Infrastructure maintenance is a pretty sexless topic. Who better to promote the upcoming ballot initiatives A through I than our telegenic, personable mayor taking it to the airwaves?

The first spot features Hickenlooper speaking as a home falls apart behind him.

“For decades, Denver has put off maintaining our streets, parks and things that make Denver great,” he says, adding that the city needs “a smart plan that will let us catch up and keep up with maintenance, so we don’t have to spend even more later.”

It ends with the arrival of a repair crew dressed as the letters A through I .

I’ll confess I never heard of Ballot Initiatives A through I until this week when I got an invitation to join their group on Facebook. The undescriptive name, coupled with the fact that I had no idea what it was about, kept me from clicking. Until I watched the clever commercial. Then I signed right up on Facebook. You can watch it here and learn all about the initiatives here.

For those as out of the loop as I was, here’s the deal. Property taxes will go up by about $61 a year for a $255,000 home. State taxes increase about $36 per household. Bonds will cover the rest of the $550 million package. The breakdown:

A. Capital maintenance mill levy to raise $27.5 million (in 2007 dollars) annually to pay for regular maintenance.

B. Health and Human Services facilities: $48.6 million

C. Libraries: $51.9 million.

D. Transportation and Public Works: $149.8 million.

E. Park system facilities: $93 million

F. Public office facilities: $10.3 million

G. Cultural facilities deferred maintenance: $60.5 million.

H. Cultural facilities new construction: $70 million

I. Public safety facilities: $65.2 million

I’m not sure which impresses me more — that we have a city government with the foresight to protect and improve our quality of life or that we have one that is savvy enough to take a major campaign past television to the web via Facebook, My Space and You Tube. I think it’s safe to say we’ll all be saturated with the letters A through I by November 6.