The issues concerning residents in Boulder, CO is quite similar to Vancouver's
 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29315820
(Please also watch the other videos about the place on the top right-hand corner)

Housing affordability and homelessness. Check.
Some members being elitist and having a sense of entitlement after the city receives accolades from elsewhere. Check.
Lots of diversity. Check.
Tree-hugging community of pot-smokers. Check.
Expensive and the pricing out of the middle-class. Check.
Rapid growth. Check.

I like the sub-title "The downsides to living in so-called paradise" (which can only be seen from the BBC News front page). Nonetheless the same problems we see in Vancouver can be found not just in Boulder, but in other cities renowned in livability.

(Melbourne, yep. Geneva and Vienna, don't even go there.)

The only differences I can think of are the public transportation use between VanCity and Boulder, and that Vancouver is not crowded for a big city (unless you move in from Yellow Grass, SK), albeit there are definitely crowds here.

Even in Denver in general, during my short stay on my grand road trip to Toronto via the American Midwest and the East (all the way to Rhode Island) in 2008, there was a sense of progressiveness from my casual chatter with locals. Before I began my road trip, my only knowledge about Colorado back then was its relative location to conservative Kansas (which was my next stop via Abilene [hometown of Dwight Eisenhower] and Topeka).

Having resided in the Denver area in the past - I wouldn't call Boulder a diverse community, particularly NOT along the lines of Vancouver. I also would not agree about it being on the same scale of density.

But I agree with you on other points, and especially that Transit in Boulder is non-existent and there is a high degree of elitism in all of Colorado *well, in and near the Rocky Mountains* not just Boulder.