The Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation Transportation Committee

Everyone is welcome! We discuss a range of transportation, transit, and streets topics, build connections with the agencies and organizations involved, and ensure that neighborhood input is included in plans at all levels! Attendees do not need to be INC delegates. You are welcome to participate even if your neighborhood organization is not a member of INC, or you are not active in a neighborhood group. Please pass on this invitation to anyone who might be interested in joining the committee — they can use this form to be added to our growing e-mail list!

There’s big news this month, as advocates throughout Denver move to do what elected officials wouldn’t — propose to to the voters that we fix our sidewalk network and treat it as the fundamental mobility infrastructure we know that it is.  Dating back to 2006, INC has called on the city to replace the city policy by each property owner arranges and pays for sidewalk installation and maintenance with a city-wide sidewalk program. In 2015, INC expanded on this call in our current Transportation Platform, including a call for preserving and completing sidewalk networks by leveraging the City’s negotiating power to get the best value on sidewalk installation and maintenance.  Jill Locantore with the Denver Streets Partnership will review the proposal and let us know how neighbors can help get the on the ballot.

By request, we also have two RTD topics — an update on the Fare Study and Equity Analysis that is reviewing the costs and discounts of fares and passes, and an opportunity to meet RTD’s senior service planner for the rail team.  The healthy growth of the city depends on efficient mobility, and transit is at the heart of urban transportation options.

And just one day after the end of the state legislative session, we’ll hear from Bicycle Colorado on progress made for safe mobility this term, and how to get involved through their organization and allies in transportation, environmental and social justice.

I hope you can join us, and please share this meeting notice with the people and groups interested in transportation topics in your area.

— Joel

INC Transportation Committee – Thursday, May 12th, 6-8 p.m. via Zoom
Register at https://bit.ly/INCTransportationMay2022

• Denver Deserves Sidewalks Ballot Initiative – Jill Locantore, Denver Streets Partnership Executive Director
  Denver sidewalks are in terrible condition, and it’s time to do something about it. Many people with disabilities, older adults, and parents with children struggle to get around parts of Denver where the sidewalks are missing, too narrow, or in bad condition. Low-income neighborhoods are the most likely to have unsafe, poorly-maintained sidewalks. And as INC has pointed out for many years, policies that force adjacent property owners to shoulder the full cost of sidewalk construction and repair can be a huge financial burden.

  The Denver Streets Partnership coalition is collecting signatures to put a question on this November’s ballot to:

  • Transfer the responsibility for repairs from adjacent property owners and place this responsibility on the City,
  • Fund the construction and repair of sidewalks citywide, through a modest annual fee charged to property owners, so that everyone can get around Denver more freely and safely,
  • Enable the construction of a complete sidewalk network that serves every Denver neighborhood within 9 years, and
  • Provide ongoing funding for sidewalk repairs.

Your support is needed to get signatures to get this on the ballot. Jill Locantore will join us to review the details of the proposal and let us know how we can help finally address sidewalks in Denver in a responsible and sustainable way.

• RTD Systemwide Fare Study and Equity Analysis – Chris Quinn, Fare and Pass Project Manager
  RTD is conducting a Systemwide Fare Study and Equity Analysis to reexamine the RTD fare system holistically, taking into consideration equity, affordability, and simplicity, and will explore and evaluate potential changes to the fare structure and pass programs throughout 2022, with consideration of study recommendations by the RTD Board of Directors planned for early 2023. Chris Quinn, project manager for this effort, will join us to share the context of RTD fares compared with other systems, the goals of this effort, and the constraints they’re working within.
• RTD Rail Service Planning – Tegan Rice, RTD Senior Service/Planner Scheduler – Rail Team
  RTD light rail forms a key high-capacity part of our regional transit options. As with the whole system, operator shortages and pandemic-related funding challenges are limiting the service being provided. We’ll get to know Tegan Rice, RTD Senior Service/Planner Scheduler and explore current challenges, including service for large-scale events where the transit is relied on to move lots of people efficiently. We’ll also hear about opportunities RTD sees for improving operations and addressing light rail service limitations, such as additional rail through the Burnham Yard area.
• State Legislative Update – Piep van Heuven, Director of Government Relations, Bicycle Colorado
  The legislative session will just have wrapped up before our meeting, and there has been some notable movement on that can affect the safety of the streets in Denver and around Colorado. Piep van Heuven, a regular at our INC Transportation Committee meetings, will give us an update on Bicycle Colorado’s 2022 legislative efforts, and prospects for what’s next.

The Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation Transportation Committee

Everyone is welcome! We discuss a range of transportation, transit, and streets topics, build connections with the agencies and organizations involved, and ensure that neighborhood input is included in plans at all levels! Participants do not need to be INC delegates. You are welcome to participate even if your neighborhood organization is not a member of INC, or you are not active in a neighborhood group. Please pass on this invitation to anyone who might be interested in joining the committee.

2022 Meeting Schedule
Calendar ahead! Our Zoom meeting schedule for 2022 (meeting links to be sent with each meeting announcement) is:

• Thursday, March 10th — 6pm-8pm
• Thursday, May 12th — 6pm-8pm
• Thursday, July 14th — 6pm-8pm
• Thursday, September 8th — 6pm-8pm
• Thursday, November 10th — 6pm-8pm

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the INC Board of Directors selected the Zoom platform for remote meetings for committee, delegate, and Board meetings, and has subscribed to a “Pro” license for all INC meeting use. Committee meetings are starting up, and the Transportation Committee in May set their new format and cadence while maintaining their success at bringing timely, engaging and important topics to an open, citywide group of neighbors.

In the new format, the Committee will:

• Meet monthly (up from every-other-month), still on the second Thursday of the month
• Have 90-minute sessions (down from 120-minute meetings), 6:30pm-8pm
• Share recorded sessions for playback or revisiting (increased accessibility!)
• Continue presentation-with-Q&A style (with Q&A format changing to meet the online model and avoid the “Zoom bombing” disruption that some meetings have suffered from)
• Introduce interview-style discussions where that is easier for our invited guests who have information to share but no prepared presentation
• Introduce “lightning talk” short topics — 5-minute committee member presentations on challenges, successes, and ideas others can learn from or help with. Slides/visuals welcome where helpful. I’m a big fan of this format for a focused presentation of an idea without the pressure of developing a long talk.

Please send your ideas for discussion/topics to Joel Noble, INC Transportation Committee Chair using this email link — What do you want to hear about? Do you have a short topic on which you’d like to present? What advice do you have based on your online meeting experiences? How would you like to help?