Kurt Naas announces run for Cornelius Board of Commissioners

The first time I saw Kurt Naas speak was several years ago when the Red Line commuter rail project was making one of its numerous attempts to get off of life support.  Naas was giving a presentation for the Cornelius Town Board exposing flaws in the plan put together by a highly paid group of consultants.  Naas presented information that was professional, well thought out, and as thorough as anything the consultants brought to the table, and he had done it for free.

Since then, Kurt Naas has become a household name here in North Mecklenburg.  His is a name synonymous with citizen advocacy and leadership, a name of someone willing to fight for the public's best interest.   Tuesday, Kurt Naas put that name in the ring for the next contest for Cornelius Town Board.

Here is the press release put out by his campaign.

KURT NAAS ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY 
FOR CORNELIUS COMMISSIONER

Citing The Need for a Strong Voice for Cornelius, Leader of Widen I-77 Anti-Toll Group Says He Can Be More Effective Representing Citizens and Businesses as an Elected Official

Kurt Naas, leader of the citizens group WidenI77 that opposed the I-77 toll project since 2012, announced his candidacy for Cornelius Commissioner. According to Naas, years of fighting the I-77 tolls emphasized the need for elected officials who will listen to the people, carefully research the issues and stand firm on convictions. When he formed the group in 2012 most elected officials in the region were convinced tolls were the only answer and largely ignored warnings from Naas and others who had thoroughly researched the plan. Today all North Mecklenburg towns and Mecklenburg and Iredell counties have passed resolutions opposing the project.

“Back in 2012 I realized that it was going to take a community-wide effort to stop try and stop this project. It clearly is not in our region’s best interests,” Naas says. In response he formed the group WidenI77. The organization grew into a prominent grassroots movement, eventually reaching thousands of citizens through several town hall-style presentations and Naas’ hundreds of blog posts. For his efforts the North Carolina Open Government Coalition named him their 2015 “Citizen of the Year”, and last year the Lake Norman Chamber of Commerce recognized his organization with a Distinguished Service Award.

In addition to fighting the toll project, Naas has served the community in other ways. He served on Cornelius’ Transportation Advisory Board for five years and currently serves on the DDI Landscaping Design Committee. Recently Naas was instrumental in stopping a NC Senate bill aimed at making it virtually impossible for citizens to sue the NCDOT. Senate Bill 613 would require the legal firm of a plaintiff suing the NCDOT to post a bond to cover NCDOT’s legal fees, and NCDOT would set the amount of the bond.

“If S613 had passed, the net result would have been no lawyer would ever take on a transportation-related case in North Carolina,” Naas says. He learned about the bill after receiving a tip and sprang into action. “I urged the Charlotte Observer to cover the issue, and suggested to a couple of television journalists that they contact the bill’s sponsor. Thankfully, the bill died in committee.”

Another cause for Naas has been encouraging town officials to install Adaptive Signal Control Technology (ASCT) on traffic lights. The technology adapts signal light timing to changing traffic conditions and typically increases the number of cars through an intersection by 10-to-30 percent.

“As crowded as our intersections are, it really makes sense,” Naas says. “There are thousands of installations throughout the Southeast but none in North Carolina.” After individual meetings with board members were ineffective he eventually found a receptive audience with town staff.

“Since then they’ve made great progress with the plan for ASCT lights,” he says. The West Catawba corridor is slated to be the first North Carolina installation in early 2018. NCDOT is sharing the cost and the vendor is cutting its price to gain a foothold in North Carolina. If it proves effective, NCDOT will look at rolling out the technology to other areas of the state.

“While the town leadership of Cornelius does well with most tactical issues, more attention needs to be given to broader strategic issues and opportunities that can impact the day-to-day life of residents. I’m running because I can be more effective representing our citizens and businesses as an elected official. It’s really that simple.”

Naas has already lined up the endorsements of a dozen elected officials including Republicans and Democrats from across the Lake Norman Region. “The breadth of endorsements demonstrates I can work with people across the political spectrum on local and regional issues,” he says.

Mecklenburg County Commissioner Jim Puckett agrees. “As we face the challenges of a growing community we need principled leadership to ensure our quality of life,” Puckett says. “Over the past four years, no citizen has worked harder to that end than Kurt Naas.”

