EDITORIAL: Getting light rail on track may be up to Aurora

In a world so full of self-proclaimed pragmatists, it’s surprising that so little moves quickly in the right direction.

At least some leaders in Aurora and Colorado could have things changing for the better, providing they can get their way.

This week’s winner for calling it like it really is goes to Mayor Steve Hogan. The long-time city lawmaker but relatively new mayor virtually drew gasps from other city leaders when he suggested that city residents consider using Aurora taxes to get the stalled RTD FasTracks project along I-225 rolling again. Here’s what Hogan knows that too many of his peers overlook:

• Aurora needs more mass transit, more roads and more lanes on those roads now.

• The city has a critical need to expand transportation options to and from the Fitzsimons/Anschutz campuses immediately and especially before the new Veterans Hospital opens.

• RTD catastrophically miscalculated back in 2004 when it would be able to build out all of the FasTracks, light-rail and commuter-rail projects. Part of that calamity was to first fund and build rail-lines to the west of Denver, even though demand for service to DIA and Aurora’s Fitzsimons redevelopment project showed an aching need for such services.

• RTD officials are too afraid to ask metro-area voters for additional sales taxes to keep FasTracks construction on schedule, fearing voters will say ‘no,’ and they are unable to create a plan to persuade voters to approve the spending.

• By next year, those on the west side of Denver, who were lucky enough to get funded projects, will start riding on those new lines. Despite what RTD officials say, they will be much less motivated to raise taxes again for transit lines in Aurora. In short: they got theirs.

To be brief, the train has left the station, and Aurora isn’t on it. So we can all grumble, like Aurora has done so many times over so many years of not getting wider highways, better bridges, landscaping and on and on and on. Or, we can do something about it.

Hogan wants to do something about it.

Aurora is in an enviable position right now for a few reasons. City lawmakers are gearing up to ask voters whether they can keep a current property tax on the books that generates about $6 million a year. For the past few months, city council members have been figuring out ways to spend that money if voters were to approve a question to keep on paying a levy that costs the owner of a $200,000 home about $2.60 a month. Although a few lawmakers have soundly argued that restoring closed libraries and offering services to residents they’ve come to expect should be a priority, the majority of city council seems intent on funding transportation projects with the money.

The annual take of the tax could easily be parlayed into a bond issue to generate serious cash. So seriously, why not look at working with RTD on having Aurora taxpayers help fund this line, with a train-load of caveats, such as repayment should RTD ever get around to asking voters for more money, and should they ever get it?

Perhaps a cooperative effort by the city, the University of Colorado and other Fitzsimons neighbors, the builder, RTD and Adams and Arapahoe counties could create a program to “front” RTD the money to build out this badly needed line. Transportation district officials have repeatedly stated that the project isn’t dead, just delayed. At the very worst, Aurora would get its money back years from now. At best, construction could begin vastly sooner, and local taxpayers and contributing entities would get their cash back when RTD pushes through another tax increase.

That could be real pragmatism.