The Vision: A city that is livable for all of its people, now and in the future.

More than 250 citizens participated in eleven task forces that developed the content for each chapter of the plan. The plan also incorporated the views of a broad cross-section of Denver voters surveyed about quality of life issues. More than 150 people attended a Channel 8 televised community forum to provide commentary on the proposed goals and objectives. The first draft of the plan had extensive review from national experts, City agencies, and task force members. Subsequent drafts were published on the DenverGov internet site and discussed at a Planning Board public briefing held in advance of a Planning Board public hearing.

Recent prosperity has also brought new problems and challenges that Plan 2000 must tackle:

• Not everyone is sharing in the prosperity--more than one out of six Denver residents (most of them children) lives below the poverty line, and tend to be concentrated in 16 neighborhoods.
• Housing costs are spiraling upwards and increasingly out of reach for people. This also has an economic development implication for businesses wanting to relocate here.
• A shortage of skilled-labor has now replaced the problem of high unemployment, necessitating innovative and state-of-the art education and training programs.
• Rapid population growth has dramatically increased traffic and congestion, as well as pressures on the schools, urban infrastructure and environment.

The following guiding principles -- Economy, Environment, Equity and Engagement -- are the core values of Plan 2000.

Economic Opportunity and Security: A Denver that is focused on the quality of life for all of its people must be a Denver that is economically healthy, with a broad mix of good jobs. Livability and economic activity are permanently linked -- neither improves without the other.

Environmental Stewardship: Denver's relationship with the environment is above all a matter of balance. Clean water, clean air, clean parks and streets, efficient use and reuse of resources and protection of the mountain parks and open spaces must be abiding goals.

Equity: Denver must be a city that means what it says when it comes to providing all its residents with equal opportunity to share in its livability.

Engagement: Sustaining a high quality of life is as much about building good human relationships as it is about performing tasks or creating things. Relational values -- participation, communication, collaboration and partnership -- are implicit in many of Plan 2000's goals, objectives and strategies.

Cognizant of our history, Plan 2000 strives to identify the opportunities and challenges of our times, and to set a course for the future that reconciles many diverse aspirations into another coherent and compelling vision of what Denver and the metropolitan area might become.

Plan 2000 identifies eleven goals. They are:

1. Preserve and enhance Denver's natural environment.
2. Manage growth and change through effective land use policies to sustain Denver's high quality of life.
3. Anticipate and meet the expanding mobility needs of residents, businesses, and visitors.
4. Use the best of Denver's architectural and landscape legacies to guide the future.
5. Expand housing options for Denver's changing population.
6. Create a sustainable economy that provides opportunities for all.
7. Build on the assets of every neighborhood and foster a citywide sense of community.
8. Provide Denver residents with lifelong learning opportunities.
9. Enhance opportunities for people in need to work and participate fully in community life.
10. Integrate arts and culture into the social and economic fabric of the City.
11. Foster cooperation and share leadership on regional issues.