“The City of Denver is planning a project to completely reconstruct the 16th Street Mall with an estimated price tag in excess of $100 million.
On Monday night Denver City Council, our elected officials, will vote to commit tax dollars to help make it happen, but those dollars come with a twist: about $30 million has been diverted from Denver Public Schools and about $20 million has been diverted from the city’s general fund to support this project over the past several decades, at a when both entities desperately need dollars.
Are we really okay spending about $50 million of city and Denver Public School’s money on a non-essential project, while both entities are simultaneously cutting budgets for our most basic essential services?
Let me provide some context. There is an organization called the Denver Urban Renewal Authority (DURA) that oversees something called tax increment financing (TIF). TIF districts transfer a portion of the money paid by taxpayers — in this case property owners downtown — into a special fund and use that fund to invest in projects like private sector developments.
Currently, $56 million (including money from other taxing entities) is sitting in the downtown TIF fund, and that money can either be returned to the city and schools, or invested in the sprucing up of the 16th Street Mall.
A facelift for the 16th Street Mall might have been a good idea when the money was flowing, but we have entered into a financial crisis due to COVID-19 that is crushing the finances of our city and Denver Public Schools.”
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Coleman, Matilda. UPNeNews 19 July 2020.