The Road Ahead
Author: Gary Myre
If you ask people in Boulder County their opinions about the most critical issues facing our community, you're bound to get a variety of answers. Sure to make the list are public safety, population growth, traffic, downtown parking and schools. But an issue that both impacts and is impacted by them all is transportation.
There are two sides to the issue, each destined to raise the hair on the back of someone's neck. On one side you have individual freedom, personal choice, and economic opportunity, and on the other you have air quality, environmental sustainability and social equity. Add to that DRCOG's estimates that 700,000 people will move to the metro Denver area by 2020, and you have a major issue.
Transportation will be a focus area for Boulder Tomorrow during 1998. We'll study the issue, analyze what we find, conduct research, and contribute to the debate with some thoughtful commentary. We can make an impact on creating realistic alternatives to our present system, which is failing at a larger rate every year.
Closely related to the transportation issue, and related to all of the issues facing the City this year, is the City Budget. The TMP, for example, is funded in large part by sales tax (as much as 70%) . Sales tax constitutes one of the major components of the budget, but there are other funding sources and often conflicting priorities to be funded.
To help kick off our analysis of the City Budget, Boulder Tomorrow will implement a three phase project designed to increase public understanding and participation in the budget process. Please see the article about this project in this issue of PROGRESS, and call Guerin Green of the Western Research Group at 303-458-7541 if you want to be involved.
Sometimes the hardest part is defining the problem. Opposing groups seek to narrow and manipulate the definition of what the problem is to further their agendas and gain advantage in pre-determining the outcomes. Only after a problem has been thoroughly defined can it live in a context that allows for the development of creative solutions.
That's what we're all about. Helping to find the solutions. We hope to make a difference in our community and its future. It's absolutely the right thing to do, and by focusing on transportation and the budget, we're sure to enjoy another interesting year.
