Hickenlooper Puts FasTracks on Top of Agenda

Hickenlooper told the sold-out crowd at the Seawell Ballroom at the Denver Performing Arts Complex that FasTracks will be the most important vote they will make over the next 20 years. He compared it to bringing the railroads to the city more than 100 years ago, which turned Denver into the capital of the Rocky Mountain region, or to the construction of Denver International Airport. He noted that many naysayers said DIA was too expensive and wouldn't work as promised. But he noted a recent national study rated DIA as the best airport in the US and second best in the world.

FasTracks also is an example of cooperation between the city and other communities, he said. "Aurora can't prosper if Denver doesn't prosper. Lakewood can't prosper if Denver doesn't prosper. And vice versa," Hickenlooper said. He noted that how on a recent vacation in New Hampshire, he went out for drinks with one of the founders of Cisco Systems, who told him he had heard of how Denver and its neighboring communities increasingly are working together, rather than against each other.

Hickenlooper repeated one of his favorite images of how every time he flies to Toronto, from the air he sees of urban villages built around light-rail stations. These villages are high-density clusters of housing with eight- to 10-story office buildings, movie theaters and restaurants, he says. Eventually, similar developments could sprout around stations in the metro area, if FasTracks passes, he said. "If you want to buy a newspaper or see a movie or go to a restaurant, you won't have to get into your car," the mayor said.

Jim Mulligan, a real estate attorney with Fairfield and Woods PC, was one of the more than 600 people in the audience. "I came away impressed with his willingness to step out as far as he did," Mulligan tells GlobeSt.com. "The beauty of John is that he brings a fresh approach to politics. He is a very honest and a refreshing guy. And frankly, he is right."