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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p>Hey, RTD riders and transit advocates! <o:p></o:p></p><p>Good news and important news to share as we head into Tuesday's full Board meeting on June 23 at 5:30 PM. Let me give you the full picture.<o:p></o:p></p><p>* * * <o:p></o:p></p><p>First, the good news -- and it's significant <o:p></o:p></p><p>Director Karen Benker, Chair of the Finance and Planning Committee and our strongest ally on the Board, has done something no one else has been willing to do: she compiled her own independent budget analysis and put it in writing for the full Board to see on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Her two-page presentation lays out three scenarios for closing RTD's $215 million deficit. All three include the same $119.2 million in revenue measures -- grants, fare increases, real estate sales, corporate sponsorships, advertising, refinancing, and more. The difference between the three options is how much service gets cut.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Here is the part worth sitting with: even her most conservative option -- just 5 percent in service cuts -- closes the entire deficit and generates a $6.7 million surplus. Her middle option, with 10 percent service cuts, generates a $22.7 million surplus. The 20 percent option that management has been pushing generates a $53.7 million surplus.<o:p></o:p></p><p>This is the first time a board member has put a comprehensive alternative budget on paper and presented it to the full Board. It shows clearly that the 15 to 20 percent service cuts being modeled by management are not the only path forward -- not even close. Director Benker deserves real recognition for this. She has been pushing back on the management narrative since this fight began, and now she has the receipts.<o:p></o:p></p><p>There is also a significant procedural win to report. At last Thursday's Executive Committee meeting, Director Benker successfully moved both deficit reduction items -- the Finance Committee's and the OSSC's -- from the Unanimous Consent section of Tuesday's agenda to Recommended Action. That means instead of getting rubber-stamped in a block vote without discussion, both items will receive full Board debate on Tuesday. That's exactly what we want.<o:p></o:p></p><p>* * * <o:p></o:p></p><p>What's actually on Tuesday's agenda <o:p></o:p></p><p>Nothing on Tuesday's agenda will directly eliminate paratransit or immediately cut service. Tuesday is about authorizing Staff to model specific scenarios -- the actual decisions come later. But the direction set Tuesday will shape everything that follows, and that is why showing up matters.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Here is what the Board will vote on: <o:p></o:p></p><p>The Finance Committee's recommended action authorizes modeling of legislative reforms for additional revenue, refinancing opportunities, and labor expense changes. Notably, fare increases were stripped out of this motion before it left committee -- Directors Ruscha and Guissinger led that amendment, and it passed unanimously. Director Nicholson attempted to add fare increases back in at last Thursday's Executive Committee meeting, but his motion was ruled out of order. That win stands.<o:p></o:p></p><p>The OSSC's recommended action authorizes modeling of a ballot measure, fare media activation, real estate income, office space reductions, and service hour modifications at 15%, 17.5%, and 20% scenarios.<o:p></o:p></p><p>The Board will also formally approve the June 2026 service changes that went into effect on June 7. This is routine procedural housekeeping -- RTD implements service changes operationally first and then brings them to the full Board for formal authorization at the next regular meeting. But tucked inside this vote is something genuinely meaningful for our community.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Route 53 in Broomfield is being reinstated, running seven days a week. At the OSSC meeting two weeks ago, Kristin Placer from the Broomfield Housing Alliance testified that RTD had denied a request to extend Access-a-Ride service by just 750 feet to reach The Grove -- a new affordable housing community specifically designed for people with disabilities opening in six weeks. RTD's denial meant that restoring Route 53 was the only way those residents would ever have paratransit eligibility. Tuesday's vote makes that happen. It is a direct, real-world example of exactly what we have been arguing all along: route decisions determine who can and cannot access paratransit. In this case, restoring a route creates eligibility for an entire community of people with disabilities. That is worth celebrating.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Also in the June service changes: the package included the Route 36 Fort Logan schedule adjustment that RTD made specifically to better serve the Colorado Center for the Blind's morning operating hours -- RTD named CCB by name in their official documentation. Zero negative public responses. That is what organized advocacy looks like.<o:p></o:p></p><p>* * * <o:p></o:p></p><p>What we still need the Board to hear <o:p></o:p></p><p>Even though nothing on Tuesday directly eliminates AOD, at least one board member has already said on the record that supplemental programs like Access-on-Demand should be "the first ones chopped." That argument is factually wrong, and the full Board needs to hear why before any budget decisions are locked in.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Here are the key points worth making in public comment Tuesday: <o:p></o:p></p><p>Director Benker's budget presentation shows 5 percent service cuts close the deficit. Before the Board authorizes modeling cuts of 15 to 20 percent, they should answer one question: why is Director Benker's Option 1 not sufficient?<o:p></o:p></p><p>Eliminating AOD would cost RTD more, not less. Each AOD trip costs RTD a maximum of $20. Each Access-a-Ride boarding costs over $100. Riders pushed off AOD don't disappear -- they go back to AAR, the more expensive system that is already struggling with declining on-time performance. Washington DC's WMATA pays $24 per trip through Uber versus $135 for traditional paratransit -- more than 80 percent lower. New York's MTA saved $102.7 million in a single year by shifting eligible riders to on-demand alternatives. The smart move is expanding AOD, not eliminating it.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Grandfather existing paratransit riders. If service cuts shrink the ADA-mandated paratransit service area, people who are eligible today must remain eligible. Chair O'Keefe has expressed support for this. The full Board should commit to it explicitly on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Honor the intent of SB 26-150. The independent paratransit study required by law exists precisely so the Board can make informed decisions. Our coalition of disability organizations has already asked the Board formally to maintain existing paratransit service levels until that study is complete. That request stands.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Don't let the one-hour public comment cap silence our community. This is one of the most consequential decisions in RTD's recent history. Public participation should be expanded, not curtailed.<o:p></o:p></p><p>* * * <o:p></o:p></p><p>The Finance Committee meeting had 32 public participants. The OSSC had 20. Tuesday's full Board meeting needs more. Your presence matters -- not because disaster is imminent, but because the Board is still making up its mind, and a full room of people who depend on this system sends a message that numbers on a spreadsheet cannot.<o:p></o:p></p><p>Please come in person to 1660 Blake Street if you can. If you cannot attend in person, join via Zoom at <a href="https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kjqG0FnZT-C0jvmWaldBHA">https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kjqG0FnZT-C0jvmWaldBHA</a><o:p></o:p></p><p>Written comments can be submitted any time to RTD.Directors@rtd-denver.com and become part of the official record. <o:p></o:p></p><p>Tuesday, June 23. 5:30 PM. 1660 Blake Street, Denver. Be there. <o:p></o:p></p><p><o:p> </o:p></p><p><o:p> </o:p></p><p><o:p> </o:p></p><p>Tim Keenan <br>State Transportation Chair <br>National Federation of the Blind of Colorado <o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>