Shifting Neighborhood Demographics in Districts 8 and 11 Impact Traditional Black Council Seats

By Tanya Ishikawa

Take a walk through Five Points and you’ll notice that the scenery is a lot different than it was 30 years ago: new businesses, new condominiums, remodeled Victorians, and the people walking dogs and pushing babies in strollers are not the same as those seen in the 1970s, 80s or even the early 90s.

The residents in the historically African American neighborhood, and the nearby neighborhoods that make up Council District 8, have also changed. The new faces are lighter, wealthier and younger, with smaller families. A major demographic shift is also taking place in Council District 11; Denver ’s other traditionally Black community. There, a large influx of Hispanic Americans and immigrants are becoming the majority population.

The districts’ changing populations could lead to Denver losing its only city council seats ever held by African Americans.

“You tend to vote with folks whose values mesh with your values,” said District 11 incumbent and unopposed council candidate Michael Hancock. “I think you’ll see (the new residents in the district) vote for people who look more like them, so you will see a change in representation.”

Overall, observers agreed that qualifications of elected officials still matter more than skin color. But a few local politicos added that diversity in representation still matters and an understanding of the community’s history and outreach to the neighborhoods’ African-American elders is important for a well-qualified political leader.

District 8 runs approximately from Colfax Avenue north to 40th Avenue , and from Park Avenue West east to Holly Street . The district includes Five Points, City Park , City Park West, Cole, Clayton, North Capitol Hill, North Park Hill, South Park Hill, Skyland and Whittier . District 11, Denver’s geographically largest district, extends from 26th Avenue north to 56th Avenue and from Holly Street east to the east loop of E-470. It includes Northeast Park Hill, Stapleton, Gateway, Montbello, Green Valley Ranch, Parkfield, and Denver International Airport.

Denver has 13 seats on its City Council, with two at-large members and 11 members representing 11 districts of approximately 42,500 people each. Districts 8 and 11 have been represented by African Americans ever since they were created in 1971.

Denver’s “Safe” Black Council Seats

In the late 1800s, Five Points and lower downtown became African American enclaves. Due to racial segregation, the surrounding area in north Denver grew into the state’s largest Black community. It flourished as a cultural center of jazz and Black American entrepreneurship in the 1950s and 60s.

With desegregation in the late 1960s and 70s, the accumulation of Black family savings and Black success in business, many families began moving further east to Denver’s newest neighborhoods of Montbello, Green Valley Ranch and later, Denver International Airport and the Stapleton Redevelopment. As Thomas J. Noel wrote in Mile High City, for Black people, “Making it in Denver often meant leaving Five Points.”

Still, the African-American populations in those traditional neighborhoods were high, according to the 1980 census. That year, Denver ’s African Americans made up 12 percent of the overall population and 40 percent of Five Points. District 8 communities like Whittier and Skyland, were 80 and 90 percent African American, with an estimated 47 percent across the whole district.

In District 11, Northeast Park Hill, Montbello and neighborhoods surrounding Stapleton Airport were 92 percent, 45 percent and 31 percent African American in 1980. In 1990, while Northeast Park Hill remained at 92 percent, Montbello grew to 58 percent and the Stapleton neighborhoods to 37 percent. Census figures are not available for the newer neighborhoods of Denver International Airport , Gateway, Parkfield and Stapleton Redevelopment.

With these demographics, well-qualified African-American candidates have been readily available. Observers said the city was fortunate that outstanding leaders like Hiawatha Davis and Elvin Caldwell have stepped forward. These and other Black leaders were so popular that they were reelected to several terms, usually only stepping down when term limits required it.

“Elvin Caldwell was our first Black council person and he served about 25 years,” said John McBride, a District 8 native and former history teacher. “Since then, it has been a safe Black seat.”

Besides Caldwell , District 8 was served by King Trimble, Davis, and most recently Elbra Wedgeworth, who was term-limited and resigned March 14. Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, the first Black to occupy that seat, also grew up in District 8 and served three terms from 1991 to 2003. District 11 has had three council members, Bill Roberts, Happy Haynes and Michael Hancock.

District 8 Gentrifies, District 11 Diversifies

Since the 1990s, new development in downtown Denver and District 8 have attracted new residents, mainly white with higher incomes. They migrated in for a number of reasons, not the least of which were the proximity to downtown jobs and concerns about traffic and higher gas prices that taxed the wallet and the patience of commuters.

