Good heavens! I knew Charlotte city staff had no shame but a $300 million project to cap 277? That is insane.
Or we could go cheap and spend “only” $170m. on a smaller footprint. Still insane. That is the price of three high schools for comparison. We could take the “extra” money generated by the sale of the 277 interchange land — the seed corn of this nutty cap plan — and hire hundreds more CMPD officers. We could re-work and improve congested intersections around the city. We could even use it to pay down existing debt rather than incurring more via some tax increment financing scheme.
No, instead we’ll ignore civic priorities in favor of city staff’s priority — busting the 277 ring with new development. Planners have wanted this for a solid decade. They’ll get it. Taxpayers will get the bill.
Bonus Observation: Expect absolutely no critical reporting on this idea from the Uptown paper, which has the chance to cash in some of its Uptown real estate in the process. In fact things are lining up quite nicely for McClatchy to move some of its ops into the new Wachovia Arts Tower, which will surely have excess space given its layoffs. Think Uptown musical chairs with all the insiders assured a safe place to land.
