FasTracks
When we voters approved FasTracks, most of us were under the impression that the plan included a true transportation hub at Denver Union Station.
This would provide the services of Light Rail and regular trains as well as city and intercity buses -all adjacent to each other. Instead the “hub” has become secondary to a massive development of office and residential buildings adding to the “condo canyons” already in the area.
The developers are intent on packing everything into a relatively small part of a large, now mostly empty area of former railroad yards. To do this the planners have made some big mistakes including 1) putting the promised RTD commuter trains, along with Amtrak and others, into “trenches” which will be ugly and potentially dangerous. (The planners should see the Reno NV’s new rail “trench” for a bad example.) Equally bad, 2) the proposed Light Rail station location would be two and a half blocks further northwest from Union Station and downtown.
Thousand of commuters will have to walk or shuttle daily to Union Station and downtown. And 3) there is no track going south from Union Station.
There are other problems, for example,what would another South Platte Valley flood do to the “trenches."?
So who gains and who loses? Here’s the irony! The ambitious developers, with all their new properties, will make a lot of money. RTD riders and other travelers, for whom this was all originally planned, will walk further and be much more inconvenienced than necessary..
So far RTD and Denver’s Mayor (who has the most clout) have not been as responsive to these needs as they should be. If you are concerned, please call or write the Mayor’s Office at once.
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Did you REALLY believe it was anything more than a money-grab? When are you going to quit being fooled and voting for yet another tax increase? And you want to give these liars power over your health care????
They're politicians. It's in their job description to lie and steal and sucker as many idiots as they can.
Posted by clyde on October 20, 2007 10:58 PM