Coinciding August convention and freshman move-in will likely put hotels at capacity
It is ten months until the Democratic National Convention in Denver and Colorado is already feeling the crunch.
From Aug. 25 to 28, 2008, delegates of all 50 states will descend into Colorado, making hotel space scarce and driving downtown nearly impossible.
According to the Daily Camera, there are 2,186 hotel and motel rooms in Boulder and 35,000 people are expected for the convention. Though most of the attention will be focused on Denver, Boulder will get a piece of the action.
The Millennium Hotel, located at 1345 28th St., doesn’t have any rooms remaining for those three days.
“We are sold out,” said Sean Martin, the front desk worker at the hotel.
For parents hoping to move their CU students in on that same weekend, there is still plenty of space available at the Broker Inn, across from the Williams Village towers. They only have 2 of their 120 rooms reserved so far. The Broker front desk expects traffic to be bad, but not due to the convention.
According to The Democratic Party Web site, this is the first time the convention has come to Denver since 1908. That was before highways were even built in any state.
Even though Colorado is now equipped with highways, transportation will not be easy. Colorado highways are already busy without increased traffic from national events. With the convention, traffic to and from Denver could be hard to cope with for all drivers.
Boulder Public Safety officials are usually kept busy around late August with incoming freshman moving in. Public Safety has not begun planning for the convention or any traffic hassles it may entail.
“We will look into that around February,” said Betsy Watts administration assistant from the department of Public Safety.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Aaron Musick at aaron.musick@thecampuspress.com
