Go to: Denver Post Voter Guide • Candidate Q&A home page

Briefly describe the single most urgent issue facing the city of Denver and how it should be addressed.
As important as it is to reduce crime on our streets, and as critical as it is to get our unsheltered neighbors housed and bring down the cost of living in Denver, the greatest existential threat we face is climate change. We must do everything possible to reduce our civic carbon footprint. I support Xcel’s commitment to alternative energy and urge that they accelerate their efforts. Denver government must grow our micro-mobility transit network that has been so successful in our northeast neighborhoods and work with RTD for new routes and shorter headways. We must continue efforts to electrify our homes and commercial buildings. As consumers, we must reduce consumption, reuse what we can and recycle and compost what we can’t.
What should Denver leaders do to address the city’s lack of affordable housing?
I support Denver’s Enhanced Housing Affordability program (EHA) that requires affordable housing in all developments of 10 units or more. We need to look at the possibility of increasing the percentage of affordability that we require. The city must look at opportunities to purchase large land parcels to be better able to determine what is built. We must look at opportunities to grow missing middle housing, through accessory dwelling units and increased zoning for duplex/triplex units. We must look at adjustments to zoning that can help lower the chances that affordable neighborhoods lose their affordability.
Do you support redevelopment at the Park Hill golf course property? Why or why not?
I have not supported the bills that came before Council to permit the redevelopment of Park Hill Golf Course. I support the creation of affordable rentals and especially the proposed affordable for sale housing, but I simply cannot approve the precedent of developing on historically open space. I want the city to negotiate to purchase the land and create publicly accessible open space with the money taxpayers approved to expand our parkland. I have said from the beginning that if an open public process determined the need for added amenities in the Park Hill community (most notably a grocery store) I would approve developing 10% of the site.
What should Denver leaders do to revitalize downtown Denver?
The need for office space has been greatly reduced as more people are working from home, and the world of retail has made a significant shift to online options. We should repurpose excess office space to affordable and market rate residential. We should also look to creation of an expanded dining, arts and entertainment presence to enliven the 16th Street Mall and its surroundings.
What is Denver’s greatest public safety concern and what should be done about it?
Crime at all levels is of great concern, but the increase in violence committed by and against our young people is particularly concerning. More young people than ever are in our jails for committing serious crimes. We cannot arrest our way out of this crisis. We must increase our focus and spending on programs that support healthy adults healthy children, and healthy families. Denver child care centers have closed in record numbers (67% according to Denver Office of Children’s Affairs) during the pandemic and after-school programs are in short supply. Mental health care for children and their parents is woefully underfunded. We need to reverse these trends. Job-training/apprenticeship programs for young people must be increased.
Should neighborhoods help absorb population growth through permissive zoning, or do you favor protections for single-family neighborhoods?
I support expansion of accessory dwelling units (ADU) across the city, though I have asked for two zoning options — one that would allow, and one that would disallow the short-term rental (STR) use on properties including an ADU. Some neighborhoods are comfortable with STRs on their alleys, and others are not. I support a community-based discussion to determine how we might strategically add duplex/triplex units to traditionally single-unit neighborhoods that would increase housing choices while maintaining the low-scale residential character of these neighborhoods.
Should the city’s policy of sweeping homeless encampments continue unchanged? Why or why not?
No, it should not remain unchanged. We must commit to end the need for sweeps. We must increase affordable housing at the lowest levels of the income spectrum to reduce the number of Denver residents living on the streets. We must increase improved shelter options for couples and families, people with pets, those with disabilities, LGBTQ and other groups previously not adequately served by our shelter system. We must adjust our severe weather guidelines around sweeps so they do not take place in life-threatening conditions.
Should Denver change its snow plowing policy? Why or why not.
We need to do more to clear ice on the south side of east-west streets and other areas prone to ice build up. We should consider purchasing some units that scoop up snow from curb lanes and dump it into trucks to be carted to river/lakes/creeks. It would be too expensive to do this citywide, but would benefit certain thoroughfares.
What’s your vision for Denver in 20 years, and what would you do to help the city get there?
Denver will be safe and affordable for all those wishing to call the Mile High City home. We will have supplemented traditional “badge and gun policing” with a robust series of programs and policies that address public safety from a public health perspective. We expanded our parkland and tree canopy, and addressed climate change aggressively — including developing a connected multi-modal transportation network — to lower our civic carbon footprint.
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?
Denver must continue to expand the micro-transit routes we’ve piloted in Montbello and now Globeville/Elyria/Swansea. We must incentivize residents desiring to remove ornamental turf for xeric alternatives. We must continue to incentivize electrification and expand implementation of solar options on public buildings.

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