Denver: Last In, First Out of the Recession?

Mayor Hickenlooper said yesterday that Denver was one of the last in, and hopefully can be among the first out of the recession.

Well. That would certainly be nice. Many of us were skeptical, though, when we heard the news. Hickenlooper says “Denver is weathering the recession better than most.” That may be so, but there are still a lot of people in Denver who are struggling, and he knows it.

But our mayor, believe it or not, is putting his money — or at least the city’s money — where his mouth is. He is starting his own little stimulus package to kickstart Denver’s economy. For two weeks in June, the city will waive construction permits for homeowners who need to make repairs. The city also plans to update its recreation centers and libraries to make them greener (more sustainable, with a smaller carbon footprint) and more energy efficient. That means the city will create jobs — at least a few, and at least for a little while. It will hire sustainability consultants, contractors, architects, engineers. Hickenlooper says construction projects and local bond projects, like the Better Denver program, the Denver Public Schools improvements, Denver Water, and FasTracks will, all in all, add at least $4.5 billion into our local economy.

Meanwhile, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff, Amy Mueller, tells us that Denver will receive $45.5 million in federal economic stimulus spending, and that $410 million more has been awarded to the Denver Housing Authority, Denver Public Schools and RTD/Denver Union Station. Well, that would be good. I hope receiving the money is the same thing as spending it on improvements, especially to make more housing available. Do you hear that, Denver Housing Authority? For those of you who do not remember, a few days ago the Post reported that the Denver Housing Authority is not spending all the money that the federal government provided to it to increase housing. It was not that the DHA came up a few dollars short of spending it all. No, the DHA had about $7 million left over in federal funding at the end of 2009.

One of the most heartbreaking things for a self-storage manager ever to have to do is to explain to a low-income tenant that no, even though our units are clean and warm and dry, we don’t allow people to live in them. And with all the money that the government is pouring into the Denver Housing Authority, it shouldn’t be necessary for us ever to have to say that. There should be good quality, affordable housing available for all who need it.

Here at Extra Space, we sincerely hope that Mayor Hickenlooper’s Denver economic stimulus plan works. It couldn’t happen to a nicer city.

Tags: affordable housing, Denver Housing Authority, economic stimulus, Extra Space, federal funding, Hickenlooper, Mayor, recession, self storage

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 6:42 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.