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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Denver Mayor-Council Joint Meeting: Quarterly Goals Update and Executive Session - October 27, 2026

Mayor-Council Meeting — Tuesday, October 27, 2026

BodyDenver, Colorado

SessionMayor-Council Meeting

DateTuesday, October 27, 2026

StatusNEW · FILED

Video Record

0:00 / 12:45

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:01

Thanks for joining us for this weekly joint meeting of the mayor and Denver City Council.

0:07

Follow along as the mayor and city council members hear updates from city agencies and projects, discuss important city matters, and hear about what's happening across the Mile High City.

0:18

Join the discussion with your elected officials starting now,

Speaker 2

0:56

good morning, everybody.

0:58

Welcome to Mayor Council.

1:00

Thank you all so much for being here.

1:01

I know we have a number of folks with other commitments happening this morning, but delighted for folks that are able to join us.

1:07

Um we will start with introductions.

1:10

Can't decide where we should start, but maybe

Unassigned speaker

1:14

the

Speaker 2

1:14

distinguished gentleman to my right.

Speaker 1

1:15

That's so weird.

Speaker 2

1:18

You intimidated

Unassigned speaker

1:18

them.

Speaker 3

1:20

Emptiness, emptiness.

1:22

Good morning, Mayor.

1:22

Good morning, everyone.

1:24

Paul Cashman, South Denver, District 6, and just couldn't be happier to be here.

1:29

Good to see you.

1:30

Gotcha.

Speaker 4

1:31

Good morning, Flora and Vidres Lucky District 7.

1:33

I

Speaker 5

1:34

mean sorry or district five.

1:36

Good morning, Serena Gonzalez Curris at large.

Unassigned speaker

1:39

Great.

Speaker 2

1:39

Uh thank you all so much for being here.

1:41

Have uh time right now for any announcements folks would like to make, either for fellow council members or for all the listening public things you want them to know about this week.

1:51

Councilman of Vitres.

Speaker 4

1:52

Thank you.

1:53

Um reminder that we have our Constitution Buck Club this tomorrow at 5 p.m.

1:59

So join us tomorrow at the Habitat for Humanity Headquarters in District 7.

2:04

And then we have constituent hours the following day, a Thursday from four to six at Athmar Park Branch Library.

2:11

So come see us.

Speaker 5

2:14

Great.

2:14

Other

Speaker 2

2:14

announcements.

2:17

Madam President Crotem.

Speaker 5

2:18

Thank you, Mayor.

2:19

Um, so I am delighted to announce on behalf of Councilwoman Lewis in District 8 that it's almost time for the 43rd annual Hiawatha Davis Junior Senior Luncheon, which will be held on Saturday, December 19th from 11 a.m.

2:34

to 1 p.m.

2:35

as is traditional at its traditional home at the Double Tree Hotel on Quebec.

2:39

Uh I'm happy to be one of the sponsors of this event.

2:43

And our seniors can reserve your spot by calling the district eight office at 720-337-8888 or by emailing District 8 at DenverGov.org.

2:55

It's always a wonderful time, and this year will be no different.

2:58

And we hope to see you all there.

Unassigned speaker

2:59

Thank you.

Speaker 2

3:00

Thank you so much.

3:01

Any other announcements?

3:03

Okay, great.

3:04

We have uh one general session topic this morning and then one executive session topic, and so I'll uh run us through the the general session first, which is just a uh the regular quarterly update we do on citywide goals for folks who have questions either from the council members um or for folks in the public who want to know how we're doing.

3:23

These things are always available on our public dashboard on the website.

3:26

So if you want to check out the city's progress, you can always do that.

3:28

But let me walk you through where we are.

3:31

I will take us council members through the six goals pretty quickly, and then happy to take any questions you might have or feedback, or if there's follow-up we need from other agencies, happy to do that as well.

3:40

Um so these are the six citywide goals you all have seen.

3:44

Vibrant, affordable, safe, our focus on all in my mile high and our uh services for folks that are homeless, climate resilient, and child friendly.

3:54

So I'll start with vibrant.

3:55

Uh if you remember, we had two big priorities this year.

3:59

Um was around filling uh empty office space, and there was a big focus of here trying to convert vacant commercial office space into residential apartments, or trying to uh fill those by attracting and growing businesses in those spaces.

4:15

And so our goal was to fill three million square feet of downtown office space.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Affordable Housing████████████████████████24%

Procedural████████████████████20%

Economic Development████████████████████20%

Public Safety████████████████16%

Environmental Protection████████████12%

Child Care████████8%

Summary of Proceedings

Denver Mayor-Council Joint Meeting – Quarterly Goals Update and Executive Session

On 2026-10-27 at 16:30 UTC, the Denver mayor and City Council held their weekly joint meeting. The mayor's office presented the regular quarterly update on the six citywide goals, council members made community announcements, and the body moved into executive session to discuss pending litigation and legal advice. No agenda or minutes were available; this summary is based on the raw transcript.

