Michael Hancock
Public Bike Infrastructure Shouldn’t Have to Rely on Private Money
Bloomberg published a national story yesterday about crowdfunding public infrastructure projects to ensure government bureaucracies actually implement them. The tactic is becoming more common, Amanda Albright reports, “at a time of waning city budgets and interest in funding projects.” Headlines in Denver lately boast of the booming local economy and the flood of development (read: bigger tax base). Mayor Michael … Continued
August 13, 2015
In His Second Term, Will Mayor Hancock Honor His Promises on City Streets?
Last week, City Auditor Dennis Gallagher called out the Hancock administration for failing to properly fund and implement Denver’s bike network. Today, Mayor Hancock delivered his second inaugural address, promising what his press secretary called “an intensive year-long effort to increase sustainable mobility choices in Denver.” Hancock made the remarks in a speech today at the Denver Performing Arts Center. … Continued
July 21, 2015
Protesters Call for I-70 Re-Route Outside Hancock’s Inaugural Address
Protesters took aim at the I-70 widening project and demanded transparency today outside the Ellie Caulkins Opera House where Mayor Michael Hancock was being sworn in for his second term. Chanters belted protest songs and held signs reading “We can re-route I-70!” and “!Sí se Puede Desviar El I-70!” Fran Frainaguirre lifted a sign up at the corner of 14th and … Continued
July 20, 2015
Mayor Hancock on Vision Zero: “It’s Not If, But When”
Mayor Michael Hancock told members of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee yesterday that it’s just a matter of time before the city adopts a Vision Zero strategy to eliminate traffic deaths. But the mayor said the city needs to be better prepared before taking on the goal of zero deaths on Denver’s streets. Here’s how Mayor Hancock responded when Streetsblog Denver asked … Continued
July 10, 2015
What Denver’s Transportation Engineers Can Learn From Seattle
Seattle is, in many ways, Denver’s most comparable peer city. Like the Mile High City, Seattle was built to move cars, but as it grows, the city is looking to retrofit its streets to move people via transit, biking, and walking. There’s a stark difference between the two cities’ approach, though. Seattle is backing up its talk with swift action made … Continued
July 6, 2015
BikeDenver Releases Map Showing Bike Lanes to Nowhere
People who depend on Denver’s bike network to get around are tossed from calm bike lanes into chaotic streets too often because of sporadic, fragmented infrastructure. It’s a familiar feeling for riders, but seeing the gaping voids mapped above is striking, even cringeworthy. BikeDenver released the map yesterday, inspired by a Washington Post article that mapped the disconnects in … Continued
June 26, 2015
Hancock Administration “Taking a Hard Look” at Vision Zero
According to a statement from the mayor’s office, Denver’s brass is sort of considering looking into possibly adopting Vision Zero, a package of policies based on the idea that traffic deaths and serious injuries are preventable, and that we have a moral obligation to act. Amber Miller, Mayor Michael Hancock’s press secretary, prepared this statement in response … Continued
June 23, 2015
Mayor Hancock’s Sheridan Blvd Plan: Feel Good, Do Nothing
Anyone who’s walked down Sheridan Boulevard knows it’s a dangerous street where dirt mounds replace sidewalks, drivers ignore the 35 mph speed limit, and crossing the street means dodging five lanes of traffic. It’s a nightmare for pedestrians and the Colorado Department of Transportation knows it. But that’s not stopping them from widening lanes nearby. Between 2010 … Continued
June 2, 2015
Why Denver Needs to Get Serious About Street Safety and Adopt Vision Zero
Traffic deaths are not an inevitable fixture of modern life, but preventable tragedies that can be systematically eliminated by smart public policy. That’s the thinking behind Vision Zero, an increasingly influential approach to street safety in cities around the world. Now is the ideal time for Denver’s leaders to join in. Vision Zero has its origins in Sweden, where … Continued
May 4, 2015