Better Alternatives for 30th St. Project and Serious Oversights:
We appreciate the intentions and effort on the part of all the City staff who have worked to
make this improvement a part of the best outcome possible, but we believe, given
the many disturbing oversights in the Ordinance making this project possible, we can
all work together and do much better.
Alternative options in the current plan
The solutions may be easier and simpler than anyone first thought. By adding socially and environmentally responsible contracting standards and moving the
underpass to Walnut and 30th, the City connects this underpass to existing bike paths at the exact destination of our heaviest bike and pedestrian traffic. The city might have even saved money by partnering
with developers on existing plans (for example, working with underground parking plans at the 29th St. residential area) before the plans take effect, again, ensuring the
underpass connects to already existing bike routes at the 29th St.
location where most commuters will either travel or connect. The route
to the Transit Village through 32nd Street provides additional
connections and a faster, more direct route to the Transit Village without needless destruction to the environment,
encouraging –not discouraging- convenient bike transportation, all while
protecting the long-held progressive Boulder values of preserving the environment, workers rights and the diverse contributions of
our small and minority-owned businesses & unique cultural centers. In short, the alternatives provide for a "Fair Trade and Organic" solution right here at home that amends the improvement project for the best of all scenarios.
Serious Oversights with the Current Plan:
Implementing a 2002 plan in 2009.
Now we have
the 29th St. Mall: When the City first seeded the vision for the
concrete loop, they were using a landscape and urban reality from
2002. Perhaps this plan was the right plan seven years ago, but today
the City is seriously arguing that it makes less sense to bring
multi-use commuters to and from the 29th St. Mall and residential area
than it does to bring them to Ras Kassa’s Ethiopian Restaurant and
African Cultural Center. The City’s Transportation Master Plan calls
for the connection of new bike routes under 30th St. to connect to
existing bike paths south of the currently proposed location. With
existing routes already in place on both sides of the 29th St Mall, the
City could spend our money on connecting those paths now with an
underpass project where it makes sense in 2009, rather than using it on
an expensive concrete loop that may never become a bike path in our
lifetimes.
Sending the Wrong Message. Biking can be both community and eco-friendly as well as convenient. Socially
and environmentally irresponsible alternative transportation
development makes bicyclists look greedy for any concrete at any cost, when
we’re not. In addition to giving Boulder biking a bad image, it
typically places inconvenient routes along these beautiful waterways,
discouraging most commuters who need quick, direct routes from riding
their bikes instead of driving.
Wildlife Protection. Failing to prevent needless destruction of
old growth trees through the
sound alternative route above sacrifices one of the last groves in an
untouched urban waterway. Using our altnerative, this becomes a needless act of wildlife destruction.
The Condition of Minority-Owned Business in Boulder. 10 months of construction at a less than perfect location could likely put the Ras Kassa's Ehtiopian Restaurant and Boulder-Africa Cultural Center out of Business. Allowing the displacement of one of the
only African or African-American-owned businesses in Boulder --of which
there are exactly
5* registered with the Colorado Department of Labor-- sends a powerful and
painful message from the City that our closing some of the only
contributions from these minority-owned businesses really is an acceptable
loss in the greater community of Boulder.
*In all of Boulder, only two of these owners are owned by women, and only one of those women is African.
Responsible Contracting Saves Lives, Not Just Trees. The City made no effort whatsoever to include worker protections in the same vein that the federal government committed that the "Green Jobs" from stimulus money would be "Good Jobs."
See footnote below* Most progressive cities go above and beyond the federal "prevailing wage" statutes connected to their grant money to further preserve workers' safety and taxpayer dollars by contracting with companies that use the highest quality apprenticeship training programs. We can protect construction workers in the nation’s deadliest industry by
adding best-value & responsible development and contracting standards that
guarantee bona fide high quality apprenticeship training programs as
cities around the country and even the University of Colorado have.
This simple best value, highest quality standard mitigates risk of life & limb to our most
vulnerable workers and to the cost overruns of unmitigated safety risks.
*City Council Meeting, July 7, 2009: When asked about asserting these same values and standards to protect construction workers, the City Manager replied, "This is not stimulus money, so we don't have to do that."
The Money. The City sites deadlines attached to recent grants for the rush to begin contracting for their current plan. Proponents of the current plan say that there is
no guarantee that the money will ever be available again. However, they are willing to go to this great expense, with each of the oversights as acceptable costs, because
they are simultaneously certain that there will be money in the future to actually connect the concrete slab to bike paths. Is it that this must move ahead now, despite the oversights, because there will never be any money in the future for these projects? Or is it that there will be plenty of money available in the future for these projects? (Would it then not make more sense to put the underpass in where it can connect already existing bike routes?...)
The Construction Timeline. The City says that other components of the improvement have been lumped into this plan, and the current location at the Ras Kassa's site and site of the trees on 2121 30th St. (The Boulder Slough waterway) makes more sense because it minimizes the amount of construction time. There is no mention, though, of the much greater construction work to take place erecting the 29th St. Mall's 400-unit residential development on Walnut & 30th, where the project could actually connect to the already existing bike paths now and where construction will also "already be taking place."
Not Talking with Corporate Developers Beforehand. Failing to discuss alternatives with owners
and corporate developers beforehand at the 29th St. Mall and residential area
sends a message that the City is willing to go to the extreme use of
eminent domain when they failed to make other options available first, and when unique community elements are at risk, like our only African cultural link and some other independent, local
businesses. It looks negligent at best when compared to the interests of big developers– especially
if those developers could have been allies in a mutually beneficial project. In the past, the City has held big developers accountable. So, why not in the 7 years they've taken to plan this project? Our alternatives make more
sense for Transit Village commuters who want bike paths that can exist and connect now, without hoping for a more money to connect the concrete loop in "10 or 15 years," as Councilman Ken Wilson put it. Yet, because there was no commitment to other options when there could have or perhaps should have been, none were explored.
City Council's argument to concerned City Staff and concerned constitutents now seems to be:
1. "Well, it's too late, now. We'll throw millions of dollars into this concrete loop, despite the extraordinary costs, and we'll just see what happens." and,
2. "A lack of planning on our part constitutes an emergency on your part. Nice sentiment, but we're moving ahead for the 'greater good.'"
These key oversights illustrate where the greatest public good has been lost, despite even the best of intentions. It is only prudent to take the appropriate amount of time needed for the City to design a healthier plan for all of us. You are encouraged to join us at our next City events beginning on Monday, August 3rd and continuing on Tuesday, August 4th.