Aquiles La Grave is a first-time candidate running for mayor on a platform of accountable government, public safety and what he calls an “unblocked” local economy. He has never held elected office and would become the first mayor to serve without having previously served on the Boulder City Council.
La Grave is a co-founder and chief product officer at Bars.com, which connects beverage brands with hospitality venues. He also says he co-founded Sphere Labs and Exclamation Point Ventures, which he describes, respectively, as a technology holding company and an LLC through which he and his wife invest in or work on projects.
La Grave has also served on the Louisville Historic Preservation Commission and the Boulder Valley School District’s Bond Oversight Committee. Last year, he led the Save Iris Fields coalition, which opposed the potential redevelopment of baseball fields in North Boulder. He also helped organize the successful petition drive to place a measure expanding the number of county commissioners on the ballot.
Politically, La Grave has been involved with Open Boulder, a group associated with Boulder’s more moderate bloc. His supporters include the group’s chair, Jan Burton, CU regent candidate Kubs Lalchandani and Carlos Álvarez-Aranyos, who helped launch the national No Kings protests.
La Grave calls himself a “delivery-oriented liberal” who supports environmental protection, civil and reproductive rights, expanded housing opportunities, a strong social safety net and racial and social equity. He believes progressive and moderate labels “oversimplify a complex community.”
A defining feature of La Grave’s campaign is his call for a more assertive mayor. La Grave argues that direct election gives the mayor a mandate to shape council priorities. He has proposed regular office hours, a constituent affairs office that responds within 48 hours and a public dashboard tracking the city’s goals.
La Grave has criticized the city as too focused on explaining why it cannot accomplish something. He wants responses to permit applications within 30 days, more detailed accounts of tax revenue and deferred maintenance, and greater council control over major administrative decisions.
He opposes the city’s contract with Flock Safety for automated license plate readers, in part because federal immigration authorities have accessed data from the company’s systems elsewhere.
La Grave said he moved from Venezuela to Boulder County with his mother and sister as a teenager. He said he later lost his immigration status and became undocumented before becoming a U.S. citizen in 2022. He graduated from Naropa University in 2003 and helped found several marketing and technology companies.
He credits Boulder with helping his family succeed but worries the city no longer offers young immigrants the same opportunities.
La Grave lives near Broadway and Iris Avenue with his wife and their 13-year-old daughter.
Occupation: Entrepreneur
Neighborhood: Newlands
Rent or own?: Own
Answers to questionnaire:
Affordable housing: Market-rate homes are out of reach for many teachers, nurses, police officers and firefighters. What would you do to create more housing these middle-income residents can afford? What regulations, if any, would you change to lower the cost of building or renovating homes?
We need more than just more housing; we need housing that will enable people to establish their lives in Boulder. My direction of housing reform is more “missing middle” housing, by eliminating unnecessary regulations. The next step needs to be to develop attainable homeownership opportunities, family-friendly homes, and small infill developments that are able to be processed through the entitlement process. The failure of the middle income down-payment program should give us insight into whether providing assistance to purchase a home while restricting the ability to create wealth through ownership makes Boulder more affordable. Housing policy cannot exist independently of school systems or other city services. A family evaluates the entire package. Can I afford the house? Is there a school within walking distance? Are there recreational facilities, and child care options? Do I feel secure living here?
Homelessness: What is one approach Boulder has not tried, or has not tried at scale, to address homelessness that you would bring to the council, and how should the city pay for it?
Boulder’s been discussing homelessness for years. Yet, in all that time, we have failed to implement the plans that we’ve created. We need to prioritize the limited amount of money and resources we have towards those who are long-term members of our community and the most vulnerable. We need to continue to improve diversions, increase access to housing and treatment options, and provide clear guidelines for keeping public areas safe. Execution is my primary concern. If Council approves a plan, then the Budget must clearly show how much it is going to cost, where we will get the funding to pay for it, who is responsible for implementing it, when we expect to complete it and how we will measure success. I strongly believe in treating individuals who experience homelessness with respect. And, I believe that compassion also requires us to evaluate whether our interventions are actually working. I believe that Boulder is capable of accomplishing both.
Governance: Boulder is entering its third straight year of budget cuts while facing a roughly $400 million backlog of major facility needs. How do you assess the problem, and what specific spending, revenue or management changes would you support?
