For 24 years the last name of the mayor of Aurora has been Tauer. In 1987, when Ronald Reagan was president, Microsoft released Windows 2.0, and the Broncos lost to the Giants in Super Bowl XXI, Paul Tauer was elected mayor here. In 2003 his son Ed succeeded him.
That is going to change this year. Ed is term limited and on his way out. So far, though, no one who really excites me is running to take his place. The only person whose name has been discussed for the job about whom I would have been enthusiastic, Molly Markert, has decided not to run. That's too bad. She may have taken a step or two I disagreed with, but overall she has been and will continue to be a vital part of Aurora. She would make a good mayor.
Aurora is a good city, but it could be much better. It badly needs new leadership, though, and with Molly out of the race no one else has shown up yet to provide it. Steve Hogan has been part of the local political scene since 1979, when Jimmy Carter was dealing with the Iran hostage crisis, Bill Gates was tinkering with BASIC, and John Elway had just entered Stanford. I don't think he'll be the innovative mayor this city deserves. None of the other names I've heard kicked around excite me, either. We need another candidate, and since the election is less than nine months away, we need one now.
I sense a lot of dissatisfaction and immense boredom with the way things have been run. This is an enormous opportunity for someone new to step in and point the way forward. What we need is someone who could be for Aurora what John Hickenlooper was for Denver--a new face, successful outside politics, with a fresh approach and no baggage from past battles.
Here is what I would like to see, ideally, in a mayoral candidate. Besides meeting the basic qualifications, of course, here are some traits I'd like to see in her or him:
- a strong concern for our city and its future;
- capable of leading a large enterprise and turning it around in a period of tight finances;
- energetic, willing to work hard both campaigning and after election;
- a good speaker, personable, maybe even charismatic;
- respect for Aurora's diversity, one of its greatest strengths;
- ability to work well with the business community without being dedicated only to its interests;
- commitment to preserving city services and restoring lost services;
- determination to get the FasTracks I-225 corridor completed and linked to the East Corridor;
- understanding of the necessity of planning for Aurora's long term water needs, particularly as climate change is likely to reduce precipitation both in the mountains and locally;
- a vision of renewal of Northwest Aurora, including the Fan Fair area, as vital to the city overall, without gentrification that drives out the community there now;
- election of a woman or a person of color would emphatically mark the transition from the past 24 years to the future.
There is one characteristic this person wouldn't need. This is a non-partisan race. As long as a mayor cares about the right things and has the right skills, he or she might be a member of either political party, or no party at all.
All that's not too much to ask for is it? Actually, it is. It's unlikely that anyone will have all those traits, but someone with many of them could easily be our next mayor. But if the routine political process has failed to produce that person yet, to find one we who are usually outside that process will have to think and act outside our routine.
Do you know someone like that? Could you talk to him or her about running?
It might be a businessperson, or someone from a nonprofit or community group, or from a religious community. If you know someone like that, could you talk to them about this opportunity? Or you could pass on that person's name to me, and I can pass it to people who have been much more involved in Aurora politics than I.
I will be sending this note to a number of people both through email and on Facebook. If you get it twice please excuse the redundancy.
