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THE TRAIN IS COMING! THE TRAIN IS COMING!GET MOVED IN & GET ON BOARD!!!
Sign outside a local apartment complex in Lakewood Colorado located 150 ft (Yes, I wrote 150 ft) from the future Lakewood-Wadsworth Light Rail Station. The units have been remodeled, rents raised & await the arrival of the young, the hip, the mobile and sustainably aware new tenants. |
THE BACK FENCE NEWSLETTER
The Newsletter Featuring Livable Community Items That Readers Value and Highlights of Happenings Along the West Corridor on the RTD West Rail Line Serving Golden, Lakewood & Denver. |
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The "W" Line Opens in:
148 Days.
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Hi Everyone! This is Bill Spriggs and I have found several news articles, links and blogs that I wanted to share along THE BACK FENCE & beyond in this Weekly Edition, November 29, 2012. |
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West Corridor, Denver & Region
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TheDenverPost
RTD Approves Developer's Union Station Lease, Construction to Begin
By Howard Pankratz, Nov 28 2012
The team that is redeveloping Denver's Union Station said Wednesday that its lease on the building has been approved by the Regional Transportation District. The project is now set to begin next Monday and will turn Union Station into a mixed-use, transit-oriented development with a planned opening in mid-2014, said the developers. The project will include a boutique hotel and ground floor retail and restaurant space.READ MORE... 
Special Denver Union Station Gathering This Saturday, Dec 01 2012 By Ken Schroeppel, Nov 28 2012 Denver Union Station's closure for its long-anticipated makeover is finally here. The station will close to the public after this weekend so that workers can begin the year-and-a-half process of restoring the structure to its former glory and adding new hotel, restaurant, and retail uses to the historic landmark. The "new" Denver Union Station will open, along with the rest of the transit infrastructure under construction nearby, in 2014.
Click here for details as to when, where & what TheDenverPost
RTD Warns of West Rail Line Hazards
By Monte Whaley, Nov 28 2012 While officials insist that the West Rail Line will help the commute from Denver to Jefferson County, it will also come with hazards and warnings for residents.TheDenverPost
Hubbard: Two Wheels Good, Four Wheels ...
By Curtis Hubbard, Nov 25 2012 If your Thanksgiving feast was ruined by debates the over the election, or if you ran out of both wine and ways to work in comments about "gifts" and "the 47 percent," here's a suggestion for your next holiday-dinner discussion: bicycles.TheDenverPost
Editorial: Bikes and Cars Must Share the Road By The Denver Post, Nov 19 2012
Video of a Longmont driver's shameful behavior shows the need for better relations on the road. READ MORE...
West Corridor Progress: Lamar Station (The Brickyard)
By Ryan Mulligan, Nov 13 2012
Next up on our West Corridor tour is the Lamar Station. As with both the Knox and Perry Stations, the Lamar Station will not have any parking and be a purely "Kiss-n-Ride" station only meaning that passengers can be easily dropped off or picked up close to the station (either private car or bus). The Louisiana-Pearl Station on the Southeast Corridor is another example of a Kiss-n-Ride station. [Note to below: As a reminder to readers: The EAGLE Project will be the eastern connection from the West Corridor to Denver International Airport after a short transfer at Denver Union Station. The project also includes The Gold Line connection from Arvada to DUS].
EAGLE Project Progress - Railcar Construction By Ryan Mulligan, Nov 21 2012 We have our first detailed look at the ongoing construction of the new rail cars for the EAGLE Project, courtesy of RTD! READ MORE...YourHub.DenverPost
Denver B-Cycle Wraps up Season, Prepares for 2013 & Prepares to add 30 New Stations
By Joe Vaccarelli, Nov 20 2012 Denver B-cycle may be open only nine months of the year, but it just had its 500,000th user since opening three years ago. READ MORE...
YourHub.DenverPost
Lakewood Split on Whether to Allow chickens, Goats
By Emilie Rusch, Nov 21 2012
A provision to allow chickens and goats on smaller residential lots in Lakewood is dividing the city's elected officials as they consider final approval of a citywide zoning overhaul.
TheDenverPost
New Metering Approach to be Used to Tackle I-70 Mountain Traffic
By Monte Whaley, Nov 29 2012
Colorado transportation officials are dumping past methods intended to untangle weekend traffic jams at the Eisenhower Tunnel in favor of one that will seem familiar to metro-area motorists who merge onto Interstate 25 during rush hour. The Colorado Department of Transportation will now test continuous-flow metering as a way to keep vehicles moving through the tunnel when there is a traffic slowdown.
TheDenverPost
A Rerouting of Continental Divide Trail in Southern Colorado Could Ban Bikes
by Jason Blevins, Nov 27 2012
Opposition is mounting to a proposed plan to ban bikes from a new rerouting of the Colorado Trail and the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail - or the CDNST - in southern Colorado's Cochetopa Hills area of the Rio Grande National Forest.
