Commerce City – There is wide agreement that this community north of Denver is slowly shedding its sooty, blue-collar image as new homes and shiny sports venues emerge on the horizon.
But some residents want to go even further, claiming even the name Commerce City deserves to be jettisoned for something a little tonier.
“I don’t like this name, and I don’t like the fact that my address is Commerce City,” said lawyer Jim Benson.
Benson, who has lived in Commerce City since 1974, succeeded in gathering enough signatures – more than 800 – to get a measure on the April ballot that would nix the name.
If voters approve, a committee would come up with three potential names to be voted on in November.
Mayor Sean Ford isn’t in favor of a name change, saying Commerce City should stand on its own merits.
That includes a new $170 million Prairie Gateway cultural center, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (a new 18,000-seat soccer stadium) and the Buffalo Run Golf Course.
“We are making great strides in this city,” Ford said, “but if we change our name, then the whole metro area will know we were the city that was ashamed of who we are,” Ford said.
After all, Ford said, “If you have an ugly girlfriend and she changes her name, she is still ugly.”
Denver-area Realtor Martin Frazier touts inner Commerce City as a good, affordable place to live. “But the name Commerce City is not a good name,” she said. “It just scares a lot of potential buyers.”
It’s not a coincidence that Benson secured all the signatures he needed from residents in the newer subdivisions north of the still-largely industrial center of Commerce City.
One of the larger developments is Reunion, a 2,500-acre master- planned community featured in last year’s Parade of Homes. People there don’t feel any kin to the smoldering oil refineries that helped build and still sustain Commerce City, Benson said.
“Every year I say ‘Thank goodness’ for the oil refineries because they put in $15 million into the city coffers,” said Benson. “But we don’t want to live next to an oil refinery.”
People in Reunion and the other new subdivisions try to avoid admitting they live in Commerce City when asked by others, Benson said.
“Saying you live in Commerce City is a nose-wrinkler,” said Benson, who is running for a seat on the city council.
“Where we live now we’ve got deer, eagles and buffalo around us,” Benson said. “Commerce City is a name that just doesn’t fit us anymore.”
Kathy McIntyre, editor of the local weekly newspaper, said the vote is more than just changing the face of the city – it’s proper use of the civic process. The City Council last year declined to place the name-changing proposal on the ballot, prompting Benson to get signatures.
“People should get the opportunity to voice their opinion,” McIntyre said, “and the City Council didn’t want them to do that.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
