With only a few days left until ballots are mailed to Denver voters on Friday, candidates for mayor are appearing at forums almost every day.
Three forums were held today. In the final one in the evening at the Auraria Campus, six candidates provided well-honed answers to questions that ranged from their experience running large operations to how they would entertain a visiting chief executive officer looking to relocate her company.
City Councilman Michael Hancock said he would take the CEO out for ribs at Famous Dave’s, drinks at the Twisted Olive and finally to Jazz at Jacks to watch his wife perform.
“Can I come?” asked James Mejia, sitting next to Hancock on the stage in Turnhalle at the Tivoli Center.
Candidates queried one another and were asked to name as idea from an opponent that they would use when they became mayor.
Chris Romer said he admired Michael Hancock’s focus on education reform. Mejia said he liked Councilman Doug Linkhart’s plan to invest early in people’s lives rather than fix broken adults and Councilwoman Carol Boigon said she liked Mejia’s focus on parks.
“It’s certainly more informative than what you see on the TV commercials,” Paul Teske, dean of the University of Colorado-Denver School of Public Affairs, said of the forum. “I worry that is how people are getting most of their information.”
The top six candidates — determined by interviews with each of the 10 people running for mayor, campaign finances and polling data — were invited to Tuesday’s forum.
The event was part of the Denver Decides series co-sponsored by The Denver Post, The CU-Denver School of Public Affairs, Denver 8 TV, The League of Women Voters of Denver, Historic Denver and the Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation.
Perhaps the most telling answers came when candidates described their economic ideas and whether they would support a big box retailer against a neighborhood’s wishes and whether they would let a big box retailer locate at the site of the former CU Health Sciences Center on Colorado Boulevard.
“We shouldn’t suck up to big box retailers,” Linkhart said.
“We have to have this tough conversation,” Romer said. “Many of us who live in that area shop at the Target in Glendale. We aren’t spending our money where we need to spend it.”
Theresa Spahn said the neighborhoods must have a voice but that Denver needs to create a retail plan.
“We have to think strategically and differently.” she said.
Hancock said the problem isn’t about big boxes, it is about jobs.
“Big boxes aren’t going to come to Denver until there are jobs,” he said.
Spahn later asked Mejia to address criticism of the construction of the Denver justice center, which he oversaw, and questioning his statement that the project came in on time and on budget.
“When we went out for bonds, we didn’t go out and ask for one more penny,” Mejia said. “No more tax increases. On budget and on time.”
And, as in every forum so far, the discussion turned to the city’s $100 million budget shortfall and how the candidates would plug it.
Boigon said she would go line by line through the budget, employing the “lean process” in all departments.
Hancock said ineffiencies in the budget must be addressed but the most important task of the new mayor will be to grow jobs.
“We need to make sure we have a sensible plan to instill the confidence of the consumer in Denver,” he said. “We need to make sure residents are gainfully employed and have a regular pay check. That’s how you instill confidence.”
Mejia agreed that finding inefficiencies is important but said the city must bring in grant money. He also said he would set up a separate revenue fund for parks and open spaces.
“I believe we need to get back to the idea of our city being built on a park,” he said. “It is our parks and parkways that first defined us.”
Romer said the city must look at the enterprise funds and “look hard at Denver Water.”
Romer said the city just saw the closing of a Target when a new one opened in Lakewood.
“We have to have a mayor who is willing to have an absolute committed strategy to build a retail sales base.”
Linkhart said none of those answers contained a $100 million solution. He said he would cut or delay programs to save $55 million.
“More importantly, I want to diversify the revenue base because we depend on sales tax for half of our budget,” he said. “We need a trash fee and leverage our parking fees.”
Spahn said the new mayor must identify inefficiences, develop a retail sales plan.
“We need to push hard to get behind tourism,” Spahn said. “And we need to work regionally as well.”
