Kelly Brough

-Campaign Website: KellyBrough.com

-Socials: Twitter Facebook Instagram LinkedIn 

-Contact Information (Candidate, Campaign)

● kelly@kellybrough.com 
● Campaign Manager: Sheila MacDonald, sheila@midggroup.com 
● Comms Director: Nico Delgado, nicod@strategies360.com 

 Kelly Brough

-In 100 words or less tell us who you are and why you are running?

● I’m a resilient, compassionate and experienced executive who has dedicated my career to strengthening Denver. I love Denver and I know we’re not living up to our promise as a city. Having worked for all 13 members of City Council, directing the human resources department and serving as Chief of Staff to Mayor Hickenlooper, I know the city inside and out and am ready to tackle Denver’s biggest challenges starting on Day 1. I’m running for mayor to restore the promise of Denver by addressing homelessness, improving community safety, and delivering more housing that is affordable.

-In 100 words or less, why do you love living in Denver?

● I love the beauty of our landscape and natural features. I love the active lifestyle and rich culture of our city. I love the opportunities and optimism of our community. But most of all, I love the people of Denver. Denver welcomed me as a young professional and gave me opportunities to buy a home, raise a family and have an interesting and fulfilling career. I am deeply grateful to Denver and eager to serve the community as the next mayor.

-What are your top three favorite songs of all time?

● Respect (Aretha Franklin)
● Pretty Woman (Roy Orbison)
● Johnny Cash’s full collection

-What are your favorite two books (1 fiction/1 nonfiction)?

● Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
● Originals by Adam Grant

-What was your first job?

● My first “real” job, with taxes withheld, was working at Dairy Queen starting at age 14. I worked at DQ all through high school, saving money to pay for college at Montana State University. Before that, I had a paper route, mowed lawns and babysat.

 Kelly Brough

-It is estimated that Denver is short by nearly 70,000 units of housing. What would you do to expedite increasing Denver’s housing stock?

We need housing solutions that benefit people across the income spectrum, particularly the “Missing Middle” who earn too much to qualify for most public assistance but struggle to make ends meet. My plans to ensure more housing – for rent and sale, market-rate and subsidized - include:

● Building more housing on underutilized, publicly owned land and rethinking and revitalizing downtown and surrounding neighborhoods by converting commercial space to residential.
● Increasing density on major transportation corridors and at transit stations and working with neighborhood groups to find appropriate approaches for their communities.
● Fundamentally restructuring how development is reviewed and regulated in Denver.

-From recent reports, rental housing in Denver is out of reach for residents. What is your plan to ensure affordable housing for all in every type of housing?

Regarding renters, I’m particularly interested in:

● Rent Assistance – Boosting public and private funding for timely rental assistance to prevent eviction.
● Master Lease Program - The city, in partnership with a community-based non-profit, would take out a long-term lease on a pool of rental units, then make those units available to low-income renters and / or people who have been unhoused and can’t qualify to rent on their own. This is a win / win / win because the renter can access housing, the landlord is guaranteed a stable tenant and housing capacity is maximized, helping to prevent and reduce homelessness.

-Unhoused community members have long called Denver home, but Denver has historically struggled to develop effective, human-centered strategies to address homelessness. What is your experience with homelessness, and how would you go about providing sustainable services and housing?

Living on the streets is neither safe nor humane – for people experiencing homelessness or community. I will eliminate unsanctioned encampments in year one. Additionally, I will:

● Evolve Sheltering & Build Housing: Evolve our shelters to ensure we have safe beds to serve the diverse unhoused population. Build the housing needed to best support people exiting homelessness.
● Take a Regional, Data-driven Approach: Work with regional governments to establish a coordinated strategy and strengthen our data system to ensure it is complete and sophisticated.
● Invest in Prevention: Support those at risk of homelessness by ensuring access to job supports and stabilizing services.

 Kelly Brough

-Would you support best value contracting and would you support a collective bargaining agreement for Denver city workers?

Yes, I support best value contracting. I do not believe it is appropriate for leaders to tell employees whether or not to organize. As a leader my job is to provide fair and complete information so employees can make informed decisions about the costs and benefits of union membership. I trust employees to make decisions in their own best interests. I would have to review the specifics of any collective bargaining agreement before committing to a position.

-How will you expedite and ensure completion of the airport renovation?

Denver International Airport, the 3rd busiest airport in the world, is our connection to the world and a major driver of economic activity for Denver, Colorado, and the Rocky Mountain West. It is critically important the renovation and expansion of the airport is done quickly and well for the benefit of Denver residents and visitors. I will ensure we have accountable, experienced leadership at DEN and that there are high levels of transparency and clear communication about progress and work at the airport.

-What are the biggest needs and opportunities you see for the City and County of Denver to foster economic development, while safeguarding and bolstering livable jobs?

As a foundation, we must efficiently, effectively, and reliably deliver core city services that support successful business operations:

● Handling permitting, licensing and inspections in a timely, responsive manner
● Ensuring safe, clean and vibrant neighborhoods where businesses can attract customers
● Providing a safe, complete and easy-to-navigate multi-modal transportation system to enable movement of workers and good

Beyond that, the mayor can and should partner with economic developers to attract businesses that provide good paying jobs that pay at least the median wage (about $70K / year in Denver), so we have more life-changing jobs available to our residents.

