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Briefly describe the single most urgent issue facing the city of Denver and how it should be addressed.
Denver’s lack of imagination, coordination, and courage regarding homelessness is its greatest failure and most urgent issue. Denver’s homelessness numbers have risen, despite hundreds of millions of dollars allocated in recent years. For the past three years, I have worked on mitigation practices in these camps directly, and I am running to bring better accountability for a housing-first approach that includes data-driven wrap around mental health and addiction services, case management, and community reintegration efforts to address the conditions that lead to and keep people homeless. This must also be paired with coordinated enforcement of our urban camping ban that moves people closer to stability, rather than further away.
Denver’s lack of imagination, coordination, and courage regarding homelessness is its greatest failure and most urgent issue. Denver’s homelessness numbers have risen, despite hundreds of millions of dollars allocated in recent years. For the past three years, I have worked on mitigation practices in these camps directly, and I am running to bring better accountability for a housing-first approach that includes data-driven wrap around mental health and addiction services, case management, and community reintegration efforts to address the conditions that lead to and keep people homeless. This must also be paired with coordinated enforcement of our urban camping ban that moves people closer to stability, rather than further away.
What should Denver leaders do to address the city’s lack of affordable housing?
I am running to bring stronger partnerships between the city and developers interested in building affordable housing, providing a collaborative and varied approach to increasing housing stock. We must partner with the Denver Housing Authority and look to creative use of under-utilized city-owned property to champion inclusive development that preserves and grows the character of our neighborhoods, while welcoming a new generation of homeowners. I will work with our planning and zoning office to expedite affordable housing projects, providing below market rate rental options. As councilman, I will address Denver’s “missing middle” by creating a pathway for middle-income renters to become homeowners through down payment assistance programs and social housing projects.
I am running to bring stronger partnerships between the city and developers interested in building affordable housing, providing a collaborative and varied approach to increasing housing stock. We must partner with the Denver Housing Authority and look to creative use of under-utilized city-owned property to champion inclusive development that preserves and grows the character of our neighborhoods, while welcoming a new generation of homeowners. I will work with our planning and zoning office to expedite affordable housing projects, providing below market rate rental options. As councilman, I will address Denver’s “missing middle” by creating a pathway for middle-income renters to become homeowners through down payment assistance programs and social housing projects.
Do you support redevelopment at the Park Hill golf course property? Why or why not?
This April, voters will decide whether they want to preserve a privately-owned defunct golf course a mile from one of the city’s flagship public courses. I hope they give North Park Hill the fourth largest park in the city and a generation of families sustainable housing opportunities, including fully subsidized housing to market rate options. This development proposal is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to infuse a historically underserved neighborhood with resources to generate economic opportunity, arts and culture centers, and a grocery store in a food desert. The legally binding Developer Agreement and Community Benefits Agreement can only be altered with a vote of council. I will work to honor and optimize the voter’s decision.
This April, voters will decide whether they want to preserve a privately-owned defunct golf course a mile from one of the city’s flagship public courses. I hope they give North Park Hill the fourth largest park in the city and a generation of families sustainable housing opportunities, including fully subsidized housing to market rate options. This development proposal is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to infuse a historically underserved neighborhood with resources to generate economic opportunity, arts and culture centers, and a grocery store in a food desert. The legally binding Developer Agreement and Community Benefits Agreement can only be altered with a vote of council. I will work to honor and optimize the voter’s decision.
What should Denver leaders do to revitalize downtown Denver?
The first step to addressing this problem is recognizing it as a remarkable opportunity. As a city councilman, I want to lead a renaissance downtown. I imagine a mixed-use, mixed-income downtown core that transforms empty office buildings into residential living space and where city workers are provided child care on the sixteenth street mall. Downtown’s empty storefronts can become incubators for the next generation of diverse local entrepreneurs while service providers coordinate comprehensive efforts to address our homelessness crisis. In addition, I will work with DOTI and RTD to improve multimodal transit to bring workers and residents to the city’s heart for community, arts, and opportunity.
The first step to addressing this problem is recognizing it as a remarkable opportunity. As a city councilman, I want to lead a renaissance downtown. I imagine a mixed-use, mixed-income downtown core that transforms empty office buildings into residential living space and where city workers are provided child care on the sixteenth street mall. Downtown’s empty storefronts can become incubators for the next generation of diverse local entrepreneurs while service providers coordinate comprehensive efforts to address our homelessness crisis. In addition, I will work with DOTI and RTD to improve multimodal transit to bring workers and residents to the city’s heart for community, arts, and opportunity.
What is Denver’s greatest public safety concern and what should be done about it?
Youth violence has been a significant contributor to our public safety concerns recently. As a DPS educator for 7 years, I know our young people’s social & emotional challenges. Our city has abdicated its responsibility to Denver kids at the schoolhouse door, resulting in an explosion of dangerous behavior. I will work to improve after-school programming, & social and emotional literacy, by partnering with businesses & vocational programs that help provide community support to our kids, ensuring they obtain a ladder of opportunity. Our public safety teams need support in order to recruit, retain, & promote high-quality civil servants our neighborhoods can trust, by focusing on engagement, accountability, & transparency to make our safety system a national model for reform & improvement.
Youth violence has been a significant contributor to our public safety concerns recently. As a DPS educator for 7 years, I know our young people’s social & emotional challenges. Our city has abdicated its responsibility to Denver kids at the schoolhouse door, resulting in an explosion of dangerous behavior. I will work to improve after-school programming, & social and emotional literacy, by partnering with businesses & vocational programs that help provide community support to our kids, ensuring they obtain a ladder of opportunity. Our public safety teams need support in order to recruit, retain, & promote high-quality civil servants our neighborhoods can trust, by focusing on engagement, accountability, & transparency to make our safety system a national model for reform & improvement.
