14 MARCH 23-29, 2023 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Denver City Council rep Rosemary Ro- driguez, Trinidad Rodriguez has spent his professional career straddling the worlds of fi nance, policy and politics. Rodriguez spent three years as a policy advisor for Governor Roy Romer. He’s also chaired the boards of the Denver Hous- ing Authority and the Downtown Denver Partnership. And while he’s more recently worked as an investment banker, Rodriguez was once a bike courier in Denver. There are other unusual occupations on his bucket list, including trying his hand at being a sushi chef and an adobe brick maker. But before he takes on those gigs, Rodriguez would like to serve as Denver mayor. As mayor, Rodriguez would adopt a tough stance toward homeless- ness, and that includes placing hundreds of peo- ple living on the streets in a “fi eld hospital” that he’d create. “As the scale and nature of the challenge evolve, it is clear that we need to do something different as well, partic- ularly for people living and dying unhoused on our streets while grap- pling with mental health and substance misuse disorders. I will continue to sweep unauthorized encampments under the unauthorized camping ban to ensure health and safety for all,” Rodriguez says. “I will declare an emergency. I will work to provide treatment-resistant folks who are unhoused and pose a threat to themselves or others with treatment under voluntary and involuntary bases.” Rodriguez has raised $183,410. Andy Rougeot Republican Richard Batterton served as Denver mayor from 1959 to 1963; no member of the GOP has served as the Mile High City’s chief executive since then. Andy Rougeot, who showed his eagerness to improve the city by shoveling people’s sidewalks and walkways this winter, wants to buck that trend. A former U.S. Army offi cer who deployed to Afghanistan, Rougeot moved to Colorado in 2011, ultimately settling with his now-wife in Denver in 2013. In addition to his military experience, Rougeot has business experi- ence: He’s run his own company fi xing gates for self-storage units. He is also the son of the CEO of Sephora Americas. Rougeot, who has a ninety-pound golden retriever named Bandit and two young daughters, is running a largely self-funded, tough-on-crime campaign with a strict policy regarding unsheltered homelessness. As the lone registered Republican in the race, he’s banking on a belief that Denver voters have gotten fed up enough with crime and home- lessness to start leaning toward the right. “As mayor, I will make Denver safer by adding 400 police offi cers and eliminating 911 hold times. I will reduce homelessness through the aggressive enforcement of the camping ban to get unsheltered homeless into mental health and drug addiction ser- vices. Finally, I’ll increase the affordability of housing for fi rst-time homebuyers, young families and blue-collar workers by fi xing our broken planning department and elimi- nating costly regulations that unnecessarily increase the cost of housing,” Rougeot says. Rougeot has raised $806,215, mostly through self-funding Ean Tafoya If there’s an important environmental or climate issue in Colorado, count on Ean Tafoya to be involved. As the state director for GreenLatinos, Tafoya is a well-known advocate around town, fi ghting against pol- luters and extractive companies. And he spearheaded the Waste No More measure that passed last November, which requires businesses to provide composting and recy- cling services in Denver. Tafoya, a born-and-raised Denverite who has served as a host on KGNU Community Radio, has also been heavily involved in neigh- borhood organization advocacy, especially in relation to local plans and zoning policies. In 2015, Tafoya, who’d worked for Denver City Council, ran against Albus Brooks in the council race for District 9, which Brooks won easily, only to lose his seat in 2019 to Candi CdeBaca. Through it all, Tafoya’s expertise and reputation have continued to grow. Tafoya would end the camping ban and also go after green initiatives for Denver. He’d also like to focus on helping Denver’s most marginalized fi nd housing. “We need increased requirements and incentives for building units that are actu- ally affordable for those communities, allow commercial zoning to become residential and ease permitting so people can build on single-family homes to fi t more people,” Tafoya says. “All this housing construction is a huge opportunity for that construction to be sustainable. It’s also an opportunity to invest in local workforce development and