-Business opportunities for businesses owned by people of color, women, and other marginalized populations are key to Denver’s economic sustainability and equity goals. How will you prioritize business development programs among these key communities?

Creating economic opportunity for women and people of color is a real priority and passion of mine. While CEO of the Chamber, I started Prosper Colorado to break down barriers for historically excluded people to start and grow businesses. I will cut red tape and provide women and minority-owned small businesses with the supports necessary to succeed, including access to capital and space, referral networks and supply chain resources. I’ll work to create a single application for all public sector partners (CDOT, RTD, DPS, City) which would allow them to more quickly and easily qualify as MBE/WBE/DBE for contracting.

 Kelly Brough

-In your view, what is the most pressing public safety need for the City and County of Denver today?

We need to both hire more police officers and improve policing. We’re down about 100 officers under our authorized strength. I will make recruiting and retaining a diverse police force a priority. I’ll also build up our civilian responder units, so we can provide appropriate supports to people in crisis and free up sworn officers to respond to the highest needs. Also, I will work to strengthen the culture of our public safety agencies around national best practices, transparency and accountability – requiring officers to hold each other accountable to high standards for professional conduct.

-How would you go about ensuring equity across our public safety system?

Ensuring a more equitable and effective public safety system by:

● Recruiting a More Diverse Team – incenting our officers of color and women officers to recruit their peers.
● Training - Providing thorough and on-going training, and increasing regular quality assurance reviews by internal, independent monitor and external, national organizations.
● Accountability and Transparency - Holding ourselves accountable when we have not effectively trained and prepared our officers. Holding our officers accountable when they commit crimes or recklessly handle public safety situations. Making public safety data regularly available and releasing information in a responsible and timely manner when public safety incidents occur.

-What does community safety mean to you?

Community safety is about emergency response, but it is much more than just that – it is about creating the conditions that enable people to thrive. We must address housing and health care, education, and economic opportunity, if we are going to create a safer Denver. As such, I will ensure that everyone in my cabinet understands the role they play in our community safety strategy. I will build a collaborative team focused on shared responsibility for reaching the goal. Additionally, I’ll do the work and make the investments to ensure our emergency response is more timely, reliable and culturally competent.

 Kelly Brough

-A key in making sure Denver is a livable, equitable and thriving community is ensuring a robust transit system. Describe your vision and plan for enhancing Denver’s transit services.

We must prioritize transit to effectively accommodate population growth, address climate change, better connect the region and reduce traffic injuries and fatalities. A successful transit system is affordable, reliable and easily accessible by diverse populations – commuters, students, seniors. I will prioritize resident engagement to help shape the specifics of our transit strategy. To ensure a stronger transit system, my priorities will include:

● Advancing localized strategies for first and last mile connections
● Accelerating implementation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on Colfax and other major corridors
● Prioritizing Transit Oriented Development (TOD) projects, particularly including housing
● Strengthening RTD with a focus on sustainability

 Kelly Brough

-Please share your solutions for Denver’s approach to the current migrant crisis and ensuring that Denver’s programs and policies treat our immigrant communities with dignity, respect, and fairness.

I am proud of our response to the influx of migrants, but Denver can’t continue to go it alone. We reacted with care and compassion and worked across the public and private sectors to raise resources and support people as best we could with the tools available to us. That said, this is unsustainable and has grown to a scale that city and private sector resources alone cannot meet. We need to pivot from crisis response to sustainability planning, in partnership with regional local governments, as well as our state and federal partners, to determine how we can continue most responsibly.

-How have you advocated for immigrant rights policies or do you have personal connections to immigration? How does that prepare you for being a candidate in an immigrant friendly state and city?

I strongly support providing a path to citizenship for the millions of immigrants who are living in, working for, and contributing to our country’s success. This is an issue that I championed as President and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, where I developed a resolution our 55-member board adopted and then became a national model for other business advocacy groups around the country. It is critically important to Denver’s community and economy that we create opportunities for people to earn a living and support themselves and their families

 Kelly Brough

-How will you ensure and evaluate equity across Denver’s programs, policies, and departments both among city communities and among city employees?

We have been inequitable in our investments and, as a result, we have parts of this city that are thriving and parts that are suffering. I will start by building a diverse cabinet with varied backgrounds, perspectives and areas of expertise. I will appoint people of different genders, races and ethnicities, ages, life experiences and political perspectives, as I know the best decisions come when there are differing voices in the room. Second, I will ensure that equity is a key lens through which we make all our decisions – ensuring communities have the supports they need to fulfill their potential.

-What is your vision for Denver’s hospital systems?

Denver residents need and deserve health care services that are high quality, accessible and affordable, including but not limited to hospital services. Our health care anchor institution, Denver Health, treats about 25 to 30% of Denver County’s population. While located in Denver, about 1/3 of patients at Denver Health come from outside Denver and contribute to the $120 million per year of uncompensated care that the institution provides. We need to be working together, as a region, across health care delivery partners, to ensure the stability and strength of our health care safety net.

-How would you ensure equitable abortion access for women and pregnant people regardless of insurance?

I will be a strong and proud advocate for protecting access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care services in Denver including abortion. I will advocate for and invest in health care safety net institutions, ensuring that they have diversified revenue streams that support their vital work, regardless of a patient’s insurance status or ability to pay out of pocket. Additionally, I’ll work to ensure that public sector employees have access to and support for the full range of reproductive health care services, through funding outside insurance plans, if necessary.