Opinion: In Search Of A Legacy
Mayor Hancock Spent 12 Years Running Denver. How Will He Be Remembered?
By Cara DeGette
GPHN Editor
Anyone else remember how Michael B. Hancock vowed to be Denver’s Education Mayor?
“As mayor, my vision is that every child, no matter where they live in Denver, will have access to quality schools in their neighborhood,” Hancock proclaimed during his 2011 campaign.
The promise was peculiar, and yes, dubious, given that the mayor of Denver has no oversight of Denver Public Schools. However, 12 years ago, polls showed the topic of education was foremost on voters’ minds. Education is what Hancock promised, and Hancock was the guy the voters picked.
Once in office Mayor Hancock elevated an outgoing DPS school board member, Theresa Peña, to a newly-created — if short-lived — role of Denver education czar. He rolled out his “Education Compact” — a “cradle-to-career effort” to make sure every single child in Denver would be successful. All that generated a lot of noise, and then … poof.
It’s been a long time since Hancock waxed on about his Education Compact. In 2023, DPS is a hot mess, run by a board that can generously be described as dysfunctional.
And this month, after three terms, Hancock is limping his way across the finish line, a departure that is oddly muted. Many of his constituents — heck, maybe even Hancock himself — appear relieved he is done. So, at his tenure’s end, what is his legacy? How will history remember Denver’s 45th mayor?
The past three years can’t have been easy, being in charge of a city through a pandemic. Some challenges have seemed almost insurmountable. Hancock inherited a homeless problem, and it has blossomed into a full-blown crisis. Skyrocketing housing costs are changing the character of the city and who gets to call it home. Gun violence and serious crime have spiraled.
To be sure, the mayor and the municipal government he runs can’t fix everything. But, when it comes to big projects, he is supposed to make sure the budgets don’t get blown sky high. Or not.
Consider these Hancock-era projects: DIA’s Great Hall Expansion, originally a $770 million project that soared to an astounding $2.2 billion. The 2016 airport hotel and transit project started at $500 million and jumped to $719 million. The 2018 Platte to Park Hill stormwater drainage project carried a $173 million price tag, until it leaped to $298 million in less than a year. Last month Hancock hosted a party to celebrate the expansion of the Colorado Convention Center. That job was pitched at $104 million. Final cost: at least $233 million.
Let’s consider what Hancock could have done. He could have fostered more open and respectful communications with the people of Denver and its neighborhood leaders — and could have instructed his appointees to do the same. He might have had better success catering not just to who might end up living in Denver some day, but also the people who are already here.
Two years ago Hancock worked hard trying to get Denverites to approve his marquee project — a $190 million bond measure for a 10,000-seat arena at the National Western Center. Voters resoundingly rejected it. So there will be no Hancock Arena.
Some would say Hancock squandered his last year in office. The outgoing mayor’s crowning achievement could have been, well, let’s call it the Michael B. Hancock Regional Park. He could have imagined the Park Hill Golf Course property the perfect spot for a 155-acre park in northeast Denver — an area that needs some serious love and protection.
The mayor could have used his negotiating skills and bully pulpit to fight like hell to preserve the last open chunk of land in Denver, one that is already protected by a conservation easement. He could have instructed his parks director and city attorney to buy the property, using revenues from the sales tax for new parks and park improvements that voters approved in 2018 — during his tenure.
Instead, Hancock directed his administration to partner with Westside Investment Partners. He poured a year’s worth of city time and resources into planning a massive development project there. In April, the voters didn’t go along with him. They overwhelmingly opted to keep the easement, leaving the next move to the next mayor.
Goodbye and best of luck, Mr. Hancock. Maybe your legacy is, at least for now, a cautionary tale for the guy who’s coming in next.