Mayor Gradisar expresses optimism for Pueblo's growth in 2023 State of the City address

Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar is optimistic about the city’s future growth and said Pueblo will continue to work to address crime, street conditions and homelessness at his 2023 State of the City address Friday.

Gradisar is up for re-election in November.

A few hundred people came to the event hosted Friday morning in a ballroom at the Pueblo Convention Center that featured a catered hot breakfast, replete with green chile.

Although only two of seven city councilors attended the event — Dennis Flores and Heather Graham — Gradisar told reporters after the event that whether or not councilors show up “doesn’t indicate the kind of support we have.”

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He said 271 of 274 ordinances that council voted on last year were passed by a majority of councilors and that he has a “good relationship” with “most” members of city council.

“The ordinances that failed were ones that were brought forward by city councilors that they couldn't get support for. But all the ordinances we had, we've been able to get four votes,” Gradisar said. “In this business, that's the magic number.”

All three county commissioners attended Friday, as did Pueblo County Sheriff David Lucero.

Gradisar told the crowd that he hopes people don’t sign the petition that’s circulating to effectively abolish the mayor’s office and revert Pueblo back to a city manager form of government.

“Our form of government has been good for the city of Pueblo, and we shouldn't return to government by committee that stagnated this community for so many years,” Gradisar said. “I hope you'll not sign those petitions and not vote for it if it gets on the ballot.”

Gradisar is the city’s first mayor after voters approved switching to a “strong mayor” form of government in 2017.

Petitioners, with the help of city councilor Lori Winner, are hoping to gather a few thousand signatures before a deadline later this month to put the question to voters in May.

Homelessness, police hiring difficulties are broad problems

Helping people experiencing homelessness was one of the last topics Gradisar discussed during his speech, a problem “not unique to Pueblo,” he said.

“Homelessness is a problem in Pueblo. It is not a criminal justice problem, and we won't solve that problem by making it illegal — it's a human services problem,” Gradisar said.

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Graham, the president of Pueblo City council, who is also running for mayor, pushed for a city ordinance that would have made sitting or occupying a public right of way in the downtown area during the day a municipal offense, but the ordinance failed by a 3-4 vote in November.

Gradisar emphasized that the majority of people experiencing homelessness are contending with mental health difficulties.

“Until we can develop a service system that provides mental health treatment to these individuals, we will not improve the situation and will have difficulty holding them accountable,” Gradisar said.

He said that he wants to “reconstitute” the Community Commission on Housing and Homelessness, which has been meeting monthly for at least the past four years. The commission was co-chaired by city councilor Sarah Martinez and former Commissioner Chris Wiseman, who recently left office. Commissioner Eppie Griego will replace Wiseman on the commission, county manager Cynthia Mitchell said at the BOCC meeting Tuesday.

Gradisar clarified that he wants to streamline the commission and appoint more representatives from community organizations.

Addressing crime is also one of Gradisar’s priorities. He said the city needs to hire additional police officers to reduce crime, but hiring officers has been tricky for the Pueblo Police Department in recent years.

The city has increased officers' starting pay by $500 per month and are giving transferring officers up to five years of experience credit, which has been “moderately successful," Gradisar said.

“It's tough to be a police officer in the United States of America today. More police officers means we can engage in more community policing to be proactive, rather than reactive,” Gradisar said.

Mayor is optimistic about future growth

Pueblo's steel mill run by Russian-owned Evraz has been a source of tumult over the past year as the company is selling its North American assets. Over 600 construction workers were laid off from the project last week amid lawsuits over construction delays on the $500 million long rail mill project.

Gradisar said the company remains “committed to Pueblo” and finishing the rail mill.

He also said the wind turbine manufacturer CS Wind, which operates a plant in south Pueblo, will continue to expand and provide "good-paying" jobs to Puebloans as demand for turbines and renewable energy grows.

The city itself is expected to continue growing, and Gradisar said he’s committed to continued investment in roads and expanding infrastructure. He said the top complaint the city receives from residents is the quality of roads.

An assessment of the city’s approximately 500 miles of streets and roads will give city leaders data to decide which roads need the most work, he said.

Sales tax revenue has been increasing over the past few years — the city has a record $133 million budget for 2023. Pueblo’s real estate market has been cooling down in recent months, but Gradisar said he is optimistic about the city’s future growth.

”Although we have little control over the national economy or inflation, I believe that this increased economic growth in Pueblo will continue for decades,” Gradisar said.

Pueblo is working on a program to revitalize older neighborhoods and boost the supply of affordable housing by placing liens on vacant properties and selling those to investors, who could renovate the buildings and rent to Puebloans.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Mayor Nick Gradisar delivers 2023 State of the City address