Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Talking about bonds. Bond meeting next week for Denver residence,
plus a job for tomorrow for kids looking to get
summer jobs with a bonus, and some breaking news that
will involves a certain endorsement firm. Next, our next guest.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And joining us now in the Kawa Common Spirit Health
outline for our weekly check ins is Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Mayor Johnston, thank you, Thank you for coming on with
us this morning. We wanted to get to the breaking
news and me know you've already endorsed him, but Michael
Bennett anouncing he's going to run for governor. Sare your
thoughts on that?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yeah, you know, I think it's a great development for
the state. I've on Michael for twenty years when I
was at school principal and he was the superintendent back
in Denver at the Denver Public Schools. He's just I think,
committed to solving hard problems. He doesn't care where ideas
come from. He's willing to work with everybody, and I
think it's just a is a great problem solver. So
I think he'll do a great job in this role.
I think it's a big win for the state. I
(00:49):
can understand why he misses probably being in Colorado. I know,
DC Fields kind of crazy, but I think it's going
to be a I think it'll be a real bonus
for us. I look forward to working with him. We've
had a great partnership in the past, and we can
do great things with the city and the state together.
So really delighted that he's made a decision to do this.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
How big of a race do you think it will be?
Between him and Phil Wiser right now? The two Democrats
that have sort of emerged as front runners right now,
but there could still be some others that step into
this race.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I have a lot of respect for Phil. He's been
a good friend for a long time too, obviously a
formidable public servant. So no idea what will happen. I
think that obviously, Michael's been traveled state wide in the
state for fifteen years servant as a US Senator, and
so I think people have got to know him really well,
have seen him a lot, and so I think he's
got to be the odds on favorite at this point.
But you know, I have a lot tons of respect
(01:39):
for Phil, and so I know he's an incredibly capable guy.
And we'll wait and see what happens.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
You obviously know Governor Polis and Michael Bennett you're endorsing.
Do you see Senator Bennon having a similar or different
vision for Colorado or him doing things a little differently
than Governor Poulis.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
You know, I'm excited to hear him lay out that vision, obviously,
you know, I think that's certainly his to make. So
I wouldn't guess what he's going to do. I just
know that I've been in foxholes with him before, and
I feel like, and you know, he's one of those
people where when things get complicated and he that he
gets calmer and clearer, and I think that's always something
that's great skilled to have in a chief executive. So
I think, you know, he led some really hard leadership
(02:16):
decisions and hard work he to do when he was
a DPS superintendent and did that I think with real
courage and collaboration. And so I trust him in any
hard situation. So I don't know what he'll lay out
his vision, but I know i'd trust him if we
had big things in the line for the city of Denver.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, Mayor, it's going to be eighty degrees today, so
it sort of feels like some are already but it's
still spring. But a job fair tomorrow for some kids
looking to get some summer jobs. A five hundred dollars bonus.
I mean that's a ton of money if you're in
high school.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
It is a really big deal. Yes, and my boys
out there too, But you know, one of the big
areas of focus we have is trying to get people
to work over the summer for high school kids. I
think it's the best experience we all had our first jobs,
and it learns teaches you how to be responsible, show
up on time, you know, learn how to work with
other people even if you don't always get along. Helps
you make some money you can use to support yourself
and your family. And so we have this great program,
(03:04):
it's the Mayor's Youth Works Program, and we are hiring
individual any student that wants to get hired. We're bringing
on also employers as partners. But we pay the employers
an extra incentive to bring on a new employee and
help train this young person. And then yeah, we pay
the kids an extra five hundred dollars bonus if they
finish the summer and complete the job all summer, so
they both get paid by the employer, they also get
(03:26):
bonus from us, and we think it's a great way
to keep kids positive, engage in learning, and keep them
out of trouble in the summer. And so we'd encourage
any young person who wants to come come to a
job fair. It's tomorrow eleven to one thirty over at
the Denver Police Protective Association right by Mile High. I
love to have you come.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
We're going to stay money centric with these next few questions.
I want to talk about the final bond meetings that
are coming up I guess next week for residents to
share their ideas for the bonds. How are those going?
