Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ballots should be getting mailed out in lots of places,
and it's an off year election, and if you don't
pay a ton of attention to politics, you might even
be surprised to know there are ballots come in your way.
Although probably most people who listen to this show would
know there are various municipal elections going on. There's also
a couple ballot initiatives that we will talk about another time,
(00:21):
but I am joined today to talk on the municipal
election side, the local elections. I'm joined by Stephanie Pico,
who is the mayor of Centennial and a fellow graduate
of the Leadership Program of the Rockies, and we are
going to talk a little bit about things that are
specific to Centennial, but really my goal with Stephanie is
(00:42):
to use some of the concepts, some of the principles
that she's going to describe in how to do your
own homework on candidates for you to apply it anywhere
that you live in Colorado where you're facing a municipal election.
So with that, Stephanie, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
It's good to see again.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Thanks Ross, good to be with you, appreciate it so.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
And folks, I will refer you if you specifically, if
you live in Centennial, to defend Centennial dot com. Defend
Centennial dot com. All right, so why don't you just
jump in. You've done this before. What do we need
to know? What's what's the point you want to make today?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, I think one of the most pressing issues that
for the entire state of Colorado, especially all the communities
along the Front Range, is the extended overreach that the
state has been putting across municipalities. You've heard about the
lawsuit municipalities have filed against the state for attacking home
rule authority and land use decisions and really silencing the
(01:38):
public's voice in that process. So by eliminating the opportunity
for your local people to have a local say in
what happens in their communities, the state and the state
legislation tours in particular, have voted to say, you know, no,
we're going to silence you. We're not going to let
you talk about what happens in your own communities.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
We're going to know.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
We know what's best, and we think we should have
more of a centralized approach of government for some places
along the Front Range, not everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So it's not quite state ride concern.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And I know people know about the lawsuit, but I
think it's important to go look and see what legislators
are supporting, what municipal candidates to exactly say that they
have voted against your home rule authority and that should
really be taken into consideration on those municipal candidates as well.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Okay, so let's not assume that everybody knows what you
or I know, and just take a moment and explain
the lawsuit.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
That you've mentioned twice.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
So the lawsuit is filed by six municipalities from all
over the Front Range, varying from Aurora to Evada, Lafayette,
Greenwood Village, and they have said that the zoning laws
that were changed by the state saying requiring us to
have forty units per acre along the I twenty five
(02:59):
corridor and prohibiting us from requiring parking at those locations
is what the lawsuit is based on, saying that the
state constitution already guarantees and it has been upheld by
the Supreme Court that local land use decisions are best
made locally, and so what the state did and what
(03:22):
Governor pol As signed and the legislatures supported was basically
taking away that right for cities to determine their own
land use in their municipalities.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Okay, and so now we'll move away from that sort
of because you know, we're not here to talk about
that particular policy right now, but rather what your focus
is these upcoming municipal elections. So I want you to
tie that into how you would recommend that my listeners
try to do their own homework to analyze whether a
(03:52):
particular candidate for let's say, city council or some other
municipal role is somebody they want to support. Lots of
folks have no idea how to research these candidates or
don't even think about researching coming and they just vote
for whoever's yard sign they've seen.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
So what's your advice. Well, that's some of.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
The things that have been pointed out at the Defense
Centennial website, which anybody can go to and check. But
there were a number of ordinances, and one that's particularly
impactful was HB twenty four or one zero zero seven,
which eliminated occupancy limits in residential housing and single family zoning.
