As Denver faces a rising crime rate, growing homeless encampments and dizzying housing costs, voters on Tuesday are expected to whittle down an unusually large and divergent field of 16 candidates for mayor — including a former boxer, an investment banker, a state lawmaker and a former Crenshaw Mafia Gang member.
The fear that undergirds the wide open race is clear. Denver — the fast-growing, relatively young, business and tech hub of the U.S. Mountain West — is tumbling toward a fate similar to that of other major cities.
