What we know about the next Denver City Council

BY REBECCA TAUBER DENVERITE

ere’s still a lot we don’t know about what the lineup on City Council will look like, especially with four Council races heading to a runo .

But with votes from the April election mostly counted, here’s what we do know about what City Council will look like and how it will (or won’t) work with the mayor’s o ce and each other.

While Denver is a strong-mayor city, Council has the potential to make life difcult for the mayor, depending on how political alliances shake out.

With one win and three runo s, Democratic socialists could grow their coalition on City Council — but would likely butt heads with the mayor.

Mike Johnston and Kelly Brough are headed to the runo for mayor. Both are centrist candidates with free market-focused solutions to big issues like housing and homelessness.

Democratic socialist won’t be able to count on a Lisa Calderón mayoral administration, as the candidate ended in third and missed out on the runo again, so they will have to work with a mayor whom they might disagree with often.

Two Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates also lost: Tony Pigford to Diana Romero Campbell in District 4, and Ti any Caudill to incumbent Councilmember Kevin Flynn in District 2.

Still, voters in the city hoping for more DSA and progressive in uence on Council still have some hope. ree candidates are heading to the June 6 runo .

Shannon Ho man beat out Noah

SEE COUNCIL, P regardless of background or ability.

“I’m looking forward to doing my part in furthering food accessibility throughout Indian Country and working with the incredible individuals I will serve alongside on the council,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs joins other notables on the council, including basketball great Stephen Curry and his restaurateur wife, Ayesha Curry, former baseball player Ryan Howard and former women’s basketball player Tamika Catchings, among others.

A seed to soul program

Tocabe’s dedication to its cultural roots were cited along with Biden’s announcement. It has what it calls a seed to soul mission, meaning it aims to create meals that support native people from beginning to end.

e pre-packaged meals are made with ingredients from Tocabe’s Indigenous Marketplace, which is an online store that has ingredients sourced from food distributors all over the country.

e meals are prepared and packaged at a facility in Greenwood Village and shipped to Spirit Lake Nation in Fort Trotten, North Dakota. As of early March, 4,400 meals were delivered and the next delivery in April will supply three months of food.

Once the meals are delivered, the Spirit Lake community has the freedom to distribute them as they see t. ere are no stipulations for eligibility or parameters limiting how the meals are distributed.

“We are thrilled to provide the Spirit Lake community with access to healthy, traditional meals,” said Mary Greene Trottier, director of Spirit Lake Nation’s Food Distribution Program, in a news release.

So far, there has been a very positive response to the program, Jacobs said. He added that recently there was a family of eight living at Spirit Lake Nation that found themselves experiencing homelessness. e meals from Tocabe were used to support this family during their hard times. Upon learning this, Jacobs said it validated all their hard work.

“ is is a situation where individuals would normally be given a loaf of bread, but instead, they were given a very speci c cultural meal – from native producers all over the country,” Jacobs said.

‘The makers and takers of our own future’

Food banks and the like support the donation of commodities or single, individual items that often lack nutritional value, such as processed foods like chips or white bread, Jacobs said. e existing programs are great to get food to people who need it immediately, he added, but Tocabe wanted to build something sustainable, while also providing foods that are spiritually and nutritionally valuable.

Tocabe’s Direct-to-Tribe Ready Meal program is also groundbreaking because most federally-funded food programs don’t support full, prepared meals as a donation.

“ ere are no acceptable protocols on a federal level to provide a multi-component meal,” said Jacobs. “To achieve this through a government program would have required so much time and so many voices, (and) eventually getting Congress involved.”

After going back and forth with the Agriculture Department and other food and nutrition services out of Washington, Jacobs and Chandra decided to nd an alternative.

“If we want to be the makers and takers of our own future, we need to do it ourselves,” said Jacobs. rough federal grant building with Spirit Lake Nation, and a 10year friendship and partnership, the Direct-to-Tribe Ready Meal program came to be. While it is federally funded through grants, it is not part of the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations.