Observers estimate District 8 has become split evenly in thirds between African Americans, Whites and Hispanics. The district has also become more diverse based on income, educational levels and housing types – mixing the traditional middle-class, working families in historic homes with higher earning, higher-degreed singles in remodeled homes, duplexes and new condominiums.

“I think the Whittier demographics are almost an exact template for the rest of the district,” District 8 council candidate and former Whittier Neighborhood Association President Darrell Watson said. “Hispanics have increased 210 percent, whites have grown 110 percent and Blacks have decreased 12 percent.”

The Piton Foundation published a Black decline of 25.6 percent. And census statistics show the African-American population in District 8 fell by 20 percent between 1990 and 2000. City Park had the largest drop of 35 percent, while Five Points, South Park Hill and Whittier fell about 25 percent each.

“A couple things have changed. Not only have Anglo folk changed the community but also the level of income has changed in the community. It’s not only race but class,” McBride said. “Those folks make more money. The education level has also changed. The community is more college-educated. It’s no longer a working-class neighborhood. It’s more a white-collar neighborhood.”

While increased development and real estate activity are estimated to have accelerated socioeconomic changes in District 8 since the 2000 census data was gathered, statistics on income and college education also changed significantly between 1980 and 2000. Average income in District 8 went up 65 percent between 1980 and 1990 and 90 percent between 1990 and 2000, as the average income in Denver rose 40 percent for each of those periods. The lowest income levels in the district in 1980, in Five Points and North Capitol Hill (less than $9,000 a year), went from 45 percent of Denver’s average ($19,558) to 65 percent and 60 percent ($35, 518 and $31,669) of Denver’s $55,129 in 2000.

The number of District 8 residents with university degrees in 1980 was 17 percent, while 25 percent of Denver residents had finished college. In 1990, District 8 rose to 25 percent while Denver rose to 34 percent. By 2000, 34 percent of District 8 residents had college degrees, compared to 39 percent in Denver.

Housing also changed, as many older single-family homes have been replaced by duplexes and condominiums. By the late 1990s, fewer than 4 percent of the structures in Capitol Hill were single-family units, with 22 percent of all units in converted homes or small apartment buildings, and almost 75 percent in large apartment buildings or complexes, according to The Piton Foundation. This trend has continued to spread north and east into District 8 since 2000.

Housing costs increased in District 8, causing many African Americans to move east into District 11. Meanwhile, increasing housing prices in northwest Denver have sent an influx of Hispanic Americans into 11 as well.

“In Montbello, the last 10 years have been shifting to more Hispanic and Latino families,” Councilman Hancock said. “In the last five years, there has been a more accelerated demographic change including Mexican immigrants, with still a pretty solid African-American presence. The northwest and southwest areas of the city of Aurora saw the largest influx of African Americans in Colorado.”

The census shows that between 1990 and 2000 the Black population in the Stapleton neighborhood, Northeast Park Hill, Montbello and Green Valley Ranch decreased 8 percent, while the white population decreased 6 percent and the Latino population increased 13 percent. The most dramatic change occurred in Northeast Park Hill, which went from 92 percent to 69 percent African American, a drop of nearly one quarter. Figures are not available for Parkfield, Gateway, Denver International Airport and Stapleton Redevelopment.

“The change was noticed in the schools first and then the grocery stores,” said Chris Martinez, RTD board member for District B in Northeast Denver and North Aurora . “Most people moving into District 11 are from out of state and from out of the country, because of the homes they can get here. They’re affordable, solid homes. You can move multiple people in a family into them due to the size, and then they move into other homes as soon as they are established.”

District 11 homes continue to be dominated by families, but socioeconomic changes in the district have accelerated since the 2000 census due to increased foreclosures in some areas of the community and major redevelopment in others. This is hard to estimate due to lack of statistics for many neighborhoods from 1970 to 1990.

Between 1980 and 1990, average income in District 11 rose 35 percent but declined 5 percent between 1990 and 2000. Meanwhile, the average income in Denver rose 40 percent in each period. The average income in 1980 ($26,461) in the district was 25 percent higher than Denver’s average ($19,558), but the average income ($33,744) in the district in 2000 fell to 60 percent of Denver’s average ($55,129).

