Let’s get all this stuff straight. There will never be money falling from the sky, to use Mayor Pat McCrory’s term, to pay for a $500m. streetcar. Even studying where to put a streetcar line will cost tens of millions of city General Fund dollars — not half-cent transit tax dollars. These General Fund dollars could be better spent on roads, police, sidewalks — now and forever.
This veto, veto-override theater over $4.5m. is intended to distract us from the bigger issue, which is the over one billion dollars required to build the light rail line to UNCC. The only reason the streetcar was taken out from under CATS’ 2030 train building plan was to free up transit money for the Northeast line, the Uptown crowd’s top priority. Never forget that. If the streetcar dies a slow death with the city, a few tears will be shed, but the big prize steams on.
In addition we are also seeing some belated, but welcome, steps by John Lassiter and fellow Republicans to distance themselves a little from Anthony Foxx and the Democrats a few weeks out from an election. But this is likely also theater. Recall that none other than Pat McCrory once declared that Charlotte’s train building would not go “outside” the half-cent. Yet McCrory later had no problem backing $500m. worth of outside the half-cent streetcar and and at least $100m. worth of a partially tax-increment financed North line. (Does anybody remember the North line?)
This is why 2010 will be the year of additional dedicated taxes to pay for more trains, probably with wildly fanciful TIF debt plans grafted on.
Bonus Observation: My pre-primary candidate survey has thus far been ducked by all candidates save two, Bokhari and Davis. Very disappointing.