Going this route also allows for more freedom, Jacobs said, because they are not con ned to speci c parameters, as would have been the case if it were funded by an existing government program.

Food is more than just food

According to Jacobs, when indigenous people gather to feast, it is not just a time to nourish the body, it’s also a time to connect.

erefore, using culturally relevant foods and supporting tradition is a key proponent of the Direct-to-Tribe Ready Meal program.

Traditional food items include bison and sh, wild rice, tepary and pinto beans, maple syrup, and various corn meals including white, yellow, blue and red, Jacobs said. e prepared meals for the program have thus far been wild rice jambalaya with bison sausage, andouille sausage, chipotle bison chili with roasted sweet and purple potatoes, pumpkin butternut squash wheatberry risotto with roasted root vegetables, and green chili stew.

A closed loop system is program is designed to create a Native American infrastructure, Jacobs said. e prepared meal program is not only changing health, but also changing communities economically, by allowing dollars to stay within the tribes.

“Our work is not about, how do we solve for tomorrow, but, how do we solve for years from now,” he said.

“We don’t just want a food economy, we need a nancial economy as well.”

Jacobs told of a recent bison purchase as an example of the ideal, closed loop. e bison were purchased from Fred DuBray and Cheyenne River, then taken to Osage Nation in Oklahoma for processing. is meat was then used in the meals that were prepared for Spirit Lake Nation, he said.

Tocabe will continue supporting communities of color and diverse communities, and uses a business model that does not devalue the time, e ort and commitment of food producers. For example, when it comes to purchasing ingredients, Jacobs said he does not negotiate. If Tocabe cannot a ord to pay a distributor the true value of what their product is worth, he will nd a way to raise the money to pay the desired value.

A community-driven experience

Many other tribal nations are passed enroute to Spirit Lake Nation, including Pine Ridge, Rose Bud, Standing Rock and Cheyenne River. e pipe dream is to build channels to deliver along the plains and drop o meals for all of these Native people, Jacobs said.

Eventually, Tocabe hopes to expand to Oklahoma – where Osage Nation resides – and throughout the southwest.

For now, Jacobs invites everyone to celebrate alongside Tocabe through mindful meals: Eat with tradition, support your own well-being, and support local food production.

“ is is a community-driven experience. Learn about other cultures and celebrate our di erences because it’s important to know about all peoples’ cultural relevance,” Jacobs said. “If we can all inspire each other, we can live in a much better world.” e question remains how much sway DSA candidates could have if elected, since Council needs a nine-vote supermajority to override the mayor. In her rst term, CdeBaca became known for often being the sole no-vote on policies voted through by Council. But she also collaborated with colleagues on legislation including wage theft protections for workers, decriminalizing jaywalking and e orts to prevent displacement from mobile homes.

For those who want to support the Direct-to-Tribe Ready Meal program, there are opportunities to donate directly to the distribution on the Tocabe website or through a “buy two, give one” option at Tocabe’s Indigenous Marketplace. Learn more at tocabe.com.

Kaplan in a tight race for second place in District 10, and will compete in a runo against incumbent Councilmember Chris Hinds. Incumbent Candi CdeBaca will compete in a runo against Darrell Watson (in 2019, CdeBaca came in second and then won the runo for District 9 against incumbent Albus Brooks).

And former RTD Board member Shontel Lewis also moved into rst in the tight race for District 8, and will compete in a runo against Brad Revare. Plus, Sarah Parady has just about wrapped up one of the two Council at-large seats.

“Growing up the way that we grew up, you’re a minority and you get pretty used to what it feels like to be a minority voice. So just because you changed the context and you’re a minority voice now on council, it doesn’t change the feeling or the level of perseverance you have to have just to survive,” CdeBaca said about the makeup of Council. “My method to combating it is to just bring more of us in. If you can’t change it through the people who are there, change the players. Change the players and then maybe we can change the

game.”

