RTD director Juanita Chacon said Tuesday she is resigning her seat on the agency’s board of directors for business and personal reasons.
Since 2005, Chacon has represented District C, which includes significant portions of Denver, west and south of downtown, as well as smaller parts of adjoining Jefferson and Adams counties.
“Balancing my family, my non-profit work and my real estate business now requires much more of my time to do each of them properly,” Chacon said in a statement explaining her decision to leave the Regional Transportation District board.
Because the bulk of Chacon’s district is in Denver, Mayor John Hickenlooper will name her replacement, said RTD spokesman Scott Reed.
Hickenlooper appointed Chacon to the District C post in mid-2005 when RTD director Lori Fox resigned the position. Chacon was elected to a four-year term as director in November 2006. That term expires at the end of this year.
The District C post held by Chacon is up for election this November and whomever Hickenlooper appoints to the post will have the option of running for the position in the fall.
Hickenlooper is at the United States Conference of Mayors’ winter meeting in Washington this week and his office had no information Tuesday night about a possible replacement for Chacon.
Hickenlooper chairs the conference of mayors’ transportation committee and Wednesday he is scheduled to moderate a panel discussion on “Investing in Livable Cities to Meet 21st Century Transportation Challenges.”
RTD hopes to win $1 billion from the federal government for a FasTracks public-private partnership that is to build the train to Denver International Airport and another rail line to Arvada/Wheat Ridge.
Backers of Union Station redevelopment, including Denver, hope to hear soon that the U.S. Transportation Department will offer $300 million in low-interest loans to get the project underway.
