Mayor as social entrepreneur

July 10, 12:30 AMDenver City Hall ExaminerLisa Jones

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Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper uses his office to nurture pet projects that you'd expect private, philanthropic foundations to pursue. Is it appropriate for local government to serve as an incubator for Hick's brand of social entrepreneurship?

More to the point, with the city's $70-million-and-growing budget gap, will taxpayers remain happy to subsidize Hickenlooper's do-gooder initiatives?

One example: According to The Denver Post, Mayor Hick and staff have been working to develop the nation's first database to track the school records and personal lives of children.

Keep in mind, the city of Denver is separate from Denver Public Schools; the mayor does not run the school system.

The mayor promises to raise private money to pay for this invasive, Big Brother database. Even so, as the city faces a punishing financial forecast, it's perplexing to learn that Hick and his staff are futzing around with this on city time.

Recently, Hick has been seeking "public input" about cutting basic city services such as libraries and rec centers, and charging extra fees for garbage collection.

Everything is on the table, Hick tells us.

Curiously absent from the table, however, is one of Hick's most precious pet projects: Greenprint Denver. It's a full-blown, fully staffed city agency established by Hick "to facilitate general communication, public outreach and civic engagement related to sustainability."

Are taxpayers willing to pay for Greenprint at the expense of closing a library branch? So far, Hick hasn't offered us the choice. Libraries are on the chopping block, but Greenprint is sacrosanct.

Another of Hick's non-negotiable pets is Denver's Road Home, an ambitious plan to end homelessness by 2015 or so. A noble pursuit, no doubt.

But what is the cost to other city programs? How many rec centers will have to close so Denver's Road Home can continue? Is Denver's Road Home more important than repairing city streets?

Mayor Hick is asking if we're willing to slash rec centers and street repairs, but he hasn't given us the option of slashing Denver's Road Home.

Public discussion of budget priorities is interesting because it gets at a fundamental question: What do citizens expect from government?

Some believe the paramount responsibilities of local government are to ensure basic safety, health and sanitation, and to protect and manage public assets such as parks and libraries.

Others believe government's primary role is to provide jobs, promote charity or "opportunity," redistribute wealth and enact social change.

For the past six years, Hickenlooper has done an OK job of playing to both sides. The 2010 budget is squeezing him out of that middle ground. As he inquires about our budget priorities, he ought to come clean about his own.