Denver & CO Are Less Business Friendly

The August 27th edition of the Denver Business Journal’s cover story was titled “Rule of Three.” Before the end of the year the 3 biggest names in the business world are leaving their jobs. These people include CO Chamber of Commerce President Chuck Berry, Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Kelly Brough, and Downtown Denver Partnership President/CEO Tami Door, are all leaving their jobs after a combined 49 years of leading our city and state.

The only specific reason cited for why they are each resigning came from Brough who said, “we’re getting old, and it’s good to find new jobs.” But, the underlying theme of this DBJ story was that both Denver and CO have become less business-friendly over the last 10 years, according to Debbie Brown, President of the CO Business Roundtable. “But prominent business leaders like Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. CEO J.J. Ament have said in the past year that job creators are more hesitant to make a big commitment as new state and local regulations make the business environment more difficult.”

So, why do I tell you this? This could be a breaking point for Denver’s and the state’s economy if businesses of all sizes quit moving to our state and bringing with them 10 jobs, 100 jobs, or thousands of jobs. If new companies don’t move here this means fewer people are moving here too and growth slows down. This means less demand for housing and potentially fewer home sales.

Yes, maybe taking a “breather” for a couple of years might be really good as housing inventory levels are at miniscule levels, our roads are in shambles, and we have thousands of homeless people. But, we have to be careful of what we wish for. If through more regulations we decide we don’t want more new jobs here this decision could have repercussions for many years for up and it will be very difficult to turn that cruise ship around.