I lived in Denver from 1999 to 2005 and I have to say being there without wheels I always found it to be a walkable city. But the thought that you can take an area like Five-Points and expect to change the demographics overnight is unheard of. The whole idea that Five-Points is the next up and coming place to live is less than a decade old, in 2000 I was walking from 16th Street to 32nd Street to go dancing and that was a ROUGH area. IN recent years they have improved but the urban pioneers need to understand that substancial growth in this ecomony to make a bad neighborhood good is unheard of, at least in regards to success.
I worked in LoDo and always thought of it as a tourist trap where people could eat on the roof decks of restraunts. I was happy as a clam in any area I lived in the city. Living in City Park South, Congress Park and Capital Hill I was always amazed being a NOrtheast transplant on how much I had access to for so little money.