[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5437]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 IN RECOGNITION OF THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DENVER REGIONAL COUNCIL 
                             OF GOVERNMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DIANA DeGETTE

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 22, 2015

  Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor one of Colorado's most 
respected and valued organizations, the Denver Regional Council of 
Governments (DRCOG), on its 60th anniversary. Through collaborative 
cooperation, DRCOG speaks and leads with one voice while serving nine 
counties and 47 municipalities, and it stands as one of the three 
oldest Councils of Government in the country. DRCOG serves as the 
Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Denver metropolitan region, 
skillfully serving nearly three million citizens in three broad-based 
areas: Regional Growth and Development, Transportation & Personal 
Mobility, and Aging & Disability Resources.
  Currently, local governments are represented in a cooperative and 
comprehensive multi-modal transportation planning process for the 
entire region while incorporating state and federal practices and 
regulations. The Denver Regional Council's Mobility and Access Council 
(DRMAC) ensures people with mobility challenges have access to the 
community by increasing, enhancing, sharing, and coordinating regional 
transportation services and resources with a vision of mobility and 
access for all.
  DRCOG's Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI) has worked with the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development while leveraging the multi-
billion dollar FasTracks transit system expansion already in place. The 
SCI just concluded its collaborative partnership of governmental, 
public and private-sector organizations to support the planning and 
implementation of its ideas to foster greater access to more 
economically diverse, multi-modal communities that will put less strain 
on our natural resources.
  Now in its 40th year as the designated Area Agency on Aging (AAA), 
DRCOG helps people live independently as long as possible in their own 
homes and communities. DRCOG contracts with community-based agencies to 
provide a broad continuum of services addressing the needs of the 
region's booming population of older adults and those living with 
disabilities. In coordination with other stakeholders, the AAA helps 
ensure that community leaders are aware of the needs of older adults, 
the benefits of community-based services, and the costs to taxpayers of 
failing to address needs of seniors in the region.
  DRCOG has a long list of accomplishments shaping the region in a way 
that benefits us all. From helping transition the Valley Highway to 
what we know today as I-25, including the T-Rex project, to the 
discussion about where to relocate Stapleton Airport--which we know now 
as Denver International Airport. DRCOG helped establish the Mile High 
Compact to help shape growth in the metro area in an intelligent manner 
and designed mechanisms to protect the region's air quality through the 
oversight of the Regional Air Quality Council. From funding major 
highway and transit projects in the region to helping with the 
formation of RTD, DRCOG has been involved with seemingly every major 
regional issue and project.
  Please join me in commending DRCOG. As their motto says, they make 
life better.

                          ____________________