Naas began his career as an aerospace engineer with General Dynamics Space Systems Division where he worked on the guidance platform for the Atlas and Centaur rockets. After graduate school he worked for AlliedSignal where he led the global product support launch for their microturbine business, and subsequently held executive positions with Honeywell and Ingersoll Rand.

He owns a manufacturing business in Cornelius, lives in the Peninsula neighborhood and attends Pritchard Memorial Baptist Church in Charlotte. He’s been married to Maria for 28 years and they have one son, Stephen, 19, who is a two-time Golden Gloves state boxing champion.

Naas holds an MBA from the Kellogg School (Northwestern) and a Master’s in Engineering Management, also from Northwestern. He completed the dual-major, six-quarter program in five quarters while undergoing chemotherapy and he graduated at the top of his class. He is a member of Sigma Gamma Tau, a national aerospace honor society, and Beta Gamma Sigma, an honor society for collegiate schools of business.

For more information about Naas’ candidacy for Cornelius Commissioner can be found at www.electkurtnaas.com.

#NCGA: Kurt Naas endorses John Bradford in #NC98 House district race

The big DC political money just keeps pouring into the NC House races here locally.

aShortChronicle told you previously about the mailers from NC Families First, a DC funded dark money operation out of Raleigh.  The group had been sending out mailers targeting NC98 Rep John Bradford - hitting hard on the I77 issue.

The group focuses on a vote Bradford took way back when he was a Cornelius Town Commissioner supporting the RFP process for the HOT Lanes project.  This of course ignores the fact that since then, once the RFP concluded and the contract details were known, Bradford has become a strong opponent of the project.  He signed the letter to Gov McCrory from a majority of North Mecklenburg Commissioners asking for a contract delay.  He was also a primary sponsor of HB954 seeking cancellation of the project once it was signed.

His reward for doing the right thing?  Dubious attacks from an outside group.

However, those that know the truth about Bradford's overall efforts in the anti-toll fight appear ready to make that truth known.  Nobody knows the history of that fight better than Kurt Naas.   aShortChronicle has learned Monday morning from Naas that he has personally endorsed John Bradford in this race.

This endorsement should go a long way in righting the wrongs of the flyers sent in support of Bradford's opponent, Jane Campbell.  Naas has been the "face" of the anti-toll fight since the very beginning.  He is the founder of WidenI77.org, the group that initiated the pushback against this ill-conceived plan.  He has spent countless hours over many years researching and presenting the facts of how this project will harm the Lake Norman area.

Naas's opinion matters when it comes to tolls, and this endorsement more than any number of flyers to the contrary should matter to voters.

Huntersville pulls plug on Lake Norman Transportation Commission. Is it time for a change at LNTC?

The full effect of last November's election in Huntersville is beginning to take shape.

Monday night, Huntersville's Board of Commissioners voted 4-2 to withdraw from the Lake Norman Transportation Commission (LNTC).  That's the body formed by the four area towns to provide a uniform front for the region's transportation issues.

Town LNTC rep  Commissioner Melinda Bales and Commissioner Charles Guinard vote "no".

The implications of this could be significant.  As the largest member of the group by the population it represents, Huntersville's withdrawal puts a big dent in the body's reason for existence.  It will also take with it roughly $25,000 in annual funding - putting a big dent in the body's funding.  See this article  for details on what each town pays.

Current LNTC director, Bill Thunberg, had this to say about the news.

"While I am disappointed in Huntersville's decision, it is my intention to represent fully all members of the LNTC while the LNTC considers its options.  There is value in regional collaboration and the Lake Norman Regional Transportation Commission remains committed to regional collaboration on issues around transportation and land use in the Lake Norman area."

The problem is that it's really, really hard to see that value.  On the two biggest transportation issues facing the LKN area in recent years (the Red Line Regional Rail project, and the I77 HOT lanes) the LNTC has been an utter failure.

The Red Line is stalled because nobody got permission from Norfolk Southern to use their tracks before proceeding to plan the project, and the LNTC sat on its hands regarding the HOT lanes for nearly two years while opposition mounted.  If anything, the LNTC was a supporter of the concept of HOT lanes.  Mr Thunberg was regularly brought in to speak to its member Boards and chat up the idea.

In hindsight, the LNTC has acted more as a rubber stamp for these large scale projects driven by Charlotte and NCDOT rather than the local advocacy body as was intended.

With the body now at a crossroads it's time to ask the question if it's leadership can meet the challenges.  Instead of a rubber stamp, it needs to be a body willing to fight tooth and nail for what the region needs.  To do that may also require a leadership change at the helm of LNTC.

