Denver City Council met for several hours Friday morning at the scenic Boettcher Mansion atop Lookout Mountain, agreeing that pedestrian and bicycle safety should be among the city’s the top budget priorities for 2014.
The council every year gathers to set its priorities for the coming budget year, looking at areas that are particularly bothersome or need the city’s attention. The information is then passed to agencies who use the information to craft their budgets for 2014.
Recent high-profile hit-and-run crashes that have killed pedestrians and increasing interest in creating a more walkable and bike-able Denver prompted the council to order the budget office focus on improving the city’s pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure.
“Someone said this might be the year of the bike,” said Council President Mary Beth Susman. “There has been this growth of information about the importance of energy savings and having a livable city. That is why it has hit everyone at a basic level that we need to figure out a way to help people get around and not use cars as much.”
The council also wants to create broad goals to create neighborhood plans for areas throughout the city that have never had a plan, focus on the North Denver Cornerstone Collaborative, create career pathways and jobs for youth and develop a sensible affordable housing plan.
The council also would like to see a comprehensive solid waste plan implemented, a health impact assessment over neighborhoods, a strategy for preventing the siphoning of revenue to border communities, a focus on gang and graffiti prevention and look into sharing services with Denver Public Schools.
Agencies in the fall present their budgets to the City Council, showing how they are going to frame their planning, research, funding or implementation around the council’s priorities. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, who was at the retreat, said the council’s priorities mesh perfectly with those of his administration.
Susman said the priorities show the council is focused on “creating a greater sense of place, to make people think it’s very livable and enjoyable,” she said.