For more information, contact:
Robert Krueger at 202-624-7051
Ashley De Smeth at 202-626-3003

DENVER (February 22, 2016) – Mayor Michael B. Hancock today announced that the City and County of Denver is partnering with the Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use to attract new development to West Colfax that will support West Denver residents and businesses and enhance the unique vibrancy in the corridor. The Rose Center is jointly operated by the National League of Cities (NLC) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI).

Denver is one of four cities chosen to participate in the 2016 class of the Daniel Rose Fellowship. The annual program provides a group of cities around the country with insights, peer-to-peer learning opportunities and the analysis needed to successfully improve their communities. The other three participating cities are Birmingham, Alabama.; Long Beach, California.; and Rochester, New York.

“I’m proud and excited that Denver was chosen for this award and am excited to receive new and innovative ways to enhance our city,” said Mayor Michael B. Hancock. “West Colfax has a lot to offer and we want to leverage this opportunity to attract new businesses and ultimately new jobs to that area.”

Over the next three days, a panel of Rose Fellows and faculty will be briefed by Mayor Hancock and his team, tour the study area and meet with community, business and civic leaders and other stakeholders. Drawing upon their professional expertise and experience, the panelists will apply the information gathered during the study visit and present recommendations for how the city, its partners and stakeholders can achieve their goals for the area.

“It’s so important for cities like Denver to be approaching this project at the scale of the corridor. A street like West Colfax Avenue demands clear public sector leadership in bringing diverse stakeholders to the table and establishing a vision for the future,” said Rose Center Director Jess Zimbabwe.

“There are a number of land use challenges in the West Colfax area,” said National League of Cities CEO and Executive Director Clarence E. Anthony. “We are proud to support the Rose Center’s partnership with the city to recommend solutions to these challenges that will help to transform West Colfax into a more vibrant and connected community in Denver.”

“The Rose Center has an excellent track record of helping cities reinvent themselves to be more vibrant, livable and successful,” said Urban Land Institute Global Chief Executive Officer Patrick L. Phillips. “The West Colfax area has great potential as a vibrant new hub of activity within Denver, and we look forward to the panel’s recommendations on how best to transform the City’s vision for this corridor into a reality that provides long-lasting, community-wide benefits.”

Denver’s team of participating fellows, selected by Mayor Hancock includes Christopher Herndon, Denver City Council President; Evan Dreyer, the mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff; and transportation director Crissy Fanganello from the Department of Public Works; who are assisted by Transit-oriented Development Manager Chris Nevitt from the Department of Planning and Community Development.

The panel will be co-chaired by Denver’s Rose Fellowship faculty advisers: urban planner Andre Brumfield, regional director of planning and urban design at Gensler’s Chicago office; and real estate market analyst Kate Collignon, a managing partner at HR&A Advisors in New York City.

It also includes Rose Fellows from the other three cities in this year’s class: André Bittas, director of the Department of Planning, Engineering & Permits for the City of Birmingham; Sean Crumby, City Engineer and deputy director of the Department of Public Works for the City of Long Beach; and Bayé Muhammad, commissioner of the Department of Neighborhood and Business Development for the City of Rochester.

Also serving on the panel are Seattle-based architect Juan Calaf of Rolluda Architects, Infill multi-family developer Rick Dishnica, president of the San Francisco Bay area-based Dishnica Company, Yianice Hernandez, Active Living program director at New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Sarah Lovell, transit-oriented development planning manager for Sound Transit, Seattle’s regional transit agency; Emeke Moneme, deputy executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Federal City Council, a non-profit organization comprised of private-sector and civic leaders that collaborates the District and federal governments to address local community challenges; housing expert Manuel Ochoa, a senior analyst and program director Enterprise Community Partners in Washington, D.C.; emerging market real estate developer Mott Smith, a principal at Los Angeles-based Civic Enterprise; and Minnesota Housing Finance Agency Deputy Commissioner Barbara Sporlein, former planning director for Minneapolis. MEDIA

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About The Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use
The Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use encourages and supports excellence in land use decision making by local governments. A program of the National League of Cities in partnership with Urban Land Institute, the Rose Center seeks to foster creative, efficient, practical, and sustainable land use policies by providing public officials with access to information, best practices, peer networks, and other resources.

The flagship program of the Rose Center is the Daniel Rose Fellowship, which provides city leaders with the insights, peer-to-peer learning, and analysis needed to successfully improve their cities. The Rose Center also hosts workshops, forums, and webinars on various aspects of community building in cities across the country.
About the National League of Cities
The National League of Cities (NLC) is dedicated to helping city leaders build better communities. NLC is a resource and advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages, representing more than 218 million Americans.

About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the Institute has more than 37,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.