Twenty Questions: Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough on Denver's Hottest Issues

Remember when Denver was considered a "cool city"? When it was the top place in the country where millennials were moving? When it showed its creative class by hosting the Democratic National Convention in 2008, when Barack Obama secured the presidential nomination?

Mike Johnston, a Colorado native who was then the 33-year-old principal of the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts, got a shout-out from Obama in a feel-good commercial on the eve of the election; the candidate had visited the school that spring. "Now is not the time for small plans," Obama proclaimed in a clip from his acceptance speech in Denver. "Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education. ... I’ll recruit an army of new teachers and pay them higher salaries and give them more support, and in exchange I’ll ask for higher standards and more accountability."

And then Obama looked straight into the camera. "We can create schools that work, because I’ve seen it," he said. "Three years ago, only half the high school seniors at the Mapleton school in Thornton, Colorado, were accepted to college. But after a rigorous school reform program this year, all 44 seniors were accepted."

Kelly Brough was busy that year, too. After growing up in Montana (where her father was murdered when she was just an infant), she and her then-husband had moved to Denver, where Brough got a job with the city and worked her way up from Denver City Council legislative aide to director of the Department of Human Resources to then-Mayor John Hickenlooper's chief of staff during the DNC. But she didn't spend all her time hobnobbing with political stars; she also learned how to drive a snowplow.

And she definitely needed to navigate some rough patches: The father of her two daughters committed suicide following a battle with addiction. By then, Brough had left city government to become the head of the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, a post she traded for a job in higher education before making her long-rumored run for mayor official last summer.

Johnston, meanwhile, went on to two terms in the state Senate, as well as unsuccessful runs at the governor's office and a U.S. Senate seat. (In both cases, he was stymied by a Hickenlooper candidacy.) In his most recent gig, as CEO of Gary Community Ventures, he spearheaded the November passage of Proposition 123, a statewide measure that aims to raise around $300 million per year for affordable housing in Colorado. He joined an increasingly crowded field of mayoral candidates later that month.

Ultimately, sixteen contenders vied for votes on the April 4 ballot; Johnston came out on top, with Brough eking out second place and moving into the June 6 runoff. For the past four weeks, they've continued to campaign hard, appearing at numerous debates that have become only slightly less collegial as they fight to become the chief executive of Denver.

Whoever wins will take over a very different city from the Denver of fifteen years ago, with some big challenges ahead.
But right now, one of the biggest challenges facing residents of this city is how to fill out their ballots this time. To help, we asked both Brough and Johnston twenty questions about Denver...and how they hope to run it. We're starting with the hottest and ending on a surprisingly sweet note.

Westword: What's your favorite spot for green chile?

Mike Johnston: El Taco de Mexico

Kelly Brough: Las Delicias

What's your favorite local band?

Brough: The Lumineers

Johnston: The Fray

What's your favorite mural in Denver?

Brough: "Nothing Without Courage" [by Zach Yarrington, 29th and Walnut in RiNo]

Johnston: Old cowboy playing guitar in downtown Denver [painted by Willie Matthews on his then-studio on Wazee Street]

What's your favorite book about Denver? Favorite book by a Denver author?

Johnston: The Puzzler, Rob Seltzer’s upcoming book about Denver

Brough: Denver Noir — short stories by Denver authors

Do you play pickleball? What would you do to encourage/discourage the sport?

Brough: I don’t. I support physical activity, team sports and building community. I’m confident we can solve our pickleball issues.

Johnston: I’m not a regular pickleballer, but I have played a few times, and I was hooked! I think it’s a fun sport and a great way to get people outside and active. Right now, we don’t have many pickleball courts in the city, so I would love to see the city build more so the sport can be more accessible for everyone and players don’t have to concentrate just in one area.

Which (if any) of the original mayoral candidates would you be interested in bringing into your administration?

Johnston: So many of the mayoral candidates I shared the stage with for months have dedicated their lives to serving Denver communities. I’m proud to have the support of so many of them, including Representative Leslie Herod, Terrance Roberts, Ean Thomas Tafoya, Jim Walsh and Dr. Lisa Calderón. I haven’t made any decisions on who will serve in my administration, but I look forward to continuing to learn from all of the former candidates.

