Timing dubious in push to raise FasTracks taxes

Yesterday, the Regional Transportation District took the wraps off an RTD-financed survey in which more than 60 percent of respondents said they'd "generally support" a tax increase to complete current FasTracks exansion by 2017. This info spawned prominently placed stories in the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News this...

By Michael Roberts

January 27, 2009

Audio By Carbonatix

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Yesterday, the Regional Transportation District took the wraps off an RTD-financed survey in which more than 60 percent of respondents said they'd "generally support" a tax increase to complete current FasTracks exansion by 2017. This info spawned prominently placed stories in the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News this morning. But other headlines in the same editions imply that officials would be taking a significant political risk by lobbying for an early vote on such a measure -- among them "Sprint, ING, Others to Slash 74,000 Jobs" and "Jobs Swirling Down Drain."

Given the current state of the economy, RTD reps are demonstrating either tremendous moxie or remarkable tone-deafness by floating a tax increase right now. To quote FasTracks naysayer Jon Caldara in the Rocky article linked above, "Just how inebriated do they think we are?"

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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