(04:30):
And that's something that has turned in some neighborhoods. Rental
property is now having fourteen people living in a rental
piece of rental property. So I think it's important to
be concerned that if a legislator is supporting a municipal candidate,
why are they supporting them if they voted against home
rule authority? And so you think you should think out,
(04:53):
think it through to make that connection between what might
how they might influence that municipal government further by continuing
to erode on local control. Right.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And the bill that Stephanie just mentioned House built ten
oh seven from last year just.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
A quick bill summary.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
The act prohibits county cities, counties, cities and counties which
would be like Denver Broomfield, and municipalities from limiting the
number of people who may live together in a single
dwelling based on familial relationship.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
In other words, it had.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Been that these places can say, well, you can have
maybe unlimited, but certainly plenty of people living in a
house as long as they are you know, husband, wife, kids,
you know, related to each other. And now now the
municipalities and these other subsections of government can limit occupancy
(05:50):
based only on and again, quoting from the legislature's website,
health and safety standards Internet such as international building code standards,
fire code regulations, or public health and environment, waste water
and water quality standards. So basically, I won't quite say
it's unlimited, but it's it's it's very different.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And the point is the home rule thing, right, it.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Is exactly they keep passing things that have chipped away
at the city's ability to regulate themselves and for the
citizens to regulate themselves. And so you know, if you
if you check out some of the bills that are
highlighted on that website, they'll tell you where you can
go and then look to see if your legislators actually
(06:32):
supported that bill or.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Not, or if they helped, you know, fight against it.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Then that would be you wouldn't you would want somebody
who stands up for home rule authority. That is what
most of the cities that our home rule are are
fighting for across the entire state.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
You know, one thing, I have a piece of advice
for you, Stephanie over it over at defend Centennial dot com.
So when I scroll down a little bit, I see
the list of bills that you object to, I would
I would make each.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
One of those bills a link to.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
The legislature's website for that bill, or even to the
legislature's sub page for that bill that shows how people voted,
because right now.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
There's nothing I can click.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
On that takes me to each bill one at a time,
or to a vote page.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
So I'd be pretty easy to do. I would do
that if.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I were you.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I would be easy for them to take care of.
So I'll make that recommendation.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Okay, So again, just quickly, now we're just about out
of time. So we've talked a lot about the bills
and the state reps and state senators who voted for
the bills. So what are you telling my listeners? What
are you suggesting to my listeners that they should do
when it comes to the municipal elections, Because the state
reps and senators are not on the ballot. Other people
(07:48):
are on the ballot, So what do you want them
to do?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I think it's important to look and see who is
endorsing your municipal candidates and understand their relationship with how
have voted in the past, either for or against home
rule authority, And if they have voted against home rule,
it's very likely that they couldn't be influencing those candidates
(08:12):
to not fight back against the state's overreach.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, folks, So this is the concept you can see
at Defend Centennial, and you don't. You can go look
at these bills yourself. And but when you look at
your municipal candidates, and what Stephanie is getting at is
see who's endorsing them from the state legislature, because that's
a good heuristic, a good shortcut. You can see which legislators,
(08:37):
if any, are endorsing your municipal candidate, and then look
up how that legislator has voted. And more often than not,
when you're looking an election on an off your ballot
like this, the candidate will not be identified with a
D or an R, and it'll make it a little
bit harder for you to know. But if everybody who's
(08:58):
endorsing that candidate is a Y or everybody who's endorsing
the candidate as an R, that's a good way for
you to have a clue as to whether that's a
candidate who is likely to share your beliefs in things.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
And there may.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Be folks listening to the show who want to vote
for Democrats who don't want cities to be able to
make their own decisions.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I'm not with.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You on that, but you could use this heuristic in
any direction.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
It's just a useful tool.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
The other thing that I will say is that more
often than not, candidates for local office, candidates for city
council and things like that, are much easier to get
into contact with than you might think. And a lot
of times if you go to their web pages, they've
got their own email that they read. Most of these
people don't have much money to spend on campaign staff.
They often don't have somebody.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Filtering their email.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Sometime they will put their own cell phone number on there,
and as long as you're polite, I would encourage you
to just call them. If you don't if there's no
answer online that answers your question, give them a call
and say how do you feel a this or that,
and remember whether you're whether you like them or don't
like them.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Be polite.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I'll give you the last nineteen seconds because I like
prime number.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Stephanie, I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Thank you. I know it's always frustrating for everyone to
hear the words this is an off election year.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It's an off cycle election. Every year is an election year.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
We have important elections at the municipal level, at school
board levels, and it's really important for people to get engaged,
lean in a little bit more and figure out exactly
what it is that they are voting for when it
comes to the government that is closest to them.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Stephanie Pico is mayor of Centennial and a fellow graduate
of the Leadership Program of the Rockies. Thank you for
your leadership, Stephanie, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Thanks Ross I appreciate the time. All right, glad to
do it.
