Funny how a seemingly innocuous Denver Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meeting can change a person\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
While Ean Thomas Tafoya studied at Metropolitan State University, a professor gave his class a choice of touring a recreational center or attending a parks board meeting. Tafoya said he had worked at rec centers for years so he opted for the meeting to try something new and that\u2019s when doors started to open.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, Tafoya said board members Leslie Twarogowski and Darrell Watson \u201cgoaded\u201d him into testifying. He wasn\u2019t sure what to discuss, so he spoke about what he knew. When he went to the park with his friends there weren\u2019t any recycling options.<\/p>\n
That complaint transformed into Tafoya\u2019s first petition, which hundreds of students signed. Now you\u2019ll find purple recycling dumpsters in Denver\u2019s parks.<\/p>\n
Turns out that night the board held its annual executive leadership meeting, Tafoya said. And Watson invited him to stay and meet Lauri Dannemiller, former Parks and Recreation director.<\/p>\n
Tafoya said he wound up volunteering at city greenhouses and the department gave him hundreds of plants to help with his schoolwork.<\/p>\n
He also met a member of Denver\u2019s Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation who encouraged him to become more involved with the civic group.<\/p>\n
Tafoya began working in the mayor\u2019s office. He attended every City Council meeting, learning everything the group learned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started to understand city workers and how the city worked,\u201d Tafoya said. \u201cIt was like getting a master’s in public administration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now Tafoya, 36, is running for mayor in a crowded field. Coincidentally Watson and Twarogowski will be on the April ballot too as they run for seats on the City Council.<\/p>\n
The Denver native (\u201cfourth generation,\u201d he\u2019s quick to say) grew up in West Denver. Born at St. Anthony\u2019s, he said, which he notes is now a movie theater and apartment complex. He’s quick to speak about the connections he holds to seemingly every corner of the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was raised at marches, raised doing service-based work, giving out gifts on holidays,\u201d Tafoya said.<\/p>\n
Born on Earth Day, Tafoya said he was \u201can environmentalist from the beginning.\u201d He\u2019s the Colorado state director for the environmental nonprofit GreenLatinos and is frequently involved in activist movements. He was among the dozens of people arrested in 2020 during a climate change protest held during Gov. Jared Polis\u2019s annual state of the state address.<\/p>\n
While he\u2019s never before held elected office, Tafoya said he has experience working at the local, state and federal levels, which sets him aside from many of his opponents in the election.<\/p>\n
If elected as mayor, Tafoya said he\u2019d work to lower energy bills, protect air and water quality and improve the city\u2019s infrastructure, particularly its transportation network, which he called \u201cinherently dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Housing, environment, public health and safety sit at the center of issues important to Denver, Tafoya said. Property crime is on the rise, he added, a symptom of economic strain that could be soothed by improved access to healthy\u00a0food, reliable and affordable transportation and housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an abundance for us, we need to have an abundance mindset,\u201d Tafoya said. \u201cI envision a city where my cousins could afford to buy my grandmother\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plus, Tafoya noted, Denver isn\u2019t an island and its problems don\u2019t stop at the city limits. The mayor should work better with neighboring cities and counties to solve problems throughout the region.<\/p>\n