Cultural partners who will benefit from the passage of 2B gathered with Mayor Michael B. Hancock tonight in celebration. From left: Tamra Ward (Denver Zoo), Kristy Bassuener (Denver Art Museum), Andrew Rowan (Denver Zoo), Marie Revenew (Denver Zoo), Andrea Kalivas Fulton (Denver Art Museum) and Janice Sinden (Denver Center for the Performing Arts). Photo by John Moore for the DCPA NewsCenter.

Results mean renovations to Stage and Ricketson theatres, but will benefit an array of area cultural institutions as well

By John More
Senior Arts Journalist

Denver residents overwhelmingly approved a bond initiative tonight that will make funds available for 460 projects valued at $937 million, including $19 million to renovate the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ Stage and Ricketson theatres — without a tax increase.

The proposed improvements were presented to voters as seven separate spending packages. The referendum that includes the DCPA and other cultural institutions, designated as 2B, passed with 71 percent approval. Votes in favor of 2B numbered 98,640, with 40,536 against. All seven ballot measures passed by similar margins.

Mayor Michael B. Hancock called the initiative “a thoughtful, balanced and responsible investment package created by and for the people of Denver.” He credited the relatively easy victory to the voters themselves.

“This is the people’s bond,” Hancock told the DCPA NewsCenter at a gathering in the Seawell Ballroom. “You led us to these investments. We heard you loud and clear. Tonight, the voters responded appropriately and now, because of you, we are able to go forward.”

DCPA President and CEO Janice Sinden said improvements to the Stage and Ricketson theatres are now 40 years in coming. In full, 2B represents about $116 million that will benefit six other are facilities as well: The Denver Zoo, Buell Theatre, Red Rocks, Denver Art Museum, Denver Botanic Gardens and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

“If voters had not supported 2B tonight, I think our arts and cultural institutions would have needed a lot more time to really engage the community to make these substantial improvements,” Sinden said. “It would have taken an extraordinary effort to raise more than $100 million without 2B.”

Hancock, similarly, said what the city would have lost most tonight without these victories is time.

“It would have taken a lot more time to get where we need to go as a city,” he said.  Instead, the outcome represents an unparalleled opportunity for the city. 

Roughly half of the total bond program will go toward road maintenance, sidewalk connections, intersection improvements and transit infrastructure. The slate includes library renovations; new recreation centers and playgrounds; and upgrades to police and fire stations, cultural institutions and enhancements to Denver Health Medical Center.

The seven separate ballot questions included:

• $431 million for transportation and mobility projects
• $116.9 million for city-owned cultural facility improvements (including the Stage and Ricketon theatres)
• $75 million for a new outpatient care center at Denver Health Medical Center
• $77 million for safety facility projects
• $69.3 million for Denver Public Library improvements
• $151.6 million for parks and recreation
• $16.5 million for city-owned facility improvements