This is at the heart of why I am running for Mayor. Boulder has tremendous resources and a strong commitment to its values. However, Boulder is becoming less effective at turning those resources and values into tangible results. The Mayor’s primary job is to help Council fulfill its deliberative role. That includes taking the lead on the Council Agenda Committee. As a result, before any major proposal goes before Council, it should include costs, how those costs will be funded, who will be responsible for completing the project, when the project will be completed, what constitutes a successful completion of the project and if there was sufficient public participation in the development of the proposal. After Council makes a decision about a particular proposal, the Council must then monitor whether Council’s decision has been implemented. To achieve this goal, I propose to institute an independent performance audit function under the direct supervision of Council.
Flock: Would you end Boulder’s use of automated license plate readers, yes or no? Why or why not?
4. Yep. License plate readers can be useful for public safety. But Boulder installed a surveillance network whose access stretches beyond Boulder and has no clear public policy on what to do with the collected data. We’ve found out that Boulder’s Flock system was part of a national network which gave outside agencies (like Federal Immigration Authorities) access to the collected data before Boulder shut down access.
Speaking as a data professional, this should have been a big topic of conversation at the council level. I’d put the current program on hold until council creates specific policies regarding how long we keep data, who can search data, who has access to our data from outside agencies, how often we audit data, and how we report publicly about data usage. All of this is in keeping with Boulder’s commitment to being a welcoming community. This isn’t against police. I want to give officers the tools they need to do their jobs well. It’s about having democratic control over what we allow in our communities. Council makes policy. Staff implements policy. Before we implement a piece of technology that tracks thousands of people, we need to create clear public rules.
Wildfire: Should Boulder adopt an ordinance requiring owners of existing homes and homeowners associations in high-risk areas to harden their properties against wildfire, yes or no? If yes, what should it require? Is the city doing enough to push Xcel Energy to prevent or limit wildfire-related power shutoffs? What more should it do?
Yep, with income qualified assistance. The fire danger in Boulder is extreme, however we continue to view home protection as mainly a homeowner responsibility. I should know, I’m one of the coauthors of the plan. We require evidence-based home protections for our most vulnerable areas; such as “IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home” standards. Homes that currently exist represent the biggest hurdle to this, therefore implementation will need to be phased in over a few years and protective measures provided will also need to be accompanied by significant financial help.
Begin with items that significantly increase the likelihood of survival. Venting systems that are resistant to embers, class A roofing materials, noncombustible space directly adjacent to buildings, fencing that is safe from fire, and managing vegetation. Next, aggressively seek out funding from county wildfire revenue sources and state/federal grant programs prior to placing the full burden of funding on the shoulders of homeowners. My work on local wildfire preparations stems from the hard lessons learned from the past several Colorado wildfires. Success will not come from additional research or plans. Success will come when thousands of existing Boulder homes are made substantially more difficult to burn before the next fire season begins.
Local businesses and downtown: Many local businesses, especially downtown, are struggling with rising costs and stagnating sales. What city policy would you change to help businesses stay open and reduce commercial vacancies, and what would you do to bring more customers downtown?
Vacant office space continues to be at a record-high level; many restaurants continue to struggle. The City needs to focus on those things which it can control. Provide free parking in its public garages for the first two hours. The City needs to process permitting faster and eliminate unnecessary costs associated with obtaining permits. Title 9 reform to ensure that when a business wants to open or expand within the City limits, they do not have to navigate a maze of regulations.
The City needs to maintain a clean and safe environment in the downtown area. The City should encourage all employees who work remote to return to work. For far too long, the City believed the Flatirons were its economic development plan. The Flatiron are not an economic development plan and the city needs to act like local businesses are partners whose success generates employment opportunities, economic activity and tax revenue, not as just one more group of constituents to regulate.
Closer: Imagine it is November 2027, one year after your election. What is one specific thing you will have accomplished?
A year from now, I would like our citizens to be able to tell how much things have changed. Council agenda items will be fewer due to the fact that all major proposals are accompanied by an estimated cost, a proposed funding source, the person responsible for the item, a proposed timeline for completion of the item and evidence that a formal community consultation process was completed prior to the proposal being presented to Council. The priorities identified by Council will be clearly evident in both the annual budget and on a performance scorecard that is publicly available.
An independent performance auditor has begun to report to the public as to where their tax dollars were spent. Businesses now have a responsive partner at City Hall. Public spaces are clean and safe. Instead of funding yet another study, Our Homelessness Strategy has measurable outcomes . Most importantly, Council functions more effectively than it did previously. That is my benchmark for the Mayor. It is not about having more authority or control over the decisions of Council. Rather, it is about providing better leadership.