Ow! My brain!
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“How the mighty have fallen!”
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“I know I am, but what are you?” 
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It’s for West German Broadcasting.
It has interesting history.
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Yep. Chicago is building a big 20ish mile long tunnel under the city.
They will have been at it for over 50 years by the time it is complete.
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I used to have full access to the Denver airport. It is DEN, not DIA btw. Anyway, the airport does have a secret but it isn’t what you think
There is a national wildlife refuge adjacent to the airport. However, the refuge is just a sham. It actually used to be the location where we developed all of the chemical weapons for the US govt. After we killed all of the birds and poisoned the groundwater, it was declared as the first Superfund site. They decided to try to “green it up”.
The airport actually is integrated with this effort. The watershed for DEN and the Superfund site are integrated. If you are going to have a bunch of water full of de-icing fluid and diesel, who cares if it goes into a pond full if anthrax.
Anyway, that is the real story about why the location was selected and why they got some extra funding. They also dug out extra for two additional terminals.
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Rocky Mtn Arsenal has been there since the 40’s and was also adjacent to the old Stapleton Airport as well (DEN has always been the airport callsign for the city - locals refer to DIA as a way of distinguishing it from Stapleton [I miss Stapleton BTW - so close to downtown]).
They got the land for DIA by annexing thousands of acres of farmland from Adams county for a pittance. Denver mayor Federico Peña was the one who really championed the new airport - hence the road leading up to it is now Peña Blvd. (really nice guy BTW - I met him once on the street when he was transportation secretary under Clinton).
After Stapleton shut down they turned the arsenal into a wildlife refuge after they discovered lots of endangered species like bald eagles had taken up residence there.
You’re right though, the entire area is hopelessly polluted and probably will be for many generations. But that’s not unique. They’re still digging up unexploded ordinance in backyards of what used to be the Lowry AFB gun range and when they started building houses on the site of Stapleton’s old tarmacs they basically had to scrape several feet of topsoil away because of chemical contamination. And don’t forget about Rocky Flats up near Boulder where they manufactured the plutonium triggers for ICBMs up until the 80’s. That place is more contaminated than Three Mile Island.
I laugh now to see the million dollar homes in those neighborhoods built on top of some of the most polluted land in America. Reminds me of Poltergeist where they built that housing development on top of the cemetery.
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Yeah, as a fellow native, I’m sure that you’ve also been lectured by a newly-arrived resident about how stupid we all are, compared to the utopia they just fled.
I was being scolded by a former schoolteacher about how stupid I was for buying a house in Da Hood* instead of one of those nice big ranch houses up in Arvada or Broomfield. I had to gently, very gently, explain that only people unfamiliar with the history of the state - and Rocky Flats - would live anywhere near the NW side.
My house sits on top of the former site of a…goat farm. I occasionally dig up weird stuff like a cheap shot glass, and sometimes, old bricks.
*She just couldn’t understand that some people can’t AFFORD to live in fancy neighborhoods. Poor people aren’t all clustered together because we share a love of cheap food and a lack of air-conditioning!
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