Denver City Council District 4 2025 Community Survey

Magellan Strategies is pleased to present the topline results of an online survey of 2,047 adult residents in Denver City Council District 4. The interviews were conducted from February 10th – 23rd, 2025.

Residents of Denver City Council District 4 gave their neighborhood generally positive marks for quality of life, rating their neighborhood higher than Denver as a whole. People felt particularly good about the availability of paths and walking trails, while affordable housing and childcare received the lowest ratings by a wide margin. Overall, residents appeared more satisfied with their immediate neighborhood environment than with the city broadly.

When it came to city services, parks, pedestrian and bicycle trails, fire and emergency services, and library services earned the strongest satisfaction ratings. Street repair, police services, and community outreach fell in the middle range, while residential permitting, support for small businesses, and services for people experiencing homelessness received notably low marks. A significant portion of respondents had no opinion on several service categories, suggesting limited awareness or use of those services.

Public safety and homelessness emerged as the dominant concerns across multiple sections of the survey. Residents expressed frustration with encampments in parks and along major roads, open drug use, and property crime. Many felt that existing laws were not being adequately enforced, and there were calls for both stronger law enforcement and better mental health and addiction services.

Housing affordability and city spending were also prominent themes. Residents worried about rising rents, high property taxes, and the cost of homeownership pricing out middle-class families. Many questioned whether tax dollars were being spent wisely and called for greater transparency in budget decisions, particularly around homelessness programs and spending on migrants.

Transportation and infrastructure drew considerable feedback. Hampden Avenue and Yale Avenue were repeatedly cited as unsafe corridors for pedestrians and drivers alike. Residents were divided on the question of bike lanes, with some wanting expanded cycling infrastructure and others feeling that lanes were reducing road capacity for drivers. Road conditions, traffic enforcement, and pedestrian safety were broadly seen as needing attention.

Parks and recreation were viewed as important community assets, with Bible Park, Eisenhower Park, and Southmoor Park among the most visited and most in need of attention. Residents called for modernized playgrounds, better maintenance, improved safety, and expanded amenities like pickleball courts and dog areas. There was also meaningful support for building an additional full-service recreation center in Southeast Denver.

On communications, residents were roughly split on whether the District 4 office adequately considered their input. Email was the preferred channel for receiving information directly from the council office, and many expressed a desire for more substantive engagement on pressing issues rather than event announcements. There were frequent calls for town halls, clearer policy updates, and better follow-through after community feedback was provided.