Coyote Gulch

Friday, April 25, 2003

2003 Denver Election for Auditor
From e-mail form Debbie Ortgega's campaign:
Join us election night at Domo Restaurant, 1365 Osage, 7:00 p.m. Cash Bar - Complimentary Food
Now this is why you follow the election; to find out about the good parties.
6:22:41 PM

2003 Denver Mayoral Election
From e-mail from Don Mares' campaign:
April 26
Early Voting begins for General Election!!! Mayoral Forum: Metro Arts Coalition, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM, Acoma Center, 1080 Acoma, Contact: Whitney 303-733-6273 ext. 12 or whitney@maresformayor.com. Mayoral Forum: Channel 4 Debate, 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM, Televised on Channel 4
April 27
Mayoral Forum: Intermountain Jewish News, 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM. 560 S. Monaco Pkwy., Contact: Whitney 303-733-6273 ext. 12 or whitney@maresformayor.com.
May 28 (ed. Almost certainly the wrong date.)
Mayoral Forum: All Nations, 7:00 PM -8:30 PM, Iliff School of Theology, Great Hall University & Iliff, Contact: Whitney 303-733-6273 ext. 12 or whitney@maresformayor.com.
April 29
Last Day to Request Absentee Ballot for General Election
Mayoral Forum: Diversity Advisory Committee, 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM, WEWMOB, 4th Fl., Board Room, Contact: Whitney 303-733-6273 ext. 12 or whitney@maresformayor.com.
Metro Organizations for People Forum, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM, King Baptist Church, 3370 Ivy, Contact: Whitney 303-733-6273 ext. 12 or whitney@maresformayor.com.
6:16:42 PM

2003 Denver City Council Election - District 5
From e-mail from Marcus Pachner's campaign:
Saturday, April 26, 8:30 - 10:00 am, Coffee at Kristin Coulter & Dan Goe's home, 5830 Montview Blvd.
Sunday, April 27, 4-6 PM, Appetizers and refreshments at the Jeanette & Paul Tighe's home, co-hosted by Scott & Kiersten Hamling, 1310 Oneida.
Saturday, May 3, Coffee at Janet Grant's, 45 S.Cherry
Tuesday, May 6, Elect Marcus Party, 7 PM, Serioz Restaurant, Lowry Town Center, 2nd & Quebec
Mr. Pachner you should provide contact phone numbers.
6:02:41 PM

2003 Denver Mayoral Election
John Hickenlooper has gained significant support and is now leading by a wide margin in the latest Rocky Mountain News / News 4 poll according to the Rocky Mountain News. Coyote Gulch predicted that the Rocky endorsement would put him in the runoff. What was not clear at the time was which candidate would be hurt the most by support moving to Hickenlooper. It's now clear that Ari Zavaras took a big hit, with his support plummeting to 10%. Don Mares is holding steady at 20%. Another surprise is that undecided voters have grown from 10% to 19% indicating that there is still a chance for a candidate to gain significant support. Here are the poll numbers. The Rocky has a companion article about voter interest.
Penfield Tate is hoping that he can win big in Northeast Denver on May 6th. From the article, "With the election commission projecting up to 125,000 residents voting on May 6, many political observers estimate that a candidate needs at least a third of the votes to make the runoff."
John Hickenlooper could be said to be running against the Parking Management Division of Public Works. In this story from the Denver Post he says he plans a partial amnesty for unpaid parking tickets. According to the article Hickenlooper said, "During its own amnesty program last fall, Chicago collected $8 million from 70,000 people who paid 242,000 tickets." Hickenlooper claims that his brewpub revenues were down 9% last year due to the "misguided" increase in parking meter rates. The Denver Post has an article dealing with meter rates. From that story, "While sales-tax collections for Lower Downtown have decreased since 2000, they were higher last year than the year before. In 2001, sales-tax revenue was $6.36 million, while in 2002, when meter rates were raised in June, it was $6.53 million. And parking officials said city studies show that traffic coming downtown has not dropped off." So Parking Management is collecting more dough, sales tax collections are up, and Hickenlooper is riding the issue to a lead in the polls. I don't even pretend to be able to explain this one.
To add to my confusion here is another article on downtown business, this one from the Denver Business Journal. From the article, "Downtown Denver's hotel occupancy and retail sales tax collection both saw increases for 2002, while downtown's year-end retail vacancy rate dropped 7 percent last year." Did competition from other businesses contribute to the drop off in business at older enterprises?
6:15:31 AM