Bank of America could file for partial bankruptcy. The bank already plans to cut at least 30,000 jobs, most of them the kind headquartered in Charlotte. Though no one will admit it publicly, the bank’s headquarters here is clearly on the bank’s chopping block. It won’t last but a few more years, if that.

The Charlotte plan?

Build a streetcar that will (and already has) cost tens of millions of dollars. Here is what I don’t get:

The 1.5-mile project will connect Presbyterian Hospital, CPCC and Time Warner Cable arena and is expected to create hundreds of construction-related jobs.

Have you noticed how no one says what the purpose of the streetcar actually is? I’m not certain that anyone really knows, other than that it would just be cool to have.

How many people are going to take the streetcar from Presby to CPCC? Why would anyone do that? Why would anyone go from the arena to CPCC? Or from Presby to the arena? It’s 1.5 miles. That’s not even worth the trouble to park, get out and get on. So they’ll have to build the rest of it for it to make any sense.

But that will cost at least half a billion dollars, some of which will come from the feds no doubt, but at least half of which would have to come straight out of the city general fund budget. Even from the uptown crowd perspective — what the heck is the point? Especially when it would compete directly with light rail?