About to head off to the CATS open house on the Southeast (Independence Blvd.) transit line being held at Matthews Town Hall. This is a repeat of the event held at Eastland Mall on Monday. That outing didn’t really answer the fundamental questions that some of us have been asking for months:
There are a lot of questions with very few answers. That’s what many Charloteeans discovered at Tuesday’s open house for the southeast corridor and Independence Boulevard project.
“We’re very concerned with what’s going on,” said Tom Cavalaris who owns a Bowling Alley on Independence Boulevard. “We like progress and we like the concept of transportation, but in the meantime this present project has really affected the businesses in the corridor. It restricts accessibility.”
CATS officials showed maps, which gave people like Cavalaris a glimpse of what their area could look like after the project is complete. But other issues aren’t so clear cut.
“It’s hard finding out anything,” said east Charlotte neighbor Al Molnar.
Molnar lives in the Idlewild Park area. He took his questions to Danny Rogers, who is the senior project manager.
“What about the number of people riding?” Molnar asked.
“Again that’s stuff that’s being finalized as we speak,” Rogers said.
Yep, that sounds about right. Maybe I’ll fare better in person. Anyone interested in, oh, the future of the city of Charlotte, the town of Matthews, and Mecklenburg County should try to swing by the open house between 12 and 2pm today and again tonight between 5 and 8pm.