Auraria Board of Directors Announces Support for Ballot Measure 7A
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Auraria Board of Directors Announces Support for Ballot Measure 7A

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Auraria Board of Directors Announces Support for Ballot Measure 7A

Posted October 28th, 2024

Denver, CO – The Auraria Board of Directors for the Auraria Campus officially endorsed Ballot Measure 7A, a critical initiative that will appear on the November 5, 2024, ballot for voters within the Regional Transportation District’s (RTD) metro Denver service area.

Ballot Measure 7A seeks to extend a long-standing exemption for RTD from the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), which has been in place since 1999.

The Board acknowledged that the Auraria Campus is deeply integrated with the RTD transit system with over 20,500 students, faculty, and staff relying on RTD’s services, and that maintaining safe, reliable, and sustainable transit options for our community is essential.

In addition, the RTD Board of Directors recently made permanent the Zero Fare for Youth program, allowing students under the age of 19 to ride RTD services free of charge. The Auraria Campus community stands to benefit significantly from this initiative, ensuring that thousands of students have free and easy access to public transportation.

Furthermore, supporting public transit aligns with the campus’s sustainability goals. Commuting accounts for nearly 32% of the Auraria Campus’s total greenhouse gas emissions, with cars producing far more emissions per passenger mile than light rail or bus travel.

The Auraria Board of Directors is urging voters to support Ballot Measure 7A to preserve essential public transit services that are vital to students, faculty, staff, and the overall Denver metro community.