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Denver Leadership must operate with the urgency of a startup, rather than the pace of government bureaucracy.
Matt Watkajtys is a former technology executive. His entire career he worked with products that started as a vision.
He has helped usher those visions to execution.
Matt made a decision to run for city council to fight for the urban core. This district has been ignored for far too long.
Matt has been a renter in the Golden Triangle for six years after leaving Battery Park City in New York City.
All was well until COVID.
There were pay decreases and interruptions, personal savings dwindled, and Matt found himself working at an Amazon Fulfillment Center.
The next year COVID took its toll and months were lost. He found himself on Emergency Rent Relief. The situation grew dire.
COVID changed the world, lives were upended, cities were stressed to the breaking point and yet there is a determination to overcome.
The challenges of the past few years have presented us with an unprecedented opportunity to shape Denver's future in a post-pandemic world.
I entered this race because I was worried for our future. The future for our families, our renters, our small businesses, and our economic engine.
My life changed during covid. I became "housing insecure" for the first time in my life. Emergency Rent Relief saved me.
COVID wasn't kind to me. It wasn't kind to many of us.
We have all a favorite small businesses close, we know too many neighbors forced to move, and too many friends lost to the battles of mental illness and addiction.
We have fought against a changing climate and those battles have been difficult and at times, devastating. We have seen neighborhoods consumed by flames, homes washed away by floodwaters, and our citizens trapped by snow
Our challenges are not unique to Denver. As a region we have endured extreme heat and struggled to adapt to a new normal.
But we are not alone in this fight. We must come together, put aside our differences and work towards a common goal of protecting our shared home.
It's time for action and we all have a part to play. Together, we can build a Denver that is stronger, more equitable, and more resilient than ever before.
I hope to be a part of this effort to make Denver a better place for everyone
Every person deserves to feel safe in this city. Denver has developed a continuoum of care over the past few years. Denver has the duty to respond with the appropriate resources to a situation. We have the obligation to expand our STAR program and co-responder program.
Inter-agency cooperation will become more important than ever before. The city has already begun to tackle these issues through the Together We Will initiative.
The city needs to begin to repair its relationship with its Police Force just as The Force needs to repair its relationship with the city.
Together We Will make Denver the safest urban core in America.
Our city has no choice but to become the greenest city in America.
Water needs to be conserved. Gray Water Recycling should become the norm with incentives to update. Denver has to xeriscape where possible and care for out tree canopy.
Air needs to be preserved. COVID allowed us to breathe what could be. We need reforms to return to that time.
Fire need to be prevented. Great care must be taken close to the wildland–urban interface. Our fire department needs to be funded and prepared to assist our regional neighbors and defend our city.
Flood Waters need to be averted. Denver's stormwater system needs to be prepared to handle extreme rain events, as does Cherry Creek and the South Platte.
Vision Zero is the program designed to prevent road deaths. It has failed.
Our streets need reform. Our bikelanes should be separated and our local roads diverted.
We need enforcement - Denver has to get Ghost Cars (cars without plates) need to be removed from out roads. Red Light cameras have to be deployed. Speed Cameras in school zones should be a Vision Zero Goal
Denver can no longer accept preventable deaths as normal
Multi-modal lanes/bikelanes need extending. As more e-bikes, scooters, and bikes join our roads, we have the duty to protect them from traffic.
Denver should continue and expand funding for rebate programs break our relationship with the car for local (<3miles) trips
The 5280 loop connects District 10. We need to build it.