John Hickenlooper
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| John Wright Hickenlooper | |
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Mayor of the City and County of Denver
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| In office June 2003 – Incumbent |
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| Preceded by | Wellington Webb |
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| Born | February 7, 1952 Narberth, Pennsylvania |
| Political party | Democrat |
| Spouse | Helen Thorpe |
| Children | Teddy Hickenlooper (3) |
| Residence | Denver, Colorado |
| Website | http://www.denvergov.org/Mayor |
John Wright Hickenlooper (born February 7, 1952) is the Mayor of the City and County of Denver, Colorado. He was born in Narberth, Pennsylvania and is a graduate of Wesleyan University. Before becoming mayor in June 2003 he was a geologist turned entrepreneur: in addition to being a real estate developer, he is also the owner of several restaurants. He is generally considered one of the main people responsible for the success of the LoDo urban renewal period during the early 1990s.
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[edit] Restaurants
Hickenlooper owned several restaurants in LoDo in the late 1980s, before the area's renewal. He was one of the founders of the original 'Wynkoop Brewing Company' microbrewery; these and others were central to the redevelopment of the area following the arrival of major league baseball in the neighbourhood. The area had been extremely dangerous; Hickenlooper is quoted as saying, "I must've had rocks in my head." The rent for Wynkoop's real estate was $1 per square foot per year.[1]
[edit] 2003 Mayoral campaign
In electing Hickenlooper, the city continued its 40-year tradition of electing Democratic mayors. Hickenlooper ran a media-heavy campaign featuring himself riding scooters and feeding parking meters. His first media endorsement came from 5280, the Denver city magazine. He was then endorsed by Denver's two daily papers, The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News over the early favorite, City Auditor Don Mares, who was also a Democrat. The papers' tough coverage of Mares gave Hickenlooper an important edge. Hickenlooper was popular among voters, as he promised to reduce parking prices in the downtown area, with which he followed through soon after his election. In the first round of elections, Hickenlooper received 43% of the vote, 20 points ahead of Mares, but they still had to compete in a runoff, which Hickenlooper won in a landslide, receiving 65% of the vote.
[edit] First term as Mayor
His first tasks included taking on the city's budget crisis and reforming its career personnel system. He has broken with past tradition of appointing political insiders to his cabinet with a youthful crew of appointees. [1]
In April 2005, Hickenlooper was named one of the top 5 big-city mayors in America by Time Magazine. He is well-liked by both Denver and suburban-Denver citizens and consistently has very good approval ratings. In addition, Mayor Hickenlooper also aided in attempts to bring the 2008 Democratic National Convention to the Mile High City. Denver mayors had tried to win the Convention in recent years, but had not been successful since the city first hosted in 1908. The city was named host of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
Mayor Hickenlooper is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition,[2] an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.
[edit] Political action
John Hickenlooper has led a very active mayoral term in Denver. The vast majority of the campaigning he has done for progress in the City and County has been considered popular with Denver-Aurora metro area and statewide, a rare achievement for a Denver Mayor in recent years. On the other hand there are some who say he ignores other more pressing problems such as gang violence and the unknown but likely large number of illegal aliens in the Denver area.
[edit] Campaign for the homeless
Hickenlooper has gained much praise and criticism for his campaigning for homeless services since taking office in 2003. He's responsible for creating the nation's first "10 year plan to end homelessness", a plan that many other cities have adopted since (he introduced the plan at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C.). In addition, he also created the commission for ending homelessness in Denver, a program seen by many around North America as being a trend setter and example for cities everywhere. "If we are to consider ourselves a truly great city, we must address all the issues that underlie homelessness." Hickenlooper was quoted as saying during the creation of the commission.
[edit] Marijuana legalization
In 2006, Denver became the first major city in the U.S. to make the private use of less than an ounce of marijuana legal for adults 21 and older. Hickenlooper opposed the marijuana legalization initiative, which voters approved 53.49%-46.51%. It should be noted that the initiative doesn't usurp Colorado State Law, (CRS), which currently treats marijuana possession in much the same way as a speeding ticket, with fines of up to $100 and no jail time.[3]
[edit] Colorado gubernatorial race
Hickenlooper's popularity made him a possible candidate for Governor of Colorado in the November 2006 election to replace term-limited Republican Governor Bill Owens. Despite a campaign called Draft Hick, he officially announced on February 6, 2006 that he would not seek the Democratic nomination for governor. Later, he threw his support behind Democrat Bill Ritter, Denver's former District Attorney who was successfully elected.[citation needed]
[edit] Greenprint Denver
In his State of the City address on July 12, 2006, Hickenlooper announced a sweeping initiative called Greenprint Denver to promote the importance of sustainable development and ecologically-friendly practices throughout the Denver community and reduce citywide greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the 2006 U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. The initiative, guided by a leadership group comprised of city and community members, features a comprehensive action agenda to meet a series of goals over a five-year period.
[edit] 2008 Democratic National Convention
Hickenlooper, like his Democratic predecessor Wellington Webb (1991-2003) led the successful campaign for Denver to host the landmark 2008 Democratic National Convention, which would coincidentally be the centennial of the city's first hosting of the landmark 1908 convention.
[edit] Future political career
Hickenlooper won re-election for the office of Mayor in May 2007 with 87% of the vote.
[edit] Family and private life
Mayor Hickenlooper graduated from Wesleyan University where he received a bachelor’s degree in English in 1974 and a master’s degree in geology in 1980. His wife, Helen Thorpe, is a writer whose work has been published in The New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, George, and Texas Monthly. They currently live in Denver's Park Hill neighborhood.[4]
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[edit] External links
| Preceded by Wellington Webb |
Mayor of Denver 2003– |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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