Issues and Policy

Dignity. Connection. Responsibility.

Public Safety: Prevention, effective response, rehabilitation.
Dignified Housing: Connected neighborhoods, affordable housing, addressing negative impacts.
Economic Justice: Supporting small businesses, dignified wages, responsible governance.
Quality of Life: Community investment, clean neighborhoods, equitable services, environmental protection.

Learn more:

Dignified Housing

Build connected mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhoods that are have multimodal transportation options and access to services in the neighborhood

Effective, community-driven use of urban renewal areas for planning and financing new housing
improve city codes to enable greater walkability and density where appropriate
Provide safe shared spaces for people to connect with their neighbors and hold community events.

Build affordable and attainable rental and for-sale housing.

Fund Land-banking
Create an affordable housing trust fund
Expand our use of community land trusts
Change parking minimums and other codes that increase the cost of housing without a safety or quality of life justification.

Address negative impacts of corporate homeownership on housing costs and quality of housing available.

Investigate impact on the city by using existing data and gathering more data as needed
Implement a 90-day period in which new for-sale homes may only be purchased by an owner-occupant.

Issues/Policy

Economic Justice

Provide dignified wages that keep up with inflation and allow our residents to afford the basics and have disposable income

Increase the minimum wage
Implement a local wage theft policy
Work with employers to ensure workers have opportunities for wage growth and professional development.

Improve ability for small businesses to thrive

Provide support for cooperative business models
Create market-style retail areas with smaller units and more affordable rents in vacant, large retail spaces
help small businesses with technical assistance and support so they can thrive and profit while paying workers dignified wages

Create urban renewal areas in strip centers to promote well-planned, inclusive redevelopment.

Public Safety

Accountability: ensure ALL Aurorans feel safe by continuing to improve training, accountability, and community relationships

Use the consent decree to guide reforms
Engage the community continuously to understand how reforms are going and what is needed.

Prevention: Ensure people are safe and feel safe requires that we invest in preventing crime before it happens. This takes a combination of environmental design, community engagement, and appropriate social supports

Redevelop vacant parcels that are creating public safety risks with community involvement
Fund traffic-calming improvements
Conduct neighborhood-focused needs assessments to identify specific risks and needs in each area
Use community schools models and other partnerships to ensure each area of the city has services available from trusted community partners.

Response: effective responses to public safety calls should be prompt, efficient, and directed. This means we need to make sure the best person for the job shows up

Expand civilian and unarmed response teams to increase efficiency and ensure sworn officers are available to address crimes in progress
Provide AFR with appropriate staffing, vehicles, and buildings to respond to different types of calls in a timely manner
Engage directly with neighborhoods to understand problem areas and identify solutions
Use schools and other community spaces as hubs for social support and programming.

Rehabilitation: When someone has committed a crime, our goals should be to make victims whole, prevent individuals from reoffending, and rehabilitate offenders as members of the community

Restitution
Support victims by improving funding for relevant programs
Restorative justice as appropriate and agreed to by victims
Connect consequences to harm to the community by focusing service requirements on affected communities
Address underlying issues in a person’s life that led to offending by offering relevant supports to the individual and their family

Quality of life

Ensure all residents know that they matter and are cared about by their City, and build a shared sense of investment, care, and responsibility among residents

Maintain well-kept parks, public art, and clean neighborhoods
Expand opportunities for neighbors to get to know one another and develop shared projects.

Improve access and equity in trash, recycling, and composting services throughout the city

Restructure trash and recycling services with meaningful community input.
Implement new requirements on waste hauling providers to promote efficiency and quality of service.
Implement large item pickup in waste hauling requirements.

Protect our air, land, and water

Limit fracking and drilling, especially near waterways and neighborhoods.
Require continuous, third party air monitoring and reporting at existing drilling sites.
Reduce traffic and single occupancy vehicle use by making mass transit available and reliable throughout the city.
Reduce dependence on cars by increasing access to goods and services within walking and biking distance of neighborhoods.
Build infrastructure that is safe for walking and biking.
Expand water conservation incentives for residents and businesses.
Make sure our city programs are doing their part to save water.

Responsible City governance

Use taxes responsibly to provide the services residents expect

Keep the occupational privilege tax in place, restoring $6 million annually to the city’s budget and balancing the budget through 2025
Ask voters to lift the TABOR cap on property tax, adding up to $11 million annually for deferred community projects and programs.
Use the plans the city has already created to drive solutions to major issues like the housing crisis and youth violence prevention programming; update plans as needed for continuous improvement.
Work with experts in city departments to implement data-driven policy.