Have you heard some good ideas?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, we've heard so many great ideas. I've done I
think eleven of these meetings so far. We're doing twelve
with thirteen of them across the city. And for folks
that aren't familiar, you know, a bond is a chance
to invest and key assets that you one in your neighborhood.
Does not increase taxes and it does not require us
to pull money away from any of the general Fund expenditures.
But it's dollars that we can unborrow to help build
things like rec centers or libraries or parks or any
(04:14):
streets and roads and bridges that need repairing. It's kind
of that maintenance we have to do and the capital
investments we need to make. And so yeah, we have
Now I just talked to the team last night. We
have thirty four hundred different ideas are ready to have
come in from residents all across the city from either
our town halls or we have a survey online. So
if you can make it the town halls, great. If
you can, you can jump right onto the website and
(04:34):
you can just go to Denver gov dot org slash
envibrant Bond and you can plug in any ideas you
have and we'll look at all of them.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
You mentioned the bond money being used to build certain
things for the community. One of those is a new stadium,
a soccer stadium for the NWSL team that's come into town. Sarah,
parity council woman, had this to say about it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, I have to say I don't believe that the
Citium will ever be built, and I wish that I did.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I don't think it's going to get built.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I think we're going to be sitting here any year.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
We will have paid in our amount of money from
our incredibly scarce dollars that we are going to need,
and that's seventy million dollars that the city is looking
at forking over for this land and improvements around the area.
What are your thoughts on this and do you have
confidence that this stadium will be built?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
We really do have confidence built in and this is
an incredible opportunity for the city. You know, sixteen cities
in the country bid for this franchise. Denver was awarded it.
And this is the way you create jobs. It's going
to create eleven hundred jobs. It's going to create an
amazing activation I want right now. As an abandoned property
on Broadway that's been vacant for a decade, neighbors have
been waiting. You know, there's a famous bridge to nowhere
(05:41):
there that got abandoned halfway and so this is a
part of the city we want to reactivate. And importantly,
this is actually we're able to pay for this with
bond funds left over from ten years ago, so it
does not take any money away from our budget for
police officers or for after school programs. It's leftover bond
dollars from an old project that allows us to buy
a piece of land and that the city will own forever.
(06:01):
And so whether forty years from now, if that stadium
goes away, we'll do something else with it. So it's
a long term investment for the city. But it's going
to be an amazing activation for the neighborhood. And not
to mention incredible for you know, girls and women and
folks who are fans of women's sports to be able
to have for the first time a professional women's sports
franchise in the city. This is the best sports city
in America, but we couldn't be that without a professional
women's sports franchise.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And so I wanted to ask, so do you that
was my questioning to be these funds are already targeted
or ready for this. This isn't any extra ask from citizens.
And then just a quick little follow up to that,
Robert Cone, the owner of the team, does he plan
on building the stadium purely out of his own pocket
or does funding come for that as well?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
No, thank you, I'm already super important. Rob's paying for
the stadium all by himself. We don't spend a dollar
on the stadium, and these are that's right, dollars that
are already allocated from an old bond, requires no tax increase,
requires no pulling money from our current general fund. It
is dollars that were available from unspent previous bond projects
that didn't materialize, and so it's a unique moment for
us to acquire the land Rob and his to build
(07:00):
the entire stadium. We don't build a dollar of the stadium,
but for the whole city to benefit from the asset
going forward. There's going to be a park there. It'll
be a great community asset, you know. Even the way
they've designed the stadium so that it's open to the public,
so you can actually sit out in the park and
watch the game without playing a ticket, or watch a
concert without buying a ticket. It's literally built so differently
with the community focus, and we think it's going to
be a great, great win for the city.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Sounds like a great place. Thank you, timver Mayor, Mike Johnson, Marty.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I'm sad you didn't get the ticket to Coachell. I
don't know why you put it on.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
That correct, Yeah, that's that's that's Gene's account, you know.
I I watch from a I watched from a far
none of the groups I love would play Coachelle anymore.
They're all they're all playing retirement homes anyways, Tiver may Or,
Mike Johnson, thank you, you're right all.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Thanks for having me.
