The hat candidates use for tossing in their names—in this case, their names for Denver Mayor—is filling up. To date, the number of names in the hat now exceeds a baker’s dozen, by about a dozen. But one name inside the Stetson hat may be as familiar across the city as the hat brand itself. Denver City Council at-large member, Debbie Ortega wants to be the first female and first Latina to run the city. To do so, will require her to beat—at last count— 24 other would-be mayors.
Before winning her first election to city council, Ortega served as a council aide to the late Sal Carpio. In 1987 she succeeded Carpio and served until 2003 when she and several other council members were term limited. After leaving council and working for the city in other capacities, Ortega returned to council as an at-large member. She has held the seat since 2011. The only people who know the nooks and crannies of city hall better than Ortega, may be the cleaning crews.
Armed with an institutional knowledge of the minutiae of city government, Ortega wants to take this knowledge and sit at the head of the table as Denver Mayor. Current Mayor Michael Hancock is term limited.
Should she cross the finish line ahead of the field in next spring’s election, Ortega says she’s ready for the challenge on day one. “You don’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve come from,” she said. Translation, Ortega has been as intimately involved in the city’s biggest triumphs and challenges over the last nearly four decades as anyone.
Today, Denver is known as one of the best run cities in America. This reputation has made it a magnet for both business and industry as well as the new residents drawn here by them.
In 1990, Denver’s population was approximately 467,000. Today more than 720,000 call the city home. But the gifts created by growth also come with great challenges. Still, despite the boom, Ortega still firmly believes that all politics are local.
“What you learn is that local government is the closest to the people,” she said. “You’re providing services that impact daily lives. People care about local level…they know who their mayor is.” They also know, Ortega believes, “who their city council person is.”
Her council experience, first serving a single district then as an at-large representative answering to the entire city, provided ample opportunities for constituents to know her. Calls to her office came from 17th Street Fortune 500 businesses to mom-and-pop shops. They also came from people who just wanted their streets plowed or trash hauled away. On council, she said, you take every call.
As a new council member in 1987, Ortega recalled that one of the first things to land on her desk was “how to build out the Central Platte Valley,” one of the most economically diverse sections of Denver and a plum for big dollar investment.
The Central Platte Valley encompasses three distinct neighborhoods that include Coors Field, portions of Auraria near Elitch Gardens amusement park, Five Points and Union Station. The area’s growth has been a boon to the city. “We were working to bring people into downtown to live and attract more businesses and make it a thriving center.” That remains the baseline principle, she said. “I think our job is to work and try to keep as many businesses here but also keep downtown active and thriving with activity. The safety factor is also the critical part to keeping residents living downtown.”
Today Denver is beset with extremes in rewards. Denver is ranked in the top fifteen cities in the country for quality of life and opportunities. Its airport, perhaps its biggest economic driver, is now the third busiest in the world generating billions of dollars. But there’s another side of the coin not nearly as shiny.
Like all American cities, Ortega agrees that Denver is facing a growing homeless challenge. In communities across the city, makeshift homeless encampments bloom like spring flowers. No single solution is yet to be found. Immigration is another. While no governors have flown immigrants to the city as one southern governor has done, another state recently sent two busloads of immigrants to Denver under the cloak of darkness. To date, long term answers to each remain theoretical.
Ortega believes the city needs to address housing affordability for the former. Rents have exploded over the last several years and there are no signs of abatement.
“We need to work from a regional perspective,” to address homelessness. It’s not just a Denver issue, she said. On immigration? “I am disgusted that some other states are using lives of people as a political football,” she said. “We need to hold those states accountable…lives have been traumatized.” Ortega admits, “I don’t have all the answers but it’s important that those people are assisted in getting basic needs met.”
Another political football is more literal than figurative. Since new ownership has taken over the Denver Broncos there have been rumblings that the team’s home has become a relic and moving out of its present location and into a new home makes sense for new owners to get their best return on investment. “Denver provided the land,” for the Broncos, she said. Still, it depends on what the new own- ers are thinking. “You can’t call them the Denver Broncos if they move to Aurora.” Ortega wants to wait and see and, most importantly, find out “what it would take them to stay without taxpayers footing the bill.”
The veteran council person wants voters to know that her decision to enter this race is not compelled by vanity. Her desire, she said, is to lead the city with the same focus and respect that she has always held for the men and women who elected and re-elected her seven times to be their voice. Ortega says, “being respectful of others,” is one of her defining qualities. Along with that is her “willingness to understand and do my homework so that I know what I’m doing in making good decisions.”
