Milestones Icon: Paul Danish

Paul Danish is best known in Boulder for the Danish Plan, Boulder’s original growth-management plan approved by voters in 1976.

Danish was a Boulder City Council member from 1976 to 1982 and served as a Boulder County Commissioner from 1995 to 2004.

Born in Chicago, Danish arrived in Boulder in 1960 to attend the University of Colorado. It wasn’t his first choice in universities, but he now feels that coming to Boulder is the best thing that ever happened to him. He received a bachelor’s degree in history from CU and did graduate work in political science.

“When it was time for me to go to graduate school, I filled out applications for six graduate schools. I was sitting at the UMC filling out the applications on one of those beautiful days here when the clouds are hanging over the Flatirons, and I decided to go have coffee instead.”

Danish never really left Boulder after that. He made a few attempts but said the curse of Chief Niwot always pulled him back.

When recalling the political climate in Boulder before the growth plan was passed, he said, “The growth issue in Boulder had been festering since 1971. I thought there had been enough beating around the bush and sponsored an ordinance. We put it on the ballot, and it passed. It was a city issue that ran during a general election, but it produced a big turnout. The issue passed by 552 votes.”

During the years he wasn’t in political office, Danish worked as a journalist. He worked for the Colorado Daily for several years and has also done some reporting for United Press International, the San Francisco Chronicle, Soldier of Fortune Magazine and Boulder’s Town and Country Review, which no longer is published.

When asked what Danish thinks about Boulder today, he said, “Boulder in its various attempts to keep Boulder special has succeeded. It’s not everything I hoped it would be. I hoped to keep it weird, and Boulder really isn’t very weird. It’s a very remarkable community in its environmental concerns. It spends a lot of time trying to make itself a more perfect community, and it’s already pretty remarkable.

“Boulder has a lot of guilt about housing prices and diversity, but if you take a look at who’s in Boulder it’s a pretty diverse community. The city needs to embrace who it is but be intellectually honest as well about what’s shaping the town. Mixed-used projects may be good development, but do these projects make the city a more or less attractive place to live?”

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