“But being dependent, every day of the year and for year after year, upon certain politicians for news, the newspaper reporters are obliged to work in harmony with their news sources.”
― Edward Bernays, Propoganda.
Over the last 3 weeks- 02/21/14-03/03/2015 the Denver Post has published an unrelenting series of articles all related directly or indirectly to promoting the expansion of I-70.
A) On 02/21/15, page 19a, in the OPINION section, the editorial “Funding plan for I-70 Risk Free Key two sentences: “For I-70, private sector partners will be responsible for designing, building, financing, operating and maintaining the stretch of highway planned for reconstruction.
In return, the contractor will receive annual performance payments from the state. “
I only will reiterate that there is no such thing as a ‘free lunch’ and, add ‘What criteria will determine “annual performance?”, and ‘How will this be determined over varying economic conditions?’
B) 02/22/15 the Post ran articles starting on the front page “States devise ways to fill gap from federal highway funding” This first article continued on page 2a, where immediately above the continued article, illustrated with now routine graphics, “State turns to toll roads to make up funding gap.”
The intent of both articles was to condition the public into believing that as other states are financing improvements on US (federal) and Interstate (Federal) roads via the accrual of privately financed debt so that is both the new ‘normal’ and ‘good.’ This implication is cleverly nestled in a series of references to other states adding new state taxes.
From “States devise ways to fill gap from federal highway funding”, on page 2a, “Virginia recently scrapped its per-gallon gasoline tax in favor of a new tax on the wholesale price of gas and a higher tax on other retail sales. The state also has turned to public-private partnerships, including a new $925 million express-lane project on Interstate 95 that was financed partly by private investors who have a long-term contract to collect tolls”
Here we see how after discussing in the same article how state highway infrastructural repairs are being underfunded via the gasoline tax, the new normal also includes “public-private partnerships” which if Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Michigan are included is not the new norm.
C) On 02/25/15 the Post, to it’s credit, published on page 21A, OPINION, a questioned article by State Sen. Matt Jones, Louisville, which I quote in full:
Re: “Funding plan for I-70 risk-free,” Feb. 21 editorial.
“How do you know that the headline of your editorial is true? These are secretly negotiated mega-deals, $1.2 billion locked in for 35 years in this case, typically with foreign corporations.
Nothing in law requires them to divulge the terms of the deal before they sign. Even after an agreement is signed, there is no guarantee we will see the terms. The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) follows what’s outlined in an executive order that only requires a “summary of essential terms” be disclosed. Basically, what CDOT wants to tell us.
We saw how that worked with the U.S. 36 deal.
Attorneys general warn us against deals too good to be true, because they typically are bad deals. I would hope the news media would be skeptical of such “free” claims and demand real transparency before it is too late.”
D) On Sunday, 03/01/2015, in huge lettered print “DIA TURNS 20” (Headline is capitalized)
This an extremely interesting article, for multiple reasons:
After beautiful graphics comparing Stapelton and DIA on the front page, the written article in column 4 (and continues on page 12A) leads to:
“Had they not built this airport, Denver would not be growing the way it is in terms of overall economy and great jobs here, and all the businesses that are moving to Denver” (airport CEO Kim Day)
This statement is simply not provable.
Follow the article to page 12A and viola, the entire page is dedicated to developing DIA, starting with the subheading “Big Land, big ideas” which continues on page 13A.
Take a detailed look at what is being proposed as shown in the illustration at the base of page 12A. Tentative current proposals (I am sure there are elephants in the closet) call for 9000 acres to be developed, as stated on page 13A, noise complaints have been reduced (from 84,467 to 4,522), therefore, more land can be developed.
(I am not discussing the brief mention of cost over runs, as that has been discussed elsewhere)
E) Today, 03/03/15, there is a two page article co-anchoring page 1, in capitals “WHO’S MINDING THE STOCK SHOW?”
The key to this article are the first two sentences:
"Denver voters hold the key to more than half of the $856 million needed to kick off an ambitious transformation of the National Western Stock Show complex.
But if residents approve a referendum on decades-long extensions of lodging and car-rental taxes, a big question still is unresolved: Just how much control and ownership will the city get over the sprawling site?"
The graphic on page 6A shows the size of the proposal.
My point is simple: all this future growth is keyed to expanding I-70 east of I-25 as proposed by CDOT.
How various pieces attempt to define the legitimacy of financing I-70 undisclosed private funding mechanisms, how the growth of new enterprise zones at DIA and it’s implied need for better truck connections to I-25, and, how the unspoken assumption that a tax payer subsidized expanded National Western Stock Show all imply need better I-70 (and I-25) connections.
I. Convenience to serve National Western Stock Show Area (Brighton Blvd interchange)
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nation...76c79a74f5fe907:0x686b0c4277804b78?hl=en
http://www.i-70east.com/visualization_BrightonBlvdInterchange_stills.html
II. Improvements to DIA.
The best I could readily find was
http://www.i-70east.com/project-map.html which includes Pena Blvd I-70 in the environmental study. I think, however, that DIA would receive the largest benefits from expanding east I-70, primarily by providing extremely good truck connections to existing warehouse districts west of Quebec Street, Colorado Ave, faster connections to the newly expanded I-225, and, above all faster connections to I-25.
I looked harder and found
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_24737851/i-70-remake-at-heart-plan-revive-denvers
dated 12/17/2013, titled ”I-70 remake at heart of plan to revive Denver’s Swansea neighborhood” where I found
“The I-70 proposal — which also calls for adding two lanes in each direction along 12 miles of the highway between Interstate 25 and Tower Road — is one of six redevelopment and infrastructure projects included in the Corridor of Opportunity program that aim to revive Elyria-Swansea and Globeville to the west.”
This aspect of the project is extremely difficult to find information on, but, is, as I suspected.
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