2030 Transit Plan

[dubone]

Even if he hadn't said that, it would still been true, and everyone knew it. The bottom line is that the North had the votes, and it didn't matter if the entire city of Charlotte squeezed into that room and said to build the streetcar. Charlotte only had one vote, and he was more interested in unity than picking one line over another.

I thought Tober's reaction was more dismissive of the public hearing than Helms'. Tober laughed it off as though it would be crazy for him to change his mind just because of hearing.

Helms also give a bit of response that it might have swayed his vote if the other votes were changeable. He said something like "it counts for something at least in my estimation".

It is what it is, though. The vote is done. Now we just need to make it work. We need to drum up private participation, contain costs, and get it done.

I personally am starting to agree with Metro that after the South line, we should maybe look to a new leader to bring the system to the next level. Tober was fine for getting us started on a mass transit system, but he doesn't seem like he has been very successful at execution. Now, we'll be in execution phase for the next little while.

[cyrusuncc]

I don't mean to be ignorant, but why does Charlotte care about expanding riders that live in a different city (Huntersville), when Charlotte is footing the majority of the bill (locally i mean.. i realize that the fed & state are funding the majority).

Shouldn't Charlotte be more focused on creating density within its own city limits as to drive up real estate value (i.e. property tax money)?

[monsoon]

^The transit tax is a Mecklenburg county tax, not a city of Charlotte tax. Everyone in the county pays the tax. This is supposed to be a regional transit system, not one for just the city of CLT.

[monsoon]

An article on last weeks MTC decisions.

[uptownliving]

An article on last weeks MTC decisions.

[monsoon]

Knox has really gotten hung up on this revaluation thing. I don't understand his logic. CATS doesn't pay the tax value of land when they buy it, they pay market rate just like everyone else. Last I checked, it is the market value that causes revaluation to go up...not the other way around. When CATS makes their land cost projections it is based on market value...not tax value.

[uptownliving]

Without doing an actual apprasial on the property, which they have not done, CATS has to fall back on the tax valuation on the property to produce their estimates. This is what Knox is referring to. I have no doubts the property owners on this route are going to hold out for top dollar when CATS comes calling given what is happening to the price of property on the South line.

[monsoon]

I would agree with Knox if that were the case, but it isn't. .....

[MZT]

If the Northern Towns come up with development plans that could fund the north line without Federal money, I wonder if they will also push for someone other than Tober, to oversee construction. Those with the purse strings, get to pull on them....

[uptownliving]

It is a nice change of pace to see Charlotte being looked at as a model for how to do TOD along rail lines...and yet we really have just gotten started. Orlando is designing a commuter rail system and is looking to Charlotte for examples of TOD along rail lines.

Linda Chapin, director of the University of Central Florida's Metropolitan Center For Regional Studies, also is planning a community forum from 8 a.m. to noon Jan. 10 at Leu Gardens. At that time, guest speakers will discuss transit-oriented development, including what can be learned about development from another city that has light rail: Charlotte, N.C.

[A2]

just a notice to all:

This afternoon, while on my afternoon break, I was bombarded by several people in Uptown trying to obtain signatures to get the 1/2 cent sales tax for light rail repealed. I was quite surprised by the number of "feet in the street" that were attempting to get the signatures.

What was even more amazing was the dempgraphic. All of the ones with the clipboards were young. In an apparent twist of irony, they came along my way, Mr. "I can't wait to ride the train in 2007" , wanting a signature. Imagine that.

Well long story short, I think I converted a few. I quized many about the growth expectations over the next decade, as well as what the meaning of Sprawl is. Many were shocked to learn the trends of how much greenspace is developed each and every hour just within the confines of our county. Many had no idea of the projected population in 2030, nor did they know what TOD stood for, or for that matter, what it was!

The shear ignorance regarding Transit in this community is astounding.

I asked all of the participants seeking the signatures, if they had ever lived, or visitied another city larger than CLT. Many had not, and were from much smaller towns. I asked them what they planned on doing in 5,10, 20 plus years when it takes 2 hours to get in to work because they were too cheap to fork out 1/2 of one cent on sensable planning/development, and they just looked at me dumbfounded.

Just wanted all to know that there are people out there trying desperately to put the trains out of commisson, as well as keep Charlotte, the Queen of Sprawl.

[monsoon]

It seems odd that people of this situation were there doing that. Did they say what or who was motivating them to collect the signatures?

[A2]

It seems odd that people of this situation were there doing that. Did they say what or who was motivating them to collect the signatures?

[dubone]

HA! I'll bet they didn't see that coming. But now they may switch to North Tryon.