Someone who's willingness to fight for the area is beyond question would be Kurt Naas, founder of WidenI77.org.

When asked the hypothetical question if he'd be interested in the job, Naas had this to say on Tuesday.

"The LNTC has always been a good idea in concept but unfortunately disappointing in execution. I hope there will be another formal mechanism advocating for regional transportation.

As far as the Exec Director, yes, I would be interested. Over the past few years I've developed a grasp of transportation issues and policies, and as a private citizen led the region's largest grass roots advocacy effort in recent memory. I started with basically zero political support (and a few cases of open opposition by some very powerful people) yet still managed to change the position of every LKN town."

Having someone like Naas in the LNTC Executive Director spot is of course a hypothetical question since there currently isn't a job opening at LNTC.  However, for people aching to have a government willing to fight for the public interest rather than those of bureaucrats, it is something interesting to consider.

WidenI77 issues stinging response to Javier "Mr Who Knows" Tamargo

Bullies usually don't know how to respond when people stand up to them.

With that being the case, it will be interesting to see the next move from Cintra/NCDOT/Mercury(?) now that WidenI77.org has blasted back with a blistering broadside to Javier "Mr Who Knows" Tamargo and recent letter accusing the activist group of putting out false information about his project.

Here's the link to the group's response and the preceding letter.

It's well worth a read...

This kind of response is why the godfather of HOT lanes, Robert Poole of the Reason Foundation, recently said the local resistance the HOT lanes agenda is the strongest he's ever seen.

In the wake of Tuesday's expected loss at CRTPO, the release of this response on the same evening should be a vivid reminder to everyone that this fight is far from over and that those fighting it aren't about to back down.

WidenI77.org to respond to Cintra's Javier "Mr Who Knows" Tamargo at Press Conference

In the last post, we mentioned a planned press conference prior to the CRTPO meeting where WidenI77.org would reply to a somewhat threatening letter received from Cintra's man in Charlotte, Javier Tamargo.

Dissemination of the letter to influence CRTPO was coordinated with NCDOT.  That coordination was managed by former City of Charlotte mouthpiece Jean Meier who now works for Cintra's local incarnation - I77 Mobility Partners.

Tomorrow, WidenI77.org responds.

Rather than sending their communications through back channels and away from the prying eyes of the pesky public, they will hold a press conference out in the open.

See details below.

Cornelius, N.C. – (August 18, 2015) -  WidenI-77, the citizens group opposing the plan to build High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes on I-77 through the Lake Norman area, will make a statement to the press on Wednesday, August 19th at 5:20 p.m. at Government Center, 600 East Fourth Street, Charlotte N.C.  

The group will make a statement on the vote scheduled to take place that evening by the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO) and will also respond to the recent letter from Javier Tamargo, CEO of I-77 Mobility Partners, LLC accusing Widen I-77 of “false allegations.”

The group will take questions after the statement. We hope to see you there. Tomorrow we will email copies of the letter sent to us by I-77 Mobility Partners as well as our response. 

WidenI77 is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against I-77 Mobility Partners and NCDOT to stop the HOT lane project and is represented by a team of attorneys led by Matt Arnold Esq. of Arnold & Smith, LLC.

Cintra/NCDOT take aim at citizens opposing tolls

Well, it looks like Mr "Who Knows" has gotten his nose out of joint.

That's the first takeaway from a letter sent last week to WidenI77.org founder Kurt Naas along with State and Local elected officials regarding some financial analysis on the HOT lanes Naas published back on July 24th.

Let's just say this.  Cintra's Mr Javier Tamargo didn't like what WidenI77.org's Mr Kurt Naas had to say on the financial setup of his HOT lanes deal.

In his document, Naas points out a number of ways this project is/may/or could be not in the best interests of North Carolina taxpayers.  Tamargo responds by often answering claims different than the ones that Naas was making or by simply saying the equivalent of "no, that's not right" but then providing no real proof why he says that.  Maybe most importantly, Tamargo closes with what can best be described as a veiled threat - giving Naas 10 days to retract his comments in writing...the "or else" is implied.

This makes the second time in recent weeks that Cintra/I77 Mobility Partners has levied ominous warnings at those who oppose their project.  The other was against Diane Gilroy in a story over at the Carolina Journal. Somewhat ironically, Diane Gilroy is the wife of Cornelius Commissioner Dave Gilroy who asked Mr Tarmargo the question on toll rates that elicited the now infamous "who knows" response in the above picture.

