With considerable effort by Council Member Jeanne Robb, the City and County of Denver is working to assess the technical and economic feasibility of developing a streetcar line along the Colfax Corridor.  The initial study area is bounded by I-25 on the west, Syracuse Street to the east, 12th Avenue to the south and 19th Avenue to the north.  On Tuesday, December 8th from 5:30 - 7:30 pm a public meeting will take place at Heitler Hall at National Jewish Hospital at Colfax and Colorado Blvd.  The city will seek public reaction to the potential of a streetcar on the Colfax corridor.  The primary purpose of this study is to identify how streetcar in the Colfax corridor would affect:

• transit ridership
• types of transit riders
• reliance on private automobile trips
• traffic operations
• adjacent property values
• new economic investment

The Clyfford Still Museum announced that it will break ground on its future home, designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture, on December 14th at 11:00 am at 12th/Bannock Street.  Scheduled to open in 2011 in the heart of the Civic Center Cultural Complex, the museum will house the Still collection, encompassing some 2,400 works spanning the artist's career.  Still (1904-1980) played a central role in the development of abstract expressionism, along with Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko, in the 1940s and '50s.  His extensive archive, has been sealed off from the public since 1980.  The Museum has raised $8 million of new support towards the design and construction of its new building bringing the total amount raised for the new building to $25 million, more than 85 percent of the museum's total building costs and capital campaign goal. More at::

http://www.clyffordstillmuseum.org/  

Get an early look at ideas for the planned renovation of the 16th Street Mall at a public meeting on Wednesday, December 9th, 5:30-7:00 PM at the Colorado History Museum at 13th/Broadway. Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects was selected as the urban designer of the project by the Downtown Denver Partnership, the City of Denver and RTD.  The team includes Laurie Olin who worked with I.M. Pei on the original mall design. More at:

http://downtowndenver.com/Business/DevelopmentandPlanning/16thStreetPlan/tabid/174/Default.aspx

Mark your calendar for the morning of  January 29th for The Road Ahead , Transportation Solutions' ongoing series to bring to dialogue cutting-edge and practical topics and research in transportation options that balance economic, environmental and health considerations to meet today's and future needs. The Road Ahead attracts elected officials and policy makers as well as private developers and transportation industry leaders.  This time Clayton Lane (no relation to the street) who co-founded PhillyCarShare will speak about car sharing and a panel will talk about other enhanced transit strategies at the JW Marriott Hotel in Cherry Creek North.

Council Member Marcia Johnson says that for several years, residents in and around Lowry have been discussing a proposed development on the landfill near the Westerly Creek Dam - Lowry Vista. Over the next several weeks, the rezoning process will unfold. This is the point where City Council gets to vote on the new uses being proposed for the landfill parcel. Many questions about Lowry Vista have been raised within the community, primarily concerning the transfer of ownership of this land to IRG Development LLC.  The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment must approve detailed plans for the penetration of the landfill cap before the land can be developed. IRG risks steep fines from the State if they do not comply with CDPHE's guidelines. Johnson says, we are past the point of discussing whether or not IRG has the right to develop this land. Now, we need to decide what is appropriate to be built here. She encourages you to learn more about the Lowry Vista development, and let her know what you think about the rezoning."  More at:

 http://www.denvergov.org/Portals/76/documents/5News2009December.pdf
 
On November 19, 2009, about 30 residents who live in the East Side travel shed (Monaco to Yosemite, I-70 to Leetsdale) attended the first public meeting to discuss the East Side Mobility Plan. The Stapleton and Lowry Redevelopments exacerbated already difficult traffic and the City of Denver is addressing them first on the east side after dividing the city into 12 transportation zones.  Concerns include dangerous intersections at Leetsdale/Monaco and Colfax/Quebec, and the narrow 2-lanes on much of Quebec Street and the study coincides with Denver's Living Streets Initiative.  More at:

 www.denvergov.org/eastside

RTD recently went live with its new myStop automated phone route and schedule system. Each of the 10,250 stops in the RTD system has a unique 5-digit number posted on the sign that can now be used to access route and schedule information by phone through RTD's the system. The myStop system features speech recognition and touch-tone technology. By dialing 303.299.6000, option 1, customers hear RTD's myStop automated schedule, and simply enter the 5-digit stop number for which they want scheduled bus or train departure times. Some 70 percent of calls to the RTD Telephone Information Center are to simply find out when the next bus or train is scheduled to depart from a given stop or transit station. The myStop system is designed to quickly give answers to a large percentage of these calls by offering a quick and easy voice-activated method for receiving that basic information.  More at:

www.rtd-denver.com/mystop
 
A sealed-bid auction of the Ritz-Carlton condominiums in downtown Denver is scheduled for next month.  Totaling 25 residential condominiums and 2 ground floor commercial condominiums at the site of the former Embassy Suite hotel at 1881 Curtis Street, the property became a victim of foreclosure after marketing of the residential units accomplished only 1 sale, preventing the developer, from repaying the $27 million loan it received from Goldman Sachs.

The future transformation of Union Station into the central transit hub for the FasTracks transportation system gained significant ground recently with the award of an investment grade designation by Fitch Ratings to the station. The designation allows the Denver Union Station Project Authority the ability to qualify for several loan programs offered by the U.S. Transportation Department with which the authority hopes to benefit by as much as $330 million.
The planned upgrade of the 14th Street corridor in downtown Denver recently gained traction with the selection of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. for the project. To be done at a cost of $14 million, construction of the upgrades is to begin in 2011 and will include sidewalk expansions, improved landscaping, signage and parking.

The Cornerstone Residences at St. Francis Center recently opened for business. Located at the intersection of Park Avenue West and Curtis Street, the 50-units were developed to provide housing for individuals affected by homelessness.

The University of Denver is nearing completion of its new 1,915 seat lighted soccer stadium just west of the Ritchie Center on the DU campus.  The $9.2 million facility opened for play in August and includes an 11,000 SF strength and conditioning center and a 12,500 SF art annex which are nearly complete.