DENVER Denver Mayor Mike Johnston had only vetoed one bill during his time in office until Tuesday, when he said an ordinance removing certain restrictions for needle exchange sites was "the wrong solution, at the wrong time."Johnston issued a letter after making his decision Tuesday.The decision comes after an 8-5 vote in favor of the ordinance during a city council meeting Monday evening.The ordinance would have removed certain restrictions on syringe exchange sites, aiming to expand such services throughout Denver.Currently, there are three needle exchange sites in Denver. The ordinance would have allowed restrictions to be removed, such as the program's need to be 1,000 feet from schools and the cap on the number of sites.Those restrictions exist because of a 1997 law.Lisa Raville, the executive director of the Harm Reduction Action Center, advocated strongly for the ordinance."We're working with a very archaic Denver City ordinance from 1997 that only allowed three; maybe that would have been fine in 1997, definitely not today, in the worst overdose crisis we've ever been in," she said. "It would also allow us to get in step with the rest of the nation, to be exempted from schools and child care centers."Council Member At-Large Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, one of the ordinance sponsors, told Denver7 she was disappointed in the mayor's decision."Here we have public health professionals, doctors, and treatment providers who are sharing with us that this is the right thing to do," she said. "This is good public health policy."Raville told Denver7 she wasn't surprised by the mayor's veto but hopes there's some change in the future.Mayor Mike Johnston told Denver7 Wednesday why he decided to veto the ordinance."We think that the real focus is making sure that folks that come into those programs can get access to treatment and support," he said."We did not think that we needed 50 or 60 or 100 of those sites, so we didn't think there is any reason to lift and cap entirely." 'Wrong solution at the wrong time': Needle exchange site advocates react to veto