AURORA — Shortly after Ed Tauer and John Hickenlooper were elected mayors of Aurora and Denver respectively in 2003, Tauer invited Hickenlooper to his office for a chat on how the cities could improve their relationship.
Tauer’s office was on the top floor of the building, which puzzled Hickenlooper.
“I told him I wanted to be a spotter for the artillery,” Tauer told an audience Wednesday.
Such was the contentious relationship between Denver and Aurora at that time. They competed for everything, and sometimes things got downright dirty.
They both vowed to fix that. And they did.
“There would have been no FasTracks without Ed Tauer, and that’s an absolute fact,” Hickenlooper, now governor, told the crowd gathered for Tauer’s eighth and final State of the City address, praising the mayor’s approach to issues such as the regional light-rail project.
Tauer is leaving office at the end of the year because of term limits. And Wednesday’s address marked, in a way, the beginning of the end of an era.
Paul Tauer, Ed’s father, was mayor of Aurora for 16 years before his son took the reins. For 24 years, no one other than a Tauer has been the face and leader of the city.
“It’s a very good feeling in one regard,” Paul Tauer reflected earlier this week, “in that I think we were able to make some dramatic improvements in the city in the way it operated, and the way it was looked upon. The growth of the city has been smart growth. I started it, and Ed continued it.”
At Ed Tauer’s address, a video was played of the projects he worked on in his eight years as mayor, a presentation titled “Legacy of Leadership.”
The video showed developments around the now-defunct Lowry Air Force Base and the old Stapleton International Airport. The video highlighted economic and residential growth in the city, and the redevelopment of the former Fitzsimons Army Base into a top-flight medical campus.
And it detailed, in his eyes, one of Tauer’s greatest accomplishments: the fence-replacement program. Run- down wooden fencing around neighborhoods was replaced with masonry fences by residents agreeing to tax themselves to make the changes.
“That’s kind of embarrassing,” Tauer said after the video was played to about 400 people at the Crowne Plaza Denver International Airport hotel and convention center. “Nobody ever does this kind of thing alone.”
Tauer made no mention of the prospect of luring an entertainment and convention destination to town, which might draw the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo nearby.
He did address a major controversy brewing in the city. Aurora has struggled to maintain a requirement passed by voters that the city must hire two police officers for every 1,000 residents in the city.
Public safety is now 59 percent of the city’s budget. Tauer suggested increasing that to 62 percent and then locking it there for good.
But that likely will be for another regime to decide.
So far, five people have announced their candidacy to become Aurora’s next mayor. So far, none has the last name Tauer.
Tauer’s daughter, Lisa, is married and lives in California. His son, Ryan, just graduated from Colorado State University and has plans to further his education.
“No, not likely,” Paul Tauer said of the chances that another Tauer could keep the 24-year streak going. “Now we’ll have to live with whatever happens. It will be interesting.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
