Lynx Blue Line (South Corridor)

[monsoon]

After hearing the presentation it was very clear to me that Tober only screwed up in his communications with Council. None of the council members ever questioned what he did...or why he did it...they only questioned why Tober didnt keep them fully abreast of the situation.

This is why there is a perception that CATS is wasting large amounts of tax money on a project that most people in this county don't understand the need for. $22M down the tube and nobody did anything wrong, doesn't sit well with the voting public that is paying the tax and a media that loves to sensationalize such things.

I suppose we will see where the transit system stands after the November election, but as I have said numerous times, the building of rail transit system is a political process in this country and it really behooves the people in charge to make sure they do what they say the are going to do or it will get shot down.

[uptownliving]

$22M down the tube and nobody did anything wrong, doesn't sit well with the voting public that is paying the tax and a media that loves to sensationalize such things.

In the presentation they outlined everything that went wrong and why it happened. Granted since none of the media in this town covered that presentation well most people in this county won't ever know what went wrong...all they will know is that Tober didn't keep the Council fully abreast of the situation. So I certainly agree with you that is the current impression of the public.

[uptownliving]

What is this about? Republicans on the City Council and the County Commissioners want to cut light rail funding and try and repeal the sales tax that funds transit. I hate when people try and do things for their own selfish political reasons:

County GOP calls for light rail cuts...

http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/loc...437&SecID=2

I don't know of any Republicans on the city council that want to cut the 1/2 cent sales tax. There is currently a rift with the Republicans on city council who are transit supportive and the republicans on county commision who are anti-transit. In any case this will not pass the current county commision...and I don't see anyone getting 50,000 registered voters signatures in time for the election which is just over a month away. They could get this put on the ballot for the primary in May 2007 or the November 2007 election which by that time all this hullabaloo would be a distant memory in voters minds.

It should be noted that about 65% of the 1/2 cent sales tax goes to fund the bus system. If the 1/2 cent sales tax is repealed and the citizens want to keep their buses...then that means that property taxes will have to be raised (in just about every town in Meck) . I don't think the Republicans on county commision want to be known as the ones that forced property taxes to be increased.

[monsoon]

...It should be noted that about 65% of the 1/2 cent sales tax goes to fund the bus system. If the 1/2 cent sales tax is repealed and the citizens want to keep their buses...then that means that property taxes will have to be raised (in just about every town in Meck) . I don't think the Republicans on county commision want to be known as the ones that forced property taxes to be increased.

It's my guess that if the residents of the towns where asked this on a referendum "Give up the village riders in return for paying 1/2 cent lower sales tax", the response would be overwhelming in getting rid of the Village Riders and lowering the tax. I believe the express buses actually run in the black so they would not be affected.

CATS implementation of the village riders in Huntersville, Davidson, and Cornelius is so broken and useless and as a result, there are empty buses driving around these towns all day long. It's a blatent advertizement on how incompetant this organization is in running a transportation project. If anything, the 3 towns ought to separate from CATS and run a locally operated bus system if the transit tax remains.

The attempts by the GOP to gain control of the county council using this issue isn't going to hurt them that much if the threat to remove bus service is the downside of eliminating the tax. The people who use the buses don't vote for them anyway.

[monsoon]

For those of you who catch this and are interested, WSOC TV has been running teasers on a story they plan to do on their 6PM news (means 5:58) on the efforts to repeal the transit tax.

[atlrvr]

I wonder if starting if it would be politically wise for other to petition for a referrendum to raise the 1/2 cent to a full 1 cent, to help pay for LRT, on the South Corridor, and to accelerate the construction schedule for the other lines.

Or maybe a compromise could be struck....raise it to 1 cent, with 50% going to rapid transit, and the other half going towards the shortfall in the new transportation plan for items that improve connectivity...but not for suburban lane widenings.

[monsoon]

There is also a citizens group pushing for the repeal. http://www.stopthetrain.com/

[uptownliving]

I did catch part of the WSOC report and was not impressed with their reporting skills. They totally fell into Bill James' hand and did his bidding for him. The focus of the report was on Light Rail and the half cent sales tax but they failed to mention that 65% of the 1/2 cent sales tax goes to fund the bus system. Not to mention that they stated the 1/2 cent sales tax brings in $30M/year when it brings in $60M/year.

[monsoon]

I notice that website for the 50,000 vote petition makes this observation.