The percentage of District 11 residents with a college degree in 1980 was 19 percent. About 25 percent of Denver residents had degrees. In 1990 and 2000, the district remained the same while Denver rose to 34 percent and 39 percent.

No Longer the Traditional Political Races

While District 11’s changing population may have contributed to Hancock’s lack of opposition in the current council race, Hancock’s popularity, nationwide voter apathy and frustration may also be playing a role.

“There’s a great deal of apathy out there. A lot of people, I get a sense they feel what difference does it make,” said Richard Poole, the area director for Republican Sen. Wayne Allard’s office. “It’s a combination of feelings: that their votes don’t make a difference and that there’s no difference no matter who gets elected.”

Poole believes no opposition in the City Council race, and no high profile opposition to Mayor Hickenlooper, may lead to low voter turnout in District 11 in the May 1 election.

“I was amazed Hancock did not have any opposition in this election because I have not known that to happen in the 35 years I’ve lived in Montbello,” he said.

There have been Anglo and Latino candidates for the District 11 seat in the past, but African Americans always won it, Poole said.

“A great number of (Latinos moving into the community) are not able to vote because they are here without documentation. They live in the district and they are not politically active,” he said of the lack of a Latino candidate this time.

Martinez agreed that many immigrants have not been able to vote due to their status, but also due to a cultural tendency to stay invisible.

“They get involved in politics when the issues affect them, but they pretty much stay out of it,” Martinez said. “Many of the families who moved here 20 years ago now have children who are coming of age and who will become politically active. They’re not the age to become candidates yet, but we will see a surge in registered voters.”

Hancock said the new Hispanic residents have just not established themselves yet.

“We really will see in the next four years and the next election,” Hancock said. “Quite frankly, by 2011, I think there will be a completely different constituency in the area.”

In District 8, former Councilwoman Wedgeworth’s empty seat attracted at least seven people to request candidate papers earlier this year. Of those, two were white and the rest African American. Only four made it on the ballot – one white woman, one Black woman and two Black men. Ms. Wedgeworth said she is confidant that voters in her district will make the best choice for the person to serve as her successor in District 8.

“In the past, white people have run. I don’t know if a white person had a serious chance of winning, but I believe I do,” candidate and City Park West Neighborhood Association president Carla Madison said. “I think it is changing. I’m kind of surprised there is not a Hispanic or Latino candidate, now that it is more of an option.”

Madison added, “Certainly, there are Black elders who may feel more comfortable speaking to a Black politician, but I’ve been a physical therapist in this neighborhood for 17 years, and once you get talking to them, I think race disappears. They really don’t think of you as a white person. They can relax and talk to anybody about their concerns.”

Others said racial voter trends are key in who will become candidates and get elected. White voters tend to be the most active, while Hispanic are less active and African Americans are even less so.

“We are seeing fewer participants from either the African-American or Hispanic communities,” said Sharron Klein, former chair of the Denver Democratic Party. “The Hispanics in (District 8) have not come forward yet, and the African Americans have receded.”

Klein said the political landscape has been affected by more than the residential demographic changes.

“I know it has changed who is active politically,” Klein said. “I think that since Webb left office, fewer African Americans participate in politics as did before. Because he was really a party person, he was able to get people active in the party and showing up. Hickenlooper is not a true party person so it’s not the same now. Also, when Webb left, people in the party left and their spots have not been refilled.”

“We’ve lost diversity. (The district’s) been anglicized. We’ve lost people going in and working their way up to become officers. In order to have diversity, you definitely have to actively invite people to participate. How do they go to the next step to be a leader? It’s more difficult than it should be. Ultimately, it makes a significant impact as to who’s elected.”

Klein’s viewpoint may explain why, according to District 8 council candidate Greg Rasheed, this year’s council candidates come from outside the conventional party structure.

“This is the first time, except for Sharon Bailey, the candidates are not your traditional politicians known in the African-American community and who have worked in the Webb administration,” explained Rasheed, who is also the Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. executive director. “We are newcomers to the political scene, but people who have done a lot of community work. We have come up through the ranks in a different way.”

Rasheed echoed the concerns of Watson, Poole and others who think this election will be negatively impacted by the mail-in ballot. Most voters are not used to the mail-in process, and African Americans generally prefer the voting booth, so many of them won’t be inclined to vote, they said.

“The city tried (mail-in ballots) in January and it was a very low turnout. In the (2003) election, Elbra (Wedgeworth) got a little over 7,000 votes. I’d be surprised if there is more than half that this time,” Rasheed said.

