Aurora – Out from under his father’s shadow and with more than $140,000 in contributions a year before the election, Mayor Ed Tauer said he is planning to seek a second term as mayor.
He will formally announce his intentions this spring, but Tauer told The Denver Post that he wants to serve another four years as mayor of this city of 300,000 people.
“You don’t like to say ‘always’ or ‘never,’ but we’re planning on it at this point,” Tauer said. “If the voters want me to, it’s a privilege to serve the city, and I’m hoping to do it again.”
Tauer, 47, was elected mayor in 2003, after serving six years on the City Council. If re-elected, Tauer said, he wants to finish some of the things he has helped get off the ground – including the city’s $830 million Prairie Waters project, to provide up to 3.3 billion gallons of water annually – and also bring more quality jobs to the city so residents don’t have to drive somewhere else to work.
“We have the opportunity to make sure we have more jobs for people who live in Aurora,” Tauer said. “Aurora is a real great place to live and to work.”
Tauer has raised $46,000 so far this year toward his campaign and has a total of $142,000 after expenditures as he heads into the final year of his term leading up to the November 2007 election.
Some of Tauer’s main contributors are developers, including Alberta Capital Investments, which developed the recently opened Southlands shopping center in southeast Aurora and will lead the new Cornerstar project at Arapahoe and Parker roads. Alberta contributed $5,000.
Don Provost, founding principal for Alberta Capital, said Tauer has been instrumental in helping bring a solid tax base to the city.
“We are a developer that supports candidates who create an environment that is pro-business, pro-job creation, all of those things,” Provost said. “Ed’s about what’s best for the city; he’s passionate about his city and passionate about his job.”
At this point Tauer has no announced challengers.
Before being elected mayor, Tauer was probably best known as the son of former Aurora Mayor Paul Tauer, who was mayor for 16 years and served on the City Council before that.
That fact left some to believe the main reason Ed Tauer was elected mayor was because he was a Tauer.
But since taking office, Tauer has proven himself apart from his father, said Aurora Councilman Steve Hogan.
“I do think he’s his own man. There’s no doubt about that,” Hogan said.
Tauer has helped improve the perception of Aurora, Hogan said, as well as bring the council together to work on major issues facing the city.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was mending the relationship between Aurora and Denver, observers say.
With Paul Tauer and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, the metro area’s two largest cities were always in competition.
Now the two cities are working together on several projects, including the yet-to-be-built High Point development near Denver International Airport.
The Highpointe Conference Resort will include 505 hotel rooms, 68,000 square feet of meeting and event space and a 22,000-square-foot spa and fitness center.
High Point is a 1,800-acre master-planned community that will also include an 800-acre corporate park, 500,000 square feet of retail, an 18-hole championship public golf course, 1,600 single-family homes and 1,400 multifamily residences. It’s expected to create more than 580 jobs in Aurora alone, as well as others in Denver.
“Ed Tauer has really grown into being a symbol of regional collaboration,” Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said. “When I got elected, he was very focused on rebuilding relationships throughout the metro areas.
“He came and saw me before his election, and wanted to meet me. One of the first things we did was to get together.”
But while the big projects get all the hype, Tauer said what gives him the most enjoyment are the little things. He recalls a few years ago when some residents were upset about the eyesore wooden fences that separated neighborhoods from thoroughfares, so he pushed for and got new laws that require brick fences instead.
“When you can help a single person,” Tauer said, “that’s the most rewarding part of the job.”
Staff writer Carlos Illescas can be reached at 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com.