Ballots should be getting mailed out in lots of places,
and it's an off year election, and if you don't
pay a ton of attention to politics, you might even
be surprised to know there are ballots come in your way.
Although probably most people who listen to this show would
know there are various municipal elections going on. There's also
a couple ballot initiatives that we will talk about another time,
(00:21):
but I am joined today to talk on the municipal
election side, the local elections. I'm joined by Stephanie Pico,
who is the mayor of Centennial and a fellow graduate
of the Leadership Program of the Rockies, and we are
going to talk a little bit about things that are
specific to Centennial, but really my goal with Stephanie is
(00:42):
to use some of the concepts, some of the principles
that she's going to describe in how to do your
own homework on candidates for you to apply it anywhere
that you live in Colorado where you're facing a municipal election.
So with that, Stephanie, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
It's good to see again.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Thanks Ross, good to be with you, appreciate it so.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
And folks, I will refer you if you specifically, if
you live in Centennial, to defend Centennial dot com. Defend
Centennial dot com. All right, so why don't you just
jump in. You've done this before. What do we need
to know? What's what's the point you want to make today?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, I think one of the most pressing issues that
for the entire state of Colorado, especially all the communities
along the Front Range, is the extended overreach that the
state has been putting across municipalities. You've heard about the
lawsuit municipalities have filed against the state for attacking home
rule authority and land use decisions and really silencing the
(01:38):
public's voice in that process. So by eliminating the opportunity
for your local people to have a local say in
what happens in their communities, the state and the state
legislation tours in particular, have voted to say, you know, no,
we're going to silence you. We're not going to let
you talk about what happens in your own communities.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
We're going to know.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
We know what's best, and we think we should have
more of a centralized approach of government for some places
along the Front Range, not everybody.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So it's not quite state ride concern.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
And I know people know about the lawsuit, but I
think it's important to go look and see what legislators
are supporting, what municipal candidates to exactly say that they
have voted against your home rule authority and that should
really be taken into consideration on those municipal candidates as well.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Okay, so let's not assume that everybody knows what you
or I know, and just take a moment and explain
the lawsuit.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
That you've mentioned twice.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
So the lawsuit is filed by six municipalities from all
over the Front Range, varying from Aurora to Evada, Lafayette,
Greenwood Village, and they have said that the zoning laws
that were changed by the state saying requiring us to
have forty units per acre along the I twenty five
(02:59):
corridor and prohibiting us from requiring parking at those locations
is what the lawsuit is based on, saying that the
state constitution already guarantees and it has been upheld by
the Supreme Court that local land use decisions are best
made locally, and so what the state did and what
(03:22):
Governor pol As signed and the legislatures supported was basically
taking away that right for cities to determine their own
land use in their municipalities.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Okay, and so now we'll move away from that sort
of because you know, we're not here to talk about
that particular policy right now, but rather what your focus
is these upcoming municipal elections. So I want you to
tie that into how you would recommend that my listeners
try to do their own homework to analyze whether a
(03:52):
particular candidate for let's say, city council or some other
municipal role is somebody they want to support. Lots of
folks have no idea how to research these candidates or
don't even think about researching coming and they just vote
for whoever's yard sign they've seen.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
So what's your advice. Well, that's some of.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
The things that have been pointed out at the Defense
Centennial website, which anybody can go to and check. But
there were a number of ordinances, and one that's particularly
impactful was HB twenty four or one zero zero seven,
which eliminated occupancy limits in residential housing and single family zoning.
