AURORA | Mayor Mike Coffman started his state of the city speech Tuesday by lamenting one of the worst black eyes Aurora has endured since the 2012 theater shooting: A false narrative by Donald Trump and far-right Republicans this campaign season that Venezuelan gang members have overrun the city.
“To let that narrative stand has consequences to the city, real consequences for businesses that are thinking about moving here, for conventions that are thinking about coming here,” he said. “What is important as mayor is to stand up and to never, never let anyone sacrifice the interest of this city for a political campaign. Never, never.”
File Photo by Philip B. Poston/Sentinel Colorado
Following applause from hundreds of attendees at the Rotary Club of Aurora’s annual luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center, the city’s Republican mayor went on to talk about an issue that has been a hallmark of his five years in office: redevelopment.
For 35 minutes, he spoke about three areas of the city he sees as ripe for revitalization efforts.
One is the eastern part of the former Lowry Air Force Base, which was closed in 1994 and deeded to the Colorado Community College System. Coffman noted that many of the buildings on the campus have gone unused, making the campus “a magnet for crime.” Now that deed restrictions on the property ran out in August, he supported efforts by Councilwoman Crystal Murillo to rezone it — a plan that would require approval by the state community college system, led by Chancellor Joe Garcia, the former Democratic lieutenant governor.
As Coffman told it, a rezoned and redeveloped Lowry site could have the kind of retail and housing draw spurred since the 2017 redevelopment of and around Stanley Marketplace about a dozen blocks to the north.
He also touted the transformation of the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center into the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, which he said employs 32,000 people. He called for using 50 acres on the north side of that property to build micro-sciences and other medical research buildings modeled after Boston’s 213-acre Longwood Medical and Academic Area, which he said employs 68,000 workers. Such a project, he said, could be a much needed “economic catalyst” for northwest Aurora.
Neighborhoods west and south of that area made headlines this summer for three blighted apartment buildings that Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky falsely claimed had been overrun by members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, otherwise known as TdA. Although her narratives about the gang’s presence in those buildings and threat to the city more broadly generally have been debunked by Aurora police, that didn’t stop Trump from fear mongering about them during a campaign stop here earlier this month on a vow to launch “Operation Aurora” to use police and U.S. military to root out and deport undocumented immigrants not just from the city, but from all over the United States.
Without mentioning Trump by name Tuesday, Coffman referred to the former president’s remarks as “unfortunate.”
Most of the council’s 11 members attended the luncheon, although Jurinsky was absent.
Coffman ended his speech by calling for redevelopment on East Colfax Avenue from Yosemite Street to Interstate 225. His vision for that area includes a mix of market-rate and affordable housing that he said “could lift impoverished parts of the city.”
That strip of Colfax, which used to be the commercial and cultural center of Aurora, has been the target of several redevelopment efforts over the past six decades. It has become a mosaic of new buildings next to blighted motels, pawn shops, shuttered business and apartment complexes that several members of Aurora’s council say mars the city’s image and reputation.
“What is important as mayor is to stand up and to never, never let anyone sacrifice the interest of this city for a political campaign. Never, never.”
Coffman has apparently conveniently forgotten that he was part of that far right narrative.
EXACTLY! Came here to say this. That slumlord was his buddy (or one of the council members’ buddy) and they were trying to make it so he could evict everyone sell the apartment buildings. Coffman and co didn’t think it would get national attention
My thoughts exactly k.bergall……
Key to redevelopment of the eastern part of Lowry is getting the US Postal Service to rightfully recognize Aurora as an acceptable place name for the 80230 ZIP code covering the former Air Force Base. As it is, addresses are only acceptable ending with the line “Denver, CO 80230” – hampering awareness that the area that would be rezoned is in fact in Aurora and confusing potential developers and residents.
now that is interesting….didn’t know that….need to hear more
Coffman says about idiot Jurinski’s lies:
“…To let that narrative stand has consequences to the city…
Maybe he should have thought of that b4 he amplified the lie to conservative news. He’s not the brightest bulb in the box!
Yep, like, ‘where’s the real Coffman’…..what changed? He sounds almost coherent for a change?????
Anyone ask Mayor Mike who he will be voting for in the Presidential race?
Way to go Mike. Yet throngs and throngs of IDIOTS and FOOLS from all over the metro area including DUMBASS Jurinsky lined up to kiss Dear Leader Trump’s Orange ass.
