RTD directors expressed skepticism this week over a proposed overhaul of their board, arguing it moves the board too far away from the taxpayers who fund the system.
“This is a hostile takeover by the Colorado Department of Transportation and the State of Colorado. They’re doing this so they can control our agency, our assets, our buses and trains, and our revenue sources,” RTD board member Paul Rosenthal said.
The legislation rolled out this week would reduce the Regional Transportation District‘s current 15-member elected board to seven voting directors, two of them appointed and five elected. The Colorado Department of Transportation director would be a non-voting member. The bill requires public transit decisions be consistent with the Denver Regional Council of Governments transportation plan and lets the metro planning agency appoint two non-voting directors.
While the RTD board hasn’t taken a position yet – directors were planning an emergency meeting and will host “a public transit town hall” next week – members weighed in strongly against the proposed reforms. Their agency runs public transit across a 2,342 square-mile area on an $888 million budget drawn mostly from a 1%t sales tax.
“They would do a worse job. They are not as connected to the communities. And they don’t know what’s going on,” Rosenthal said, claiming that appointed board members “will do what the governor and the legislature want, not what the people want.”
Colorado voters in 1980 ordered the creation of “an accountable RTD” run by an elected board with members from subdistricts serving four-year terms as a way to meet the needs of residents who pay the sales taxes and fares.
“Your elected directors are the last line of defense protecting taxpayer interests,” RTD board member Michael Guzman said. “It is unthinkable that, as we fight to defend our democracy at a national level, we should be faced with the destruction of our local democracy right here in the greater Denver metro area.”
House Democrat lawmakers backing the legislation have cast it as necessary to align RTD with state agencies in addressing housing affordability, workforce challenges, and climate change.
RTD has become a focus for criticism as residents voice frustrations about reliability and frequency of service, safety, and the long-promised establishment of trains linking Denver and Boulder. Voters approved that rail link two decades ago and the RTD is still studying the feasibility.
“We all share the goal of an excellent multi-modal transit system that gets all riders to where they need to go,” Polis said in a statement Wednesday supporting the overhaul. “The improvements in this bill will help professionalize RTD’s governance” and “provide more accountability and transparency to taxpayers.”
The legislation introduced Tuesday has been assigned for committee discussion. Among the key provisions:
— A 10-member board would run the RTD starting in January. Seven of the 10 members would vote in decision-making. Colorado’s governor would appoint two at-large directors. Voters in the RTD’s service area would elect five directors. The CDOT director would serve as a non-voting board member along with the two DRCOG-appointed non-voting directors.
— The RTD board would be required to create a 10-year plan for increasing ridership, improving transparency, and using RTD-owned land for new affordable housing and mixed-use development. Parking policies would be updated.
— RTD decisions would have to support state climate, housing, and transportation goals and the agency would identify potential funding opportunities to expand public transit.
— RTD would have to conduct a study to determine the most efficient way of delivering service for a growing population and use the study findings as the basis for the 10-year plan.
“Colorado Democrats are focused on addressing issues like housing affordability and workforce development, and transit is a critical piece to help make those a reality,” Rep. William Lindstedt, D-Broomfield, who introduced the bill, said in a statement. “This bill will improve RTD services and reliability and position the transit system to better meet the needs of our residents by professionalizing the board, increasing accountability, and better aligning RTD planning with community needs.”
In an interview, Lindstedt cited RTD’s slowness to establish the Denver to Boulder rail, saying “the broken promise of rail service to my constituents is only one of many ways RTD has fallen short of its mission” and that “they need a board that functions.”
“It’s a billion-dollar agency run by 15 people who ran largely unopposed or as write-in candidates,” he said.
Public transit advocates at Greater Denver Transit on Friday were mulling the provisions.
“There’s no doubt RTD needs reform and the RTD Board is part of that,” said James Flattum, a GDT co-founder. “But the board’s size and composition is not at the belly of the beast. We need to look at what the RTD board does – not how members get onto the board.”
RTD board member Lynn Guissinger, who represents riders in Boulder, said she too had concerns about the proposed reforms, as did RTD board chairman Erik Davidson.
Davidson told the Denver Post the lawmakers’ overhaul fails to address “the crucial issue of funding for expanding access to transit.”
He pointed out that RTD is financially stable with a top bond rating, unusual among U.S. transit agencies, enabling current efforts to tackle maintenance projects.
The RTD board will take an official position after the public meeting Monday at 6 p.m. in the Denver Athletic Club, he said. “We are first listening to RTD’s taxpayers and riders. Their needs are our priority.”
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