Denver voters on Tuesday unleashed a decade of roadwork and improvement projects at libraries, parks, city buildings, and health and cultural facilities with their resounding support of the city’s $937 million bond package.
The city’s largest-ever bond program — and the first sent to voters in a decade — was passing strongly. Support for each of seven ballot questions ranged from nearly 66 percent to 73 percent as of 11:30 p.m., with the highest margin for the transportation package. The Denver Elections Division still was processing tens of thousands of ballots that came in on Election Day but said the results so far likely reflected the majority of votes.
In a low-turnout election, voters delivered a big victory to Mayor Michael Hancock and other city leaders who took a gamble by proposing the high-price tag project list.
Hancock said during an election night party downtown that the results made for “a very special night in the life of our city.” It was the culmination of a monthslong community committee process that whittled down 4,000 suggestions from the public before Hancock and the City Council finalized the list.
As approved, the package covers about 460 repair and improvement projects.
“This vote matters,” said Katie McKenna, a Globeville resident who works for Habitat for Humanity and served on the transportation and mobility bond subcommittee. “These bond projects are shaping our future. The projects in this bond package will touch every single neighborhood in Denver.”
She was joined onstage by Hancock and several council members at a small gathering in the Donald Seawell Grand Ballroom at the Denver Performing Arts Complex that was sponsored by the Our Denver pro-bond campaign committee.
“Time and time again,” Hancock said to applause, “Denver residents have stepped up to make the smart investments necessary to keep this great city of ours moving forward, to maintain our quality of life and to help us manage change in a way that reflects our values, supports our neighborhoods and uplifts our people with new opportunities to build their lives and to build their futures.
“Those bonds you passed tonight will turn those opportunities into realities.”
Each category in the package was broken out separately, put before voters as Referred Questions 2A through 2G. Here is how they were polling:
- 73% approval for 2A ($431 million for transportation and mobility)
- 69% approval for 2B ($116.9 million for cultural facilities)
- 67% approval for 2C ($75 million for the Denver Health and Hospital Authority’s outpatient Ambulatory Care Center)
- 70% approval for 2D ($77 million for public safety projects)
- 70% approval for 2E ($69.3 million for the library system)
- 71% approval for 2F ($151.6 million for parks and recreation centers)
- 66% approval for 2G ($16.5 million for public facilities)
The bond campaign faced no organized opposition, though recent growing pains and skyrocketing property valuations — along with recurring questions from some corners about city spending priorities and debt capacity — raised the potential for voter skepticism.
But Tuesday night, returns showed broad support for the first city bond package since voters approved the $550 million Better Denver Bonds in 2007.
What’s in the bond package
In TV ads featuring Hancock, the Our Denver campaign relied on a simple, two-pronged message: Denver needed all of the projects, and property tax rates wouldn’t go up. (Homeowners are paying more than they used to as property valuations rise, however.)
The next decade will bring the repaving of 287 extra miles of streets and the repair or replacement of nine bridges, officials say. The city plans to construct 33 miles of sidewalks, 17 miles of protected bike lanes and 32 miles of neighborhood bikeways, along with kicking off the East Colfax Avenue bus rapid transit project.
The package also calls for renovations at the Denver Central Library and 10 neighborhood branches. The city plans to replace two police stations and build a new fire station in the northeast to reduce response times, and it will renovate 19 police and fire stations.
The city says it will renovate 21 recreation centers and build a new one in Westwood. And 47 parks will see improvements, including new swimming pools at three of them.
Several neighborhood-specific projects were included to increase the package’s appeal. Those include $13 million toward a larger reworking of the 16th Street Mall, $5 million to start work on a river promenade in the River North Art District, and $9 million to substantially pay for a long-needed pedestrian bridge over railroad tracks near East 47th Avenue and York Street. Often, children are delayed by idling trains while walking to school in Elyria-Swansea.
“These kids are going to be able to get to school (on time) because you voted for this bond,” council president Albus Brooks said Tuesday night.
About half of the value of the bond package will go to new projects, with the remainder covering repairs and long-deferred maintenance. The $937 million total includes $50 million in contingency to cover any cost overruns.
Besides city projects, the package will aid the independent Denver Health and Hospital Authority’s new outpatient center and projects planned by five outside cultural and arts organizations.
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts plans to begin fundraising soon for roughly $33 million in renovations of the Stage and Ricketson theaters. The city bonds will provide $19 million, allowing the DCPA to get started sooner, said Janice Sinden, its president and CEO.
Similarly, other organizations plan to supplement bond money with fundraising. 2B will provide money for the Denver Art Museum’s extensive North Building renovation; several deferred maintenance projects at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science; the Denver Zoo’s replacement of its animal hospital; and the Denver Botanic Gardens’ new Center for Science, Art and Education.
All of those entities donated heavily to the Our Denver campaign, which reported raising $2.4 million overall through Nov. 1.
“There’s no question that this was a good use of our resources,” Sinden said of the DCPA’s campaign donations. “We look at it as an investment in our infrastructure.”
Here is the large-scale bond list for the $937 million package:
