Did you know that RTD is governed by a 15-member board of directors that are publicly elected? If you live in Boulder, Niwot, Superior, or Louisville, or anywhere in Boulder County west of Boulder then you probably live in RTD Director District O. Elections for these positions are often uncontested and sleepy affairs with little attention given to them. However, this year we have the good fortune of having two excellent candidates campaigning for your vote. The two candidates are Audrey DeBarros, who is the executive director of Communing Solutions a regional transportation management organization that serves the Northwest Metro Area including Boulder and Jack Rosenthal who is a daily RTD rider and a data driven technologist. On Monday, July 27th, Better Boulder in partnership with Community Cycles hosted a live candidate forum for RTD Director District O featuring both candidates. The forum began with opening statements from both candidates which was followed by Q&A on a variety of RTD related topics. Please note that Community Cycles as a 501c3 does not endorse candidates. Better Boulder, on the other hand, is a 501c6 and frequently endorses candidates and ballot measures. However, at the time of this forum and subsequent release of this episode, Better Boulder has not endorsed either candidate. Please visit betterboulder.com later this fall for a complete list of endorsed candidates and ballot measures. Sue Prant who was featured on this podcast in episode 2 was the MC for the evening and read the questions. The first part of the forum featured prepared questions that the candidates were provided ahead of time and the second part of the forum feature questions submitted by audience members. We hope you enjoy this live recording of the RTD Director District O candidate forum.

• (00:02:26) - Opening statement - Audrey
• (00:07:01) - Opening statement - Jack
• (00:10:59) - Top 5 problems question - Audrey
• (00:14:00) - Top 5 problems question - Jack
• (00:16:42) - Board culture change question - Jack
• (00:18:30) - Board culture change question - Audrey
• (00:21:32) - General manager qualities question - Jack
• (00:23:33) - General manager qualities question - Audrey
• (00:25:42) - Bus stop accessibility and placemaking question - Audrey
• (00:28:35) - Bus stop accessibility and placemaking question - Jack
• (00:31:06) - Ridership recovery question - Audrey
• (00:34:28) - Ridership recovery question - Jack
• (00:36:30) - Bus electrification - Jack
• (00:38:47) - Bus electrification - Audrey
• (00:41:36) - Part 2
• (00:42:18) - Best book on transit question - Audrey
• (00:42:37) - Best book on transit question - Jack
• (00:43:12) - Budget cuts question - Audrey
• (00:44:20) - Budget cuts question - Jack
• (00:45:43) - Paratransit challenges question - Jack
• (00:48:04) - Paratransit challenges question - Audrey
• (00:49:55) - Bus and bike shelters question - Audrey
• (00:51:50) - Bus and bike shelters question - Jack
• (00:54:18) - District O focus question - Audrey
• (00:55:46) - District O focus question - Jack
• (00:57:55) - Closing remarks - Audrey
• (00:59:24) - Closing remarks - Jack

For episode 3, I sat down with two Better Boulder members Betsey Martens and David Ensign to talk about housing. Betsey is the president of the Boulder Housing Partners Foundation's board of directors and has spent her career in various roles advocating for affordable housing and building community. David is a long time Boulder resident, community volunteer, local politics junkie, and former planning board member. We sat down in David's dining room and talked about Boulder Housing Partners, affordable housing, missing middle housing, and talked about ways to make our community more inclusive and resilient. Betsey and David were driving forces behind a missing middle housing event that Better Boulder hosted early this year and helped create an event report named Creating Middle-Income Housing: Ideas into Action which you can find at betterboulder.com.

• (00:00:17) - Better Boulder: Housing Podcast
• (00:01:59) - Better Bolder Hearts and Minds: Betsy and David
• (00:03:43) - Betsy and David on Middle Income Housing
• (00:06:12) - Heart and Minds: The Fight for Housing
• (00:10:04) - What is a Housing Authority? Boulder Housing Partners
• (00:16:57) - The President of the Boulder Housing Partners Foundation
• (00:23:04) - BHP's Housing Challenges
• (00:30:06) - Boulder Housing: The Future
• (00:37:09) - What Would You Love in Boulder?
• (00:44:34) - Boulder resident on the future of the city
• (00:49:43) - Boulder on Missing Middle Income Housing
• (00:56:37) - The Better Boulder Report: A Community Engagement
• (00:59:17) - Boulder City Council: Zoning, affordability
• (01:08:03) - Better Boulder: On Housing and the Future

For episode 2, I sat down with Sue Prant at Community Cycles where she is the executive director to talk about her organization, Community Cycles, and their work in the community to promote riding bicycles and improving cycling infrastructure in Boulder in addition to their involvement with making Walk and Bike Month a success. We also talked about transportation improvements happening in Boulder and teens on e-bikes.

• (00:00:00) - Boulder Walk and Bike Month
• (00:02:08) - Meet the Executive Director of Community Cycles
• (00:02:24) - March is Walk and Bike Month
• (00:04:15) - Boulder B360
• (00:07:23) - Community Cycles Bike to Work Day
• (00:12:00) - Back to School: The Bike
• (00:12:44) - Community Cycles offers E-Bikes
• (00:18:23) - Half of the committee's work is advocacy and outreach
• (00:20:49) - Biking and pedestrian safety in Boulder
• (00:25:44) - Biking on Folsom and Cannes
• (00:30:29) - Bicycle riders on Boulder's streets
• (00:31:53) - Bike to Work Day and Walk in Bike Month
• (00:37:36) - Are E-Bikes Too Fun for Kids?
• (00:42:19) - Biking to Work in Boulder