The CoCo train might be too slow
Not so fast on the train.
Passenger train travel is slower today than it was more than a half century ago. The CoCo train will likely struggle to provide travel times that are competitive with currently available transportation options.
From Boulder to the Denver area, RTD has more than 80 weekday bus trips. The quickest trip from the CU Campus to Denver Union Station takes 37 minutes. The train, departing from the Boulder train station, would take about 10 minutes longer . The Boulder train station is not within comfortable walking distance of either the CU campus or downtown.
From Fort Collins to Denver, CDOT’s Bustang operates 12 weekday trips with the trip taking 1 hour 25 minutes. The train would take about 5 minutes to 20 minutes longer. CoCo’s Fort Collins train station is a few miles south of downtown and would require a bus connection to reach downtown or the CSU campus.
Will the longer train travel times keep people from using it?
The state is committed to running 3 round trips a day between Denver and Fort Collins without a sales tax increase.
Voters should see how the three round trips work out before committing to a sales tax increase.
— Wayne Graham, Denver
Medicare premiums are going up 111%
I just opened my Humana annual notice of change booklet this morning and was shocked to see that my Medicare Part D premium would be going up 111% next year. I read something a couple of months ago that the premium would be going up a little because of the Republicans’ continual attempts to destroy Obamacare, so I was expecting an increase, but not 111%.
I guess because of the timing of Medicare open enrollment, they weren’t able to hide this increase until after the election, like so many other fun surprises that will be coming after Jan. 1.
— Valorie Hipsher, Parker
Developer allowed to close my street with no notice
You brought the development battle to my doorstep this week, when — without notice — the street in front of my business was barricaded for construction in the block below it. The permit was pulled by a developer and enforced by the Department of Transportation & Infrastructure. It took 3 days of misdirects from 311 and pushback from DOTI personnel to arrive at a compromise that benefits the established businesses on my block, without encumbering the developer, a resolution which has yet to be acted upon by the city and the developer’s barricade company.
This upcoming construction is shaping up to be another Colfax, a project that is out of touch with its surroundings, of questionable value, and most certainly will preempt the well-being of established businesses in the community — all with no opportunities for dialogue that might have led to viable alternatives for all involved in advance of this impending project.
This situation, to my mind, exposes the concerns that many residents like myself have about a city that is run by career bureaucrats who are largely unaccountable to residents and not actively managed by a term-limited mayor and City Council members, who prefer instead to pursue their socialist agendas at the expense of a quality of life that is meaningful to everyone, not just the developers or the disenfranchised.
— Laurie Hessemer, Denver
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