Talking about bonds. Bond meeting next week for Denver residence,
plus a job for tomorrow for kids looking to get
summer jobs with a bonus, and some breaking news that
will involves a certain endorsement firm. Next, our next guest.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And joining us now in the Kawa Common Spirit Health
outline for our weekly check ins is Denver Mayor Mike Johnston.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Mayor Johnston, thank you, Thank you for coming on with
us this morning. We wanted to get to the breaking
news and me know you've already endorsed him, but Michael
Bennett anouncing he's going to run for governor. Sare your
thoughts on that?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yeah, you know, I think it's a great development for
the state. I've on Michael for twenty years when I
was at school principal and he was the superintendent back
in Denver at the Denver Public Schools. He's just I think,
committed to solving hard problems. He doesn't care where ideas
come from. He's willing to work with everybody, and I
think it's just a is a great problem solver. So
I think he'll do a great job in this role.
I think it's a big win for the state. I
(00:49):
can understand why he misses probably being in Colorado. I know,
DC Fields kind of crazy, but I think it's going
to be a I think it'll be a real bonus
for us. I look forward to working with him. We've
had a great partnership in the past, and we can
do great things with the city and the state together.
So really delighted that he's made a decision to do this.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
How big of a race do you think it will be?
Between him and Phil Wiser right now? The two Democrats
that have sort of emerged as front runners right now,
but there could still be some others that step into
this race.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I have a lot of respect for Phil. He's been
a good friend for a long time too, obviously a
formidable public servant. So no idea what will happen. I
think that obviously, Michael's been traveled state wide in the
state for fifteen years servant as a US Senator, and
so I think people have got to know him really well,
have seen him a lot, and so I think he's
got to be the odds on favorite at this point.
But you know, I have a lot tons of respect
(01:39):
for Phil, and so I know he's an incredibly capable guy.
And we'll wait and see what happens.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
You obviously know Governor Polis and Michael Bennett you're endorsing.
Do you see Senator Bennon having a similar or different
vision for Colorado or him doing things a little differently
than Governor Poulis.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
You know, I'm excited to hear him lay out that vision, obviously,
you know, I think that's certainly his to make. So
I wouldn't guess what he's going to do. I just
know that I've been in foxholes with him before, and
I feel like, and you know, he's one of those
people where when things get complicated and he that he
gets calmer and clearer, and I think that's always something
that's great skilled to have in a chief executive. So
I think, you know, he led some really hard leadership
(02:16):
decisions and hard work he to do when he was
a DPS superintendent and did that I think with real
courage and collaboration. And so I trust him in any
hard situation. So I don't know what he'll lay out
his vision, but I know i'd trust him if we
had big things in the line for the city of Denver.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, Mayor, it's going to be eighty degrees today, so
it sort of feels like some are already but it's
still spring. But a job fair tomorrow for some kids
looking to get some summer jobs. A five hundred dollars bonus.
I mean that's a ton of money if you're in
high school.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
It is a really big deal. Yes, and my boys
out there too, But you know, one of the big
areas of focus we have is trying to get people
to work over the summer for high school kids. I
think it's the best experience we all had our first jobs,
and it learns teaches you how to be responsible, show
up on time, you know, learn how to work with
other people even if you don't always get along. Helps
you make some money you can use to support yourself
and your family. And so we have this great program,
(03:04):
it's the Mayor's Youth Works Program, and we are hiring
individual any student that wants to get hired. We're bringing
on also employers as partners. But we pay the employers
an extra incentive to bring on a new employee and
help train this young person. And then yeah, we pay
the kids an extra five hundred dollars bonus if they
finish the summer and complete the job all summer, so
they both get paid by the employer, they also get
(03:26):
bonus from us, and we think it's a great way
to keep kids positive, engage in learning, and keep them
out of trouble in the summer. And so we'd encourage
any young person who wants to come come to a
job fair. It's tomorrow eleven to one thirty over at
the Denver Police Protective Association right by Mile High. I
love to have you come.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
We're going to stay money centric with these next few questions.
I want to talk about the final bond meetings that
are coming up I guess next week for residents to
share their ideas for the bonds. How are those going?
