Five candidates are vying for the at-large Denver City Council seats held since 2003 by Carol Boigon and Doug Linkhart.
Unlike the mayoral race, no runoff vote is incorporated into the city council-at large race. The two candidates with the largest percentages of votes in the May 3 election win.
Candidates include Jesse Shelmire, an anthropologist and environmental consultant; Debbie Ortega, former city councilwoman for District 9; Robin Kniech, attorney and program director for FRESC: Good Jobs, Strong Communities; Josh Davies, president of the Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association; and Rich Gonzales, a retired Denver firefighter who served as chief for 11 years.
None of the five supports the 6.6 percent pay raise for the next City Council that was approved by the current council last month.
Ortega has the most direct City Council experience in the race, having represented District 9 for 16 years. She was council president for two years, including when Denver International Airport and Coors Field opened.
Under former Mayor John Hickenlooper, Ortega was named executive director of the city’s homeless commission, where she touts leading a foundation that created a 10-year plan for ending homelessness in Denver.
“We need to stabilize Denver’s economy by attracting new businesses to grow jobs for many people who are still struggling to get back to work,” Ortega said in response to an e-mail from The Denver Post. “But to do this, Denver has to create more predictability within a defined timeline that streamlines the issuance of zoning, building, fire permits and business licenses.”
Following his career with the Denver Fire Department, Gonzales has worked as vice president of the Mile High United Way and as executive director of personnel and administration under former Gov. Bill Ritter.
“Moving Denver forward is more than budget cuts,” he e-mailed. “We must look for inventive means to increase revenue, grow small and medium-sized businesses and methods that will attract new businesses to Denver.”
Outside of presiding over the Lower Downtown Neighborhood Association, Davies serves as a member of the Downtown Denver Partnership’s Transportation and Development Council. Much of his experience is rooted in the central business district of the city.
“The relationship between the Council and Denver’s neighborhood organizations has been reactive instead of proactive,” Davies wrote. “To address this issue, one of my first steps will be to organize a series of neighborhood forums.”
Kniech, in her current director post, says she has worked diligently to support economic development projects and infrastructure that maximize the best outcomes for middle-income families.
She has also worked as a Hickenlooper appointee on the Denver Union Station Project Authority, which is creating a $477 million transit hub for the FasTracks system.
“Denver is not an island, everything from our economy to our air quality is linked to the larger region,” Kniech said in an e-mail response. “We need an at-large councilperson who can help build bridges with our neighbors to complete FasTracks, to create light industrial strategies, and be ready for the next DIA.”
Shelmire said he saw a lack of fundamental objectives in the other candidates running for council at-large and felt an ethical obligation to represent a better Denver.
“Instead of complaining, I decided to run,” he wrote. “The current council is far from perfect and many of the policies implemented have been based on reactionary thought and not evidence-based solutions or the guiding principles of Denver as a whole.”
Ballots for next month’s election will be mailed to voters around April 15.
Kurtis Lee: 303-954-1655 or klee@denverpost.com
