. >>> denver city council president alvis brooks returns and dealt with the death of his father. he walks into a city hall dealing with contentious issues. we sat down today. one thing that we talk about here on next is that life is not a litany of tragedy. but man i look at the run that you've had recently. >> i'm traditionally an optimist but i walked in and got diagnosed with cancer and the doctor said hey, i can tell you right now that i can tell when a patient is going to make it and when they're going to struggle. and it all attitude. so that just got me thinking that i got to go into this thing just like i was on the football field at the university of colorado, just like i tackle all these big issues in the city and just, you know, kind of get after it. and i did. the blow was my best friend, he passed, but even in that, you know, i'm looking on the bright side, he lived an amazing life, i'm doing all the >> let's talk about some issues. we've been talking a lot about some visiblish visible issues denver has. the heroin and violence on 16th street mall. would you agree wi