Have you heard some good ideas?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
Yeah, we've heard so many great ideas. I've done I
think eleven of these meetings so far. We're doing twelve
with thirteen of them across the city. And for folks
that aren't familiar, you know, a bond is a chance
to invest and key assets that you one in your neighborhood.
Does not increase taxes and it does not require us
to pull money away from any of the general Fund expenditures.
But it's dollars that we can unborrow to help build
things like rec centers or libraries or parks or any
(04:14):
streets and roads and bridges that need repairing. It's kind
of that maintenance we have to do and the capital
investments we need to make. And so yeah, we have
Now I just talked to the team last night. We
have thirty four hundred different ideas are ready to have
come in from residents all across the city from either
our town halls or we have a survey online. So
if you can make it the town halls, great. If
you can, you can jump right onto the website and
(04:34):
you can just go to Denver gov dot org slash
envibrant Bond and you can plug in any ideas you
have and we'll look at all of them.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
You mentioned the bond money being used to build certain
things for the community. One of those is a new stadium,
a soccer stadium for the NWSL team that's come into town. Sarah,
parity council woman, had this to say about it.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Well, I have to say I don't believe that the
Citium will ever be built, and I wish that I did.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I don't think it's going to get built.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I think we're going to be sitting here any year.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
We will have paid in our amount of money from
our incredibly scarce dollars that we are going to need,
and that's seventy million dollars that the city is looking
at forking over for this land and improvements around the area.
What are your thoughts on this and do you have
confidence that this stadium will be built?
Speaker 3 (05:20):
We really do have confidence built in and this is
an incredible opportunity for the city. You know, sixteen cities
in the country bid for this franchise. Denver was awarded it.
And this is the way you create jobs. It's going
to create eleven hundred jobs. It's going to create an
amazing activation I want right now. As an abandoned property
on Broadway that's been vacant for a decade, neighbors have
been waiting. You know, there's a famous bridge to nowhere
(05:41):
there that got abandoned halfway and so this is a
part of the city we want to reactivate. And importantly,
this is actually we're able to pay for this with
bond funds left over from ten years ago, so it
does not take any money away from our budget for
police officers or for after school programs. It's leftover bond
dollars from an old project that allows us to buy
a piece of land and that the city will own forever.
(06:01):
And so whether forty years from now, if that stadium
goes away, we'll do something else with it. So it's
a long term investment for the city. But it's going
to be an amazing activation for the neighborhood. And not
to mention incredible for you know, girls and women and
folks who are fans of women's sports to be able
to have for the first time a professional women's sports
franchise in the city. This is the best sports city
in America, but we couldn't be that without a professional
women's sports franchise.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
And so I wanted to ask, so do you that
was my questioning to be these funds are already targeted
or ready for this. This isn't any extra ask from citizens.
And then just a quick little follow up to that,
Robert Cone, the owner of the team, does he plan
on building the stadium purely out of his own pocket
or does funding come for that as well?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
No, thank you, I'm already super important. Rob's paying for
the stadium all by himself. We don't spend a dollar
on the stadium, and these are that's right, dollars that
are already allocated from an old bond, requires no tax increase,
requires no pulling money from our current general fund. It
is dollars that were available from unspent previous bond projects
that didn't materialize, and so it's a unique moment for
us to acquire the land Rob and his to build
(07:00):
the entire stadium. We don't build a dollar of the stadium,
but for the whole city to benefit from the asset
going forward. There's going to be a park there. It'll
be a great community asset, you know. Even the way
they've designed the stadium so that it's open to the public,
so you can actually sit out in the park and
watch the game without playing a ticket, or watch a
concert without buying a ticket. It's literally built so differently
with the community focus, and we think it's going to
be a great, great win for the city.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Sounds like a great place. Thank you, timver Mayor, Mike Johnson, Marty.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
I'm sad you didn't get the ticket to Coachell. I
don't know why you put it on.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
That correct, Yeah, that's that's that's Gene's account, you know.
I I watch from a I watched from a far
none of the groups I love would play Coachelle anymore.
They're all they're all playing retirement homes anyways, Tiver may Or,
Mike Johnson, thank you, you're right all.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Thanks for having me.
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