Thornton residents protest FasTracks' 144th Ave. station

Some parents near middle school say it will draw criminals

Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 30, 2007 at midnight

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Some Thornton residents want RTD to scrap plans for a FasTracks station at 144th Avenue and York Street, fearing for the safety of children at nearby Rocky Top Middle School.

FasTracks' North Metro Corridor, an 18-mile commuter rail line from Union Station downtown to 162nd Avenue, would be built along a lightly used Union Pacific freight line winding between York Street and Colorado Boulevard.

The route passes other schools along the way, including some that support nearby stations. But residents near Rocky Top have started an online petition to protest the 144th Avenue station.

"Students will have to pass by and are likely to walk through the parking lot to get to school, exposing them to the dangers and crime that have historically been linked to park-n-Ride locations throughout the state," the petition states.

They even raised the specter of drug dealers and pedophiles hanging around the station.

FasTracks spokeswoman Pauletta Tonilas said, however, that there generally is no history of problems on the Regional Transportation District's light-rail system with the type of crimes Rocky Top parents fear. Vehicle break-ins and thefts have occurred, but even they are not rampant, she said.

"People aren't riding the train to go to a school to grab a child," Tonilas said.

RTD also says it will line the North Metro line with a 6-foot fence.

That doesn't satisfy residents.

"There are countless kids that cross these tracks daily to get to school," said Jen Keenan, a protest organizer. "Putting a chain link fence up is not likely to stop them. We are talking about early teenage boys and girls."

Keenan and other backers say that with other stations two miles north and two miles south of 144th, this station isn't needed.

But Gene Putman, Thornton's transportation planner, said the 144th Avenue station has been on the city's radar since 2000, when the commuter line was in the planning stages. Neither Rocky Top Middle School, which opened in fall 2004, nor any of the homes in that area, existed at the time.

"Right now," Putman said, "with the development that's occurring in that area, by 2015 there's going to be a really heavy passenger demand that will need a station there."

Joe Ferdani, spokesman for the Adams 12 school district that includes Rocky Top, said officials take no position on transit station locations but work continually with RTD to ensure that student safety is a top priority.

Mapleton Public Schools, south of Rocky Top, earlier this year went on record supporting FasTracks' plans for a station at 88th Avenue, next to Skyview High School. The board cited the proximity as a benefit.

Transit lines already operate or are planned near dozens of schools in the metro area.

Along the FasTracks West Corridor light rail through Denver, Lakewood and Golden, for example, the trains will pass by or within several blocks of seven elementary through high schools, an RTD tally shows. On the Gold Line to Arvada and Wheat Ridge, nine schools are within three blocks of the tracks. Six schools are within a half mile of the planned FasTracks Interstate 225 light rail corridor.

There are a dozen schools within three blocks along RTD's existing light rail system serving central, southwest and southeast parts of the metro area.

flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247

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