The political history of eastern Denver is written in rezoning applications.
For the neighborhood insider, life is punctuated by hours-long public hearings about new apartment and condo buildings. If someone wrote a textbook, the chapter titles would be “Holly Street,” and “Mt. Gilead Church” and all the other shorthand names that have developed for the neighbor-on-neighbor brawls that periodically rack District 5.
It may just be the perfect breeding ground for development politics: There’s an old way of life — the rows of mid-century ranches — that’s quickly been overlaid with a patchwork of scraped houses, new condos and other changes. The pace of change isn’t the fastest in the city, but it’s happening among million-dollar homes and powerful neighborhood groups, although the district also includes East Colfax Avenue and less politically connected neighborhoods.
It’s all crystallizing in this year’s elections as incumbent Mary Beth Susman fights for a third term amid a strident challenge from three candidates: Amanda Sawyer, Stephen Replin and Michele Fry.
The outspoken urbanist
Susman, 71, is an outspoken “neo-urbanist” and a 46-year resident of Hilltop. She found her entrance to city politics in the Lowry development of the 1990s, when she was chair of the community advisory group.
RELATED: 2019 Denver election guide
“It was the birth of what was known then as neo-urbanism — the thought that you could put commercial areas right inside residential. There was so much pushback, even for a small community center,” she said.
She won election in 2011 in a tight race and went unopposed in 2015. While in office, she has focused on transit issues and housing, saying the district should embrace its fair share of growth. She also wants a stronger bus network and greater city ownership of transit issues.
“We should preserve the character of these neighborhoods but understand we might need to increase the number of people who can enjoy these very special neighborhoods,” she said.
She’s met fierce neighborhood resistance at times. Most recently, she supported a doomed and controversial rezoning proposal that could have put 23 residential units on South Holly Street. Some residents protested that it would make a busy road more dangerous.
“I feel strongly about what kind of community I want to live in,” said Susman, who holds a doctorate in sociology. “You can’t live in a democratic society if only one group of people gets their way all the time.”
At times, the rezoning fights have turned serious: In 2015, residents sued the city over an earlier development decision, alleging that Susman’s communications with a development lobbyist had tainted the process, among other problems.
The courts rejected their arguments, with a district court judge finding that Susman had only discussed public information and hadn’t committed to any position before the hearing. The incumbent ultimately voted against that rezoning.
Susman leads the fundraising pack with more than $100,000 raised or carried over from the last election cycle. Sawyer follows with about $85,000 raised, including $40,000 from herself. Fry has raised $27,000, including $19,000 from herself. Replin has self-funded $1,900.
The new activist
Amanda Sawyer, 40, moved from San Francisco with her husband and three kids in 2016, buying a four-bedroom in Hilltop. She’s not new to Colorado, having split time as a kid between a Chicago suburb and Avon, Colorado..
“Pretty quickly I realized that the Denver I flew in and out of as a kid and hung out in with my brother is not the Denver of today,” said Sawyer, an MBA and attorney who consults for health care companies.
The argument over the 23 units on Holly Street opened her eyes. She liked the building, but thought it was the wrong location, feeding into her general doubts about the city’s redevelopment.
“Do we want to be a city of high rises with no soul? Or do we want to be Denver? Because the Denver I grew up hanging out in cared about green space and cared about the residents who grew up here,” she said.
Sawyer doesn’t describe herself as a NIMBY — not-in-my-backyard — but she thinks Susman is “out of touch” with constituents. East Denver doesn’t have the right infrastructure for growth, she said. And Sawyer feels that the neighborhoods have been unfairly ignored as the city focuses sidewalk construction on low-income neighborhoods.
And where new infrastructure is planned, she worries that Denver could overdo development. For example, she worries that city officials could go for five-floor development or higher along the new East Colfax bus-rapid transit line. She wants to see something closer to three floors. (City planning officials haven’t announced their ideas yet.)
“It’s not an anti-development, pro-development issue, it is an issue of being thoughtful, of making sure that East Colfax stays with the heart and soul of East Colfax as this sort of funky area of Denver that has struggled,” she said.
Her passion, she said later, “stems from a real desire to bring the community back into the process.”
The political veteran
Michele Fry, 47, says she falls between Sawyer and Susman on development issues.
“I’m right in the middle,” said Fry, the chief of staff for Rep. Jovan Melton. On the controversial Holly Street rezoning, she falls closer to Susman: She saw the proposal as a net gain for the area because of its sustainable design and for-sale units.
But her platform is focused more on good governance than development, she said. She thinks the city has done a poor job of getting neighborhoods involved in decisions.
“There is no transparency. There is zero accountability. You don’t know what’s being built in your neighborhood. And I don’t understand how that happens,” she said. Fry also has said she’d focus more on seniors and working families.
“There are some community meetings, just everybody is not included in them. It seems to be the ones that have the time, that are dialed in,” she said.
She previously ran for the seat in 2011, the year Susman took office. She criticizes the incumbent, but she’s also perturbed by the tone of the campaign. She pointed to a radio interview that Sawyer did: Interviewer Chuck Bonniwell referred to Susman as a “developer’s ho,” and Sawyer did not admonish him.
“You can disagree with Mary Beth’s propensity to be overly pro-development. I do,” she said. “But at some point, you stop that vitriol. I’m out to win to bring cohesiveness back to our community.”
Sawyer said she was caught off-guard in the interview and wished she had pushed back more strongly.
The absolute opponent
Stephen Replin, 71, has the staunchest stance against development — not just in the race, but perhaps across the city elections. He has called for a complete two-year moratorium on rezonings, which would freeze numerous development proposals.
“Let’s let the city absorb the units that are under construction,” the business coach and attorney said at a recent forum. At the moment, the regional market appears to be absorbing a surge of new apartments, but a downturn is always possible.
“It was a fabulous, fabulous place without intensive traffic, without much crime,” Replin said. “I want those days back.”
Learn more about the candidates from their elections questionnaires.
