Eighty percent of Arizona lives in metro areas along the interstate route from Flagstaff to Tucson. Ninety percent of Nevada lives in the metro areas of Las Vegas, on the interstate from Los Angeles, or Reno, on the interstate from San Francisco. This pattern renders the West at once the least inhabited and most urbanized region of the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. What distinguishes Colorado from its Rocky Mountain neighbors is the way its tax system encourages towns to turn interstate travel into an extended shopping trip. Statewide, sales taxes account for 73 percent of all revenues collected by municipal governments.
Local fortunes rise and fall with the choice of a shopping mall site.
One Safeway can save a town budget. The state has told us for 30 years that it's our lifeblood. The town was founded a century ago by Harvey Parish and named for a son critically ill with appendicitis, who survived, grew up and eventually became mayor. Local farmers grew sugar beets, corn, alfalfa, wheat and pinto beans. The town industry was a Great Western sugar refinery.