I moved to Denver in 1999. I have lived in the Rosedale neighborhood since 2003.
I’m running for Denver City Council At-Large because I want to use my decades of experience in urban planning, transportation and public safety for the people of Denver. I’ve served on the Denver Planning Board, RTD Board of Directors, the Denver Task Force to Reimagine Policing and Public Safety, and as my Registered Neighborhood Organization’s president, among many other activities. I want to focus my love for this city into one commitment.
The top issues that I hear most often are traffic safety, crime and providing for our unsheltered neighbors. Their priority changes by neighborhood. We can address traffic safety by building sidewalks to every transit stop and focus on those routes with higher frequency. That will allow better access and induce greater ridership, improve employment options, housing options, improve air and water quality and, the greatest benefit, reduce traffic fatalities. We can also reduce speeds on high injury network roads through design and signalization.
We can address crime by supporting and promoting options to calling police. Police officers are often called to intervene with persons experiencing mental health or chemical use crises. Programs like the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) have reduced unnecessary police interactions and free up police officers to focus on crimes against persons and property. Other ways to address crime include better financial support for intervention and diversion for persons likely to become victims or perpetrators of crime, activities for youth — such as Denver Parks and Recreation’s Night Moves — support for mentoring programs, and providing healthful food to children in all neighborhoods.
We can assist the unsheltered by providing sanctioned sites where services can be consistently provided. People who are unsheltered deserve a place to exist without the fear and destruction of being “swept” from one location to another on any given day. Denver is short 50,000 residential units. It will take years to build that inventory. But sanctioned sites on land owned by Denver, RTD or Colorado can be quickly established. We’ve seen the efficiency with which the safe outdoor spaces sites operate. That model can be scaled to meet the larger demand and be more efficient in service delivery. And it would be less expensive to the city and less disruptive to the lives of our unsheltered neighbors.
I plan to regularly attend RNO meetings. I will also regularly hold listening sessions at times when people who work second or third shift can attend. Of course I’ll interact using social media. Despite all that, the most effective way to encourage participation is to show constituents that their input — either in whole or in part — influenced decisions.
Website: WALKERFORDENVER.COM
Contact: jeff@walkerfordenver.com; 720-626-0342