Brough: I have respect for many of the candidates who were running, and would be excited to explore the potential to work together. That said, I will have a process for hiring cabinet positions that engages our community in helping identify top talent — I hope many of them will be interested! However, I have not and will not make any promises about appointments or positions in my administration outside of that community-driven, competitive process.

As you've campaigned, what's the most distressing thing you've learned about Denver?

Brough: That 173 people who were unhoused died last year and 269 the year before. That’s unacceptable.

Johnston: One of the most distressing things that I’ve had the opportunity to have constructive conversations about is how hard it is for people experiencing homelessness to access the services they want. When you constantly have to move from block to block, it’s nearly impossible to get the regular support you need to get back on your feet. That’s why my top priority as mayor will be to address the homelessness crisis by providing safe, stable, dignified housing that has built-in access to services like mental health support, addiction treatment and workforce training.
As you've campaigned, what's the most hopeful thing you've learned about Denver?

Johnston: I’ve loved being able to have conversations with folks in all 78 neighborhoods, and hearing directly from them what they want to see in the city. Denverites are incredibly innovative and passionate about making Denver a vibrant city, and they have great ideas (many of which they’re already working on) to make that a reality. I’m excited to continue to have these conversations and work directly with our homegrown talent to build America’s best city right here in Denver.

Brough: Almost every single person I have met believes we have a brighter future ahead, and that together we can make Denver a city that works for every single one of us.

What would be the first thing you'd do on your first day in office?

Brough: I would have members of my team and members of Denver City Council join me in meetings with employees throughout the city to identify critical challenges and opportunities to improve service.

Johnston: Sit down with city employees to learn about the great work they’re doing, what’s working for them and what isn’t.

What would be the first thing you'd do to work on the homelessness issue? How has your long-term plan evolved?

Johnston: We know that the current approach to homelessness is not working, because people who are experiencing homelessness have no place to go. The first thing I would do to address the homelessness crisis in Denver would be to immediately work with neighborhoods and communities to site locations for tiny home microcommunities and converted hotels that serve the unhoused community.

I spent the last two years of my career working on affordable housing and homelessness, and that experience has helped me shape my policy. Through conversations with unhoused Denverites and the community leaders working on the ground every day to support this community, I’ve become committed to focusing on a housing-first approach that helps people get access to safe, stable, dignified places to live and helps them transition to a permanent housing solution.

You can read my full detailed plan and budget online.

Brough: My first priorities and immediate actions to address homelessness are: Expand supported, sanctioned camping sites, get a handle on shelter capacity and hire outreach workers, so that we can move people out of large encampments into safer locations. Convene regional leaders, public and private sector, to establish shared goals and plans for actively addressing the crisis, along with specific data-driven metrics for success. My long-term plan remains focused on using data to evaluate what we’re doing so we can target limited resources as effectively as possible and concentrate on prevention. If there’s been any evolution, it has been an increased commitment to prevention. It is less expensive and more humane to keep people housed versus what we are doing today.

What would you do to bring back downtown? Please give specifics.

Brough: Revitalizing downtown starts with making sure our residents and visitors feel safe. I will focus on filling the 100+ vacancies in the Denver Police Department and expanding the co-responder and STAR programs, so that we free up sworn officers to focus on real crime while providing residents in crisis with more appropriate support. I would prioritize getting our unhoused neighbors to safer locations as quickly as possible, where they would have support and services.

I will begin immediately working with public, private and non-profit sector partners to increase our residential population downtown by supporting the conversion of some existing downtown office space to residential and the buildout of needed support services (child care, pet care, health care) to ensure activity in the urban core seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

My administration will successfully deliver critical infrastructure projects in the short term, including the 16th Street Mall revitalization project and the improved connection between downtown and the Auraria campus. Additionally, my administration will actively engage in longer-term work around the Ball Arena redevelopment and River Mile projects, Auraria campus and improvements along Speer Boulevard that could transform outer downtown, better integrating Cherry Creek and providing publicly owned land for housing. This has the potential to re-create downtown over the next two decades.

Johnston: As the CEO of a business located at Union Station, I have seen this problem firsthand over the last three years. Denver needs to revitalize downtown by solving our crisis with homelessness and crime. In addition, the next mayor needs to lead the charge to encourage businesses to return in person by first doing the same with city workers, and then encouraging others to follow suit by encouraging workers to come downtown through incentives for downtown child-care facilities and discounted and free public transit.
What would you do to reduce Denver's permitting delays?

