As election season ramps up, people in Denver are becoming increasingly vocal about concerns they’d like politicians to address. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston fielded questions in a Reddit “Ask Me Anything”—known online as an AMA—thread last month.
“In 10 months, we’ve changed how this city addresses homelessness, laid out specific plans to make Denver safer and set out to revive our downtown,” Mayor Johnston said in his introduction. “Outside of that, I’m a dad. I love Colorado sports. I am a former school principal. And I never met a donut I didn’t like.”
The mayor answered questions on a wide variety of subjects, from how he is planning to address price-gouging ticketing monopolies to the creation of more affordable housing in the city.
Affordable Housing
As finding affordable housing in Denver becomes increasingly more difficult, it should come as no surprise that the question of how the mayor plans to address the issue arose quickly.
“Are there any plans in the works to address the out-of-control rent prices and shortage of housing? Denver is becoming increasingly unaffordable, especially for young people,” asked Reddit user finsternis86.
Of the 24 questions Mayor Johnston answered, the one issue he took a special interest in was the lack of affordable housing in the city, calling it “maybe the most important issue Denver is facing.”
“This has to be a city where teachers and nurses and servers can afford to live,” Johnston added. “This is why we have set the ambitious goal to bring on 3000 affordable housing units every year.”
Johnston’s use of the word “units” in his response was very deliberate. The mayor doesn’t just want to add more apartments to the city but also make home ownership a more viable option.
“Also really critical to work on building more affordable options for home ownership which would be more condos that can be a first homeownership opportunity,” Johnston wrote.
With Johnston’s goal of adding 3,000 new housing units per year, Denver would be on track to reach 25,000 units by 2032. In a city with a population of over 700,000 people that continues to grow, some are skeptical that the additional 3,000 new units per year will be enough to make a difference.
Excessive Fees for Entertainment
Summer concert season is in full swing across the metro area, but it may come as a surprise that the most popular question of the AMA session revolved around the city’s plans to address the current ticketing situation.
AEG and its subsidiary AXS inked an exclusive deal with the city of Denver to be the only seller of concert tickets for city-owned venues, including Red Rocks Amphitheater. This means that if concert-goers want to see a show at Red Rocks, they have no other choice than to go through AEG if they want face-value tickets.
According to many, AEG and AXS have been abusing their exclusive contract with the city to sell concert tickets, charging customers unfair and overly expensive fees—which make it difficult for many to afford to attend events.
“To my knowledge this contract is up this year and has not been renewed. Is there any way for the public to push for a new ticketing service that does less harm to music fans for their own profit?” asked one Reddit user.
This simple question quickly became the most heated topic of the entire discussion, racking up over 1,000 upvotes, the Reddit equivalent of likes. The anti-consumer practices employed by AEG and AXS have clearly struck a nerve with Denverites, who are at their wit’s end. Due to the amount of traction gained by the post, the mayor had little choice but to respond.
“We hear concerns about a variety of things, which usually aren’t related to the ticketing system, which is essentially a software program,” Johnston answered. “Promoter fees and ticket availability are concerns we hear about, unrelated to AXS. Of course we want to keep our venues affordable and accessible and will continue looking for ways to do that.”
Most of the AMA participants weren’t satisfied by the mayor’s answer, as the post currently has a majority of downvotes, the Reddit equivalent of dislikes.
Since then, some action has been taken to address the unfair ticket prices, although not directly from Johnston’s office. On May 23, Colorado’s Attorney General Phil Weiser joined the Department of Justice and 30 other state and district attorneys in a lawsuit against Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster. The lawsuit alleges Live Nation has been using “anti-competitive practices” to maintain a stranglehold on the ticketing industry and aims to lower the exorbitant fees on consumers.
Live Nation issued a press release shortly after, stating the suit is “baseless” and won’t hold up in court.
“The DOJ’s lawsuit won’t solve the issues fans care about relating to ticket prices, service fees and access to in-demand shows,” Live Nation stated in the release. “Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment, such as the fact that the bulk of service fees go to venues, and that competition has steadily eroded Ticketmaster’s market share and profit margin.”
Emergency Response and Policing
The second most upvoted question posed to the mayor revolved around his plans to improve the Denver Police Department. Johnston has been vocal about his intent to add 167 more officers to the police force this year, but some of his constituents have concerns about another aspect of emergency response.
“While I appreciate some of the neighborhood surveys and involvement I’ve seen, 911 answer and response times are dangerously long, red light running is rampant at most intersections, and it seems (from my experience and community conversations) that citizens have hardly any trust that DPD is willing or able to enforce the law,” said Reddit user lady__james. “How can we work to improve this so Denver is safe for its citizens?”
Johnston replied he knows both 911 and 311 lines are having issues with their response times and that he’s looking to give them better resources. He added that these lines need more staff to help improve their efficacy.
To address the hike in drivers running red lights, Johnston’s solution is simple: install red light cameras.
“We are looking at adding more red light cameras to slow speeding in high injury networks where we have lots of folks speeding,” Johnston answered.
Johnston’s suggestion of adding more red light cameras has become a divisive subject on the thread.
“Really glad we are looking at red light cameras, thank you!” commented one Reddit user. “We will never ever be able to put cops at most intersections, there are too many. That’s where cameras come on and do the job efficiently, without bias.”
Others believe that the cameras will cause more harm than good.
“Adding red light cameras is not a proactive solution,” wrote another Reddit user. “Also, it will not reduce the number of speeders, all it will do is increase the amount of people fighting their ticket in court, claiming it’s ‘unconstitutional.’”
What Issues Are Most Important to You?
Johnston’s recent Reddit Q&A session gives an interesting look into what issues are most important to Denverites ahead of the pivotal 2024 election cycle.
Along with our Voter Voices campaign, Bucket List Community News is keeping a keen eye on what issues voters will prioritize in the coming months. You can take our survey in both English and Spanish. The increased cost of living has emerged as one of the top three issues to Denver voters in the Voter Voices survey, along with climate change and the health of our democracy.
“Despite pursuing higher education into a skilled career, I have little to show for it. I still can’t afford to live by myself. As my wages have grown, my purchasing power has fallen. What will you do about the ever-increasing cost of living?” wrote another Voter Voices surveyee.
Johnston said this AMA won’t be his last, so perhaps Denverites will get a chance to voice their concerns once again before the November election. Until that happens, it seems like the lack of affordable housing and keeping the streets safer are issues that citizens want to see politicians address in the run-up to election night, as well as bringing an end to price-gouging ticketing sites.
