John:

I see that you’re planning to announce your run for the mayor’s office at the Eastland transit center tomorrow morning. This suggests there is a strong possibility you will hawk the $400m. streetcar scheme to East side residents who are manifestly upset about how they’ve been treated by city government in recent years.

If so, don’t do it.

One, it is pandering and the hardworking East side residents you are correctly targeting as crucial swing voters in the fall will see through it. Two, it is utterly irresponsible to continue to pretend that the city can afford to build streetcars with found local money. No longer is it just the “naysayers” saying so — other more “mainstream” voices are saying out loud the city may well have to “bail out” CATS to preserve the fantasy of a $1 billion line to UNCC.

Of course, as I suggested to the current Mayor the other day, we could radically rework our train-building plans to fit our fiscal reality. You could play a big part in that process. Or try to defend the untenable. Choose wisely.

Yours truly,

Jeff A. Taylor