In District 10, voters split by neighborhood assets

In the District 10 runoff, Capitol Hill and Cherry Creek are going in opposite directions.

Both neighborhoods have seen an influx of new residents, and the district has some of the city’s densest residential areas. But the two areas have split in the competition between Councilman Wayne New, who received 39 percent of the vote against three challengers in the May 7 election, and Chris Hinds, the top-finishing challenger at 30 percent.

New is most popular in the southern half of the district, among the new highrise towers and pricier neighborhoods of Cherry Creek and Country Club. Hinds’ base is in Capitol Hill and along Colfax Avenue, where younger renters have poured into tightly packed old apartment buildings.

The challenger

Hinds, 44, says he’s running for “walkable, livable cities,” and he’s promoting his endorsements from the city and state Democratic parties.

“This is a very progressive district, and I think that it resonates with people that they want to do have a progressive who shares the majority of their values on council,” Hinds said.

He describes a plan for a “20 minute” neighborhood, where “all that we need to survive and thrive” is within a manageable walk.

He wants to fix “busted, broken” sidewalks and build out a protected bikelane network from downtown to Cherry Creek. He also has floated the idea of removing single-occupancy cars from 16th Avenue, leaving it largely for bikes and buses.

“I’m not trying to take cars away from the people who live in Cherry Creek and Country Club, and they would be really angry if I tried to — but we do need to make a strong movement away from cars,” he said.

He’s interested in allowing accessory dwellings and the conversion of singlefamily homes to duplexes, or the subdivision of houses into apartments. Hinds also is interested in forcing developers to include affordable housing, rather than giving them the option to pay a fee; that would likely require a change at the state legislature.

Hinds argues that his MBA in finance and a bachelor’s degree in computer science will be valuable skills on council. He also said his disability — he was partially paralyzed by a motor vehicle while riding his bike at 18th Avenue and Logan Street — would add a new perspective to the council. He’s a frequent presence in the state legislature and won passage of two laws to prevent the fraudulent use of disability parking.

The incumbent

New, 70, is relatively quiet at council meetings, advertising himself as a pragmatist who focuses on constituent services and systems improvements. A former hospital executive, he took office in 2015.

“When it comes down to the nuts and bolts operational issues of trying to make improvements, I just have more experience than some of my colleagues, and I think they appreciate that,” he said. “The main thing is improving the city, the services.”

Hinds has questioned New’s politics: “I think that a lot of people in this race are wondering what kind of politician you are and whether you’re honest with people,” he said, pointing at New’s support of Sen. Cory Gardner. “So I’m just wondering, who are you?”

New was registered Republican and switched to unaffiliated in 2015.

“This is a nonpartisan race. Politics don’t enter into it, and I don’t know why you’re bringing it into it so strongly,” he told Hinds, explaining that he also has been a Democrat and a “Dixiecrat.”

Dixiecrats are historically defined as southern Democrats who mobilized to block civil rights legislation and defend states’ rights to maintain segregation. Hinds later distributed the clip from his campaign account to the NAACP and other groups.

New said he was unaware of the word’s racist history, having learned a different definition from his parents.

In an interview days before the forum, he had described a Dixiecrat as someone who is “fiscally conservative but very, very supportive of social issues,” and he repeated that definition Friday. Informed of the historical definition, he said he was surprised: “I’m definitely not in favor of that. I should have probably never said it.”