Guess what else needs a public bailout. It's our very own Regional Transportation District's flawed FasTracks boondoggle. We know the plan can't be built for the $4.7 billion initially promised because the revised bailout "budget" says it will take at least $7.9 billion to do the job. Anyone who believes the latest figure also suffers from clinical delusion.

Public transportation is just peachy but getting what was promised in the time it was promised is impossible. RTD has rolled out five equally distasteful options on how to get out of the mess but it's obvious there's a preferred solution that involves asking voters for a bailout in the form of even more taxpayer dollars.

One of the problems in the FasTracks scheme is delivering the Northwest Rail corridor using the Burlington Northern Railroad mainline freight tracks that creep through Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Lafayette, Boulder and Longmont. Each of the communities along the railroad corridor are salivating about the huge new development activities that FasTracks is supposed to bring. Every city now has its own version of a Transit Village or some kind of economic driver that will bring windfall development profits to all kinds of equally unfunded public-private partnerships. Local politicians along the freight rails have erroneously convinced themselves they simply can't live without this entirely bad idea and are willing to fight to retain all they were once promised.

RTD is holding a series of public meetings throughout the district trying to get a consensus on what to do. As usual it's largely a sham appearing more like a conclusion in search of a process. The recent meeting in Boulder was an attempt to get unbiased public input on what to do although these meetings are a well-staged publicity stunt. Around 50 people showed up at the Boulder event and at Denver's show about 100 people appeared. Hardly a public consensus.

Representing both the city of Boulder and the US Highway 36 Mayors and Commissioners Coalition, council member Suzy Ageton is reported to have said that not completing the FasTracks program as initially promised would be "inequitable" to our region. Building other portions of the system is already going forward largely because federal money is being injected in the funding. Providing both an enhanced bus rapid transit (BRT) system along Highway 36 and duplicating that by using the Burlington Northern's main freight line for the rail component never made any sense. Unfortunately, both were part of the original promise made to voters. It's the folks in Longmont who are having the most difficulty with the ever-changing nature of the whole flawed scheme. Not long ago it was revealed that the Burlington Northern wouldn't allow use of their tracks between Longmont and Boulder from 10 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. Unless, of course a second set of tracks were to be built between the two cities at an unknown and yet unfunded cost.

There's another solution that isn't currently in the mix of alternatives perhaps because it makes the most sense. It is simply to abandon the Northwest heavy rail program and develop a more robust and more efficient bus system along the entire corridor. Busses are more flexible. They can run more or less frequently to more destinations than can a fixed rail plan. Also improving and enhancing a bus rapid transit system along existing Highway 36 from Boulder to Denver certainly makes a lot more sense. Currently, and tragically, it's not even an option being considered.

The whole FasTracks program needs re-thinking. Unfortunately the public meetings are stacked against developing a more rational program than one requiring even more taxes being imposed on an already overburdened electorate.

Bob Greenlee was a member of Boulder City Council for 16 years and served his last 2 years as mayor. He can be reached at: robertdgreenlee@aol.com