Publisher’s note: The interview below was originally published in A New Outlook Magazine, October 2016. I was privileged and honored to have spent time with Mayor Hogan, who recently passed away from cancer. Mayor Hogan was extremely generous with his time. He was Aurora’s champion. Mayor Hogan passed away May 13, 2018. My condolences to his family and the city of Aurora.
Interview with Mayor Steve Hogan
I was pleasantly surprised that the mayor came to greet me in the waiting area. I expected his assistant to retrieve me and bring me to the mayor’s office. However, Aurora’s mayor, which has 375,000 people, which used to be considered a suburb of Denver, is very hands on. During our 30 plus minute interview, he didn’t strike me as someone who depends on others to get the job done.
Mayor Hogan is a tall man, probably at least 6’1″. He introduced himself as “Hi, I’m Steve Hogan”. Right away, he made me feel comfortable. Being that I’ve never done an interview on his level before, I was quite nervous. It’s not like I’m a reporter with The Denver Post or one of the other major print publications in the metro area. I clearly stated to Kim Stuart, the communications director of Aurora that I’m taking over Outlook, an Aurora based magazine and that I wanted to refresh. Both she and the mayor couldn’t have been more nicer to me, especially to arrange the interview as quickly as they did. I did find out that he is an avid golfer and he takes in a Rockies game periodically, when his schedule permits. Below is an edited version of that interview. You can also hear parts of it on the ColoradoGrandparent.com website, under ‘Podcasts’.
Howard Wedgle: “What are the areas that need revitalization?”
Mayor Steve Hogan: ” The areas that need revitalization are the original part of the city, along Colfax. Really, we’re focusing on everything from Yosemite east to I-225. Of course, that includes part of the area around the Fitzsimmons Anshutz Campus. We’re also looking at that area with an emphasis on arts and artists and it’s a long slow process, but we are making progress. That’s one area. There are other parts such as the old Stanley Aviation building which has been turned into the Stanley Marketplace. Eventually that will all connect. That’s at 25th & Dallas. So it’s almost stand alone at this point. That will change. It will all connect. That’s a prime revitalization area. Believe it or not Parker Road and Peoria/I-225, the 9 Mile Station area. That’s another major focus.”
HW: “Why is that?”
SH: “The retail center there ( on the north side of Parker) started going downhill years ago. There’s another area at Havana around 2nd Ave., the old Fan Fare site. We decided to tear that building down and we’re looking at a redevelopment there. Most people don’t think of that area as being old, but it’s 50 years old. ”
HW: “What are the major projects that you are doing?”
SH: “The light rail line.”
HW: “That will be known as the R Line, right?”
SH: “Right. It should open up by the end of this year. That will change a lot what developments happen in the future. It will provide an opportunity to provide for vertical
building, not just horizontal. It will provide an opportunity for different kinds of housing; different kinds of retail. Hopefully some night life options. Comedy clubs; those kinds of things. Fitzsimmons Anshutz Campus. Right now, today, the economic impact for Colorado is larger than the whole ski industry in Colorado and it’s only half built out. So you can imagine will it will be when it’s completed. A third item is the Gaylord Hotel. That will be around 64th and Tower Road. It’s under construction. It will open up around Thanksgiving 2018. Right now, it’s the largest non-casino hotel construction in the United States and it’s in Aurora, Colorado. It will be 1500 rooms; 400,000 sq. ft. of convention space. It will half a dozen restaurants inside it’s walls.
(At this point, the Mayor showed me where it will be located on a very large map in his office.)
SH: (continues) “People don’t know, but Buckley Air Force Base has 15,000 people working in and around the base with large companies, such as: Raytheon & Boeing & Lockheed Martin are there because of the Air Force Base and the base is only half built out. As long as it doesn’t get caught up in base closures, it will play a major role in the future of this city for decades.”
HW: “What is available for boomers and seniors?”
SH: “Lots of outdoor activities, biking, hiking, golf. There are six public golf courses. We have over 100 miles of hiking and biking trails. The Aurora Parks system has been named as one of the top ten park systems in the United States. Incidentally, so is Denver’s.
There’s a full range of housing options. There are recreational opportunities such as the Aurora Reservoir. It sits next to the Arapahoe Park race track. We continue to be rated as one of the highest retirement cities, because of its’ low cost of living, easy to get around. It will get even easier when the R Line opens. The opportunities are here.”
Howard Wedgle: What calls do you personally take from employers?
Mayor Hogan: We are constantly looking for new job sectors and new employers to help diversify the economy. For example, we just sited a new Amazon distribution center. We also just closed on a land deal with Chase for a large regional call center. The whole area along I-70 from basically Airport Blvd. east to Powhatan Road, is the major distribution center for the whole east side of the metropolitan area and it’s growing. The area just south of DIA is starting to open up. There are a whole host of names that everybody would recognize that are negotiating with those property owners to come in and when the deals come together, we announce them.
HW: How much involvement does the city take to make those deals happen?
MH: If there any incentives (that require the city to be involved in) we are an active participant. In terms of existing development we are about 58% built out.
HW: What are you most proud of?
MH: I think there are a couple of things: First is helping to bring about is an awareness that we are not a suburb anymore, but a city. Aurora has a long and proud history of being focused on neighborhoods. Even when I first moved here, people spoke about the neighborhood they were from, not the city they were from. We now have more than 100,000 people who don’t leave the city to go to work. We’re a population of 375,000. If you look at the census bureau numbers, we are now the 54th largest city in the country. This leads into the type of city that we are. The diversity of this community. We know that we have students in our public schools from more than 130 different countries. We know that they go home and speak more than 140 different languages. So, one of the things that we have done here to help deal with that is creating and staffing an office of international initiatives, so we can help work hand in hand with schools, and with the businesses, and with the other parts of the community that interact with each other. This isn’t a suburb anymore. So helping our city government and our population to come to that realization is one of the best things I can do.