Arriving in Boulder County, I soon became immersed in transit issues. My first job out of law school was as Intergovernmental Affairs Coordinator for the Boulder City Manager’s Office. In that capacity, I served as the staff liaison to the Regional Transportation District, working to secure funding for the SKIP service and speaking for the city in disputes with RTD over the Eco Pass program. It was in this role that I first gained insight into the intricacies of RTD policy development and the particular perspectives of RTD staff.

My job with the city also gave me a unique level of contact with all the communities of Boulder County. Learning the transit interests of each individual city and town helped me to build coalitions of support for our interests at RTD. Through these conversations, we found that the communities of Boulder County shared many of the same goals for transit development. Ultimately, these early efforts at mutual understanding and cooperation would bear fruit in the form of the unified vision that the communities near US 36 presented to voters in the FasTracks ballot initiative.