"Don't be fooled by the claims of politicians that the 1/2 cent sales tax is needed to fund the operational deficits of buses and other transit. The City of Charlotte just received a seperate car rental tax devoted to transit. That money will enable CATS to cover their operating deficits. Oops. I forgot. They shifted that transit money to pay for art museums and Wachovia property tax refunds."

I predicted when the news broke that if they didn't do something quick to address Tober's failings then something like this would happen. That is if they tried to just gloss it over which is what they have done, then there was going to be a bad backlash. I just didn't it to come this soon this fast.

And note there are a lot of people highly pissed off at the tax deal (as I also predicted) that channels money destined for transit to Wachovia. While they probably can't do anything about the Wachovia deal, if they get 50,000 people to sign the petition, then I suspect the transit tax is history as the local population, except those who live in the center city, are highly pissed off at the shady deals that continue to be pulled in this county with taxes that end up in private hands.

Will they be successful, I don't know. But this is going to be just the tip of the iceberg in what we will hear about it and it is going to draw in a lot of people including those that are still upset about the arena deal. It's unfortunate the rail system will be the casuality in all of this as its one of the few things out of arena, baseball stadiums, ASC give aways, that would have actually benefitted Charlotte.

[uptownliving]

I took a look at that website too. It is really sad to see these people base their opinions off of bad information. His assertion that the Rental Car tax recently passed could somehow cover the money that is raised by the 1/2 cent Sales Tax is so far from true. The half cent sales tax raises almost $40M that is used exclusively for buses. The recently passed Rental Car tax raises $3.6M...leaving a $36M deficit just for the bus system that NONE of the people proposing this repeal have a solution for.

I would have a lot more respect for people like the guy that started the anti-rail website if they would deal with facts instead of just making stuff up.

[dubone]

I think most people recognize these things to be distortions.

The sad thing is that the underlying premise that Charlotte needs more money for roads is a true thing. It is just that in the far right world of no new taxes under any circumstances, it becomes a zero-sum competition with transit. And of course, transit is a government handout, so it is necessarily bad in their minds.

I really want the council to figure out how to create a tax for the highest priority needs for this city, police and roads. But I believe strongly that the transit tax should remain, too.

[atlrvr]

The website was registered by a Jay Morrison according to Network Solutions....doing a google, I found that he was considered for a spot in N.C's State House, but lost in a controversial "secret" election just over a month ago......I don't know much about the winner, Ric Killian, but I'm glad Jay lost....Ric is a real estate developer, so maybe he is pro-tranist, but not likely.

[uptownliving]

City Council has already suggested that they will spend the "extra" cent in the Rental Car tax on Roads. That will only bring in about an extra $1M per year...but at least it is a start.

The other thing is that the roads in this county that people are most pissed off about are state controlled roads...not city/local roads.

[MZT]

This will go the way of dumpCMS.com and the talk of breaking up CMS last year. People will vent but I don't think it will affect the status quo.

[monsoon]

I read through what they believe are the legal positions which would allow a repeal of the tax.

Apparently the sales tax can be appealed via the same mechanism that was established in 1971 for local sales taxes approved by referendum. There has to be a special referendum called and a simple vote made on the matter by the residents. If the referendum is negative towards the tax, the county has to stop collections by the end of the fiscal year in which the referendum is decided.

There are two mechanisms for calling the referendum.

1. If 15% of the number of people that voted in the last election for governer can sign a petition. Apparently that number is somewhere around 50,000, and there isn't much of a defense against that. If they get 50K to sign up then it will be on the ballot. I don't think they can do this in time for the November election given that website is only reporting 928 views even after being on the lead story of WSOCTV's 6pm news. But if they are aggressive, they may get on the ballot next May. This really depends upon their convictions to get the petition signed.

2. The other of course is if the county board of commissioners submits a request to hold the election. There may however be a defense against this as they make mention the the Interlocal Agrrement that formed the MTC does not prevent the county from doing this, so presumably the MTC could amend the agreement to stop the county from doing this. In any case, this won't be an issue as long as Park Helms is the chair of the commission and the democrats hold control. The November election will determine the prospects of this happening and if the GOP regains control of the council, then this will be one of their first actions I predict.

Given the time it takes to pull this off, it pretty much sounds as if the South LRT is safe unless they manage to get the tax voted down next spring, then I believe the county's fiscal year ends in July, and the City of Charlotte will be left holding the bag to come up with the funds to finish the line.

