File Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
For decades, local and regional governments have rolled out initiatives intended to “fix” East Colfax, clearly, with little or no success.
Ever since “Downtown” Aurora modernized and moved off the Colfax strip in the 1960s and into suburban malls, strip malls and shopping centers, the city has searched for ways to reduce crime, address homelessness, curb urban decay, stabilize a highly mobile population and reverse the long trail of shuttered businesses.
Each effort arrived with optimism and talking points. Too many left behind frustration, skepticism and a neighborhood that still struggles to rise above its undeserved reputation.
That long history matters as Aurora moves forward with the newly approved East Colfax Downtown Development Authority. It explains why some residents showed up at City Council this week voicing concerns about transparency, process and the specter of gentrification.
Success will depend on two things that cannot be legislated into the plan: sustained engagement and perseverance , from both the city and from the community.
The DDA is not a silver bullet. It is a tool. It allows future growth in tax revenue to be reinvested directly back into the corridor for infrastructure, housing, public safety and business support. Paired with a broader Community Development Corporation, it has the potential to accomplish something past efforts often failed to achieve by coordinating long-term investment with on-the-ground community needs.
That potential will be wasted if residents and businesses feel locked out, confused or suspicious of the process.
From the outset, Aurora must err in favor of too much clarity and transparency. That means more than legally required public meetings. It means regular, predictable communication with the people most affected by the decisions being made.
Regular email updates to interested residents and business owners should be standard, not optional. Press releases to local media should be frequent and detailed, not celebratory afterthoughts. Progress, setbacks, timelines and tough choices should all be communicated clearly, even when the news isn’t good.
The formation of the inaugural DDA board is the first and most important test.
City Council is right to avoid turning board appointments into a popularity contest. But the process must still be visibly open and engaged. Public interviews should not feel like a box-checking exercise.
If the board starts out perceived as disconnected from daily life on East Colfax, the project will struggle before it begins.
Job One for the DDA and CDC will be reconciling two deeply held, and often competing, concerns about preventing displacement and loss of community character, while also attracting the kind of businesses and investment that make a genuine turnaround possible.
That tension is real, and dismissing it will only breed distrust.
The city’s established cultural arts district already offers a blueprint for study. The city has no shortage of chain restaurants and national retailers. East Colfax does not need to become Anywhere, USA.
Businesses that reflect the corridor’s history, diversity and creative energy could serve as the north star, or East Colfax, this redevelopment effort desperately needs.
The region has struggled for decades. That reality should breed humility among city lawmakers and patience in the community. This plan will not fix everything, and it will not move quickly.
Aurora has an opportunity to do this differently. If the city commits to openness and keeps the community informed every step of the way, residents should give this plan the chance its predecessors never truly had.
After all these years, East Colfax and the rest of Aurora deserve nothing less.
