Judy Montero

As you may recall, at its July 24 meeting the RTD Board deferred its decision on rail technology for the North and Northwest corridors. The Board indicated that it would approve whichever type of train (diesel or electric) emerged as the “locally preferred alternative” in the Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) for those two corridors. So if you want to influence the Board’s decision, the way to do it is by taking part in the EIS process.

You can do just that tonight and tomorrow. Public meetings will take place tonight from 6 to 8 pm at Adams City High School, 4625 East 68th Avenue in Commerce City, and tomorrow night from 6 to 8 pm at the Carpenter Recreation Center, 11151 Colorado Boulevard in Thornton.

Public input may already be having an effect. Until a few days ago, it was anticipated that diesel trains would be declared the “locally preferred alternative” on the North Metro line. But the flood of e-mails and letters supporting EMUs (electric trains) has been so strong that the decision has been put off. Judy’s office forwarded more than 85 e-mails from District 9 residents who support EMUs; please add your voice to theirs. If you can’t attend either of this week’s meetings, then submit a comment via the North Corridor web site or send an e-mail to Judy’s office.

Public opinion carried the day on the Gold and East corridors, and the RTD Board chose electric trains. It’s not too late to achieve the same outcome on the two remaining lines.

Back up the vans; the District 9 office is moving. Judy and her staff are relocating to Globeville; the new address is 3457 Ringsby Court, Denver, CO 80216. The new office is located right in the TAXI development and will sit right on the South Platte, not far from the intersection of Brighton Boulevard and 38th Street; see the map below. The office will be open for business as usual next Monday morning; same phone/fax numbers.

A big “thank you” to everyone who turned out Tuesday night at the RTD Board of Directors meeting. We won two big victories for District 9 and the entire metro area: the Board voted to adopt electric trains (EMUs) on the East Corridor (the route to DIA) and the Gold Line (to Arvada). It was a nice example of what well-organized, well-informed citizen action can accomplish — also kudos to the Board for responsive leadership. The people spoke; the Board listened.

But it may not be as simple as that with respect to the two corridors still under consideration, North Metro (the line to Northglenn and environs) and Northwest (Boulder and environs). Because of the length of those two lines, a significant up-front investment will be needed to build out the infrastructure necessary for EMUs — and because ridership projections or those corridors aren’t as high as the ones for the Gold and East corridors, there will be less federal money available. Fastracks is already running afoul of its budget, and the Board members are scrambling to cut costs. Since diesel lines are cheaper to build up front (but more costly over the life of the project), there will be considerable pressure on the Board to make a short-term-oriented decision and opt for diesel trains (DMUs) on the two remaining lines.

But if neighbors exert enough pressure in the opposite direction, maybe the Board will go for EMUs there, too. Those votes won’t take place until September or October; stay tuned and we’ll keep you apprised of what you can do to influence the outcome.

If you were able to make it down to the opening of the Downtown Children’s Playground on Saturday, you know what a great party it was. If not, here are a few pixs that capture the exuberance and celebratory mood. Click on any of the thumbnails to get a full-size view of it. For an abbreviated version of Judy’s speech, scroll past the pictures.

Judy’s remarks, in shortened form:

When we started working on this project more than 4 years ago, my daughter Hope was only 3 years old. A lot of the children that are here today hadn’t even been born yet. Many of them were only in diapers. But those are the people we were working for during all those years — trying to find a location, trying to get funding, getting the park designed. Everything that went into it was for the kids — the ones who have been growing for the last 4 years, and the ones who still haven’t been born. Kids are our future. That’s why a children’s playground is such a special place.

It’s also special because play is so important — not just for kids but for all of us. Play keeps us young and healthy; it can do the same things for a city. Lower Downtown is a perfect location for a playground, because it’s so central to our community. My family and I live in the Lower Platte Valley, as most of you know, and this summer I have spent many mornings walking on the Cherry Creek trail. I’ve seen families from all the surrounding neighborhoods walking on the path next to the creek — pushing strollers sometimes. They’re young, old, white, brown, working class, middle class, upper class; they come here from Highland, Globeville, the West Side, Upper Larimer, and everywhere else. If you’ve been to Confluence Park on a hot day this summer, you know exactly what I mean. You’ve seen parents and kids and dogs splashing in the river, rafting down the rapids, hanging out at REI, bicycling on the path — playing.

Well, now there’s another place to play in Lower Downtown, another place to play along the river — a place for children. A place for the future. And a place where everybody can come together, from all the neighborhoods in District 9. It’s right on the path, so you can walk to it from anywhere. It’s even close to the light rail station, so families who are visiting downtown from elsewhere can use it.

So we’re not just celebrating a playground today. We’re celebrating our city’s diversity, its families, and its future. Above all, we are celebrating the efforts of all the people who worked so hard to get this playground approved and funded and built.

I want to thank you for coming out to play on this beautiful day. There’s a little kid in all of us, and I know this playground will help keep Denver young and playful for many generations to come.

A reminder: Judy is asking folks to speak out in favor of electric trains at tonight’s meeting about the East Corridor commuter-rail line (the DIA route) of Fastracks. The meeting takes place at the Swansea Rec Center, 2650 East 49th Avenue, beginning at 6 p.m. The RTD Board is still deliberating on which technologies to use on which commuter-rail lines, and citizens throughout the transit district are speaking loudly in favor of EMUs and against diesel trains. Tonight’s meeting is one of the last opportunities to add your voice to the chorus; the Board is expected to make a final decision next week.

