Policies
How we pay for it
Our plan is fully fundable and fiscally responsible. We will:
Collect fair revenue from those who financially benefited most from Denver’s growth.
Strengthen local businesses to grow revenue sustainably.
1
Secure long-term investments in housing and infrastructure.
Pass voter-approved social housing and mobility bonds.
2
Spend efficiently by prioritizing prevention over reactive initiatives or vanity projects.
Work with City Council to pass a collaborative, moral and responsible budgets.
3
LAND BACK & HOUSING INITIATIVES
L
Build It. Own It . Keep It.
Funded by a voter-approved social housing bond and land-back investments
Social housing development authority
Dedicated revenue via payroll tax (5% tax on compensation above $1 million a year paid by employers).
Development authority issues bonds against revenue and leverages financing to purchase units. Bond debt backed by the payroll tax revenue (not taxpayers) and the buildings as collateral.
Automatic 1% fee on purchases at all city-owned or subsidized venues.
Pool citywide funds for a network of community land trusts (CLTs). (Globeville, Elyria, Swansea Coalition model)
Social housing authority issues debt against the fee revenue, giving CLTs across Denver upfront capital to acquire land & build housing.
CLT stewardship protects permanently affordable and community-owned land for neighborhoods most at risk of gentrification.
Expand funding for eviction defense and support rent stabilization initiatives.
ECONOMIC STABILITY
E
Save Small Businesses. Expand Cooperatives
Funded by a corporate landlord vacancy tax
Establish a Denver Cooperative Development Center. Partner with nonprofits to offer legal and financial TA with grants.
Set a worker-co-op preference or set-aside in city procurement.
Expedite permitting review and technical assistance for co-op conversions.
Target corporate landlords only for vacancy tax.
Define vacancy at 183+ days/year (Boulder’s model)
Use escalating, tiered rates — up to $4 per sq. ft. sliding scale for retail, and a rising percentage-of-market-rent penalty for luxury residential that climbs the longer units sit empty.
Provide a tax holiday for small businesses impacted by public construction projects.
Provide tax incentives for landlords who stabilize rent for residences, small businesses, nonprofits, and artists.
Pursue a Denver charter ballot initiative.
Affordability
A
Funded by a millionaires tax and parking lot tax
Expand free universal childcare from birth to five years old.
Subsidize free buses on main arterials to and from downtown for Denver residents.
Collect a “Millionaires tax” - a high-value real estate transfer tax on sales above $2M.
Collect a parking lot tax on commercial surface lots (per-space or % of revenue) — encourages infill development.
Win voter approval for two separate ballot questions.
Free Childcare. Free Busses
PUBLIC SAFETY
P
Care Before Crisis
Create an Office of Community Well-Being to restore community-based services for healing initiatives block-by-block by reinvesting cost savings from crime prevention initiatives
Restore eliminated services, rehire city workers, and improve customer service.
Expand non-police crisis response: STAR and co-responder mental health/EMS teams for behavioral health calls by DPD and DSD.
Fund community violence intervention: credible messenger/street outreach programs in highest-need neighborhoods.
Invest in youth prevention infrastructure: restore recreation center hours, after-school programs, and summer youth jobs.
Strengthen independent civilian oversight.
Oppose warrantless mass surveillance cameras (Flock, ALPR/Axon), and redirect funding to crime prevention initiatives.
Reallocate the largest line item ($650 million) in the budget = 40% of the 1.66 billion general fund — not new spending.
Restore dedicated funding to transportation and infrastructure for street improvements to increase transit safety.
We Love Denver —
and we deserve a city that loves us back.
We reject the false choices Denverites have been offered for decades. We can have housing and green space, safety and accountability, economic growth and affordability, and safe transit for all. Our platform brings together proven solutions, experience, and the political will to disrupt a broken system to build a city that works for everyone.