profile Monitor is available at trade.gov/country-profile-monitor.
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U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT’S “BEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD 2026”
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The 2026 Best Countries rankings from U.S. News & World Report evaluate 100 nations across a comprehensive array of metrics. The Best Countries project evaluates countries not just by their economic output, but by their "operational health" – encompassing everything from civic engagement and infrastructure to environmental stewardship and healthcare.
U.S. News & World Report used hundreds of datasets and weighed these factors:
- Governance: 16.7 percent
- Economic Development: 16.5 percent
- Health: 15.3 percent
- Civic Health:14.1 percent
- Infrastructure: 11.3 percent
- Opportunity: 10.8 percent
- Natural Environment: 9.2 percent
- Culture & Tourism: 6.1 percent
The 2026 Best Countries
- Switzerland
- Denmark
- Sweden
- Germany
- Netherlands
- Norway
- United Kingdom
- Finland
- Luxembourg
- Austria
- The U.S. was No. 18 and Canada was No. 19
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MARKET UPDATE - 05/20/2026 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 05/14/2026)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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