Whether or not you can be at tonight’s meeting, you might like to attend another event taking place this weekend: The dedication of the Downtown Children’s Playground will occur on Saturday, June 21, at 11:30 a.m. It’s gonna be a big party, celebrating the many months of hard work that LoDo residents and neighborhood groups put into this project. The playground is more than just a climbing structure and a bunch of swingsets; it’s another step toward realizing the vision of a livable downtown. The same principle lies at the heart of the Downtown Area Plan approved by City Council last week.

The front page of today’s Rocky Mountain News business section features an article about the rash of home foreclosures in southwest Denver. That problem is hardly confined to one neighborhood; it’s a citywide problem, caused in significant part by the popularity of adjustable-rate mortgages in this decade. The rates are adjusting — upward — and the trend is hurting homeowners everywhere, including northwest Denver.

To address this problem, Judy has been working with HUNI president Bill Rodriguez and District 3 Councilman Rick Garcia to develop an educational workshop for District 9 homeowners. The workshop will help people learn to plan carefully and choose wisely when buying, financing, refinancing, remodeling, and so forth, so they can avoid ending up with bills they can’t pay. I’ll pass along workshop time(s) / date(s) when they’re available; stay tuned.

Here’s a quick update on the EMU / DMU debate: Tonight and tomorrow there will be two meetings to discuss the East Corridor of Fastracks. The primary objective of the meetings is to discuss budget cuts for the East Corridor, which are necessary due to the overall budget shortfall for Fastracks. However, the electric v. diesel discussion is very much a budgetary issue, and you will have the opportunity to weigh in on that subject at these meetings. Tonight’s meeting takes place at 5 p.m. at the Montbello Rec Center, 15555 East 53d Avenue; Thursday night’s will be in District 9 at the Swansea Rec Center, 2650 East 49th Avenue, beginning at 6 p.m.

Judy has been interviewing transit consultants who might be available to weigh in on the issue of commuter-rail technologies for Fastracks. The RTD Board is due to make its decision next Tuesday, July 24, and public comment will be open; District 9 needs to turn out in force to present a loud, united voice in favor of EMUs. Mark your calendar — 5 p.m. at RTD headquarters, 1600 Blake, in the basement conference room.

Judy got her new Council committee assignments: she remains the chair of the Fastracks committee and also will serve on the Blueprint Denver committee.

Finally, thanks to everybody who came out to the inauguration celebration last night at the Botanic Gardens. It was a little blustery, but what else would you expect when a bunch of politicians get together?

In case you missed it, The Denver Post had an editorial in yesterday’s paper praising the new Downtown Area Plan. “The new 20-year plan approved by Denver’s City Council last week seeks to restore that vitality by building on earlier plans,” wrote the Post. ”The goal is to make Downtown Denver ‘one of the most liveable cities in the world’ and to strengthen it nationally and globally.” A tall order — and it won’t happen without the talents and energy of District 9’s residents.

Judy can get started on that work tomorrow; today she’s  being sworn in for her second term as District 9 Councilwoman. You’ve probably heard by now about tomorrow night’s celebration at the Denver Botanical Gardens, but if you haven’t: the festivities get underway tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. and last until 9:30. It’s a free event featuring good food and good sounds (performances by Hazel Miller, Opie Gone Bad, and the Denver Municipal Band).

Where will these next four years lead? Take a second to think of all the things that happened in Judy’s first term. When she took the oath in July 2003, the FasTracks initiative hadn’t even made the ballot; now it’s reshaping the entire metropolitan area, particularly District 9. The Central Platte Valley buildout had barely begun, and the Democratic National Convention was a mere pipe dream. The Highland Pedestrian Bridge and LoDo Children’s Playground were both mere ideas; crime was higher, property values lower, homelessness an unaddressed problem.

That’s just one person’s quick-n-dirty list of the transformation in District 9 during the last four years — good changes, by and large, and ones that wouldn’t have happened without your resolve, nor without Judy’s guidance. Here’s to four more good years for the District.

One of the most important pieces of business at Monday night’s marathon City Council meeting got overshadowed by other events: the Council approved the new Downtown Area Plan.  It was a triumphant outcome for a process that took 18 months and involved hundreds of residents from inside and outside District 9.

It’s a big win for our district for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it ensures that neighborhood priorities will be given great weight in the future development of downtown. The plan incorporated input not only from residents and businesses located in downtown, but also from the adjoining neighborhoods that are highly impacted by downtown development — places like Highland, Globeville, Upper Larimer, the Golden Triangle, and the Santa Fe Arts District. All of those neighborhoods are now part of the future vision for Denver’s downtown. The plan ensures that downtown will not be an island, but rather will integrate all the diversity of our neighborhoods.

Among its many features, the plan gives high priority to pedestrian-friendliness. Speer Boulevard will become less of a barrier to pedestrians; there will be better landscaping along it, and an effort to ease the passage between downtown and the Auraria campus / Pepsi Center. Walkability also will be a chief design focus at the Union Station Multimodal Transit Hub and the associated development.

Another benefit of the plan is an emphasis on family-friendly amenities. Affordable housing, work-force housing, playgrounds, and parks are just some of the assets listed as high priorities in the plan.

Hundreds of people participated in the planning, attended meetings, submitted ideas, and/or voiced concerns/opinions about the plan over the last 18 months . You can see the full document at the Downtown Denver Plan official site.