Lisa Calderón and Penfield Tate squared off against … themselves because this was a mayoral forum, not a debate


by David Sachs

The Denverite 11/14/2018

Mayoral candidates Lisa Calderón and Penfield Tate III met at a Park Hill church Tuesday evening for a forum, kicking off Denver’s next political season.

This was not a debate. Each candidate (two of 10 so far) got about 45 minutes to wax politic and take questions from a crowd of about 120 people attending the City Park Friends and Neighbors meeting. Most of the audience was older, with some younger blood mixed in.

Both candidates relayed well-polished talking points about development, homelessness, transparency and transportation. Calderón, a justice professor at Regis University and criminal justice advocate, shared a few more specific policy goals than Tate, an attorney and former state senator. She also grabbed the most enthusiastic cheers. Both mayoral hopefuls laid down plenty of rhetoric aimed at the policies of Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration.

Here’s how things went.

Neither likes the expansion I-70 through north Denver neighborhoods.

The Colorado Department of Transportation’s I-70 widening, which is backed by the Hancock administration, was a big topic Tuesday because neighborhood advocates who are fighting the project showed up.

Tate said he has always favored bending the highway through Adams County, around the dense neighborhoods of Elyria Swansea and Globeville, instead of through them. That statement elicited the biggest cheers he got all night.

A green sign with the words join cpfa

Penfield Tate speaks during a public forum for Denver mayoral candidates at Messiah Community Church in South Park Hill, Nov. 13, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

A green sign with the words join cpfa

Lisa Calderón speaks during a public forum for Denver mayoral candidates at Messiah Community Church in South Park Hill, Nov. 13, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

 

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