Denver mayor hosts "Ask Me Anything" forum on Reddit. Here's what he said.
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Denver Mayor Mike Johnston participated in Reddit's "A.M.A" forum on May 8. Photo: Courtesy of the Denver Mayor's Office
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston participated in a Reddit feature called "Ask Me Anything," known as "A.M.A.s," and spent an hour answering some of the hundreds of questions he received.
Here are some things we learned:
⛳ The Park Hill Golf Course: The owner, Westside Investment Partners, "cannot let it rot," Johnston wrote. If Westside doesn't sell it, "they have to restore it to operations as a functioning golf course but we think there could be better uses for the city and are working on it now."
🏀 The Denver Nuggets: He "didn't even recognize our team" in the first two playoff games against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but "this team is resilient and tough and sticks together."
- "We GOTTA [win] game 3 … because the mayor of Minneapolis is taunting me by text," he wrote.
- When asked if he could ban Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards from the city, he joked that he "will seriously look into this option."
🌳 Park plans: His office wants more food and drinks served at parks. That starts this summer with food trucks at Washington, Commons, Paco Sanchez and Civic Center parks.
- He'd also "love to do a beer garden" at City Park.
🚗 Traffic safety: He's adding more red light cameras to curb speeding in high-injury networks where it tends to be most common.
- Denver is also deploying more than 100 license plate readers across the city to help track stolen cars.
🚲 Bikes and buses: The city is installing another 25 miles of bike lanes this year and dedicating more travel lanes to buses so they can move more efficiently.
🏘️ Housing affordability: "This is maybe the most important issue Denver is facing," he wrote. His goal is to create 3,000 affordable units every year while he's in office.
🏙️ Downtown: The first few blocks of the 16th Street Mall will reopen this summer, and he pledged to ensure the entire construction project is finished by the end of summer 2025.
- He also wants to launch "some really unique activations and public spaces" on the mall, similar to ones at Larimer Square, and focus on placing "unique Denver brands" in the area.
🧒 Childcare shortage: His team is working to add more child care facilities, including in downtown's "child care desert," and create a workforce training program to help more people become early childhood educators.
🍩 Best donut shop: "I love LaMar's."