Should neighborhoods help absorb population growth through permissive zoning, or do you favor protections for single-family neighborhoods?
District 10 is an excellent example of a district with diverse housing, mixed-income, and mixed-use. It is what many love about our district. Our strength is in our diversity. Let’s build on that charm. As a councilman, I will support gentle density increases in single-family neighborhoods like additional dwelling units, increasing housing volume with little impact on the surrounding area and allowing for reasonable autonomy to homeowners to improve their properties. In addition, we must increase family-oriented housing stock, most specifically in our downtown core, with existing and developing multi-modal transportation.
District 10 is an excellent example of a district with diverse housing, mixed-income, and mixed-use. It is what many love about our district. Our strength is in our diversity. Let’s build on that charm. As a councilman, I will support gentle density increases in single-family neighborhoods like additional dwelling units, increasing housing volume with little impact on the surrounding area and allowing for reasonable autonomy to homeowners to improve their properties. In addition, we must increase family-oriented housing stock, most specifically in our downtown core, with existing and developing multi-modal transportation.
Should the city’s policy of sweeping homeless encampments continue unchanged? Why or why not?
I will work to improve the efficacy of our enforcement of the urban camping ban. Currently, sweeps do little but move the unhoused from one street to another. As someone who has worked in encampments for the past three years, I know there is no collaborative effort during sweeps to collect data, identify barriers, or coordinate resources. I will facilitate more robust relationships between DPD and resource providers to treat sweeps as opportunities to move people toward stability. With better coordination of reintegration efforts, veterans services, housing providers, mental health, and addiction recovery, I will ensure our efforts to provide comprehensive support are well-resourced and that police are empowered to enforce laws that keep us all safe, housed and unhoused alike.
I will work to improve the efficacy of our enforcement of the urban camping ban. Currently, sweeps do little but move the unhoused from one street to another. As someone who has worked in encampments for the past three years, I know there is no collaborative effort during sweeps to collect data, identify barriers, or coordinate resources. I will facilitate more robust relationships between DPD and resource providers to treat sweeps as opportunities to move people toward stability. With better coordination of reintegration efforts, veterans services, housing providers, mental health, and addiction recovery, I will ensure our efforts to provide comprehensive support are well-resourced and that police are empowered to enforce laws that keep us all safe, housed and unhoused alike.
Should Denver change its snow plowing policy? Why or why not.
All of Denver’s policies require evaluation over time. Our climate is changing, and we need to adapt our strategies to combat the predictable nature of unpredictable weather events that can disrupt multi-modal transit and create longer-term infrastructure problems. As a city councilman, I will look to other cities for inspiration in their methods of coordinating timely responses to weather. Over the initial months of my term, I will meet with leaders of DOTI to better understand our current plans and their professional understanding of how to improve ahead of next winter.
All of Denver’s policies require evaluation over time. Our climate is changing, and we need to adapt our strategies to combat the predictable nature of unpredictable weather events that can disrupt multi-modal transit and create longer-term infrastructure problems. As a city councilman, I will look to other cities for inspiration in their methods of coordinating timely responses to weather. Over the initial months of my term, I will meet with leaders of DOTI to better understand our current plans and their professional understanding of how to improve ahead of next winter.
What’s your vision for Denver in 20 years, and what would you do to help the city get there?
I’d like to see a city that responds to its challenges with a more unified, cooperative, and courageous effort, where strong partnerships between the departments of the city, the needs of its constituents, and the resources and vision championed by its businesses and nonprofits who unify around a shared vision of sustainability, inclusivity, and opportunity. I will work to bring this vision to fruition so that middle-income workers can become homeowners in holistic neighborhoods where elected leaders work together to balance an inspired approach to thoughtfully growing and improving the experience of our residents and visitors. And in 20 years, I hope to look back on a city that championed a compassionate and pragmatic approach to solving its homelessness crisis.
I’d like to see a city that responds to its challenges with a more unified, cooperative, and courageous effort, where strong partnerships between the departments of the city, the needs of its constituents, and the resources and vision championed by its businesses and nonprofits who unify around a shared vision of sustainability, inclusivity, and opportunity. I will work to bring this vision to fruition so that middle-income workers can become homeowners in holistic neighborhoods where elected leaders work together to balance an inspired approach to thoughtfully growing and improving the experience of our residents and visitors. And in 20 years, I hope to look back on a city that championed a compassionate and pragmatic approach to solving its homelessness crisis.
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?
As city councilman for District 10, my objective will be to work to improve the ways an individual can move around the city without driving their car. That means linking Bus Rabid Transit with Shared Street initiatives that prioritize the safety of pedestrians and alternative modes of travel. It means finishing the 5280 trail, connecting Denver’s central neighborhoods with a protected bike path. I will work with anyone interested in improving our city’s environmental quality of life, increasing Denver’s tree canopy, and lowering its relative temperature. Big problems require an immense coalition to solve, which means the city council should do more to build them, especially on issues of transportation that provide for and link compounding issues impacting the city.
As city councilman for District 10, my objective will be to work to improve the ways an individual can move around the city without driving their car. That means linking Bus Rabid Transit with Shared Street initiatives that prioritize the safety of pedestrians and alternative modes of travel. It means finishing the 5280 trail, connecting Denver’s central neighborhoods with a protected bike path. I will work with anyone interested in improving our city’s environmental quality of life, increasing Denver’s tree canopy, and lowering its relative temperature. Big problems require an immense coalition to solve, which means the city council should do more to build them, especially on issues of transportation that provide for and link compounding issues impacting the city.
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