Opening Remarks from Transit Alliance & Study Sponsors
Creating & Sustaining People Oriented Places
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With more than a million riders a month, our 10-year-old light rail line is popular; property values and development opportunities close to rail are rising and the I-25 corridor opens to rail on 11.17.06; 250,000 residents will locate by rail stations over 20 years or so.
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Twenty metro municipalities are struggling to comprehend and accommodate growing interest in rail-related living, as well as profound cultural and demographic shifts in our population.
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A new study shows that metro municipalities will have to develop more “peopleoriented places” if they are to capture the potential opportunities associated with the growing ranks of those most attracted to rail living.
- Transit Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to a balanced multi-modal transportation system in Colorado, has commissioned the study, “Creating and Sustaining ‘People-Oriented Places’,” which is available at transitalliance.org.
- Seniors, singles, couples and minorities will gravitate to rail-oriented villages in record numbers. This diverse worldwide-connected new demographic likes to live in close quarters by rail with conveniences nearby. Is metro Denver ready?
:- A growing number of people-oriented places are emerging along rail and in anticipation of its coming, but, in other locations too. Some of our favorites include a myriad of downtown Denver locations, Five Points, Uptown, the Gates Rubber Company redevelopment, Belmar, Englewood, Old Towne Arvada and many of the I- 25 stations that come on line this fall.
- Urban planners, developers, builders, property managers, and service providers of all sorts, are considering this profound cultural shift now.
- Community leaders will join world-renowned “placemaking” expert Prof. Jan Gehl of Copenhagen at the Colorado Convention Center for a workshop on Thursday, Apr. 6, 2006, from 8-10 a.m.
- The workshop is presented by Transit Alliance, in partnership with RTD, Denver Regional Council of Governments, Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation and Home Builders Association of Metro Denver.
:- Transit Alliance wishes to help area leaders focus on the profound cultural and demographic shifts associated with metro Denver’s $4.7 billion FasTracks investment.