Foes of grassroots measure gearing up

Building and real estate interests seeking to defeat Denver’s Green Roof Initiative have quickly built up a 6-to-1 fundraising advantage over supporters of the grassroots ballot measure.

The initiative, which was certified for the ballot early last month as Initiated Ordinance 300, would require most new buildings of at least 25,000 square feet to have gardens, solar panels or other “green roof” components.

They would have to cover at least 20 percent of their roofs’ surface, depending on a building’s size, and the requirement also could be triggered by roof replacements on existing buildings.

On Sept. 18, members of the Colorado Real Estate Alliance filed paperwork forming an opposition committee called Citizens for a Responsible Denver. It aims to defeat the ballot measure by portraying it through mailers and doorto-door canvassing as “a foolish mandate” that would drive up building costs, making the Denver market more expensive.

The committee’s first campaign finance report, filed Thursday, shows it has raised $41,500 from four donors — with $30,000 coming from the Issues Mobilization Committee, which shares an Englewood address with the Colorado Association of Realtors.

That compares to just $6,421.34 raised so far by the Green Roof Initiative committee. It raised that amount over several months, including $3,445 in September — with nearly all of it coming from smalldollar donations.

The initiative is spearheaded by a group of environmental activists that includes Denver resident Brandon Rietheimer. They argue that the requirement for green roof components would help reduce the urban “heat island” effect.

The other donors to the opposition committee were the Associated General Contractors of Colorado, the Colorado Association of Mechanical and Plumbing Contractors’ Opportunity Fund and the Denver Metropolitan Commercial Association of Realtors.

The combined fundraising of both green roof committees pales in comparison to that of a committee formed to rally Denver voters to support seven ballot questions that form the city’s $937 million bond package. On the ballot, they are Referred Questions 2A through 2G.

The Our Denver committee, which hasn’t attracted an opposition campaign, raised $690,921.72 in September, bringing its fundraising total to nearly $2.2 million.

The campaign is already spending money quickly by buying Facebook and other social media ads, sending direct mail appeals and producing a television spot featuring Mayor Michael Hancock.

That committee still had nearly $900,000 left in the bank at the end of September.