And the hits just keep coming.
Mecklenburg County Chair Jennifer Roberts spins WBTV on the reality of running light rail to UNCC:
“The money is there, it’s just the length of time is going to be tremendous,” Mecklenburg commission chair Jennifer Roberts said after a transit meeting Wednesday night.
Roberts says something has to change to keep the timeline from becoming so long.
Pray tell, what “something” might get LTR to UNCC before 2025? Let’s go to the videotape as the saying goes:
Among them:
* more money from the feds than CATS got for the South line light rail project
* a turnaround in the economy
* some creative way to pay for the extension, such as a public/private partnership
So the feds are going to fund more than half of a project? Where are they going to get that money — besides from the Chinese by floating more debt?
The economy can do backflips — there is absolutely no going back to the 2003-2008 boomtimes when the idiot MTC — cheered on by Jennifer Roberts and crew — adopted a $9 billion — now $9.5 billion — transit plan.
And what, the bankers in town are gonna lend the money to CATS? I know they threw a $22m. slush fund at the NASCAR Hall, flat forgave $15m. in debt at the Whitewater Center, but $500-600m. worth of fraud might be a tad bold even for government-sponsored enterprises like Bank of Wells Fargo.
Besides, the reason transit tax revenues are running 25 percent below annual projections is only partly a function of joblessness and a listless economy. Charlotte’s position as the retail hub of the region has only declined in the past decade as more and more retail options have popped up in the neighboring counties. The Great Recession has masked this shift to some extent, but it is real and it is permanent.
Accordingly, the only responsible approach to mass transit is to adopt a new plan with a $4-5b. total price tag, one which absolutely can be completed by 2025. The alternative is the Roberts approach — spin and howl, spin and howl.