TheDenverPost Spaceport Colorado Receives $660,000 in Funding Commitments
by Kristen Leigh Painter, Nov 26 2012
Spaceport Colorado is a step closer to becoming a reality after securing full funding commitments of more than $660,000 last week from public and private partners. |
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National
| DC.StreetsBlog
Mica Drops Chairmanship bid, Endorses Shuster By Tanya Snyder, Nov 27 2012 Rep. John Mica (R-FL) has withdrawn from the running to remain chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He was up against Republican term limits, which specify that no Congressmember can spend more than six years as the highest-ranking member of their party on a committee...
Governing
Tired of Service Cuts, California Cities Raise Taxes By Todd Newcombe, Nov 21 2012 Have cities reached the limit when it comes to cutting services? That seems to be the case in California where voters passed 71 percent of local tax and bond measures, according to Michael Coleman, fiscal policy advisor for the League of California Cities. Dig a little deeper and you will find that 80 percent of city general tax measures passed on election night.
READ MORE...
TheAtlanticCities
The Real Reason Cities Lean Democratic
By Emily Badger, Nov 15 2012
Colleague Sommer Mathis put up a couple of telling maps last week after the election illustrating the Republican Party's urban problem. Invariably, America's metropolitan counties are the blue ones. The whole rest of the country, more or less, leans red. If you're a liberal, these maps spatially look a bit terrifying, even if their underlying lesson bodes poorly for the GOP. TheAtlanticCities
What Republicans Are Really Up Against: Population Density
By Richard Florida & S. Johnson, Nov 26-12
Numerous theories have been offered recently not just for Mitt Romney's stunning defeat by Barack Obama, but for the apparent decline of the Republican electoral coalition. Many emphasize the diverse demographic coalition - of women, ethnic minorities, and gays - that came together behind the president, while others stress the well-executed ground game and state-of-the-art analytic techniques used by the Obama campaign. READ MORE...DC.Streetsblog
Why Traffic Deaths Are More Common in Red States Than in Blue States
by Tanya Snyder, Nov 20 2012
Public interest journalist Stuart Silverstein at FairWarning.org has uncovered the fact that red states (defined as those that went for Mitt Romney in the last election) have higher traffic fatality rates than blue states (those that went for Barack Obama). The correlation is striking, Silverstein says, but he's at a loss to explain it:
READ MORE...
Blog.MetroTrends
Diversity is Changing More Than Our Politics By Margery Turner Nov 26 2012 The presidential election got everybody talking about our country's growing diversity. But the changing makeup of America's population has implications that go far beyond politics. Immigration, the aging of the baby-boom generation, growing tolerance of gays and lesbians, and evolving norms about marriage and childbearing are transforming American society. These changes fuel new sources of economic dynamism and opportunity, and they pose new challenges for equity and social mobility. READ MORE...TheAtlanticCities
A Possible Link Between Traffic Pollution and Autism
By Emily Badger, Nov 26 2012
Tailpipe emissions from stalled cars and busy highways have been linked to a wide range of unpleasant health outcomes, to everything from heart disease to respiratory problems to damaged brain cells. If that isn't worrisome enough, here is one more unnerving finding from the front edge of pollution research: All of this particulate matter may also be associated with an increased risk of autism.READ MORE...
Brookings.edu
America's Young Adults: A Generation On the Move
By William H. Frey, Nov 20 2012
America's young adults seem to be hitting the road; moving out of their parents homes, leaving marginal jobs and crossing state lines to new environs and better employment opportunites. The latest Census data reveal that that young people aged 25 to 29 are increasingly more mobile and willing to move to new cities, very often in new states, in search of jobs.READ MORE...
SwitchBoard.nrdc
Stranded Seniors Need Public Transportation
By Peter Lehner, Nov 26 2012
My parents are among the 8 million senior citizens in this country who are stranded by a lack of public transportation. If we want to spend time together over the holidays, I, or one of my daughters, will drive hundreds of miles to pick them up and drop them back home again. At least my parents have this option, imperfect as it is--many seniors do not.
TheAtlanticCities
4 Reasons Retailers Don't Need Free Parking to Thrive
By Eric Jaffe, Nov 26 2012
A major rationale for the supply of parking spaces in city shopping centers is that customers won't come without them. The anecdotal argument makes sense - retailers believe that most consumers arrive by car and believe free or cheap parking plays a major role in choosing a destination - but the actual evidence is scant at best. A new review of commercial centers in Greater London, released late last month,..., concludes that retailers vastly overestimate the role free parking plays in their success.READ MORE...
TheAtlanticCities
Micro-Apartments So Nice You'll Wish Your Place Was This Small
By Eric Jaffe, Nov 19 2012
This week the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco will consider amending the city's building code to let micro-apartments become even more micro. At present, dwelling units must be a minimum of 220 square feet of living space plus bathroom, kitchen, and closet - roughly 290 square feet in all. The amendment would reduce that minimum to 150 square feet of livable space, for a total area of 220. If you could trade stock in real estate terms, now would be the time to buy cozy.
