UNCG prof Keith Debbage lays it all out vis a vis transportation issues in North Carolina, saying “Money needs to be spent based on need, not political interest.”
Turn now to Greensboro’s ‘alternative’ transportation project based on political interest, the proposed $26 million greenway. Any project using public money is political, although proponents argue, as they did in today’s Allen Johnson column, that the greenway transcends politics:
“It’s now or never,” Chester H. “Trip” Brown Jr. sung a la Elvis in an editorial board interview last week with greenway boosters.
Brown sees the project as a way to attract and keep young professionals — a “wow” factor that can make Greensboro special.
He and other greenway supporters also sing the praises of the 4.8-mile urban loop’s health benefits….
“This, first and foremost, is a transportation project — an alternative transportation project,” said John A. McLendon Jr., an attorney who also is an avid bicyclist and president of the Fisher Park Neighborhood Association.
The trail would be more than a place to walk, he said. Think of it as a freeway for people and bicycles.
The boosters, representing Action Greensboro, also cited the other amenities: “iconic gateways,” lighting, public art and police bike patrols.
Cone says proponents ought to be selling the project at the $10 milllion price point, which supposedly will be the actual cost to the taxpayer. But after reading Prof. Debbage’s column, not to mention listening to this week’s political debate, does anyone believe the greenway will really come in at that price?
Update: Raleigh residents excited about the Neuse River greenway, not.
