Oh, you can hear the tsk-tsks all over Charlotte in response to Randal O’Toole’s prescription for the South Blvd. light rail line. This will soon be followed by the declarations of “radical and irrational opposition” to Charlotte’s light rail plans. You know, like when Mecklenburg County Commission chairman Tom Cox compared opponents to “Iraqi insurgents.”
But what of the radical proponents of the current $9 billion plan. You know, the folks who intend to spend absolutely any amount to build five corridors of rail in Charlotte.
Remember, I’ve yet to have anyone take me up on my $100 bet that the South line will cost more than $463 million. I’ve yet to get an answer from Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton on plans for additional sources of revenue for the $9 billion 2030 plan. I’ve yet to have any member of official Charlotte put a cap on what they are willing to pay for a transit in Charlotte. Will we go to $10 billion? 12 billion? 15? 20?
Why do I get the sense that the decision has already been made to use tax increment financing and/or municipal service districts to continue to build as many trains as possible regardless of cost?
That’s right — I’m completely irrational.