(04:30):
And that's something that has turned in some neighborhoods. Rental
property is now having fourteen people living in a rental
piece of rental property. So I think it's important to
be concerned that if a legislator is supporting a municipal candidate,
why are they supporting them if they voted against home
rule authority? And so you think you should think out,
(04:53):
think it through to make that connection between what might
how they might influence that municipal government further by continuing
to erode on local control. Right.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
And the bill that Stephanie just mentioned House built ten
oh seven from last year just.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
A quick bill summary.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
The act prohibits county cities, counties, cities and counties which
would be like Denver Broomfield, and municipalities from limiting the
number of people who may live together in a single
dwelling based on familial relationship.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
In other words, it had.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Been that these places can say, well, you can have
maybe unlimited, but certainly plenty of people living in a
house as long as they are you know, husband, wife, kids,
you know, related to each other. And now now the
municipalities and these other subsections of government can limit occupancy
(05:50):
based only on and again, quoting from the legislature's website,
health and safety standards Internet such as international building code standards,
fire code regulations, or public health and environment, waste water
and water quality standards. So basically, I won't quite say
it's unlimited, but it's it's it's very different.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And the point is the home rule thing, right, it.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Is exactly they keep passing things that have chipped away
at the city's ability to regulate themselves and for the
citizens to regulate themselves. And so you know, if you
if you check out some of the bills that are
highlighted on that website, they'll tell you where you can
go and then look to see if your legislators actually
(06:32):
supported that bill or.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Not, or if they helped, you know, fight against it.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Then that would be you wouldn't you would want somebody
who stands up for home rule authority. That is what
most of the cities that our home rule are are
fighting for across the entire state.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
You know, one thing, I have a piece of advice
for you, Stephanie over it over at defend Centennial dot com.
So when I scroll down a little bit, I see
the list of bills that you object to, I would
I would make each.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
One of those bills a link to.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
The legislature's website for that bill, or even to the
legislature's sub page for that bill that shows how people voted,
because right now.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
There's nothing I can click.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
On that takes me to each bill one at a time,
or to a vote page.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
So I'd be pretty easy to do. I would do
that if.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
I were you.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
I would be easy for them to take care of.
So I'll make that recommendation.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Okay, So again, just quickly, now we're just about out
of time. So we've talked a lot about the bills
and the state reps and state senators who voted for
the bills. So what are you telling my listeners? What
are you suggesting to my listeners that they should do
when it comes to the municipal elections, Because the state
reps and senators are not on the ballot. Other people
(07:48):
are on the ballot, So what do you want them
to do?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I think it's important to look and see who is
endorsing your municipal candidates and understand their relationship with how
have voted in the past, either for or against home
rule authority, And if they have voted against home rule,
it's very likely that they couldn't be influencing those candidates
(08:12):
to not fight back against the state's overreach.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yeah, folks, So this is the concept you can see
at Defend Centennial, and you don't. You can go look
at these bills yourself. And but when you look at
your municipal candidates, and what Stephanie is getting at is
see who's endorsing them from the state legislature, because that's
a good heuristic, a good shortcut. You can see which legislators,
(08:37):
if any, are endorsing your municipal candidate, and then look
up how that legislator has voted. And more often than not,
when you're looking an election on an off your ballot
like this, the candidate will not be identified with a
D or an R, and it'll make it a little
bit harder for you to know. But if everybody who's
(08:58):
endorsing that candidate is a Y or everybody who's endorsing
the candidate as an R, that's a good way for
you to have a clue as to whether that's a
candidate who is likely to share your beliefs in things.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
And there may.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Be folks listening to the show who want to vote
for Democrats who don't want cities to be able to
make their own decisions.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I'm not with.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
You on that, but you could use this heuristic in
any direction.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
It's just a useful tool.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
The other thing that I will say is that more
often than not, candidates for local office, candidates for city
council and things like that, are much easier to get
into contact with than you might think. And a lot
of times if you go to their web pages, they've
got their own email that they read. Most of these
people don't have much money to spend on campaign staff.
They often don't have somebody.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Filtering their email.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Sometime they will put their own cell phone number on there,
and as long as you're polite, I would encourage you
to just call them. If you don't if there's no
answer online that answers your question, give them a call
and say how do you feel a this or that,
and remember whether you're whether you like them or don't
like them.
Speaker 2 (10:04):
Be polite.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
I'll give you the last nineteen seconds because I like
prime number.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Stephanie, I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Thank you. I know it's always frustrating for everyone to
hear the words this is an off election year.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
It's an off cycle election. Every year is an election year.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
We have important elections at the municipal level, at school
board levels, and it's really important for people to get engaged,
lean in a little bit more and figure out exactly
what it is that they are voting for when it
comes to the government that is closest to them.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Stephanie Pico is mayor of Centennial and a fellow graduate
of the Leadership Program of the Rockies. Thank you for
your leadership, Stephanie, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Thanks Ross I appreciate the time. All right, glad to
do it.
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