HighLight Heading
June 2005
Building consensus: Lessons from Denver and the outlook for Minnesota
Bill Elfenbein, Mary Liz Holberg
Last November, voters in the eight-county Denver Regional Transportation District approved an increase in their region's sales tax to fund FasTracks, a $4.7 billion comprehensive transit plan. At the conference opening session, businessman Bill Elfenbein, chair of the RTD board of directors, shared the lessons Denver learned in developing consensus for this initiative.
Following his presentation, three leaders in Minnesota's current transportation funding debate—Rep. Mary Liz Holberg, chair of the House Transportation Finance Committee, Jay Cowles, founding member of the Itasca Project, and Rick Krueger, executive director of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance—offered their perspectives.
For more on Holberg, Cowles, and Krueger, see "Opening session panel".
Elfenbein began by sharing the tale of FasTracks's predecessor—the 1997 "Guide the Ride" referendum. Although similar in scope to FasTracks, Guide the Ride was unable to overcome a number of problems. The first was an RTD board of directors with several "tremendous troublemakers," he said. (The board has 15 nonpartisan directors elected to a four-year term.) Played up by the press, the board's acrimony caused voters to distrust the $6 billion initiative. The plan also lacked a regional vision with specific lines, technology, and stations; the support of business and elected officials; and adequate time to educate voters. Compounded by a poor campaign organization, the referendum lost 58 to 42 percent, "as it probably should have," he said.
Still, proponents felt a second try could pass if the flaws were corrected. Their confidence was bolstered by the "tremendous success" of a light-rail transit (LRT) line that opened in July 2000, he said, as well as support from the technology sector for another 13 miles of LRT, set to open in December 2006.
What's more, between 1997 and 2000 two elections brought better-qualified members to the RTD Board who were ready to chart a vision for the area, he said. FasTracks includes 119 miles of LRT and commuter rail lines, 18 miles of bus rapid transit, 31 new park-and-rides with 21,000 new spaces, an enhanced bus network and transit hubs, and a downtown multimodal center.
The RTD had a number of allies in the campaign for FasTracks, including the Transit Alliance, environmental groups, the Chamber of Commerce, a metro mayors' caucus of 31 cities, and the state's congressional delegation. Lined up against the plan were the governor, state treasurer, Republican state legislative leadership, local anti-tax and anti-transit groups, and one of the two major newspapers.
How they overcame these forces, Elfenbein said, was by learning from the failure of Guide to Ride and building consensus through the following actions:
- Listen to and involve the public at all times, and use the planning process as an educational tool. The campaign involved presentations to constituents "at any meeting possible," he said.
- Promote mass transit as a positive regional solution, and gain support from local elected officials. Support from the metro mayors' caucus and suburbs was very important. Also essential to the plan's political acceptance were its widely dispersed benefits. For example, bus service will be enhanced in areas not receiving LRT.
- Provide a realistic, specific timetable for each corridor.
- Gain business support. RTD stressed the short-term economic benefits of 8,000 to 10,000 jobs over a 12-year construction buildout, as well as the long-term economic impacts. "The Chamber of Commerce jumped on this," he said.
- Use conservative financial figures. An outside financial review led by the metro planning agency verified all financial assumptions.
- Be sure the transit agency has community respect before starting your campaign, and have a strong campaign organization. The FasTracks campaign started early—one and a half years out—and used volunteers to gather signatures, which garnered positive press and demonstrated public support. Extensive polling drove a $3.5 million TV and radio campaign funded largely by the business community.
- Respond to all criticism ASAP.