It’s election time and we have a few items on our ballot that directly impact bicycling.
VOTE YES on CO 110 Let’s Go Colorado
The last time Colorado voters supported and increase to transportation funding was in 1991. Since then our roads and bridges have fallen into dangerous disrepair and our citizens’ demands for safe biking and increased transit service has skyrocketed. A YES on CO 110 will help address this serious funding backlog through a small sales tax. The best part? 15% of the funding statewide is dedicated to multi-modal (bike, bus, walking) and 40% is determined by local government. In Boulder and Boulder county that means the vast majority of funding will go to projects like regional trails and increased, faster bus service. A YES on CO 110 is the only way we’ll fund a separated bike path, like US36, down the center of the Diagonal (Hwy 119). Along with bus rapid transit on 119, and 7 (Arapahoe), protected bike lanes on Arapahoe and 30th street, 110 will fund a lot of the projects we have been waiting for to make biking safer. With 110, we will have these projects in the next few years. Without 110, we will be waiting decades.
NO on CO 109 Fix our Damn Roads
109 is a proposal that requires the state to bond for transportation projects but does not allow taxes to be raised to pay for the bonds. This would require taking state funds from education to pay those bonds. 109 also does not permit any new funding to be used for bike, walking or transit projects. 109 hurts our schools and forces Colorado into a proposition that is both fiscally and environmentally unsound. 109 proposes a future for Colorado where the car is king.
Vote YES on Boulder 2D Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax Revenues
The Daily Camera did an excellent job explaining what this issue is all about and why it is on the ballot. We strongly encourage you to read this brief article. Community Cycles will add that our Kids’ Holiday Bike Giveaway has been a recipient of this funding. This funding has allowed us to recycle and give away 30% more bikes to low income children than in previous years. It has also allowed us to teach bike repair and safe riding skills in neighborhoods where the majority of children are on free or reduced lunch. By giving these kids a bike and then teaching them how to safely ride and maintain that bike so they can keep using it all year, we are creating life-liong bicyclists. Good for this kids’ physical and mental health- Great for our environment. A YES vote on 2D will keep the Kids’ Holiday Bike Giveaway program strong.
Please remember to vote this November. There are so many important things on the ballot, including these measures.
