This campaign has been, is and will be all the way to election day, a campaign of people and ideas. We are all here tonight because we love this city - we believe in this city. And we believe in ourselves and our ability to improve people's lives. I was not born in Denver, but came with my family and fell in love with the people, the place, the energy and the opportunity. Like so many people, once here, we could not imagine living any other place on earth.
Federico Pea was one of those people. Twenty years ago he asked us to join him in imagining a great city. Twelve years ago Wellington Webb asked us to walk with him and dream with him. Both of these men defied the odds, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. I am ready, and eager, to defy the odds once again.
I AM RUNNING FOR MAYOR BECAUSE THE SPECIAL CHALLENGES THAT LIE AHEAD DEMAND CAPABLE, EXPERIENCED, IMAGINATIVE AND PASSIONATE LEADERSHIP. I AM RUNNING BECAUSE OF WHO I AM, WHAT I BELIEVE AND WHAT I BELIEVE THIS CITY CAN BECOME. I AM RUNNING TO PULL THIS CITY TOGETHER AND TO MOBILIZE THE RESOURCES OF THIS CITY TO IMPROVE PEOPLE'S LIVES.
I AM RUNNING TO GET THINGS DONE. AND THERE IS WORK, IMPORTANT WORK, TO BE DONE.
TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF PEOPLE ACROSS THIS CITY, WE MUST THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT TRANSPORTATION, THE ECONOMY, EDUCATION, PUBLIC SAFETY -
AND THEN ACT ON THOSE NEW IDEAS. WE MUST REINVENT HOW WE DO BUSINESS AS A CITY. AND WE MUST BUILD BRIDGES, FORGE PARTNERSHIPS AND EARN THE PUBLIC'S TRUST.
When I served on city council, I led a partnership to create a transportation management organization to address traffic and transportation needs in southeast Denver. As mayor, I will lead the effort to fund and build new light rail lines, a train to DIA, and a range of public transportation, pedestrian friendly and traffic management enhancements to better meet the needs of all the people in Denver.
When I was on city council, I spearheaded the Best Babies initiative and served on the Head Start Commission. I am running for mayor because we must change how we think about the health, education and development of all of Denver's children, and I will make children and education my cause. We have to prepare our little ones before they enter kindergarten with early learning environments, including full-day kindergarten. We must help parents to help their children. We must ensure adequate, affordable and stable housing so children, who now average three or four schools in one school year, can stay put in one school. And we must do so much more. The lives of our children, their preparation and success are all of our responsibility.
In addition, during my service on city council, I led an in-depth examination of our police department. I am running for mayor because we must change how we think about law enforcement and public safety to meet the new security challenges we face today. We must break down barriers of the old ways and transform our law enforcement capability. We have no choice. We are the front lines - no one else can do it for us.
I am running for mayor to change how this city does business. We must rebuild public trust. Over the past few years, the loss of faith in so many of our institutions makes it difficult for the public to trust that leaders will and can act in the public interest. That is why I will continue the work I began on council with the fight for a strong ethics code. AND AS MAYOR, I WILL MAKE HIGH ETHICAL CONDUCT, THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE, AND ACCOUNTABILITY THE STANDARD.
TO BE MAYOR OF THIS CITY, YOU MUST HAVE A REASON, A PURPOSE, A VISION, IDEAS AND EXPERIENCE, AND A PLAN AND PASSION. BUT YOU ALSO MUST BE ABLE TO WIN.
I CAN WIN BECAUSE FOR THE NEXT 146 DAYS I AM GOING TO DO WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING FOR THE LAST 146 DAYS. WORK HARD EVERYDAY. TALK DIRECTLY TO VOTERS EVERY DAY. GIVE PEOPLE A CHANCE TO LOOK ME IN THE EYE, ASK ME QUESTIONS, AND TAKE MY MEASURE. AND AS I AM ABLE TO INSPIRE MORE PEOPLE LIKE YOU TO HELP ME IN THIS EFFORT, AND TO REACH OUT TO OTHERS, THIS CAMPAIGN WILL BECOME ABOUT MUCH MORE THAN ONE PERSON. AND TOGETHER, WE WILL WIN.
A campaign for mayor is hard work. Leading this city is hard work. But the real heroes, the people who have the toughest jobs, are not the mayor or city leaders, but are teachers and police officers, parents working two jobs, small business owners struggling in this tough economy. I welcome the hard work of this campaign and the work it takes to lead this city to honor the hard work these people do everyday.
I know something of hard work. I learned it from my family. For most of my childhood, my father worked six days a week in a grocery store. A very smart and proud Irishman, he bagged groceries, cut meat, stocked shelves, did the books. My Italian mother was up before dawn everyday mending and ironing clothes. And her days usually ended long after we were all in bed, on her hands and knees, scrubbing the kitchen floor.
My first job came at age 13, at the local public library. That job changed my life because it introduced me to other worlds, through books and the readers of books and the people that I came to know. It taught me that if you work hard, if you have a passion, if you trust yourself and your instincts and surround yourself with strong people, you can accomplish anything.
WHEN I THINK ABOUT THIS CITY, I THINK ABOUT THE PEOPLE - ALL THE PEOPLE OF DENVER. I INTEND TO BRING MY CAMPAIGN TO EVERY PART OF THIS CITY.
TOMORROW I BEGIN IN MONTBELLO. AND FOR THE NEXT FOUR DAYS, I WILL SPEND A DAY AND OPEN A "FRONT PORCH" OFFICE IN EACH OF THE FOUR QUADRANTS OF THE CITY. BEFORE MAY 6, I INTEND TO CAMPAIGN IN EVERY ONE OF THE 75 NEIGHBORHOODS IN THIS CITY.
As I have talked about the work that needs to be done in education, transit, housing, safety and other areas, people have said, "You can't possibly get this done. How will there be enough money, enough good people, enough hours in the day to do all we want to do?" I say we must try. We must start.
One of my heroes is Bill Shore, who 15 years ago, single handedly began an effort to address child hunger and since then has raised more than $100 million in that fight. He was inspired by the cathedral builders - the laborers and artisans who created the great cathedrals of Europe, many of which took decades, even hundreds of years to complete. The only thing they knew for sure was that their work would never be completed in their lifetime. But that did not stop them from dedicating their lives to something much bigger than themselves. Our work may not be completed in our time in service or even in our lifetime. But we must begin. And we must be dedicated. And we must persevere.
I am eager to begin.
Let me close once again with my thanks to all of you and with the words of Robert Kennedy that have inspired me over the years. He said something to this effect:
Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills. Yet many of the world's greatest movements have flowed from the work of a single individual.
These men and women moved the world, and so can we all. Few of us will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
Each time someone stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lives of others, or strikes out against injustice, you send forth a tiny ripple of hope and crossing each other from a million different centers, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
For me, you are the ripples of hope that will provide the energy and resources to help this campaign succeed so that together, we will make the lives of all the people of Denver a little better in the years ahead.
Thank you.
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