"Salt Lake nudging Denver as region's hub," blared a front-page headline in The Denver Post just a week before an election was held to decide the fate of a controversial new airport proposed for the Colorado capital.
But a month after voters gave the go-ahead to the $2.3 billion project, no one here seems to be taking the possibility of Salt Lake City closing in on Denver's long-time status as the unofficial capital of the Rocky Mountain Region too seriously."This isn't to put Salt Lake City down at all but I don't think of it - or haven't heard of it - in terms of competition between the two cities," said Roger Ogden, a former Chamber of Commerce president who led the city's efforts to get the Olympics and is the president of KCNC-TV, Denver's NBC affiliate.
Even Denver Mayor Federico Pena, who warned voters throughout the airport campaign that the city faced increased competition from Salt Lake City if it did not approve the project, appears to have lost interest in Salt Lake City's possible encroachment. The mayor was `too busy" to talk about the issue this week, according to his press secretary.
Interestingly, it is the airport issue that has sparked debate in recent years over which of the two cities is most aggressively pursuing growth, seen as a key to maintaining hub status.
Two years ago, a Denver Post story warned that Salt Lake City was ready "to roll out the red carpet" for United and Continental airlines, which were at that time feuding with the city. The airlines have since opposed the new airport, claiming it is not needed.
But city leaders believe it is, especially as a sign to the rest of the world that Denver is poised to resume the rapid growth that filled its downtown with massive skyscrapers.
Despite the many vacancies in city office towers, Denver residents will likely agree with Ogden when he says that Salt Lake City is "clearly not in the same league" as Denver and that talk of a rivalry between the two cities was merely a campaign tactic that is no longer relevant now that the new airport has been approved.
If Utahns are still talking about it, Ogden said, "maybe it's because it's more important to them over there than it is to us."