Stapleton and Bradburn Village are pretty similar.  Both are new urbanist neighborhoods, mixed-use, walkable with lots of parks.  When we were looking to move to Denver from Fort Collins, we went to look in Stapleton.  There were three main reasons we picked Bradburn over Stapleton and in order they were 1. Location (Stapleton wasn’t close enough to Boulder for us) 2. Price.  The same home in Stapleton (I mean exactly the same house, New Town Builders builds in both neighborhoods) was $60,000 more than in Bradburn. 3. The neighborhoods surrounding Stapleton.

I’m embarrassed to admit #3 but it’s the truth.  Stapleton used to be the airport for Denver and as a result, all the neighborhoods directly bordering it aren’t the nicest ones in Denver (they are far, far away from “bad” neighborhoods that other cities have though).  I was worried about crime and the state of the public schools mostly.  I have a neighbor here in Bradburn who moved from Stapleton so I asked her about crime.  She said crime had been increasing in Stapleton (no idea if that’s actually the case but it was her perception), lots of car theft, break-ins (cars, not homes), and vandalism.  Then I read the morning about a fatal car jacking in Stapleton which was a real downer.  There are have been three car jacking attempts apparently in this same area very recently.  So does this mean I was right to worry about higher crime in Stapleton?  Yes and No.

Crime statistics for Denver do in fact show a lot more crime in Stapleton than in my area, but it’s still not something I think anyone who lives in Stapleton really needs to worry about, even with the recent car jacking and I’ll tell you why.  Those kinds of things can happen anywhere in a metro area, and they are rare.  We’ve had 3 cars stolen from Bradburn in the last 4 years that I know of and some car break-ins and garages thefts.  Even in the suburbs you will get crime if you live in an area that has people in it.  Stapleton is in an area with greater density than Bradburn so it stands to reason greater density itself will equal a coorresponding increase in crime. However, people don’t really think that way.  I’m wondering if people in Stapleton will see the headlines about the shooting and be looking to move to a more suburban area because of it, I hope not as I think Stapleton is an excellent neighborhood and is safe.