Why didn’t you call him out when he was here? Why didn’t you ask him, “hey asshole, did you see any Venezuelan gangs”, on your way in”?
Did you see any Venezuelan gangs when your FAT ASS left town”?
You maga nuts are so STUPID. How many of you married your first cousins or sisters.
ouch ouch ouch….they wouldn’t let me say all those things (which I do agree with)
There are 3 sexes: XX, XY and WTF…
“You maga nuts are so STUPID. How many of you married your first cousins or sisters.”
You are the reason why conservatives need to restore sanity to this country…
Your post is disgusting and offensive.
I hope you get banned, Hammer Man…
I want to report Hammer Man’s disgusting post. He should be banned from this site.
I remember who amplified the lies, Mayor Coffman, and I will remember when it comes time to vote for the next mayor.
All these ideas seem to have merit. I just wonder where the money comes from. IF, mass deportation comes about this is what you can expect: (and it’s a link because it’s a ton of information about the consequences of said mass deportation: https://cmsny.org/publications/mass-deportations-impoverish-us-families-create-immense-costs/ )
Given that in the modern immigration enforcement era the United States has never deported more than half a million immigrants per year—and many of those have been migrants apprehended trying to enter the U.S., not just those already living here—any mass deportation proposal raises obvious questions: how, exactly, would the United States possibly carry out the largest law enforcement operation in world history? And at what cost?
Coffman is a coward after he and, especially, Jurinsky blew up the slumlord gang activity…and when Trump ran with it for obvious political reasons, they had to walk it back. As in any city who allows slumlords to let properties deteriorate, they because a welcoming place for violence, drugs, etc. It’s an embarrassment for us folks who live in Aurora to have this mayor and the like-minded Jurinsky’s city council members and speaking for the rest of us. The Trump roadshow selling his snake oil has also cost us taxpayers for present this political roadshow. As in the undercover homeless fiasco that the mayor did years’ back, he hides behind political banter.
Voters….remember this when re-election comes around….if not sooner, these folks should resign or re-called from office. I get it, Jurinski is looking for a political gain and seems to want to control the city.
“better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak up and remove all doubt” – Abraham Lincoln
Couldn’t disagree with anyone’s comments. Remember this is the “I misspoke” Representative talking about the nationality of Obama, before he was trounced by our valiant current rep Jason Crow and somehow elected to rule(?) over the city circus (I mean Council).
Coffman is untrustworthy and lies, and long connected to trump and the Koch Brothers. He invited trump to Aurora. He also cannot take credit for anything about the CU Anschutz development. I work there, and the development has nothing to do with Coffman, and going on for years before Coffman’s election. I do wish Coffman would put back comment time for the public at the council meetings, both in-person and Zoom. It’s outrageous that public comment cancelled indefinitely by Coffman. Since he tried to kill the ACA in 2017 to help trump, and ran out the back of the Central Library in secret without talking to the 200 people waiting there in the cold for hours about their healthcare (including me and my adult son), I knew I would never vote for Coffman. He’s pulling some fake manipulative something here, because that coward is who he is.
I was at that town you mention Debra MacKillop. I did watch him walk out the back door. Wasn’t fast enough on phone/camera.
So who is the idiot, Debra. You or the Mayor. You stood in the cold for hours to listen to a man you already despised to speak about a subject you are a supposed expert?
Your hatred of our Mayor continues to be noted by all of the Sentinel Blog commenters.
We weren’t waiting in the “cold”. Just a cold shoulder by Coffman. Although for a life long Auroran and constituent of his when he was a U.S. Representative and now Mayor- I believe we should be able to hear and see what he has to say about Aurora, Trump, gangs, police, healthcare, homelessness, etc.
Are Aurora voters engaged? Why would reasonable people elect Hoffman, and more so, Jurinsky?
When a city’s mayor and elected councilors deflect their responsibilities for safety and law and order, it’s time for recalls.
Apparently, if voters are enraged then they’re choosing not to show at the polls. According to the City’s statistics, only 79,644 voters make selections for the Mayor in 2013. There are over 100,000 registered voters in Aurora in Arapahoe County. I can’t find counts of Aurora voters in Adams County, but clearly the majority of Aurora voters don’t care enough to vote for their mayor. Perhaps focus your energy on voter turnout rather than blasting Coffman and Jurinsky.