Briefly describe the single most urgent issue facing the city of Denver and how it should be addressed.
While tackling escalating crime and homelessness are top priorities, Denver’s skyrocketing living costs requires urgent action. It is crushing all but the most wealthy households.
Ensuring broad access to opportunity to build incomes while expanding our total and diverse supply of housing will take significant time so itap urgent to get these plans started. My plans extend to containing costs through greater healthy food access, more safe, efficient, healthful and diverse mobility options.
Boosting opportunity and economic mobility will require a structural relationship between the city and Denver Public Schools and deeper collaboration with higher education and the business community.
What should Denver leaders do to address the city’s lack of affordable housing?
While working in finance and volunteering with local civic groups, I’ve helped expand affordable housing.
There are numerous components of our affordable housing shortage, all supply-related given the overwhelming demand for living here. I’ll focus on strategies to:
– Grow total supply through affordability planning.
– Expand the diversity of supply, particularly in the “missing middle” units that rely on low-medium and medium density, particularly in transit corridors throughout the city.
– Accelerate the development of affordable housing of all types by granting permitting and other administrative advantages.
– Expand coordination throughout the metro area given that housing is a regional market.
Do you support redevelopment at the Park Hill golf course property? Why or why not?
I’m increasingly concerned that the current redevelopment proposal is not the right approach. Both sides are arguing that their approach makes a material difference in ameliorating larger systemic challenges like access to nature or affordability. This is simply not the case and is an extraordinary distraction from reality and fact. I believe the key issues for any redevelopment rely on greater mitigation of the impacts on surrounding neighborhoods, which the proposed Park Hill plan does not do.
What should Denver leaders do to revitalize downtown Denver?
Curbing crime and helping unhoused people get off the streets is foundational to revitalize downtown. We also need to make Denver more affordable and advance broader economic activity.
My economic development team will work with landlords to use vacant ground floor space for pop-up galleries, restaurant innovations, recreation places, and even greenhouses with community access. I also want to start weekday Ciclovias, mass events for walking, biking, rolling and exercise.
We will engage community and industry to create a bold vision to reposition commercial space glut. They can house dwellings, arts, nonprofit, childcare, education and healthcare in combination.
What is Denver’s greatest public safety concern and what should be done about it?
Our safety ranks are short by about 50% based on the size of our city; these numbers don’t work. We will enhance equity and strengthen trust between law enforcement and the community by expanding our ranks through recruiting in diverse neighborhoods. We will support our officers, improve job satisfaction and retention, implement rigorous non-lethal and de-escalation training to protect life, and expand innovative programs like STAR.
I will coordinate with the Legislature and our neighbors to improve outcomes.
My manager of safety will be an experienced leader, charged with advocacy for department needs and accountability through greater transparency.
Should neighborhoods help absorb population growth through permissive zoning, or do you favor protections for single-family neighborhoods?
Yes. Increasing both the total and diversity of housing supply, with particular focus on the so-called “missing middle,” will be a priority for my administration and should be supported by neighborhoods as respectful additions. This will mean medium low- and medium-density to boost total and diversity of supply in all neighborhoods. Medium density must be focused in high efficiency transit corridors to pave the way to deliver dramatically more “missing middle” product. Blueprint Denver supports this which I was consistently engaged in as a member of the task force.
Should the city’s policy of sweeping homeless encampments continue unchanged? Why or why not?
My administration will continue sweeping unauthorized homeless encampments in order to maintain health and safety for all people living in them and in surrounding neighborhoods. Denver has extensively documented the hazardous and unsanitary conditions that exist in encampments. It is also my expectation that unauthorized encampments will diminish significantly as we implement my plan which will create substance use and/or mental health disorder treatment pathways to be accessed voluntarily or involuntarily for those who are of danger to themselves or others, and other emerging programs.
Should Denver change its snow plowing policy? Why or why not.
My administration will improve our snow plowing with more up-to-the-minute, detailed communication with the people of Denver, specific to their location. Denverites will know where snow removal operations will occur for each storm. People will be able to plan their commutes and other trips better, especially those with mobility challenges and who don’t have the option to work from home.
What can Denverites do to ensure accessibility ramps and sidewalks are cleared at intersections? We can coordinate volunteers, like neighborhood watch programs, to leverage the work of plows so everyone can be mobile regardless of weather conditions.
What’s your vision for Denver in 20 years, and what would you do to help the city get there?
My vision is to build a city where every Denverite, regardless of their neighborhood, can achieve their version of success. Today, this seems like a distant dream, but our first steps will be tackling our near term challenges in public safety, homelessness and affordability.
We also need a structural relationship between the city and Denver Public Schools. They are coterminous and inextricably linked in giving people a chance at controlling their futures.
We must develop and maintain trust between our city and the community to make our dream a reality.
How better can city officials protect Denver’s environment — air quality, water supply, ground contamination? And should the city take a more active role in transit?
Collaborating regionally to meet air quality standards is step one, particularly through aggressively managing all forms of carbon emissions. This includes increasing our role in transit by developing a local system, potentially with RTD, that connects the last mile efficiently to the regional system.
To avoid ground contamination we will exceed the highest standards for solid waste management.
Increasing connectivity to nature relies on real solutions to these challenges. The rewards will go beyond climate sustainability into a vibrant place and economy where protected nature is valued as a resource.
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