Candidates vie to shape FasTracks

Seventeen people run for eight seats; all support project

By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 8, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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RTD's board election has attracted 17 candidates for eight seats at a time the agency is facing spiraling costs and lower revenues than expected in its ambitious FasTracks program.

Three incumbents are running unopposed in their districts while one incumbent is being challenged.

Because of term limits, three seats are open, and another seat is open because the incumbent isn't running again.

With FasTracks facing mounting problems, all of the candidates are calling for solutions short of scrapping the program.

FasTracks' challenges include the recent increase in its price tag to $7.9 billion and a new projection for sales tax revenue that is less than what was estimated in 2004.

RTD gets the majority of its funding from a 1-percent sales tax in the district that covers all or parts of eight counties. Six-tenths goes to RTD's current operations and four-tenths, approved by voters in 2004, is dedicated to the FasTracks program.

At the time of the 2004 vote, FasTracks was estimated at $4.7 billion. While some of the new candidates have expressed skepticism over the validity of RTD's original cost-projecting methods, all of them offer varying solutions for meeting the challenge that would keep the project going in some fashion.

The agency could be facing a budget gap of more than $2.3 billion in FasTracks.

RTD, which at more than 2,300 square miles serves an area bigger than Rhode Island, is divided into 15 geographic districts each represented by an elected director.

Two of the candidates are former state legislators and another is a former mayor in Lone Tree. The offices are nonpartisan.

The three incumbents running unopposed for second terms are Barbara Brohl, of Lakewood, in District D, Bill McMullen of southeast Denver's District E and Lee Kemp, of Broomfield, the board chairman, in District I.

Barbara Yamrick, running for a second term in Aurora's District F, has two challengers, Jerry Staples and Tom Tobiassen.

Yamrick, 63, is a substitute teacher in Denver and Aurora and a former member of the Aurora school board. Staples, 67, is a retired Air Force analyst and disabled veteran. Tobiassen, 56, is a systems engineer with Zeta Associates.

Central Denver's District A has attracted the most candidates. There, Bill Elfenbein is leaving because of term limits and four Denver residents are running for the seat.

Bill James, 61, is a commercial and residential real estate appraiser who owns James Real Estate Services. Peter Lorenzen, 48, is a software developer and electrical engineer.

John Maslanik, 53, is a partner in a small, private investment advisory business and is president of the Downtown Denver Residents Organization. Laura Yribia, 37, helps to administer grants at the Colorado Health Foundation.

In District G, which covers the southeast suburbs into Parker and Douglas County, O'Neill Quinlan was ruled to be term-limited even though a quirk four years ago might have meant a break in his service. He was defeated for re-election in 2004, but the winner declined to be sworn in so Arapahoe County commissioners appointed Quinlan to the vacancy.

Two people are running for the seat. They are Justin Herrera, 37, a law student and teacher in Centennial, and former Lone Tree Mayor Jack O'Boyle, 73.

In District M, which covers Lakewood, Wheat Ridge and Edgewater, Dave Ruchman is leaving because of term limits. Two people are running to replace him.

Matt Cohen, 43, of Lakewood, is a residential Realtor for RE/MAX Alliance. Ramey Johnson, 61, also of Lakewood, is a former state representative who works as a case manager at Porter Hospital.

The final race is in District H, which covers parts of Englewood, Cherry Hills Village, Greenwood Village, Littleton, Centennial and Highlands Ranch. There, one-term director Daryl Kinton, who has had health problems since taking office, decided not to seek another term.

Three people are running to replace him.

Kent Bagley, 66, of Littleton, is an urban planner who owns Bagley Development Consultants. He is a former chairman of the Littleton Planning Commission. Arthur Miller, 43, of Centennial, is a transportation engineer at a local firm and specializes in roadway design. Joe Stengel, 54, of Littleton, is an attorney and a former state representative.

flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247

• September 10, 2008

  2:17 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  warrengfunk7 writes:

  Wow, District H has some strong candidates running.

  -Kent Bagley, 66, of Littleton, is an urban planner who owns Bagley Development Consultants. He is a former chairman of the Littleton Planning Commission.

  -Arthur Miller, 43, of Centennial, is a transportation engineer at a local firm and specializes in roadway design.

  -Joe Stengel, 54, of Littleton, is an attorney and a former state representative.

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