Pit Bull Ban Stands: Denver City Council Can't Overturn Mayor's Veto

DENVER (CBS4) - Denver city councilors did not have enough votes to overturn Mayor Michael Hancock's veto on lifting the city's pit bull ban. City councilors met at a regular meeting Monday night.

They needed nine votes to overturn the veto; they voted 8-5 to overturn the vetro.

The city council voted 7-4 on Feb. 10 to lift the ban. Days later Hancock vetoed the vote, the first veto during his time as mayor.

"I just kept thinking that if this were to become law in our city, and harm comes to someone as a result, then we would have done a disservice to the people of Denver," said Hancock at the time of his announcement.

The ban was put in place 1989 after a high profile attack on a 3-year-old child.

Supporters, like the Dumb Friends League, looked forward to pull pit bulls out of the shadows and put them up for adoption.

"Would it have been great to get to the place where we overrode the mayoral veto? Absolutely, but, at the end of the day, the most important thing is that these dogs are allowed to be in our parks, go to our vets like any other dog. If it takes… potentially moving it to 2021, I'm still okay with that," said Councilman Chris Herndon.

One of the five dissenting council members was Debbie Ortega.

"The reason I will not be voting for this override tonight, there was no public outreach. It requires much, much broader input from the community on trying to find any kind of solution that deals with our current ordinance before, I think, we expand it," said the councilwoman.

Herndon says he plans on referring the measure to voters. Then, in November, it's possible Denver citizens will decide if pit bulls should legally return to the city.

The process to get the pit bull ban repeal on the ballot could begin as early as next week. Although, Herndon has a deadline of 90 days before Election Day.