GristDotOrg
Attempts to Kill Renewable Energy Just Got a Bit Dumber
By Philip Bump, Nov 26 2012
The Heartland Institute is terrible in a clumsy way, like a kid who gets riled up and doesn't know what to do about it. After a clunky ad campaign comparing climate activists with murderers this spring, the organization nearly fell apart. But it didn't, unfortunately, and is now back to terrible, clumsy attempts to brazenly advance the interests of its largely anonymous, climate-denying funders.READ MORE...
StreetsBlog
One For the Dustbin: The 85th Percentile Rule in Traffic Engineering
By Angie Schmitt
Have you ever heard of the 85 percent rule in traffic engineering? I hadn't until I tried to get the speed limit lowered on my residential street, which is home to a K-8 elementary school in Cleveland's Detroit Shoreway neighborhood. RollCall
Local Officials Help Bicyclists Peddle Their Cause By Nathan Hurst, Nov 14 2012
Cyclists and pedestrians were among the biggest losers in the recently enacted highway law, which reduced funding for bicycle paths and walking trails and softened a requirement that states spend a portion of their federal aid on transportation "enhancements." |
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International (when available)
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Guardian.co.uk
Starbucks and Amazon Characterise the Death of the British High Street
By Tim Lewis, Nov 26 2012 It's time for retailers large and small to do more to protect the high street as a community asset.
READ MORE...
TheMoscowNews
Moscow Plans to Expand Tram Network
By Evgeniya Chaykovskaya, Nov 26 2012
Moscow authorities intend to expand the capital's tram network and modernize the cars. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin examined the reconstruction of a track in eastern Moscow and suggested that the tram network be modernized and developed, RIA Novosti reported. |
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Wednesday's Film (when available)
| StreetFilms.org
First Ever Sunday Streets Event Transforms Downtown Berkeley By John Hamilton, Nov 08 2012
Some 40,000 people flooded downtown Berkeley on a brilliantly sunny day in October, as the city became the latest in the San Francisco Bay Area to host a "Sunday Streets" event. Organizers closed 17 blocks of Berkeley's Shattuck Avenue to cars--and opened them to pretty much everything else.
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Things you need to know along the West Corridor
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[Note to below: I'm enclosing the full text of one section from the recent Friday Report from the City of Lakewood because it involves an important built environment connectivity change along the West Corridor adjacent to the West Rail Line.]
Preparing for a roundabout
The City received funding, including a $1 million grant from the state, to build a roundabout at the intersection of Lamar Street and West 14th Avenue and to add a section of sidewalk and bicycle lanes. The work will improve safety at the intersection and provide better access for pedestrians and bicyclists to the upcoming Lamar Station for the West Rail Line. This intersection has an unusually high rate of accidents, and they are some of the most dangerous kind, which are collisions at a right angle. The roundabout will eliminate these kinds of accidents and slow vehicles in the intersection. Properly designing the improvements to match the surrounding area will require collecting land survey information along 14th for 400 feet east and west of Lamar and along Lamar for 400 feet north of 14th to south of West 13th Avenue. The City needs residents' help by allowing surveyors to collect information on their property. Residents with concerns can contact Ken Nyhoff, Lakewood's engineer for the project, at (303) 987-7939/kennyh@lakewood.orgAdded Information. See the short video below
How to use a roundabout Michagan DOT Aug 10 2011  | |
How to use a roundabout
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Denver Union Station
Construction Cam
Wish You Could Find an Apartment/Condo near a Light Rail Station? As part of TBF's continuing efforts to bring TOD's to the West Corridor & elsewhere, this link from Walk Score.com will now be a permanent feature. Thanks.
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Commercial Real Estate Assemblages, Land or Buildings Available on The West Corridor
Please note: TBF does not
own or sell any real property.
Prices displayed may not be correct.
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>4917 West 11th Ave Assemblage [sold]
Sold, See Press Release
>10th Avenue Light Rail Assemblage
>1010 Sheridan Blvd TOD Site
>5310 West 10th Ave TOD opportunity
>13th Ave & Newland, Ideal TOD property
>5830 West Colfax Ave
>1025 Ammons Complex
>6990 West Colfax Ave Pad Site
THE BACK FENCE supports a corridor wide, regional vision, with individual nodes of unique "places" within that corridor. We hope that the listing of commercial properties available will help to speed this vision to fruition sooner. Learn more about this vision below from the Center for Transit-Oriented Development.
West Corridor Vision
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Residential Real Estate Agents
who get the "big picture" of
transit-oriented living of
walkable, sustainable
neighborhoods.
JIM SMITH REALTOR, GOLDEN
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Things You Need to Know Around the Region
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| The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of William A. Spriggs and no one else. |
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