Mayor Bob Greenlee Speaks
City of Boulder
Author: Anonymous
On his first full day as mayor of Boulder, Bob Greenlee addressed members and guests of Boulder Tomorrow, providing a brief glimpse into some of the issues he hopes to tackle in coming months with the help of the new City Council.
One of the top items on Mayor Greenlee's list is to work with council to conduct an "exit poll" of the approximately 20 businesses that left Boulder during the last year.
"Some of the reasons for the exodus may have had nothing to do with the city, its plans, policies or the uncertainties it creates. But I believe it would be a very wise investment to sit down with these companies - either individually or collectively - to try to determine why they left," Greenlee said.
"It would be nice to find out what we've done right and what we've done wrong. We can't improve anything unless we know what we're doing that isn't right," he added.
The redevelopment and expansion of Crossroads Mall will also be a top priority for the City Council if it is to remain a viable tax generator for Boulder.
"It is going to take a complete re-thinking and an integration of the additional BURA area around Crossroads to make it an ongoing activity center over time. We will need input from a wide variety of individuals and groups. We certainly don't want to create a situation that will in any way negatively impact the rest of the retail community in Boulder," Greenlee said.
Greenlee also spoke of a need to improve relations between the City and the University of Colorado, particularly now, as the university examines its own priorities and planning efforts.
"There's no doubt that we have had our occasional skirmishes and differences of opinion, but it is incumbent upon our community to get involved with CU's long-term goals in a positive way," he said.
According to Greenlee, with the defeat of the Guide the Ride ballot initiative, revisiting the Transportation Master Plan and finding permanent funding for the Hop and Skip programs will be critical.
"We need to make the effort to have that program continue to succeed, and even expand it with outlying parking lots that can shuttle people into the city and deal with our peak hour congestion problem. We need to reexamine what we've done with our transportation dollars over the years, versus coming up with some creative new oddball way to solve them," he said.
With the rezoning process complete, Greenlee hopes to have Council examine the issue of the Master Site Review Process and whether it makes sense to allow the marketplace to decide at what pace the build-out occurs.
"Some of the planning efforts that may have served us well in the past need to be boxed up, tied with a ribbon, and put in a deep dark hole somewhere so we can rewrite the book," Greenlee said.
Greenlee also cited concerns regarding neighborhood programs that negatively impact the entire community while benefiting only small pockets of constituents. Administrative issues, such as zero-based budgeting, internal audits of city departments, and ways to privatize some city services will also see the light under Mayor Greenlee's watch.
Greenlee also noted that finding a competent City Manager is certainly an important task ahead of Council.
"I've often thought the City Manager for Boulder should be sort of like a circus ringleader," Greenlee said jokingly. "But seriously, he or she needs to be a good facilitator who can keep us on mission and manage a diverse array of department heads. Tim Honey was pretty good at that. We, in my opinion, will be hard pressed to find someone to match his skills in that area."
Certainly not short on ideas, with an intelligent, forthright and innovative approach, Bob Greenlee brings a new style of leadership and business acumen to Boulder.
