In case you didn't see it, Boulder's Bob Greenlee had a superb commentary on FasTracks in last Sunday's Daily Camera.

In summary: The NW Corridor plan has devolved to a case of the emperor has no clothes! If Council is really concerned about doing something to make economic and work commute conditions actually better, not worse; it will separate FasTracks from urban renewal in southern downtown instead of flushing hard earned tax payer dollars down the toilet. They can locatea modest beginning and terminal site at or about Twin Peaks Mall.Council can trash can the Longmont City Council/RTD FasTrack plans to ruin lives and businesses on the South side of First Avenue between Main Street and the Terry Street Overpass which will make a better community and Longmont a better place without the blight of FasTracks underdevelopments.

Historically Longmont's previous City Council promised many times over to many citizens individually and collectively it would never use eminent domain in its urban renewal projects of which the FasTracks lower downtown train station is a part of. But, this Council in its infinite wisdom handed over its power of eminent domain - the 'legal' ability to take private property for public & private uses - to RTD for the FasTracks projects to take to take the entire neighborhood on the South side of First Avenue East from Main Street West to the Terry Street Rail Road Overpass for its own and eventual private development under Longmont's Urban Renewal Project. With the release of partial FasTrack plans a few weeks ago concerning Southern downtown, the specter of condemnation hangs over all property in the area contrary to "Government's word of honor." Ha.

As Longmont's betrayed citizens are finding out, who appoints judges to the Supreme Court is the key to whether they lose their Freedoms to misleading politicians. Government's awesome power of eminent domain can be used to cover up boondoggles like FasTracks and its corrupted agenda justified by taking private property against the owner's will with the nebulous claim of "economic development." This planning boondoggle that historically hasput Longmont's South downtown properties in blight for over two decades now has all homeowners and businesses in the area in trouble with the FasTracks uncertainly ruining lives and the economysome Longmontpoliticians claim they are "helping".

The U.S. Supreme Court may have ruled but the fight may not be over yet with the Emperor's exposure in Longmont. Excerpts from the Boulder Camera article: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/jul/13/fastracks-derailed/

"FasTracks was oversold to the voters, the cost of building what was promised keeps going up, and the original plan pledged to the voters will never be built... You might recall that in order to sell the FasTracks scheme to voters, every nook and cranny ser BNSF won't let RTD use their tracks between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.. Duh! After all, the tracks primary function is to move freight; not a handful of rail fans who could just as easily take the bus to wherever they need to go.ved by the RTD had to get its share of goodies...Longmont was promised 'Commuter rail'... Instead, we're going to get to share the freight train tracks owned by the Burlington Northern Railroad who-if everyone were willing to be honest-don't give a damn about having heavy rail passenger trains on their freight tracks... adding a second set of tracks is a $45-50 million deal.,. the whole FasTracks scheme is already escalating in price from its original estimate of $4.7 billion to around $6.1 billion. That new estimate was made over a year ago and if anyone thinks we're not going to see that figure rise dramatically they're not paying attention to reality... One solution is to eliminate the Northwest heavy rail plan. It's not needed! Boulder County's FasTrack needs can easily be accommodated by increasing the existing Bus Rapid Transit option."