Hickenlooper's 2nd Term and More Ozone Alerts

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper was sworn in for a second term yesterday. In his inauguration speech, he promised a "new urban renaissance."

At the same time, the Denver area is experiencing record heat and continued threats from ozone pollution, otherwise known as smog. Yesterday marked the sixth day in a row that an ozone health alert was issued, and today promises to bring a seventh. That's a week straight where ozone in the Denver metro area endangered the health and well-being of children, seniors, those with asthma, and even active adults.

In Hickenlooper's speech, public health was conspicuously not mentioned and air pollution certainly wasn't brought up. The speech actually seemed light on any details. It seemed more like a pep rally to inspire blind allegiance rather than motivating any collaboration around tangible solutions.

Public health seems to continue to elude Mayor Hickenlooper. We're all for glamorizing Denver; it's a great place to live, after all; but let's not gloss over the problems in the process. Hickenlooper can promise all the "new urban renaissance" he wants, but without actually taking steps to address the issue of ozone pollution, or other public health issues for that matter, Denver's just going to be like most other cities--smoggy and sickly. The irony of promising a "new urban renaissance" on the sixth consecutive day of unhealthy ozone pollution seems foretelling.

Seriously, Mayor Hickenlooper needs to wake up and see the smog for what it is: a serious health problem that needs his attention. If Denver has any hope of being the most enlightened and progressive city in the country, public health needs his attention.