(PUEBLO, Colo.) — The race for Pueblo Mayor is heating up as the Nov. 7 election approaches. FOX21 is your local election headquarters and in an exclusive report, we hear from the incumbent Mayor Nick Gradisar.
It was a crowded race when Gradisar won in 2018 and this year is no exception. With eight candidates looking to oust the incumbent, Gradisar believes he has a plan for today and a vision for tomorrow. The Mayor has spent the past five years putting this plan into motion and says the work is not done yet.
Gradisar is the first mayor of Pueblo in more than 80 years. He’s a Pueblo native with 40 years of experience in practicing law and says he is ready for a second term.
“We’ve made a lot of progress in terms of our infrastructure, our street repairs, our economic development efforts have all been very successful,” Gradisar explained. “We’re not done yet, and you know we need to keep going.”
Mayor Gradisar says in the future, Pueblo needs to prioritize affordable housing and is currently working with multiple agencies and developers to make sure the housing supply meets the needs of the city.
“We implemented the vacant property tax lien program, and we offered 19 properties for sale,” Gradisar explained. “We’re in the process of offering another 25 of those liens for sale.”
Gradisar says the idea is that investors or neighbors will purchase those liens, putting Pueblo neighborhoods back into productive use.
“There’s not one single answer to our housing supply shortage, but a lot of things are falling into place. The work’s not done yet,” Gradisar said.
Throughout his term as mayor, Gradisar continues to develop a well-trained and diverse police force, but the Pueblo Police Department is still facing shortages.
“During my tenure as Mayor, we hired 70 new police officers, but we’re still 50 officers short,” Gradisar explained. “We’ve increased the starting pay for a patrol officer by 28% since January of this year.”
Many opponents of Gradisar criticize the mayor for rising crime rates. Gradisar is taking action and is moving forward with a real-time crime center in the city.
“That’s the difference between myself and my opponents is that we have a track record and they have ideas,” Gradisar said. “I’m happy to report that the part one crimes, the most serious crimes in Pueblo, were down 13% last week over what they were a year ago, so that’s going in the right direction.”
Mayor Gradisar’s track record also comes with leading the city through a nationwide pandemic. Pueblo lost more than 800 people to COVID-19 and the Mayor had pushback over precautions he made the city take.
“We had to do some things that in ordinary circumstances you wouldn’t want to do, but one of the first things we did and why I think Pueblo was so successful in coming out of the pandemic was before there was any federal money at all, I took $5 million out of our economic development fund and made it available to small businesses,” Gradisar said.
Gradisar also highlights the City’s sales tax collection since 2018 has increased by $23 million a year.
“That’s remarkable, I think that’s a 38% increase in our sales tax collection, but tells you what kind of economic activity we’ve had since I’ve been the Mayor of the City of Pueblo,” Gradisar explained. “That’s exactly what I intend to do in my next term.”
Pueblo County election offices will begin mailing ballots to registered voters on Oct. 16. Taking place Thursday, Oct. 5, the nine candidates running for mayor will take part in a debate held at Pueblo Memorial Hall.
