In Denver, it’s not a matter of if, but when. Right next door in Aurora, by contrast, the time already has come – and not a minute too soon.

Tuesday’s balloting brought a much-needed new beginning at Aurora City Hall. Denver, however, opted for more of the same. For now.

Denverites will get tired of the street squalor – the camps pitched on public property by the lost souls who refuse shelter and are addicted to drugs and alcohol or are afflicted with mental illness.

The citizens of Denver also will tire of spiraling crime – the homicides, the break-ins, the auto thefts, even soaring crime on K-12 campuses – afflicting the state’s largest city. Tired enough, that is, to brush aside continuous attempts by noisy, self-appointed “activists” to cast doubt on the overwhelming majority of outstanding cops who serve and protect the city.

And Denver’s residents will at some point have had enough of a do-nothing, go-nowhere school board that will continue to do nothing of substance about flat-lined student achievement. A board consisting largely of followers – whose pied piper is a union bent only on spending, spending and spending some more as an answer to every challenge. The spending will achieve nothing for the kids, of course, but for the unions, that’s beside the point.

As well, Denverites will grow weary of watching their own neighborhoods deteriorate now that the City Council has paved the way for halfway houses and homeless shelters to move in, as well for single-family homes to be turned into de facto apartment complexes.

Judging by Tuesday’s election returns, however, Denverites – at least, those who cast their mail ballots – haven’t yet reached the breaking point.

Denver voters declined to embrace a proposal – citizens initiative 303 – to put teeth into the city’s ban on camps in parks and other public places. That’s even as many of those same voters overwhelmingly endorsed the ban two years ago.

Voters approved an ill-advised measure in 2G that will further politicize the counterproductive crusade against cops. The vote will shift the power of appointing an independent monitor over law enforcement disciplinary issues away from the mayor’s office and to a citizens panel – sure to be dominated by adversaries of law and order. The move is likely to drive another wedge between police and the crime fight.

Denver voters also: defaulted to Denver Public Schools board candidates who will assure the unions’ chokehold on local public schools becomes a stranglehold; turned aside a sale-tax cut that would have brought tax relief at little cost to the city – City Hall’s orchestrated hysteria notwithstanding, and embraced a slate of bond issues championed by the mayor (and for the most part, by our editorial board) – except, curiously, for the centerpiece of the bond package. The public turned back bonding for a new arena at the city’s historic National Western Center.

What a difference a municipal boundary can make. Just across Havana Street in Colorado’s third-largest city, Aurorans were fed up. They’d had more than enough of the all-night debates and endless stalemates at City Hall, courtesy of a radical fringe elected to the Aurora City Council over the previous two elections.

As of press time, victory appeared assured for at-large council candidates Dustin Zvonek and Danielle Jurinsky; for Ward II candidate Steve Sundberg, and for Ward III candidate Jono Scott. Holdover candidate Crystal Murillo appeared to be retaining her Ward I seat.

The fresh blood should help turn the tide at City Hall – and break loose the logjam on policy making. At last, the city can steer away from the ideological wars that drove debate for the last two years and return to the bread and butter of council work – public safety, transportation, economic development and other fundamentals of good municipal government.

In a nutshell, Aurorans voted for quality of life. Over time, we hope more Denverites will realize it’s OK to follow suit.

Denver Gazette editorial board