Johnston: I spent the past two years traveling around the state and the country working with housing experts and visiting cities that were doing a much better job solving the housing crisis. I realized there were three problems: regulatory obstacles that slowed down permitting, sustainable public funding for affordable housing, and increasing the voices of the silent majority that wants to bring down the price of housing. With housing supply failing to keep pace with growth, Denver is quickly becoming a city that only the rich can afford. My plan for affordable housing will utilize funds made available through Proposition123 to cut the regulatory red tape by requiring the City of Denver to approve affordable housing permits within ninety days.

Brough: While these challenges have been exacerbated in recent years, inefficient and ineffective project review and permitting are not new to Denver. Every mayor for the last forty years has attempted to improve Denver’s development review process, and none has truly succeeded. In the short term, I will not only take steps to improve efficiencies and hold my team accountable to process improvements, but I will also consider hiring external contractors to help the department catch up on the months and months of backlogged projects sitting on their desks today. Long-term, I believe we need to fundamentally rethink how development is reviewed and regulated in Denver. I will make it a first-term priority to separate community planning and development functions so that we can create deliberate and appropriate cultures for each function. The goal will be to ensure that community planning is taking a thoughtful and measured long-term view, while a new Development Review Department is embracing a customer-service approach focused on efficiency in fulfilling essential functions that deliver projects quickly, safely, and more affordably.

Would you advocate for renters in this city? How?

Brough: Yes. We need to tackle the housing affordability crisis from multiple angles, addressing the needs of renters and homeowners, people who qualify for subsidized housing and those who earn too much to qualify for support but still struggle to afford to live in Denver. With regard to renters specifically, here are two strategies I’m particularly interested in:

Building housing on city-owned land: I will make the city an active partner in the development of housing on city-owned land. By significantly reducing or eliminating the land cost, we can help to deliver housing that is much more affordable to rent or own.

Master lease program: The city, perhaps in partnership with Denver Housing Authority and/or a community-based non-profit, would take out a long-term lease for a block of rental units and then make those units available to low-income renters and/or people who have been unhoused and may not have the credit history or other qualifications necessary to rent the unit on their own. The city or the partner guarantees the rent and assures the property owner that they'll take responsibility for any issues that come up (property damage, eviction proceedings, etc). This is a win/win/win approach because the renter can get access to a housing unit that they may not have been able to qualify for on their own, the landlord has a stable, responsible tenant, and it also benefits the city by maximizing the housing capacity we have today and helping to prevent and reduce homelessness.

Johnston: Over the last decade, the cost of housing has exploded for both renters and buyers: The average cost of a home is nearly a million dollars, and the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $2,250. Nearly 50,000 households pay over half their income to rent. We need sweeping, ambitious change to put Denver back on track. One solution is helping renters become homeowners by making Denver the first city in the country to establish a citywide renter wealth-building program. This will put money back in the pockets of Denverites, not out-of-town investors.

Investors drive up costs and take huge profits — frequently at the expense of tenants. That is why we helped create a new financing tool in Prop 123 that gives renters a portion of the returns on the property’s investment. A teacher who makes $60,000 a year, for instance, would have roughly $100 of their rent payment set aside and placed into a savings account that grows over time. After five to ten years, that teacher can save $10,000 to $15,000 to help make a down payment on a home, or to help put a child through college.
Do you support the property-tax measure on the November ballot? If not, why?

Johnston: Yes. In the short term, HH will provide immediate property tax relief for Denverites. Additionally, in the long run, it will add funding to education and increase the TABOR cap — which will give us more flexibility to fund important programs.

Brough: Look, the legislature had to do something — the property tax burden due to the spike in valuation is real and will have tremendous impacts on seniors, young families and renters who are already struggling to afford housing in Denver. Colorado’s constitutional tax policies limited the options and made it harder to find meaningful solutions. I appreciate that state lawmakers addressed both commercial and residential property taxes and took steps to protect education funding as part of the measure. So, all in all, yes, I support it.

