Leadership Quote by John Hickenlooper

Forecasting growth sounds like wonky municipal bookkeeping, but in a boom state like Colorado it’s a loaded political move: it smuggles inevitability into a debate that’s actually about choices. John Hickenlooper’s line is built on a neat rhetorical trick - a double assurance. “We will see” pretends the future is already observable, like weather radar, while “continue” frames rapid growth as a natural extension of what’s already happening, not a trajectory that policy can bend. The phrase “increasingly rapid rate” is almost comically frictionless: it gestures toward acceleration without naming the engines (housing demand, tech migration, oil and gas cycles, tourism, quality-of-life branding) or the costs (water scarcity, congestion, wildfire risk, displacement).

Context matters because Hickenlooper’s political identity was forged in the pragmatic-manager lane: the mayor-governor who sold Colorado as a well-run place to live, work, and invest. Predicting growth can reassure business leaders and transplants that the state’s “success story” remains intact. It also pre-emptively narrows the policy field. If growth is unstoppable, then the only “responsible” position becomes managing it efficiently - zoning tweaks, infrastructure, budget planning - rather than asking whether the state should slow it, redistribute its gains, or protect communities from being priced out.

The subtext is a soft campaign pitch and a soft warning: get ready. Not for growth itself, but for the politics growth triggers - who gets to stay, who gets served, and whose version of Colorado gets built next.