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Light rail is a blessing for the suburbanites. And trolleys reward the urban neighborhoods. I know it's en vogue to choke out us urbanites, lol... so let's only fund the suburbanites "ego project"?\
90%+ of the people I know who ride the rail live south of 485. They love it, it's a great cost saver and convenience for them. Maybe by def it's for "the city", but in practice it's used by suburbanites to seriously reduce their commute.
I'm not the biggest trolley fan out there, but damn... the city needs to do something to make the urban areas less car dependent. I'm inside of wendover and can't even get a decent sidewalk (as in maintained, wider than 3', and further away from cars traveling 50mph+ than directly behind the curb), much less a bike lane.
I'd RATHER the city spend money on those things, but the only thing that gets traction in Charlotte is big flashy projects. So if it's trolley or nothing as my choices I'll take the trolley, please.
Come on, it's always about race, class, etc...you can't be serious, low income neighborhoods are accustomed to getting the shaft....try living in one for a period of time, then talk to me.
You don't do your argument any favors with indignant self-righteous platitudes about poor neighborhoods. No matter since you responded to me here is a response about the logic of what you argue.
Last summer the Charlotte city council rejected Mayor Foxx's proposal to spend $119M to fund the Trolley to JC Smith. Voting against the Trolley were 4 Democrats (along with 2 Republicans). This included Michael Barnes, Patrick Cannon. Now you claim that Pat McCrory wants to kill the trolley because he is against Black neighborhoods instead of burdening the taxpayer with a stupid project. i.e. in short he's a racist.
So if that is your test, then the 4 democrats who voted against the Trolley who also said they didn't want to burden the taxpayer are are also racist. This according to your logic. Yet Michael Barnes and Patrick Cannon are Black. Are they racist as well? If you answer No then your logic is hypocritical. If you answer yes, then your logic makes absolutely no sense.
Your Choice. It doesn't matter to me which that you choose.
^Indeed. CATS dropped the trolley because endless studies, consistent with federal guidelines for transit funding, have shown that both of the Charlotte trolley projects were not cost effective by any means. So the Charlotte city council and the idiot mayor decided to ignore all this and moved ahead with the trolley project without any source of funding. I have to think they were delusional because there is no other explanation for it.
Foxx for his part seems to be more upset that McCrory didn't bother to involve him in the matter. Well do tell. Foxx ought to be in Raleigh trying to win favor for the city instead of making taxpayer trips to DC and NY God knows where else to smooze it up with Obama and leaders of the national democratic party. As we can see here, the state government wields huge power over CLT yet outside a few districts in the center of CLT, Foxx has nobody listening to him and no influence. The speaker of the NC house also lives in Mecklenburg, yet I have not heard of any contact between the too. It's a huge lost opportunity by the city mayor. Clowns.
I commend McCrory for this. If it had been Beverly Perdue, they'd be raising the state sales tax again to pay for this nonsense.
90%+ of the people I know who ride the rail live south of 485.
That is an anecdotal argument. . CATS did put a park and ride station on I-485. However the federal funding justification for the light rail line was that it would promote heavy dense development along South Blvd, not act as a commuter rail line. It has failed to do this, but that was not the intention and a different issue.
This I do agree with, but based on history and the first thing the man does is give his cabinet a 10% raise, I highly doubt the ego bridges to nowhere will cease and desist...sigh.
Well put, Ari.
I am watching. I do think we need to prioritize.
And yes, there are plenty of egos to go around - at all levels of government and in both parties.
Come on, it's always about race, class, etc...you can't be serious, low income neighborhoods are accustomed to getting the shaft....try living in one for a period of time, then talk to me. I wouldn't necessarily call it stupid, it has merit. McCrory is appeasing his herd, nothing more, he's a big spender....it's a bargaining chip and will ultimately direct funds to another "stupid" project. McCrory serves the contractors and other business entities that got him elected, first....silly ole taxpayers are way down the list. The money or so-called improvement project iniatives will simply shift hands. To many people, the LRT is a "stupid" project.
Wait, if there are only two republicans on the council, why has it been impossible for the mayor to get the majority votes to do the project his way?
I'm gonna jump in here and ask: what is the point of the trolley, rather than some other mode of transportation?
Based on what I've read and the pictures of the track on Eliz Street, the trolley will be used to block traffic (including the CATS busses that service the same road).
Seriously, I don't know what the point is. It appears to be someone's pet project.
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