Remember this day well. It is the day everything changed for Charlotte. Or so we’ve been told. Funny how the things we are told keep changing.
Check out this line of reasoning from the Uptown paper of record today:
Getting people to consistently ride public transportation is difficult, but some factors are working in CATS’ favor:
• Uptown is poised to add 4 million new square feet of office space by the end of the decade — a nearly 30 percent increase in space. Adding tens of thousands of workers uptown is a key factor in making transit work.
• The redevelopment of South Boulevard with high-density housing and retail is occurring faster than CATS expected.
• The Nov. 6 vote against repealing the transit sales tax won, allowing CATS to continue its ambitious plans to expand mass transit. Transit advocates were stunned their support reached 70 percent. They hope that translates into people riding the train.
Mmm-Kay. Let’s back that out:
• Just because we’ll have a ton of new office space Uptown — like the city-subsidized NASCAR office building — does not mean we will have actual workers in those offices. Recall the condo over-building Uptown to see how that works.
• Redevelopment is redevelopment, not a change in commuting patterns. That CATS and the city are thrilled by the redevelopment before the train even started running tells us — once again — that land-use redevelopment, not transportation, is the primary goal of our current transit plan.
• And I thought the transit vote was all about saving the bus system and not hiking property taxes? At least that is what we were told for weeks. Now all of sudden it is sign that people cannot wait to ride the train from 485 to Uptown? That is slick as hell.
I swear I’ve never seen such a lack of critical thinking when it comes to any public endeavor. The train can absolutely do no wrong, presents no trade-offs. It repeals the laws of time space. Cars will not be stacked up on Monday along South Blvd. as trains whizz by every five minutes during rush hour. It will still cost “only” $463 million. It’ll improve the air and reduce congestion.
Yes, the train is truly magical.