contract with local businesses with the highest labor standards.” Tafoya has raised $203,269. Robert Treta Robert Treta thinks that if the Mile High City got better at building housing, it would ameliorate many of the issues facing Denver. Treta, a builder himself, would bring his expertise to the mayor’s offi ce, helping en- able the construction of thousands of units. This would get people off the streets, and the city’s other challenges would be more solvable as a result, he contends. “I am running for mayor of Denver to build 7,000 attached, tandem, 16-by-16-foot cubicle dwellings at the cost of $25,000 per unit, complete with private bathrooms and kitchens. This is entry-level housing that no Denverite will ever fall below. The homeless crisis is a direct result of failed policies and failed acknowledgment of affordable hous- ing in Denver. As a 27-year builder in the city of Denver, I have seen many mistakes. Denver needs to get in front of and ahead of its problems before they reach crisis propor- tions,” Treta says. Aside from his time in the building busi- ness, Treta has worked as an English-lan- guage teacher and lived in both Mexico and Japan. He drives electric vehicles that are solar-powered, and has built green-energy homes that are powered by solar. “I will incentivize solar and electric vehicle charging stations throughout the city using cost-effective technologies,” he adds. “We need to add to our electrical in- frastructure on as many rooftops as we can. The EV revolution is fully on its way, and not only is Denver not ready, but Denver is way behind,” Treta adds. Treta has raised $125. James Walsh A political science teacher at the Uni- versity of Colorado Denver, James Walsh has called Colorado home since 1990. Eigh- teen years ago, the former college wrestler founded the Romero Theater Troupe, a volunteer-run community theater program that Walsh notes “uses the stage to educate the public about non-traditional history and stories about human rights struggles.” Walsh is running one of the most progres- sive campaigns in the Denver mayoral race, as he talks with compassion about people experiencing homelessness and those on the margins of society. He may not have the best shot at win- ning, but he certainly does offer intriguing ideas. In particular, Walsh wants to enact a Universal Basic Income across Denver to help get people out of poverty. “Universal Basic Income allows some unhoused people to immediately qualify for a small apartment,” Walsh says. He also wants the city to expand its affordable-housing stock through a streamlined system that gets people into permanent, dignifi ed housing as quickly as possible. This includes purchasing and recycling aging hotels around the city, investing in social housing on a massive scale, and providing incentives and education around limited equity housing cooperatives.” Walsh has raised $70,890. Thomas Wolf A resident of Cherry Creek, Thomas Wolf says he’d bring the perspective of a po- litical outsider and a fi nancial professional’s quantitative acumen to the mayor’s offi ce. But while Wolf has worked in investment banking for over two decades, his life has taken him on other paths, too. Born in Iowa, Wolf has worked in con- struction, carpentry and general contracting. While in college, he even thought he’d become a doctor and took a surgery research class that found him retrieving organs for future transplants. And now, after a long career in finance in both the U.S. and Europe, Wolf is able to switch quickly between local politics talk and financial and economic jargon. “To have somebody with numbers compe- tency is of desperate need right now,” says Wolf, who ran for mayor in 2011, too. But he also be- lieves that the city needs someone who can focus on the homeless issue. And that’s Wolf’s major campaign platform issue. “We basically need to have a truce with encampments and explain to them, it is a new day in Denver, and Mayor Wolf has directed social workers backed up by police offi cers to deliver the message: You will need to vacate your encampment,” he says. “We can provide you shelter in city buildings or land. If you refuse to vacate, you will be arrested and charged with all of the laws you are breaking. If you vacate but only relocate, you will be arrested and charged with all of the laws you are breaking. The only endpoint is when the last encampment has been provided shelter.” Wolf has raised $126,814. Email the author at [email protected]. Andy Rougeot Ean Tafoya ANDY FOR MAYOR EAN TAFOYA FOR MAYOR City Haul continued from page 12
