Denver & Colorado
Editor’s note: The Back Fence endorses State Senator Paula Sandoval for Denver City Council District 1 in the special mail-in election, May 1, 2010.
Despite the recent changes in demographics and shifting political tides of District 1, Ms. Sandoval embodies the spirit of the people who inhabit this vital district. Raised by a single mother in West Denver, she paid her way through the University of Colorado where she received a master’s degree in public administration.
During her stay in the state legislature she fought to lower the cost of heating bills, to expand access to school breakfasts and lunches, and to improve access to health care for children.
Although the District 1 just barely touches the West light rail Corridor at its southern boundary, all multi-modal transit experts know that connectivity is vital in the new urbanism movement. Having Ms. Sandoval as a northern neighbor will make it easier to promote a cultural change amongst her constituents that leaving the car at home and riding the light rail will enhance their family resources.
The Denver Post
RTD wise to wait on asking for tax hike
Opinion, April 17, 2010
It’s been a rough couple of weeks over at RTD, given the spate of high-profile accidents. But there was a bright spot this past week when RTD directors unanimously decided not to ask area voters this year for a sales-tax hike to bail out the financially troubled FasTracks transit program.
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Kevin Flynn’s Inside Lane
West Corridor steel-arch bridge roll-out over Sixth Avenue
April 16, 2010
FasTracks West Corridor to roll out signature bridge across 6th Avenue.
Innovative construction technique saves months of traffic impacts
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Daily Camera.com
Boulder ditches Transit Village name, now ‘Boulder Junction’
By Heath Urie, April 14, 2010
Boulder’s Transit Village has a new name.
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The Denver Post/Opinion
Peirce: A Walkable America
By Neal Peirce, April 18, 2010
Supermarkets surrounded by acres of asphalt. Pushcarts heavily loaded with groceries wheeled out, the haul stashed in car trunks. Always a drive – often several miles – to get food. We perfected the buy-and-drive model from the post-World War II expansion onward. But is it necessarily the future? No, asserts my Seattle friend and urban design planner Mark Hinshaw.
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National
The Frontal Cortex Blog
Under estimating the pain of commuting
By Jonah Lehrer, March 30, 2010
David Brooks, summarizing the current state of happiness research: The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting. According to one study, being married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year. In other words, the best way to make yourself happy is to have a short commute and get married. I’m afraid science can’t tell us very much about marriage so let’s talk about commuting.
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Infrastructurist.com
Are Urban Farms the Best Hope for Struggling American Cities?
Yonah Freemark, April 14, 2010
Faced with the inexorable departure of the manufacturing industry, from the inner cities to the suburbs and then from the suburbs to the third world, America’s rust belt has been forced to adapt. With little prospect of new factories – but plenty of demand for more jobs – cities are looking to an alternative: urban farming.
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Mlive.com/West Michigan Business
Downtown Development Authority approves $100,000 for urban market in Grand Rapids
By Chris Knape, April 14, 2010
GRAND RAPIDS — A $100,000 commitment from the city’s Downtown Development Authority will help spur a largely privately funded predevelopment process for a planned year-round urban market.
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Streetsblog/DC
Menendez Proposes Tax Credit for Transit-Oriented Development
by Elana Schor on April 15, 2010
New construction projects that are within a half-mile of transit stations and exceeding national energy-efficiency standards would be eligible for a tax credit under legislation introduced today by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the senior member of the Banking Committee’s transit panel.
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The Economist.com
Portland: Is Oregon’s metropolis a leader among American cities or just strange?
Apr 15th 2010 | PORTLAND | From The Economist print edition
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Urbanophile blog
Density Reconsidered
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
I’m a fan of contextually appropriate density in urban areas. If you don’t have sufficient population and income density, you can’t support urban neighborhood retail; if you can’t support neighborhood urban retail, you don’t have any real walkability; if you don’t have walkability, you are car dependent; if you are car dependent, then you are in direct competition with the suburbs; if you are in direct competition with the suburbs, you are probably going to lose. You can’t have a walkable neighborhood if there is not, in fact, anything to walk to, no matter how many sidewalks you put in.
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American City.org
Free Parking is Not a Right
Laura Walsh, Apr 15th, 2010
We’ve all done it, looped endlessly around restaurants, bars, theaters, our homes, looking for the parking spot that doesn’t require walking too far, and certainly doesn’t involve paying; either in meter, lot, or garage form. For if something is free, isn’t it better to spend a few minutes driving slowly and erratically looking for a space to squeeze into? If parking in a garage could mean paying $6 an hour, isn’t it worth the time to circle around “just one more time”? Yes, it is. And that’s the problem.
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Streetblog.org
The Gas Tax: A Trip Back in Legislative Time
by Elana Schor on April 15, 2010
As Tax Day prompts a rush of political rallies and media coverage, it’s worth looking back at the history of the federal levy that helps pay for transportation projects: the gas tax.
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The Rest of the Planet
Reuters.com
China banks on rail boom to fire inland growth
(Reuters) – In southwestern Yunnan province, giant concrete pillars bestride the fields, tracing the route of one of scores of new rail lines that China is building.
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The Guardian.co.uk
The pedal-powered hotel
By Tom Robbins, April 14, 2010
A green hotel in Copenhagen is claiming a world first by using guests on exercise bikes to generate electricity
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Things you need to know along the corridor.
From RTD Fastracks Information Desk: April 13, 2010
West Corridor Crews will roll the light rail bridge across 6th Avenue just east of Simms/Union during the weekend of April 23 through April 25, 2010. All lanes of traffic on 6th Avenue between Simms/Union & Kipling Street will close on Friday, April 23 at 8:00 p.m. and remain closed until 5:30 a.m. Monday, April 26, 2010. Due to the unique nature of this event, the West Corridor Public Information team will be hosting a viewing area in the parking lot located on the northeast corner of Quail Street and the 6th Avenue Frontage Road. Best to enter from Colfax Ave and head south on Quail Street.
The viewing area will be open to the public between
9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 24, 2010.
West Corridor construction closures, detours (compiled by the City Manager’s Office, City of Lakewood, Colorado, RTD, and Denver Transit Construction group).
Street closures due to light rail construction
For the most detailed and up to date information regarding street closures and delays, please go to the RTD West Corridor page
