Lime Sunset: Exploring Denver's Scooter Climate and the Changing of the Guard

by Paul M. French

Dust rises near the Capitol. Across Colfax, behind the Broadway corner bus stop, a group of kids on Lime scooters is churning an empty lot, doing tricks up and down the dirt slopes of the makeshift bowl. The intersection is busy as ever. Tourists, bus riders, and vagabonds converge by Pioneer Monument, the weather unseasonably warm. But the kids have made the lot their own, skidding and drifting over rough terrain, pushing the rented scooters to their limit, and creating an odd oasis of play on the crowded block. Nobody seems to bother them, except for me.

I do my own bit of skidding into some miraculous metered parking on Lincoln, and soon I’m rushing toward the kids like a lunatic, shouting, “Hey, hi, sorry! Can I talk to you?”

The girl is the first to answer. She shoots me a hard look, her tone cold and bureaucratic. She probably thinks I’m trying to bust up their fun. “What is it you’re wanting?” she asks. I tell her I’m working on a magazine story, which doesn’t do much to soften…