The Plan: Let’s Work Together for District 7
Hello, I am running to serve Lucky District 7 on Denver City Council in Denver, Co. This is the district I grew up in! I understand the diversity of our neighborhoods and the complexity of our history. There is a national conversation lead by our secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg, about areas in cities that are cut off by railroads and highways. I live in one of those areas. That would make my win historic because we have never had a city council person from this side of the tracks! Find out more about my plans below.
Flor Alvidrez: Our Local Leader!
A Clean and Safe Denver
Our neighborhoods should be a safe environment for our children to explore and neighbors to connect.
-Activate spaces for community connection like tree lawns, right of ways, parks and commercial centers.
-Increase park and community gathering spaces.
-Enforce laws that remove drug use from public spaces and libraries.
-Shift neighborhood infrastructure to prioritize community connection and pedestrian safety.
-Provide public health services to our most vulnerable residents.
-Create community lead safety plans unique to each area’s specific needs. Federal Blvd. v. Broadway v. Pearl St have very different safety needs.
-Increase funding for programs like STAR that relieve our police officers so they can be where we need them most
-Streamline police hiring processes so that we stop loosing officers to other municipalities.
Housing & Affordability
“Every Denverite should have a place to call home.” - Flor
-Blueprint Denver is an expansive plan with community input which works to add density in a sustainable way and avoid displacement.
-Update our zoning regulations in accordance to this work and updating a regional specific neighborhood plan is a key towards adding density while avoiding displacement and preserving neighborhood character.
-Expand down payment assistance programs for first time home buyers and redlining victims.
-Rental & Mortgage assistance programs.
-Help people stay in their homes by providing by providing energy efficiency rebates that are more equitable. Many homes need basics like insulation, updated windows, roofs and service upgrades before they can move towards more aggressive sustainability like solar energy and heat pumps.
-Make sure we AMI limits are accounting for gentrification in affordable “for rent” properties and loan qualification possibilities for “for purchase” affordable housing.
A Strong Local Economy
Our small business are not just a path to economic mobility, they are our largest employer and the fabric of our neighborhood charm.
-Stop senseless citations for A frame signs and clothing racks out front and instead incentivize activating the right of way.
-Prioritize using a local businesses in any city contracts.
-Continue and expand locally owned, small/emerging, women and BIPOC owned business programs that provide access to capital and certification that promote use. Celebrating and finding strength in our diversity while creating more opportunities in our district.
- Expand farmers markets that have acted as incubators for local artists and artisans.
Unhoused
“Experiencing homelessness is just exactly that, an experience. Homelessness is not an identity.” -State of Homelessness 2022 report, Denver Metro Homeless Initiative.
-Keeping housed people housed. Providing rental and mortgage assistance to people who fall into tough times is a key part of preventing homelessness.
-Address barriers to emergency shelters such as gender identity, religious beliefs, pet shelter & family separation.
-Expand emergency shelter programs to be open 24/7 so that people aren’t kicked out to roam the streets all day
-Increase non-congregant style living shelters with storage options.
-Emergency shelters should connect people to transitional housing options that provides public health services and other resources to address the root cause of homelessness and connect people to permanent housing solutions.
-Work regionally with neighboring governments so that all the resources aren’t concentrated strictly in Denver.
-Work with state leadership and national leadership to provide funding for these services. With an emphasis on social impact bonds.
Mobility & Sustainability
Affordable, safe, convenient and reliable public transit & prioritizing safety for pedestrians.
- Expand local transit like the connector microtransit program from Montbello to D7 to provide access for all residents to the light rail. As well as buy up additional RTD routs so they can come more frequently
-Build bump outs at intersections.
-Speed bumps inside residential areas.
- Widen sidewalks and add road verge.
- Integrate real 2-way bike lanes in the middle of our high injury network streets with their own traffic signals. (Google: Barcelona bike lanes). These will be for truly transit oriented electric bikes & scooters to get around.
-Increase bike parking, bike charging and parking spaces for scooter/rental bikes.
-Activate community spaces around high injury network(Federal, Alameda, Mississippi, Broadway & Florida). Making these places a destination not just a place to drive through.
-Most importantly of all I will be hiring grant writer as part of my administration to create funding sources on behalf of not just my office but community lead safety & transportation initiatives.
Hope for the future - long term solutions.
A few words on the underlying issues
For at least the last decade we have been focused on the economic growth of the city without considering the people that were here and how they can be a part of that growth.
This is visible in things like the Colorado Paradox: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/05/a-city-that-imports-college-educated-workers-tries-to-grow-its-own-talent/484325/
and the disparity of income and wealth between people in Denver and those moving here:
https://www.cpr.org/2019/08/19/who-are-the-people-who-can-actually-afford-denver-boulders-high-rents-and-mortgages/
We need to fill the gap between higher paying jobs and the people of Denver with training programs and lowering educational requirements for entry level positions, valuing lived life experience and requiring that of businesses that want to move or expand to Denver.
I am committed to engaging people with low incomes in the economic growth and opportunities of the city. When courting large corporations and businesses that want to expand to Denver this must be a part of the conversation. Empowering the working class and giving them access to economic mobility and home ownership is something I have an expertise in. It is my life. This is key part of the root cause of our housing, crime and substance misuse crisis. My name is Flor Alvidrez and I am asking for your vote on April 4th. It will be an honor to serve you as your next city councilwoman.