This all comes on the heals of the release of another anti-toll document on the CharlotteAgenda.com website titled "10 thing you don't know about the toll lanes planned for I77 north".  The post has gone   viral on a local level receiving over 37,000 page views in a few days.  Combine this with the 739 comments received by CRTPO for their upcoming meeting where 720 of the comments were anti-toll.  That's according to analysis distributed by Cornelius town staff .  It shows 97% of respondents opposing tolls - a stunning figure.

Take all of that together and it's clear those who are pushing these tolls on the region should be worried about the rising opposition.  Which brings us to the most disturbing part of this letter, how it appears to have been generated and distributed.

According to emails obtained via public records requests, the creation and distribution of this letter appears to have been a coordinated effort between the private party I77 Mobility Partners and the state NCDOT.

The below is an email sent on the morning of Wednesday 8/12.  It's from Mobility Partners' Director of Corporate Affairs to NCDOT officials at the highest levels - including the new Secretary of Transportation, Nick Tennyson.  The tone of this email should make it crystal clear to anyone that this is not the first communication on this subject.  The level of detail on how this is being communicated shows it to be a highly coordinated effort.  See the below timeline for the partial chain of events gleaned from the other emails received via public records.  There are likely more emails that would fill in more gaps if one was to keep digging.

Weds 8/12
10:25am Jean Leier Director of Corp Affairs w/ I77MP sends letter to NCDOT staff
11:13am Scott Cole Division Engineer from NCDOT sends to Bill Coxe of Huntersville, Bill Thunberg with LNTC, and a bunch of people in Charlotte including Bob Cook - the main staffer for CRTPO.
11:49am Bill Coxe sends to Mayor Swain and others in Huntersville staff.  Mayor Swains response makes it clear she has not received it from I77MP confusing the document from Naas with the viral posting from charlotteagenda.com
2:59pm Leier sends directly to Sarah Mcaulay

Thursday 8/13
4:19pm McAulay thanks Leier for the document saying... "Jean Leier, thank you for the information. If I have questions about reading the document, I will contact you. Again, Thank you, Sarah McAulay"
4:21pm Mcaulay tells Bob Cook to send to CRTPO Members and TCC.
5:43pm Cook emails roughly 50 people involved in CRTPO.

Two things to note on Cook's email to CRTPO members.

1.  A shocking number of people including many elected officials are using personal emails for government business making them nearly impossible to track.  They include some of the biggest pushers of this deal.  Ned Curran (NCDOT Board of Transpotation), Brian Jenest (Davidson), and Dumont Clarke (MeckBOCC).

2.  Cook possessed the letter for a day and a half before McAulay told him to send it to CRTPO.  Who else did he send it to in that time?  A records request was not sent to Charlotte, but that would be interesting to know.

So, here you have both parties in a public private partnership, Cintra and Governor McCrory's NCDOT, actively working to apply pressure and disseminate information just days before a critical vote at the CRTPO.  In fact, they were circulating that letter before its intended recipient/target even received it according to the above timeline.  You also have the Chair of the CRTPO and the body's staff, Sarah McAulay and Bob Cook, actively involved in that dissemination.

In response to all this, WidenI77.org's Kurt Naas indicated on Saturday evening that there will be a response.  He said to be on the lookout for a press conference prior to the CRTPO vote.

This should be fun to watch!

Bonus Observation: Who is Jean Leier, I77 Mobility Partners Director of Public Affairs and the person at the center of Cintra's pushback?

According to her LinkedIn profile, Leier's previous job was as head PR flack for Charlotte's mass transit system, CATS.  The one municipality that will get any real benefit from this project through infrastructure paid for by LKN residents has its former mouthpiece working for the P3 contractor.

The public/private revolving door keeps turning.  Ain't our government grand!

Update:  See the WidenI77.org response here.

WidenI77 vs Reason Foundation - HOT Lanes Showdown this Thursday on WFAE

This Thursday, WFAE a Charlotte Talks will host a panel discussion on HOT Lanes with Wideni77.org's, Kurt Naas, going head to head with Robert Poole of the Reason Foundation - a libertarian think tank in California.  Charlotte City Councilman Al Austin will also be on the panel.