Regardless of how the runo s shake out, there are also other progressives representing the city.

“Don’t be distracted by the brand name, progressivism is alive and well on the Denver City Council,” said outgoing At-Large Councilmember Robin Kniech about the focus on DSA, compared to the dynamic of Council as a whole.

Serving three terms, Kniech approached progressive policy through working with the mayor’s o ce and state leaders, while una liated with groups like DSA. Looking at early election results, she thinks it means Denver voters want councilmembers who will take a similar approach, pushing for progressive policy while working with the mayor, who has more power.

Kniech pointed to Serena GonzalesGutierrez as an example. She was Kniech’s sole endorsement and looks to have won the race for Council At-Large.

“I think voters are looking for people who are progressive on issues and e ectively able to govern,” she said. “I think that people want someone who’s progressive, but they also want someone who can work with others.” e last iteration of Council did not push back against the mayor too often, and with at least six incumbents, perhaps we could expect to see something similar. But with a new mayor, there’s de nitely some unknowns.

A lot of the familiar faces will return as most incumbents retained seats after running unopposed or by avoiding runo s. Incumbent Councilmembers Jamie Torres (District 3), Paul Kashmann (District 6) and Stacie Gilmore (District 11) all ran unopposed. With three other incumbents winning their seats without runo s, it looks likely that about half of Council, or six out of 13 people, will be incumbents, but that number could rise if CdeBaca and Hinds win their runo s in June.

Here are the speci cs:

District 2 faced the opportunity for some of the biggest change on Council, with incumbent Councilmember Kevin Flynn facing a challenge from Caudill and Chris Herr, who has made climate his focus. One of Flynn’s main focuses is pushing back against “inappropriate redevelopment,” so a candidate advocating for more density could have meant change for District 2 and Council.

Like Flynn, incumbent Councilmember Amanda Sawyer has also cautioned against too much development in District 5. She looks likely to keep her seat without a run-o . Sawyer has also made transportation and tra c safety her focus, which she says she plans to continue in a future term.

In District 1, incumbent Councilmember Amanda Sandoval garnered about 80% of the vote against Ava Truckey — a win that will allow her to continue her focus on modernizing zoning and preserving neighborhoods in the face of gentri cation.

We also know some who will for sure not be back at City Council.

Councilmembers Debbie Ortega, Kniech and Christopher Herndon are term-limited, and Councilmembers Jolon Clark and Kendra Black decided not to run for reelection.

Council without Ortega will be the end of an era — she rst joined City Council as a district representative in 1987. She was elected At-Large in 2011, serving on Council for almost 28 years in total. Ortega has focused over the years on environmental and safety issues, most recently examining development around railroads (though her legislation on this has been postponed). But she also butted heads with Mayor Michael Hancock, who threatened a veto over a plastic bag ban, and vetoed avored tobacco legislation she sponsored. She sought to take the o ce herself this election cycle, but landed in seventh. Kniech’s departure from Council leaves a hole for a progressive legislator who knows how to work with the mayor’s o ce and state lawmakers. Kniech joined Council in 2011, and has spearheaded legislation like raising the minimum wage and initiatives around a ordable housing and homelessness. Her only endorsement this election was Gonzales-Gutierrez, who brings legislative experience from the Colorado State House.

And here’s what’s yet to be determined about the next City Council.

Four races are headed to run-o s, with three DSA candidates and two incumbents. ey’ll determine how much of Council will stay the same, and how much of a voice Democratic socialists will have: is story is from Denverite, a nonpro t Denver news source a liated with CPR News. Used by permission. For more, and to support Denverite, visit denverite.com.

In District 7, Flor Alvidrez will run against Nick Campion. In District 8, Lewis will run against Revare. In District 9, incumbent CdeBaca will run against Watson. In District 10, incumbent Hinds will run against Ho man.

Time will show the exact dynamics among council members and between them, and whomever the new mayor will be.