I'm always flabberghasted when I think of people trying to move backward, but without much study on the issues that lead to the movement in the first place.

[AuLukey]

well, sales tax did just drop .25%, I wish they hadn't dropped it and rather just kept Meck's tax the same and used the new remainder for transit. Sure, it's not legal to do that without first asking, but I like round numbers and figuring out tax at 7.5 is a bit easier than 7.25%. Oh well.

[dubone]

The funny thing, I'll bet they don't even notice that the sales tax dropped. Also, nobody has told them yet that conservatives are supposed to like sales taxes because they are regressive and offer the most options for tax avoidance through online shopping and crossing the state line.

[MZT]

I don't think the repeal would succeed even if they got it on the ballot. Heck, we just passed 3 bond referendums last election to improve infrastructure. People here will support specific expenditures, and the transit system serves many more people than it did in 1998.

That said, if it was on the ballot, I think we'd see more pressure on Tober to take severance, and let a fresh face lead things.

[graydog]

Unfortunately not metro. I was on a quick break, and had to leave them to think about their sins, and perhaps seek repentance. I really wish I would have asked, but I was more interested in having them think about the future of CLT, and where our taxes need to go to insure a livable city years form now. So many times, people look in terms of what things cost now, and forego the idea that in 20 years Charlotte will be in gridlock without proper transit and appropriate development standards. So shortsighted, and ignorant IMO.

A2

[orulz]

There are a lot of young people (my generation) who are blindly and passionately conservative. Don't know how this came to be, but I know I would have counted myself in their ranks at the age of 18. I grew up around conservative folks and hadn't taken a step back to decide things for myself. If I had joined a 'young republicans' club or something in college, it probably would have continued.

If you grow up around something and spend almost all your time surrounded by it, it really does affect your thinking and who you are.

Hopefully some of these people will wake up to the fact that you really do have to take a step back and weigh the consequences of the approaches taken by both sides of the issue. Watchdog groups looking out for government waste are certainly helpful and necessary, but on the basis of completely independent thought I suspect that most people would find themselves to be somewhere in the middle, rather than far to one side like the slash-all-services-except-suburban-police rhetoric of the JLF.

[hinsp0]

There are a lot of young people (my generation) who are blindly and passionately conservative. Don't know how this came to be, but I know I would have counted myself in their ranks at the age of 18. I grew up around conservative folks and hadn't taken a step back to decide things for myself. If I had joined a 'young republicans' club or something in college, it probably would have continued.

If you grow up around something and spend almost all your time surrounded by it, it really does affect your thinking and who you are.

Hopefully some of these people will wake up to the fact that you really do have to take a step back and weigh the consequences of the approaches taken by both sides of the issue. Watchdog groups looking out for government waste are certainly helpful and necessary, but on the basis of completely independent thought I suspect that most people would find themselves to be somewhere in the middle, rather than far to one side like the slash-all-services-except-suburban-police rhetoric of the JLF.

[monsoon]

But really, what's the big deal about a half-cent sales tax? How much does it really cost the average Mecklenburg county resident on a yearly basis?

[A2]

That isn't the issue. The issue is that social conservatives consider transit to be a form of liberal social enginnering and don't want to spend ANY money on it. The only way they can stop it here is to kill that tax. Being concerned for the people having to pay the tax isn't anywhere close to being on their radar screen.

[MZT]

It probably is true that if we spent nothing on transit, the free market would find a way to move people. We'd have clapped out trucks and old busses like the 3rd world on our roads, with people clinging to the sides and tops.

Is that really what John Locke'rs want to see every day? Oh yeah, that's world class...

I'm probably a secular conservative to some degree, but I don't see paying a little sales tax as such a burden. It pays for a reliable transportation system to fall back on, if my car is unavailable - and gives low wage workers some way to get to their jobs on time. And heck - maybe they can save some money and buy a car or a house of their own someday.

[RiverwoodCLT]

I grew up in a small community of about 800 people. We had Atlantic Coast Line that came though it. There were a few people who too the train, but mass transit was not in my mind set.

I lived in other cities that where smaller than Charlotte that did not need mass transit. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out in a city the size of Charlotte and the growth it has experience in the pass years that another way to move people has to be built. I voted for the transit tax and will do it again if I have to. You don

[monsoon]

It would seem there was a $6M earmark for the NE LRT put into the congressional budget by Elizabeth Dole. Since the current congress decided not to pass a budget and instead deferred it to the new congress that takes over next month, it appears this earmark will disappear. The Democrats have said they are freezing all pork spending for a year and this may be one of the causalities of that new policy.