http://squarestate.net/
In 1983 at the beginning of the oil shale bust, when seemingly overnight the oil companies left Colorado, plunging the region into a lengthy and disastrous recession/depression, a young hispanic State legislator named Federico Pena ran for Mayor of Denver with the campaign slogan of "Imagine a Great City". Many scoffed at his leadership as not having substance and only an election gimmick. Republicans and critics howled as they labeled the articulate and energetic Mexican American Mayor and his coalition of progressive supporters as "Feddy and the Dreamers". Denver has always been viewed as a dusty old cow town out in the middle of nowhere. Republicans here thought it ludicrous to tax and spend Denver into economic prosperity.
But, Denver is the perfect model of infrastructure spending in a time of economic Depression. It was Pena's determined leadership on his part to go to the people, confront the naysayers and lobby to the Feds on Colorado's plight.
It is the indisputable showcase of what modern day economic stimulus, ala New Deal politics, can do for a city, state and region.
Mayor Pena knew that his New Deal style investment in Denver's infrastructure was in stark contrast to the prevailing Reaganomics of the day; to cut taxes and slash government spending.
George Walker Bush was Vice President and his son Neil Bush was a member of the board of directors of Denver-based Silverado Savings and Loan during the 1980s' infamous Savings and Loan banking crisis. Silverado's collapse cost taxpayers $1 billion and devastated the Colorado economy into a deep recession that many old timers still call: The Denver Depression.
We were quite uniquely a pinpoint of disaster in the country, a focus of collapse because of the Oil Shale beds in western Colorado. Due to the banking and oil crisis created by those who who never take responsibility for their greed, ruthlessness and corruption.
- Thomas J. Noel:
During two terms as mayor, from 1983 to 1991, Peña persuaded Denverites to reinvest billions in their city—even though the city was then in the worst recession since the 1930s. In the spring of 1989, voters approved a $3 billion airport. Two months later residents approved a $242 million bond issue to rebuild streets, provide infrastructure for redevelopment of the South Platte Valley, improve parks, plant 30,000 trees, expand the National Western Stock Show Grounds, update Denver General Hospital, and restore Civic Center Park and the City and County Building.
In 1990, Denver completed the $126 million Colorado Convention Center, with almost a million square feet on a 25-acre site between Cherry Creek and the Central Business District. That same year, the electorate approved a $200 million bond issue for the Denver Public Schools. Another $95 million bond issue won overwhelming support to enlarge the central library and restore and/or expand many branch libraries. Voters narrowly approved a 0.1 per cent sales tax to build a new baseball stadium for the Colorado Rockies. Many fiscal conservatives became horrified as Denver’s gross bonded indebtedness climbed to over $1 billion.
Naysayers such as Rocky Mountain News columnist Gene Amole complained that "Feddy and the Dreamers" were on a ruinous spending spree." A majority of voters, however, proved willing, as Mayor Peña put it, to "invest in Denver’s future."
Subsequent mayor's have expanded Denver's vision of infrastructure spending with the Pepsi Center, Light Rail RTD throughout the Metropolitan district, alternative energy, Invesco Stadium and funding for the cultural arts district.
The president's decision to sign the stimulus bill into law in Denver on Tuesday suggests he will continue taking his economic message to the people, who are giving him high marks in polls so far for his handling of the crisis. The symbolism is obvious for Colorado, where a growing green- energy industry will draw major benefits from the stimulus.
It is time for Governors, States and Cities to next step up to the plate. Denver is your blueprint for revival, jobs, economic stability and green infrastructure spending.