For those paying close attention to the HOT lanes debate Poole's name may be vaguely familiar.  He was recently quoted in the lake Norman Citizen calling the WidenI77 lawsuit against the HOT lanes project a "nuisance suit".  If you've been a long-time reader of this blog, you may remember the below pice as well.

This is a common practice of the big money in these big transportation projects.  If any opposition gets traction, the "experts" are summoned to aid in the defense.

It happened with the transit to repeal debate in 2007 when the pro-repeal side warned of an out of control spending plan that would need more money.  It also happened in 2012 when the Red Line commuter rail project was going through its most recent attempt to get going, and it's supporters were   hocking a pie in the sky finance plan.

The predictions of 2007 have come true with the politicians and pro-transit types now looking for new "revenue streams" aka taxes to fund any additional lines.  The cost of the Red Line has now ballooned significantly and that highly touted
 finance plan has suffered an ignominious death.

Both of these transportation plans were put together by "experts".  Remember that when you hear Mr Poole on Thursday.

(Earlier post on Mr Poole's and the HOT lanes sales pitch. Originally posted March 11, 2013.)

HOT lane usage...Bait and switch coming?

The 10 second version of the HOT Lanes sales pitch sounds pretty positive, but a look behind the curtain says the fast talking salesman is prepping his mark for the old bait and switch.

Here's what they tell you, the citizen, the voter, the mark...

HOT lanes will reduce congestion.  Some users will be able to ride for free.  The road will be open to all comers.

Sounds good doesn't it?  Except that HOT lane supporters don't even really believe it...

In a 2011 piece by the Reason Foundation's Robert W. Poole Jr, one of the leading proponents of HOT lanes, he outlines why this is not and more importantly should not be the case.  (See Automating HOT Lanes Enforcement, Reason Foundation 2011.)

Who is Robert Poole?  From the above linked article...

"Robert W. Poole, Jr. is the director of transportation policy and Searle Freedom Trust Transportation Fellow at Reason Foundation, the free market think tank he founded. Poole, an MIT-trained engineer, has advised the previous four presidential administrations on transportation and policy issues.

In the field of surface transportation, Poole has advised the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the White House Office of Policy Development, National Economic Council, Government Accountability Office and state DOTs in numerous states.

Poole's 1988 policy paper proposing privately financed toll lanes to relieve congestion directly inspired California's landmark private tollway law (AB 680), which authorized four pilot toll projects including the successful 91 Express Lanes in Orange County. More than 20 other states and the federal government have since enacted similar public-private partnership legislation. In 1993, Poole oversaw a study that coined the term HOT (high-occupancy toll) Lanes, a term which has become widely accepted since." (Emphasis added)

Poole coined the term HOT Lanes.  He is one of the field's leading experts.  Yet, his paper says the only way to effectively manage HOT lanes like the ones proposed for I-77 is to effectively do none of the things tossed out in the HOT Lanes 10-second sales pitch.

The I-77 project is actually described as a HOT 2.0 facility where tolls will finance the actual construction of much of the project. (The small HOV conversion portion being the exception.)  As a HOT 2.0 effort, toll collection and enforcement become vital to the success of the project.  They are critical because they are used to actually pay for the construction of the road.  To ensure these critical needs are met, changes from the promises of the "sales pitch" are necessary for the project to meet it's funding requirements.

• Instead of "reducing congestion" for all travelers, we get a "congestion-relief lane" for those willing to pay a premium.
• Instead of "some users get to ride for free", we get a system designed to reduce the number of free riders by as much as possible.  According to Poole, 83% of vehicles on existing HOT 2.0 projects pay tolls. That's compared to 35% of riders on HOT 1.0 lanes which are entirely converted HOV-2 facilities.
• Instead of "the road being open to all comers", we get proposals from Mr Poole that only pre-registered and audited carpoolers should be allowed to use the lanes for free with all others needing some sort of transponder.

These proposals don't come from people opposed to HOT lanes or tolls in general.  These proposals don't come from people who have a vested interest in seeing these projects fail.  These proposals come from the person who coined the term HOT and who is one of its biggest supporters.

But Mr Poole didn't coin the term HOT 2.0.  No, according to Mr Poole, that honor goes to David Ungemah.

If you would like to hear Mr. Ungemah, he'll be participating in the HOT 2.0 sales pitch this Wednesday at the Lake Norman Transportation Commission meeting in Mooresville - 7PM at the Charles Mack Center.

Just remember, as with any sales pitch it isn't always representative of what they are truly trying to sell you.