Community Focus Necessary Regardless of Color

To get their communities to vote, Rasheed and others will have to focus on voter outreach and education. He said a successful candidate will need to be a consensus builder who is able to work with various people – very rich, very poor, very political astute, very politically unaware, the disabled, gays and lesbians, youths, seniors and others.

“I think we all have to get to know each other,” Rasheed said. “I don’t look at this change in demographics as negative. It’s a positive thing. I hope that African Americans will stay in the area and keep their homes. Diversity is very good for a community.”

Sharon Bailey, District 8 council candidate and the Denver auditor’s policy and research director, basically concurred.

“I think one definitely has to have an understanding of what it means to live in a multicultural society and have spent some time looking at multicultural issues,” Bailey said. “One needs to understand some of the specific cultural characteristics and trends of different ethnic groups in one’s community. One has to be willing to participate across spectrums and represent the diverse interests of the community, but you can’t just assume you know. You really have to spend time looking at the issues.”

Watson described the issue as about relating to each resident’s racial and socioeconomic background.

“A leader that works for the constituents of this district has to be aware of these demographics and not afraid of the discussion. They have to talk about gentrification, but not blame. They have to ensure the voices of our elders are not lost,” Watson said. “Changing demographics require someone to speak to it and deal with issues of race. A qualified candidate understands these changes are occurring, and is a leader who can confidently speak with groups of Hispanics, African Americans and whites.”

Roger Cobb, an early contender in the District 8 race who did not make it on the ballot, said candidates need to engage the community through established resources such as community associations, faith-based organizations and business groups. Knowledge of the political process and experience in each branch of the Denver government are also important, he said.

“That knowledge is necessary regardless of color,” Cobb noted.

Multicultural Representation at Risk

If the color of candidates matters less to people than the candidates’ qualifications, the time when a non-Black person is elected to the District 8 or 11 council seats may be coming soon. While it has always been a possibility, the approaching reality of losing Denver ’s only Black representation raises concerns with some.

“If you look at it politically as a minority seat, this is not a safe minority seat,” McBride commented. “If we can’t field a qualified minority candidate in 2007, something is wrong with us. Affirmative action doesn’t count.”

Poole said it is African Americans’ fault if they can not fill seats on council due to a lack of interest.

“Historically, there have been more white voters than African-American voters, even in Districts 8 and 11,” said Poole . “I’ve always had the mindset that to have representation you have to be engaged.”

District 8 candidate Madison said her constituents are open to the seat being filled by a non-Black representative.

“Maybe that’s just what they say to me,” she said. “I’ve never come across anybody who had a problem with it. I’ve run across people who ask if I perceive a problem, but never someone who said that it is a problem.”

Meanwhile, Cobb stressed that the candidate’s understanding of the important issues are more relevant than ethnic background.

“All anyone wants is good, clean, safe neighborhoods with good schools, and an opportunity to work and buy a home,” he said. “It goes across the board. I don’t care what party or what race you are.”

But Bailey expressed concerns about the ramifications of losing Black representation.

“It probably shouldn’t matter, if we were living in a society where race didn’t matter,” she said. “But, it probably will. In a perfect world, it probably wouldn’t make a difference. I think we have a long way to go in being truthful about how race impacts people on a day-to-day basis. As long as we’re in denial, I don’t think we’re going to resolve a lot of issues.”

Bailey said Denver ’s ethnic enclaves are examples where racial divisions cause tension and misunderstanding.

“We haven’t done enough to step outside of those barriers,” she said. “My greatest recommendation as demographics change would be to change how we interact. Our young people really need us to step up in this area, because they’re really going to need to live and work and play in a multicultural society. As long as we put off issues of diversity, we’re doing them a disservice and handicapping them in a global context because they won’t have the skills for that.”

Klein, the former Democratic chair, equated losing Black representation on the City Council to losing diversity throughout the political and democratic process.

“It matters tremendously. The reason it matters is we have diversity. We need representation from all areas, and all kinds of people participating in the government process,” Klein said.

“If people participate, their peers vote. So, if you don’t have the representation in the Hispanic community, for example, you don’t have Hispanic neighbors and neighbors in general talking about politics and encouraging people to vote. We need political officials and political parties aware and responding to those issues, and actively going out, drawing in people and making room for them at the table.”