Aside from that, these efforts really cast a bad shadow over the propects of the rest of the transit system being built.

[uptownliving]

I noticed on the website they are aiming to put this on the ballot in November 2007. A lot can happen in a year and I think that if the South LRT is nearing completion this time next year without anymore hiccups and if people realized this will affect bus service as well as LRT...then even if it did get on the ballot I think people would still vote in favor of the tax.

[atlrvr]

In my opinion, the wise political move is to keep planning the Northeast, North, and Street Car lines, but for ALL politicans to say....let's see how the South Corridor plays out before we begin "construction" of another line. I don't see the line being a success until 2009 or so, once a lot of the planned residential is completed along the line.....I think if they can keep planning somewhat under the radar until then, and can show success, then most of the criticism will be gone....until the next cost overrun.

[Charlotte_native]

This will go the way of dumpCMS.com and the talk of breaking up CMS last year. People will vent but I don't think it will affect the status quo.

So far only 965 people have looked at his website, at least the count just now, how many were folks like "us" who looked to see who the ass*ole was. Maybe they'll get enough signatures, but maybe not -- it always surprises me how many people truly pay attention to this stuff. Far less than those of us who really care suspect.

[Charlotte_native]

It just annoys me to no end that these folks have doomed this from the beginning with no consideration for whether it will or can work at all. Developments are springing up all up and down the line -- isn't that part of what the city said/thought/hoped would happen? It IS increasing the tax base which they said would offset the costs. Not in a year, but it will contribute to our property tax income.

They don't know yet whether anyone will or will not ride it, but publish and speak constantly as if it were a given that no one will. How about giving the first run a chance, especially since the developments have come, many of which ARE finished. I don't think 3030 South would have been successful in that location if the train were not coming.

It is so convenient to ignore the parts that show success while bemoaning everything else. And that website says the tax they want appealed would be OK if it were moved to roads and buses. How selfish. We already have both -- many of us want an option and one that plans years down the road for better growth. We have already tried the "pave yourself to oblivion" method and it never solves any problems, just creates a need for even more roads.

Look how much over budget ALL road projects ALWAYS are. Convenient to ignore that. Roads is good, trains is bad. Cain't put my Yukon on da tracks.

[monsoon]

In my opinion, the wise political move is to keep planning the Northeast, North, and Street Car lines, but for ALL politicans to say....let's see how the South Corridor plays out before we begin "construction" of another line. I don't see the line being a success until 2009 or so, once a lot of the planned residential is completed along the line.....I think if they can keep planning somewhat under the radar until then, and can show success, then most of the criticism will be gone....until the next cost overrun.

The only problem with that is if they wait until say mid 2008 to see how ridership is going for the transit line, the earliest budget year they might get consideration for funding for anything would be 2010 and that if they manage to get their stuff submitted by September 2008. Realistically this would push it into 2011.

[atlrvr]

According to this weeks survey in the CBJ, only 34% of the respondents believed that CATS should stop its plans to build new lines, with the other 66% showing varying degrees of confidence in CATS, but still believing we should continue with future plans.

So, maybe it does appear that all this fuss is coming from a very vocal minority.

[cinco]

According to this weeks survey in the CBJ, only 34% of the respondents believed that CATS should stop its plans to build new lines, with the other 66% showing varying degrees of confidence in CATS, but still believing we should continue with future plans.

So, maybe it does appear that all this fuss is coming from a very vocal minority.

yeah, all of the areas media outlets.... gosh, sometimes i just want to smite thee. the way i look @ it is - your either with the light rail or your with the terrorists.

[monsoon]

I am not trying to rain on the parade here, but did the CBJ ask people if they favored repealing the transit sales tax? The business journal isn't exactly known for relevant reporting. If they manage to get it on the ballot its probably going to be framed that way.

The real solution to this issue is for the city to publically and very strongly deal with the cost overruns and convince the public that it isn't going to happen again, and yes, they need to shoot someone for it. As long as they keep making excuses why nobody did anything wrong its going to keep fueling the anti-Transit group. As I type this, Channel 9 is running yet another story in the midday news that says "Charlotte's light rail project has a lot of people concerned because it is over budget, and you might get a chance again to vote on its future". They are fanning the flames as much as they can.

[atlrvr]

Nope...the question was what steps should the city-council take in light of the cost overruns.

[monsoon]

Well in any case I think we need a website like this for Charlotte. Something to counter the incorrect claims being made by the anti-transit group.

TransitTime