Announcements

A District 7 council member reminded viewers of the Constitution Buck Club on October 28 at 5 p.m. at Habitat for Humanity Headquarters in District 7, and constituent hours on Thursday, October 29, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Athmar Park Branch Library.
The City Council president announced, on behalf of Councilwoman Lewis in District 8, the 43rd annual Hiawatha Davis Jr. Senior Luncheon on Saturday, December 19, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel on Quebec. Seniors were asked to RSVP to the District 8 office at 720-337-8888 or by emailing District 8 at DenverGov.org.

Discussion Items

Quarterly Citywide Goals Update: The mayor's office reviewed progress on six goals, noting that details are available on the public dashboard.
- Vibrant: Goal to fill 3 million square feet of downtown office space; about 2.2 million square feet had been filled so far, with 877,000 square feet of leases renewed. The presenter described this as about 2 million square feet newly filled and about 1 million square feet retained. Catalytic projects include bond work, Denver Summit Stadium (groundbreaking October 1), Burnham Yard small-area planning, Ball Arena signage changes, and a $50 million Sloane's Lake preservation effort.
- Affordable: Goals were to deliver 2,500 new affordable units and permit 5,000 more units. The city is behind on the 2,500-unit goal after losing about 400 units through federal and state voucher cuts, but has already exceeded the 5,000-unit permitting goal by more than 300 units, with a strong pipeline of deed-restricted affordable units. Rents are stabilizing or dropping by 10 to 24 percent depending on the part of the city and income level.
- Safe: After a historically low crime year, high-risk-area shooting totals increased 75% because shootings went from four to seven across the sites (three additional shootings). The administration highlighted longer-term declines: homicide down more than 30%, firearm homicide down almost 42%, and non-fatal shootings down 50% over three years, with most cities seeing larger rebounds.
- All In My Mile High: The goal is to reduce street homelessness by 75%; the mid-year point-in-time count showed a 64% reduction, with the next point-in-time count measuring year-end progress. The goal of responding within one day is off track at 1.8 days, driven mainly by people living in vehicles; the administration does not want to rush decisions to push someone out of a vehicle.
- Climate Resilient: On track for 5,000 clean energy systems and 50 acres of green infrastructure. Projects include Carpio Sangrinetti Park, Lowell and Evans, 51st and Steel, Montbello, Harvard Gulch, and Rosedale, with Q4 completions.
- Child Friendly: Both goals are on track. The Haynes Gary Task Force has held six listening events and collected almost 1,000 responses for the child care for all plan; a spring proposal will outline an ideal 0-to-5 program. The city is past 62,000 of the 70,000 goal for young people in out-of-school time and summer programming.
Executive Session Motion: After an initial procedural misstep, a motion was made and seconded to enter executive session pursuant to DRMC 234A, sections 3, 6, and 7, for discussion of settlement of pending litigation and related legal advice. The voice vote was all in favor with no opposition.

Key Outcomes

Quarterly citywide goals update was presented; no formal action was taken.
Council approved moving into executive session for pending litigation and legal advice.
Upcoming community events were announced, including District 7 events and the District 8 senior luncheon.

Meeting Transcript

Thanks for joining us for this weekly joint meeting of the mayor and Denver City Council. Follow along as the mayor and city council members hear updates from city agencies and projects, discuss important city matters, and hear about what's happening across the Mile High City. Join the discussion with your elected officials starting now, good morning, everybody. Welcome to Mayor Council. Thank you all so much for being here. I know we have a number of folks with other commitments happening this morning, but delighted for folks that are able to join us. Um we will start with introductions. Can't decide where we should start, but maybe the distinguished gentleman to my right. That's so weird. You intimidated them. Emptiness, emptiness. Good morning, Mayor. Good morning, everyone. Paul Cashman, South Denver, District 6, and just couldn't be happier to be here. Good to see you. Gotcha. Good morning, Flora and Vidres Lucky District 7. I mean sorry or district five. Good morning, Serena Gonzalez Curris at large. Great. Uh thank you all so much for being here. Have uh time right now for any announcements folks would like to make, either for fellow council members or for all the listening public things you want them to know about this week. Councilman of Vitres. Thank you. Um reminder that we have our Constitution Buck Club this tomorrow at 5 p.m. So join us tomorrow at the Habitat for Humanity Headquarters in District 7. And then we have constituent hours the following day, a Thursday from four to six at Athmar Park Branch Library. So come see us. Great. Other announcements. Madam President Crotem. Thank you, Mayor. Um, so I am delighted to announce on behalf of Councilwoman Lewis in District 8 that it's almost time for the 43rd annual Hiawatha Davis Junior Senior Luncheon, which will be held on Saturday, December 19th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. as is traditional at its traditional home at the Double Tree Hotel on Quebec. Uh I'm happy to be one of the sponsors of this event. And our seniors can reserve your spot by calling the district eight office at 720-337-8888 or by emailing District 8 at DenverGov.org. It's always a wonderful time, and this year will be no different. And we hope to see you all there. Thank you. Thank you so much. Any other announcements? Okay, great. We have uh one general session topic this morning and then one executive session topic, and so I'll uh run us through the the general session first, which is just a uh the regular quarterly update we do on citywide goals for folks who have questions either from the council members um or for folks in the public who want to know how we're doing.

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