That said, I think it further highlights the mess of our state constitution and the need for local and state leaders to work together to find more rational, long-term solutions to how we pay for necessary public services in Colorado. I’m committed to partnering with the Colorado Municipal League, Colorado Counties Inc. and Denver’s delegation to the Colorado Legislature to be a constructive voice in that work. I also believe strongly that how we make policy matters, and I’ve heard some legitimate concerns about how this policy was crafted that give me pause. I will always work hard to bring all voices to the table and constructively seek solutions.

Two months after the East High shootings, what are your thoughts on SROs in our schools?

Brough:Every community has a different relationship with law enforcement. I understand and respect that. As such, I think it should be a school-by-school decision made by the principal, teachers and parents of that school. The DPS Board of Education and the city leadership should be aligned in making available any/all safety resources, including funding for SROs, to protect our children and educators.

Johnston: When it comes to safety, we need to invest in prevention, early intervention and common-sense gun laws. That means making after-school and summer programs accessible to all kids and allowing schools to have an SRO if they want one. It means investing in interventions and counseling when a kid is caught with a gun. And it means enacting common-sense gun laws, like a waiting period and strong enforcement of red flag laws to reduce gun violence.

Denver was home to the first local cannabis industry. How would you approach the regulation of cannabis dispensaries, growing operations, delivery services, hospitality lounges and social equity operators? Would you make any changes to the licensing or taxation structures?

Johnston: I was chair of the Senate Finance Committee after legalization, and in that role, I did extensive work on the regulatory infrastructure we need to support marijuana legalization. I look forward to continuing to work closely with cannabis businesses right here in Denver to ensure our regulatory structure meets their needs and supports equity among business owners. Making changes to the regulatory structure will require close collaboration with both the business owners and the workers in the cannabis industry. The first priority is ensuring the business is safe, equitable and serves our community well.

Brough: Now, more than ten years after the passage of Amendment 64, the cannabis industry is well-established in Colorado and is facing many of the same types of challenges facing other businesses. As mayor, it is my responsibility to ensure that it is easy to do business in Denver and my commitment to do all I can to support the economic vitality of our city. I am committed to clearing out the backlogs and improving efficiencies in our city operations, reducing the amount of time it takes to get permits, inspections and licensing completed, so that entrepreneurs and business owners can focus on their employees and customers instead of on red tape.

With regard to licensing and taxation, I’d welcome further conversation with stakeholders, as I understand there are concerns. That said, I do want to highlight a specific concern about the lack of racial diversity in this industry, and believe it’s important to find solutions that increase the inequities we see. On the taxation front in particular, I think we have to be very careful that we don’t make the safer product that is subject to oversight and regulation so expensive that we drive consumers to a black market where product safety isn’t guaranteed.

Colorado voters approved legislation legalizing medical psilocybin access while also decriminalizing the cultivation and possession of certain psychedelics. How do you plan to oversee Denver's psychedelic rules and regulations?

Brough: I believe we should use a similar process to what we used in developing regulations for the cannabis industry. I would also engage some of the experts who helped oversee those regulations to guide our work.

Johnston: This will be uncharted territory for the next mayor, who will have to ensure we are respecting the will of the voters while making sure Denverites are safe. As mayor, I’ll look to other jurisdictions that have taken these steps to learn what’s worked for them and what hasn’t. I’ll also work closely with medical providers and patients to ensure we are regulating it fairly and safely.

What do you wish Denver voters knew about you?

Johnston: I wish Denver voters knew how much I value the time I spent as a state senator with a community office in the Holly. At the time, I was the only senator with a community office, and we set up in the Holly so we could be extremely accessible to a community that had regularly been ignored by politicians. We got to help turn the Holly back into a community gathering center with mental health resources, a Boys and Girls Club, and even ran a food pantry out of the back of the office.

Brough: That I am seriously funny.

What do you wish Denver voters knew about your competitor?

Brough: That he isn't as funny as me.

Johnston: Kelly Brough was the first female snowplow driver at Stapleton Airport.

What question do you wish we'd asked?

Johnston: What is your favorite dessert in Denver? Dirt doughnut at Voodoo Doughnut.

Brough: What’s your favorite ice cream? I’m going with coffee — feel free to send a pint my way.

The 2023 municipal run-off election takes place on Tuesday, June 6; ballots have already been mailed to registered voters in Denver. Find out more here.