There are three hopefuls in the Ward I race. Incumbent Crystal Murillo, who has served one term and is the city’s youngest and first Latina council member; Scott Liva, who moved to Aurora in 2015; and Bill Gondrez, who was brought to Aurora by his military career nearly three decades ago. The ward sits in Adams County, north of East Colfax Ave. It includes economic drivers such as the Anschutz Medical Campus, a growing food and entertainment scene and some of the most diverse neighborhoods in the Denver metroplex.
There are three hopefuls in the Ward I race. Incumbent Crystal Murillo, who has served one term and is the city’s youngest and first Latina council member; Scott Liva, who moved to Aurora in 2015; and Bill Gondrez, who was brought to Aurora by his military career nearly three decades ago. The ward sits in Adams County, north of East Colfax Ave. It includes economic drivers such as the Anschutz Medical Campus, a growing food and entertainment scene and some of the most diverse neighborhoods in the Denver metroplex.
In 2017, Crystal Murillo was the youngest and first Latina to be elected to the Aurora City Council. Now, the life-long Ward I resident faces two opponents, one a resident since 1992 and the other a newcomer who landed in north Aurora for its less costly housing.
Scott Liva moved to Aurora in 2015. He told the Sentinel he decided on moving into Ward I because of its affordability compared to other parts of the region. He’s worked in property management and is now a state utility plant operator.
Bill Gondrez has been in Aurora nearly three decades, serving an assignment at the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center as a Chaplain’s Fund Manager and then continuing to work as a hospital chaplain after his military retirement. He is currently an educator at Kenton Elementary School.
The trio of candidates say they’ve seen and even experienced the rising costs of housing in north Aurora, which Ward I encompasses. In Aurora’s 80010 zip code, which comprises neighborhoods along the Colfax corridor and farther south in Delmar Park, inventory is down 50% over last year and pricing is up nearly 30%, according to September data from the Colorado Association of Realtors.
One of the most affordable places in the region now comes with a hot housing market where the average cost of a single-family home is $400,000. Average rents for a one-bedroom apartment in neighborhoods in northwest Aurora hover around $1,300, according to RentCafe.
The city has taken actions, such as allowing accessory dwelling units in Original Aurora-zoned homes and assembling a task force to study the impact of disappearing mobile home parks, one of which forced dozens of families out of a park near I-225 and East Colfax Avenue. in 2018. Then-Mayor Bob LeGare worked to secure $300,000 so the families could move to other, less affordable housing options.
Murillo touts her involvement in the approval of a 2019 housing study as the first steps of addressing the overall affordability issue.
“I have and will continue to support the creation of land trusts that create affordable units long-term as this preserves our affordable housing. We should continue to partner with affordable housing developers like Habitat for Humanity and others,” she says in her candidate survey. “I have also supported amending our codes and ordinances to allow for development waivers to reduce the cost of producing more affordable units, thereby allowing more units to be built.”
Liva said he’d like to see more barriers removed for innovative housing in his ward, though didn’t clarify which ones.
During a September 29 candidate forum, Gondrez said he supports “attainable housing,” but couldn’t offer any specific policies on what getting there would look like. In his candidate survey he said in an effort to aid homebuyers in the ward, he’d like to see the city attempt to incentivize buyers through help with down payments and closing costs.
The ward is also no stranger to rising crime rates. To address it, Liva said he’d like to see a restructuring of the police department to include unarmed officers who respond to calls. That’s an effort already underway in the 2022 budget.
Gondrez said a better-trained police force, one that could meet the goals police leadership has already set out for itself, would be a start.
Murillo, who advocated for money for foot patrol along the Colfax Corridor this year, said she favors an approach that can avoid the police when necessary. She said she’d like to further build out programs that send mental unarmed health specialists to people in need.
Alongside crime, police accountability has been particularly important in north Aurora. Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man, died after he was wrongly stopped, detained and injected with Ketamine by Aurora police and paramedics in August 2019.
His death sparked a significant push to reform the Aurora Police Department and the Civil Service Commission, which currently oversees officer discipline. At the promise of City Manager Jim Twombly, the city will have its first independent police oversight office, disconnected from the department itself in 2022.
Gondrez said he doesn’t support the move.
“I think that too many cooks spoil the cake,” he said.
Murillo said she would.
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Murillo is currently the youngest card carrying socialist on City Council.
Let’s work hard to remove all socialists from City Council. Murillo will tell you she is a Democrat but she is really a socialist.
Have you seen this “card” that she carries? Can you define “socialism”?
Since you oppose “socialism”, may we assume you refuse things like Medicare and Social Security?
I believe she was the most absent council member at council meetings. She didn’t mind getting paid but she preferred not to attend meetings.
CoPete you are correct. For whatever reason her problem to not attend meetings is noteworthy. Last year before the Covid stopped the in person council meetings Council Woman Hiltz made a bold move at a meeting stating directly to Murillo, she had missed to many committee meetings she is on and should be reprimanded. Ms Murillo immediately shot back at CM Hiltz with– she was not in a position to be critical and disrespectful of her busy schedule as Ward 1, and as the youngest city rep, so-don’t-mess- with-me – yadda yadda.. This started the cat fight for the evenings meeting. New blood for Ward 1, is probably in order, we can all agree on one thing, Ward 1, is the most crime infested Ward in Aurora. Defunding APD, in the ward pretty well promises more of the same. APD does keep detailed records of overall crime across the city wards. Anyone can access these reports they’re not secret.