As predicted here last month, the Charlotte City Council is running through the audit charade in order to quell upset about the South Blvd. light rail line.
As we noted back then:
Oh, and Pat McCrory calling for a possible outside audit of the project is a joke. Is Ashton Kucher hiding in Marshall Park? Charlotte is being punked.
That audit idea is another direct call-back to the old, old Convention Center meltdown of the 1990s. First comes the debate over inside vs. outside audit, then discussions over how much an outside audit would cost, then possibly bids, then selecting the auditor, then picking the drapes. You get the picture — another stall and obscure tactic.
Besides, the mayor should know that the city auditor already audited Parsons and found questions that Tober, CATS, and Syfert promptly swept under the rug.
Please ignore the South Blvd. line. As the Reason Foundation’s Ted Balaker said the other day on Keith Larson WBT show, these things cost what they cost and get finished when they get finished. Sure, as evidence that CATS has no idea what it is doing the ever increasing South Blvd. price tag is interesting, but given that city council has absolutely no stomach to fire City Manager-for-Life Pam Syfert — let’s move on.
The big picture is the half-cent sales tax repeal vs. the rampant Train Envy which has seized the county. The race is on. Should shovels of dirt get turned on the I-77 and UNCC lines before the tax is repealed, then county taxpayers are on the hook for at least another $1 billion in trains and tens of millions in annual operation costs. That is the important stuff.
It is kinda amusing though that the council is slapping McCrory around over the South Blvd. line instead of firing Syfert. Political theater at its best.
Could a transit task force be far behind?