Platform

This document was ratified by the Denver Green Party on July 27, 2018.
 

NEIGHBORHOODS WITH SHARED PROSPERITY

  • We support the repeal of the urban camping ban and passage of the Denver Right to Survive Initiative.
  • We oppose the sale of publicly-held land to private interests, when low-income housing could be built instead.
  • We oppose gentrification and call for tenant unions, rent control and ordinances that prohibit predatory rent hikes.
  • We call for a reassessment of property taxes and expanded deadlines and programs for assessment protests and taxpayer assistance funds. We call for the end of the punitive volunteer program for senior citizens to relieve their property tax burden and instead call for total property tax abolishment for low-income senior citizens. City council should make a needs assessment for zoning and business development in Denver’s low-income communities, so that property taxes don’t arbitrarily hike because of developments the local community may not need or benefit from.
  • We call for elimination of food deserts in working-class areas of Denver by increasing community garden access, community-owned food cooperatives and official city-sponsored requests for proposals from select for-profit grocery entities.
  • We call on the City and County of Denver to invest in the establishment of worker-owned cooperatives and worker self-directed enterprises.

A SAFE AND PEACEFUL DENVER

    • We call for a redefinition of safety via city investments in community-based conflict resolution and mental health crisis de-escalation, as opposed to increased policing and surveillance.
    • We call for the demilitarization and dismantling of the Denver Police Department.
    • We oppose an elected sheriff.
    • We oppose the use of private security in Denver’s public spaces, whose behavior often pushes the boundaries of law and creates a hostile environment for Denver residents of every economic class.
    • We call for the immediate removal of HALO cameras, shot spotters, license tag readers, police drones, red light cameras and other equipment used to conduct surveillance on Denver residents for the purposes of filling the city’s coffers with revenue from fees and fines.
    • We call for the decriminalization of sex work within the City and County of Denver.
    • We call for Denver to be declared a sanctuary city in word and deed, as well as for a total denial of detentions, remands to, and other forms of cooperation with, the Department of Homeland Security personnel.
    • We call for an end to cash bail, which disproportionately affects low-income people.
    • We call for an end to exploitative fines in Denver, especially parking and towing, nuisance and other such fines that criminalize poverty.
    • We call for infrastructure investment and a reprioritization of bond spending, with priority given to underserved communities.
    • We call for free public transportation.

CANNABIS JUSTICE

  • We support the complete reversal of cannabis convictions without date restriction, in observance of the legalization of cannabis in Colorado.
  • We call for fair access to dispensary licensing and ownership by people from oppressed communities, including ex-felons.

A CLEAN AND HEALTHY DENVER

  • We oppose all oil and gas exploration and extraction, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking), in the City and County of Denver and its annexed areas.
  • We oppose the expansion of I-70 and demand that the City of Denver take steps to keep families in their homes and expand medical services in the Globeville, Elyria-Swansea community to mitigate the environmental effects in children.
  • We support the implementation of green roofs, renewable energy and other ways to restore the environmental balance of Denver’s air quality.

A DEMOCRATICALLY-RUN DENVER

  • We support campaign finance reform and urge passage of the Democracy for the People municipal ballot initiative.
  • We support ranked choice voting in municipal and school board elections in Denver.
  • We call for a cap on contributions for school board candidates.
  • We call for an end to felony disenfranchisement, while recognizing that Colorado is not a permanently disenfranchising state, and support proactive reintegration.
  • We call for a citywide review of all city ordinances and for a resident-led charter amendment process.

A DENVER FREE FROM CORPORATE GREED

  • We oppose the Olympics in Denver.
  • We oppose corporate welfare in the form of incentives such as Tax-Increment Financing (TIF).
  • We demand an ethical and transparent process to seek official approval from Denver Public Schools and the public at large before TIF subsidies are granted to new development, as currently TIF strips Denver’s local share of tax revenue destined for schools and causes state general fund monies to be redirected away from rural school districts to shore up the difference, as required by the Colorado school funding formula.

AN EDUCATED DENVER POPULATION

  • We unequivocally oppose the privatization of Denver’s schools, including those organized as nonprofits or those that are managed by non- or for-profit charter management organizations.
  • We oppose school closures and co-locations that are engineered to make room for charters and other schools the community neither requests nor needs.
  • We call for the end of charter school approvals in Denver.
  • We call for Denver Public Schools to abide by the federal court order regarding English language learners.
  • We call for the end of the School Performance Framework and call for the end of “performance” as a goal for students, as well as the use of standardized testing as the de-facto sole determinant of school and educator effectiveness.
  • We call for free education at Community College of Denver for all residents of Denver, regardless of citizenship status.
  • We call for the abolition of debt related to in-state tuition in Colorado.

A GLOBALLY RESPONSIBLE DENVER

  • We call on the Denver city government to back the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Movement in support of Palestinians and to immediately divest of any financial instrument that is based on investment in the settler colonial state of Israel.

Updated on November 5, 2018.

previous platform at https://denvergreenparty.org/platform-7-27-2018/