The 2008 Democratic National Convention will be a huge boon and little trouble for Denver and any discussion otherwise is “crazy” talk, Mayor John Hickenlooper told a crowd of local business interests today.
“If you’re not getting your friends and family involved in this convention,” Hickenlooper said, “you’re leaving something on the table.”
Any notion that the convention’s expected 35,000 visitors will slow the downtown economy is “baloney,” the Mayor said, grinning ear to ear. “It ain’t going to be that crazy. It’s going to be fun.”
Hickenlooper made his remarks at the first of 10 “Convention Conversations,” or forums of business and citizens here and throughout the Intermountain West meant to get the word out how to get a piece of the convention action.
Joined by convention Chief Executive Officer Leah Daughtry, the Mayor seized the advantage to broadcast remarks he’s been making in smaller settings again and again since the Democratic Party announced in January that it would hold the event at the Pepsi Center next Aug. 25-28.
Because of massive transit closures during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, the Mayor and other city officials have been fielding concerns from downtown businesses and restaurants fearing a loss of income for the week.
Hickenlooper stressed before the crowd of about 400 at the Walnut Foundry that many spring nights in LoDo see the hosting of games involving both the Colorado Rockies and the Colorado Avalanche without significant trouble.
He said total traffic in the area on those nights falls between 130,000 to 150,000 people, and that the convention translates into logistical “small potatoes.”
Of course, security for the convention, to be organized by the Secret Service, will be much greater than for baseball and hockey games, and not all attendees were ready to take the Mayor at his word.
Restaurateur Lee Goodfriend — who owns Racine’s, Dixon’s and Goodfriend’s — remembered that Denver’s hosting of the Summit of the Eight, a visit by the Pope and the first Grand Prix did slow business. She asked how the city would avoid such a slowdown, and how it could get its message out that things would be as Hickenlooper described.
The Mayor said it was incumbent on the business community to take charge and help get folks excited.
He acknowledged that the Secret Service role could complicate matters, saying “this is going to be a dance we do with the federal government.”
Richard Abels, a marketing expert and owner of the Abels Communication Co., suggested events like those held during Salt Lake City’s hosting of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The city held concerts during the evening so that residents without tickets to the sports events could come “rub elbows with the Olympics,” Abels said in an interview following the forum.
No plans for such events were disclosed today.
Many attendees asked questions about how to gain business. Daughtry said Denver’s host committee is providing a vendor registration list, to be available soon at , which is meant to help people connect to local businesses.
The vendor list is to be maintained by a local company, Doc1 Solutions. Its owner, Keith Montoya, said after the forum he hoped to have the list online this week.
Attendees also expressed a desire to both promote Denver as a contemporary high-tech city, and as a cowboy-boot-wearing Intermountain West outpost with deep roots in the rural farming and ranching experience.
Daughtry said the remaining forums would be held elsewhere in Colorado and in other Western states and conclude late next year in Denver. Details for the other forums aren’t yet finalized.
Staff writer Chuck Plunkett can be reached at 303-954-1333 or cplunkett@denverpost.com.
