Heather Graham was sworn in as only the second mayor of Pueblo in more than a century on Feb. 1, following the first-term, at-large city council member’s nearly 25-point win in a runoff against the incumbent mayor, Nick Gradisar.
A Pueblo native and registered Republican, Graham traces her political awakening to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when she organized protests over city policies that restricted operations at her three restaurants — Ruby’s Wine Bar and two Graham’s Grills.
Known for its namesake Pueblo chile and as the Home of Heroes — it’s the hometown of four Congressional Medal of Honor recipients — Pueblo is Colorado’s ninth-largest city, with a current estimated population of just over 110,000 putting it behind Westminster and slightly ahead of Greeley. After voters approved changing the former city manager-council form of government to a strong mayor system in 2017, they elected Gradisar as the first mayor under the new arrangement in 2019.
Shortly after being sworn in, Graham spoke with Colorado Politics about her path to the mayor’s office and the challenges facing the city. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Colorado Politics: What motivated you to get involved in politics? From what I understand, it was during the pandemic that a switch flipped for you?
Heather Graham: In my previous time, a week ago (before being sworn in as mayor), I actually own three restaurants, so I was unsatisfied with the way the city government handled the restrictions and the COVID shutdown. That’s initially why I decided to run in 2021 for city council, and then, after sitting as a city council president for the last two years, I wanted to go after the bigger seat and really try to make effective change for the community as the mayor.
CP: What was it that prompted your decision to take on an incumbent, getting that view from city council and saying, we need a new mayor?
Graham: I felt that Nick (Gradisar) wasn’t doing the best job of representing the entire community and wasn’t listening to the needs of the citizens of Pueblo and what their major concerns were.
CP: What what were some of those concerns that weren’t being addressed?
Graham: Public safety is probably the important issue. Our police department is down 60 officers right now, and nothing has really been addressed to solve the issues.
CP: That’s a priority coming into office?
Graham: Yep. We already have a couple ordinances working on being able to hire laterally and dual list and making the application process easier.
CP: The mayor is a relatively new position in Pueblo. What do you plan to do to make the job of mayor your own?
Graham: I think it’s really about setting the narrative for the City of Pablo. Controlling the narrative, and creating a strategic plan that all the departments are referring back to, when we think about, whether it’s housing or whether it’s a new business coming to town. We don’t have that now. So I think that’s something that (Gradisar) should have been doing.
CP: What elements do you think are important to include in a strategic plan?
Graham: I think housing, housing developments, obviously, new businesses, the attractions that we have in Pablo and growing our attractions, and also working with our nonprofit partners. Just having something to revert back to. This is something that we all believe in, and also focusing with the city council. We have three new members of city council now — about to be four (including her replacement on council) — and so, really working with them and making sure that all districts and all constituents are being represented in this plan and what they need.
CP: Pueblo is Colorado’s what ninth largest city at this point. As you look around the state, are there cities that you’re looking to for inspiration? Is anyone doing it right in Colorado?
Graham: I follow Colorado Springs and Fort Collins a lot, what I’m trying to mirror my staff after now, moving in and how they’re doing things. We don’t need to necessarily reinvent the wheel, but trying to find communities that are a similar representation of what ours are and seeing what they’re doing, to be progressive and proactive.
CP: What might that amount to, what what kind of initiatives?
Graham: The ones that I’ve been paying attention to are, obviously, dealing with public safety, because we have a lot of officers that have left Pueblo to go to work in other communities along the Front r=Range. So whether that be pay or benefits or incentives — what can we do to keep Puebloans working in Pueblo.
I look a lot about how their planning and the development process works, because there’s a lot of red tape and bureaucracy when it comes to development in Pueblo and new businesses opening, so those are also things I’ve been looking at to mirror and see what we can adjust as far as our departments go, so that people are are thinking about putting their businesses or multifamily developments in Pueblo.
CP: You’ve announced the 100 Days, 100 People initiative, inviting Puebloans to meet with you. How many meetings have you held?
Graham: My first one starts Thursday (Feb. 8), but we have filled over 40 slots at this point.
CP: You said before the election — before the runoff — that your goal was to make Pueblo more efficient and effective while transcending party politics. You’re a Republican, and Republicans around the state are celebrating your win as a beachhead in a traditionally Democratic city. It was a nonpartisan election. but what difference does that make, being a Republican mayor in Pueblo?
