Mayor John Hickenlooper
Mayor
Denver, Colorado
Before becoming mayor in June 2003 he was a geologist turned entrepreneur: in addition to being a real estate developer, he is also the owner of several restaurants. He is generally considered one of the main people responsible for the success of the LoDo urban renewal period during the early 1990s. Hickenlooper owned several restaurants in LoDo in the late 1980s, before the area's renewal. He was one of the founders of the original Wynkoop Brewing Company microbrewery; these and others were central to the redevelopment of the area following the arrival of major league baseball in the neighborhood. The area had been known to be dangerous; Hickenlooper is quoted as saying, "I must've had rocks in my head." The rent for Wynkoop's real estate was $1 per square foot per year.
His first tasks included taking on the city's budget crisis and reforming its career personnel system. He has broken with past tradition of appointing political insiders to his cabinet with a youthful crew of appointees. In April 2005, Hickenlooper was named one of the top 5 big-city mayors in America by Time Magazine. He is well-liked by both Denver and suburban-Denver citizens and consistently has very good approval ratings. In addition, Mayor Hickenlooper also aided in attempts to bring the 2008 Democratic National Convention to the Mile High City. Denver mayors had tried to win the Convention in recent years, but had not been successful since the city first hosted in 1908. The city was named host of the 2008 Democratic National Convention during his time as mayor. Mayor Hickenlooper is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.
Although municipal elections in Denver are nonpartisan, Hickenlooper is known to be a Democrat. Hickenlooper has led a very active mayoral term in Denver. The vast majority of the campaigning he has done for progress in the City and County has been considered popular with Denver-Aurora metro area and statewide, a rare achievement for a Denver Mayor in recent years. On the other hand there are some who say he ignores other more pressing problems such as gang violence and the unknown but likely large number of illegal aliens in the Denver area.
