Just like in Monopoly, do not be distracted by the “free” parking signs with regard to the Scaleybark light rail station. The important thing is the money. Always follow the money.
In a nutshell, the city of Charlotte wants to spend money in order to move parking spaces from Uptown to the light rail stations. Once all the surface parking is gone from Uptown, that land can be developed into multimillion dollar structures. These structures can then be taxed. Just like the Under Pants gnomes, profit.
But the underlying question is why? Why do all this, some of it quite speculative, in the pursuit of yet more revenue for government?
Because city spending is absolutely out of control. This is what drives the great revenue hunt, which in turn drives the high-density, high-value development dreams. City officials want as much money as possible from every square foot of land within the city. They have to aim for that because there is no political or policy mechanism in place to restrain spending. None.
As a result, we’ll keep rolling the dice — this subsidized development here, that $500 million train there — in hopes of landing on a really big payout. And around and around we’ll go.
