The Mecklenburg County Commission, led by chairman Parks Helms, punted a chance last night to have a say in repealing and reworking the half-cent sales tax for transit. That leaves a petition drive for 50,000 signatures the only way for county residents to put repeal to a vote in November 2007. So a petition it must be, then.

City and county leaders absolutely refuse to admit what even little children understand: We cannot afford a $6 billion transit plan whose only purpose is the subsidized redevelopment of areas deemed insufficently dense by central planners. The only way to say “no” to that is to collect signatures and turn out and vote. That’s it.

Helms is trying to spin the issue as only being about the South Blvd. project, but he must know it is not.

“What we really need to do is figure out what the problem is and fix it,” Helms said.

Exactly. And the fix is the repeal of the half-cent sales tax which is the engine that drives Mecklenburg’s insane transit policy.