Graham: I would say, the only reason that I was probably elected the way that I was — and it was nearly a landslide — is because over the last two years on council, I have been more of a moderate voter for both sides of the aisle, something that my predecessor was not. I think that people realize that, even being a Republican, I’ll still lend my ear to Democrats, and I’ve still voted on several issues that are more Democrat-leaning than Republican-leaning. So I think that people in the community trust me, and they know that I’m going to do what’s best for the community and not necessarily what’s best for the party.
CP: What are some immediate differences that Pueblo residents will see with you as mayor?
Graham: First thing, while I was being sworn in — we have a tremendous issue with several of the hotels in Pueblo and prostitution, fentanyl, homelessness. And one of the hotels — before, I had been working when I was just a council member about possibly getting this hotel shut down, because it was such a health issue for the citizens, a crime issue. So actually while I was being sworn in, Pueblo’s police department, sheriff’s department, rural health department were all actually performing a sting at the hotel and still, until right now, this hotel is shut down. Several people were arrested. The hotel may lose its licensing over this.
So, I think the people of Pueblo were extremely satisfied that on my first day of office, this was something I was already putting a “go” on it and making sure that it was happening and how important it was. We have so many issues coming out of these two hotels. Over a six month period of time, between these two hotels, our police department reported 1,300 times.
How it’s polluting the community on the side of town — it’s right off I-25, there’s several businesses involved — I think that people are going to start to see these issues being taken care of, now that I’m in this office.
CP: One thing that’s confronting other mayors in Colorado are the immigrants coming in, in unprecedented numbers. Is Pueblo seeing any of that?
Graham: We have not seen any, as far as I’ve been notified, we did receive a call Friday night (Feb. 2) — Pueblo County, I think, actually took the call — to see if we were going to be a sanctuary city and, actually, at our next city council meeting, we’re going to discuss it, because we think that there has already been a resolution passed several years ago kind of saying that we’re not a sanctuary city. We barely have the resources to take care of our own Puebloans. It would affect us very negatively. If we had to start caring for other individuals. We just don’t have the resources here.
CP: What does housing availability look like in Pueblo? Pueblo is known as one of the more affordable communities on the Front Range. Is it as tight as it is everywhere else?
Graham: We are lacking so much, even in affordable housing. We don’t have a lot of multifamily housing here. Our rent prices are just expensive as anywhere up and down the Front Range. So housing is definitely a key issue in Pueblo.
CP: What can the mayor do about that?
Graham: We can try to expedite the process for the developers. One thing I talked about on my campaign is working with the county to incentivize developers to come here for multifamily, rebating them on their property tax dollars if they were to leave 20% of their builds as affordable housing at an affordable rate. So that’s something I’m working on too with the county, and it’s something that we can look at.
CP: Mayor Hancock in Denver used to say that he was Denver’s promoter in chief. What’s your elevator pitch for Pueblo? What do you say to businesses and people thinking about moving there, to sell the city?
Graham: What I’ve been saying on city council is, Pueblo is such a great place to bring your family. We have a riverwalk, we have our own hockey team, we have a symphony, we have a community college and a university here. We have water, we have a lot of great amenities.
I think it’s just controlling the narrative on what that looks like. I plan on having a community engagement office under my office that will be able to create a brand and really advocate for how great Pueblo is, and really put out all the amenities we have and why you should bring your family here — or why you should keep your family here, because we have a lot of people who take their families and move elsewhere. So that’s one of my my big to dos.
CP: We’ve talked almost 15 minutes here, and you haven’t mentioned Pueblo chile.
Graham: (laughs) Yeah, Pueblo chile! Obviously, we have the Pueblo Chile Fest, and we’re kind of the city known for the Sloppers. My restaurant, we have our own Pueblo Chile Slopper, and so it’s a huge grab for people, when they come here, to enjoy the entire experience and make sure you have some sort of Pueblo chile.
CP: What’s the secret to the Slopper recipe at your restaurant?
Graham: Ooh, I would say cumin. We use a lot of cumin. Some people like it, some people don’t like it, but I find it enjoyable. I think it’s kind of our secret thing.
