Mike Coffman
In the News
Reelect Mike Coffman as Aurora mayor
The Denver Gazette
Aurora has never before had a mayor quite like Mike Coffman. And it’s not just because of the lifelong Auroran’s extraordinary resume: U.S. Marine Corps Reserve officer; longtime state legislator; Colorado state treasurer; Colorado secretary of state; five-term U.S. congressman.
It’s also because he speaks his mind, does what he thinks is right and blazes his own trails — whether or not it’s popular with the press or the political class.
Like the time a couple of years ago when Coffman, two years into his first term at the helm of city government, went undercover for a week among Aurora’s substantial homeless population on the streets to do some investigative reporting of his own. He affirmed, among other things, that many of the chronic street dwellers who refuse shelter and insist on pitching tents in public — blighting urban landscapes; fomenting petty and sometimes violent crime; panhandling intersections, fouling parks, playgrounds and other public spaces — are in fact drug and alcohol addicts rather than victims of economic circumstance.
Hancock, Suthers and Coffman: Our cities need Colorado lawmakers to help reduce crime
The Denver Post
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers on Colorado’s crime problem.
Crime remains a serious issue in Colorado, and we, as mayors of Colorado’s three largest cities, are committed to working with the state legislature and the governor on this issue in the upcoming legislative session.
Mike Coffman: We must limit turf in new developments and ban new turf golf courses
The Denver Post
While western water issues have been receiving news coverage for several years, those challenges have recently become common knowledge. Ensuring safe, reliable water is becoming more of a challenge for many entities, including Aurora.
It’s critical now that elected officials take a proactive approach to meeting the water needs of their growing communities. That’s why, as mayor of Aurora, I have proposed a new water conservation ordinance that will not only save a great deal of water but will preserve community amenities in a sustainable way.
Aurora long has embraced a strong conservation ethic. We were one of the first cities to use reclaimed water for municipal irrigation. We’ve limited the amount of turf in yards for several decades.
Mike Coffman: Aurora cannot turn a blind eye to the dangers of urban camping
The Denver Post
I’m proposing a 72-hour notice system before encampments are abated in Aurora.
Lisa Isom has owned an office building in Aurora for eight years. The first five years were fine but the last three have been hell.
Lisa had two sheds behind her building that she was using for storage. Homeless individuals have broken into both sheds so many times that a police officer advised her to give up using the sheds and dismantle them. Now she will have to use an entire office suite, that otherwise could be leased out, for storage. The problems didn’t stop there.
Allowing these conditions to continue is not fair to the majority who work and live in our city, nor is it right to turn a blind eye to this problem only to enable it to continue. That is why I’m introducing an ordinance for the city of Aurora that will ban urban camping.
Mike Coffman: What I learned immersed in a homeless community
The Denver Post
The Aurora mayor has received criticism for his decision to stay in shelters and an encampment.
By now, you have likely heard about my decision to immerse myself into the metro’s homeless community for a week. Like many of you, I had never experienced life in an encampment or a shelter. To better understand those challenges and have more informed discussions about resolving them, I wanted to live them and feel them to the extent possible.