We've tried here recently at aShortChronicle to give the Town of Davidson credit for improved transparency.
To those at Town Hall, really, we have. I promise.
But something happened at Monday's "special meeting" which really shows there is a looooong way to go.
The meeting was "special" because the date had to be changed from the typical "1st Tuesday" meeting which occurs every month. There was also a 2 hour presentation about the town's proposed new Rural Area Plan. At the end however, there was supposed to be a discussion on multiple other items - including the town possibly joining a new incarnation of the LNTC - the subject of the last post.
Inexplicably, the video of the meeting is summarily cut off just as that discussion was about to begin.
Watch the last 50 seconds below.
The video camera has been moved into place, clearly with the intent of filming the remainder of the meeting.
Mayor Woods asks if the video is still on. He shakes his head. Then, boom. The video goes off.
And this is not the first time these "1st Tuesday" meetings have been less than transparent. The Herald Weekly had a not so flattering story about them just a few weeks ago.
In that story Commissioner Brian Jenest called into one of the "1st Tuesday" meetings. He was going to relay information he had about a meeting with NCDOT, but upon hearing a Herald reporter was in the room he declined to discuss it.
In the past Davidson briefly held an informal monthly meeting inside Commissioners homes. While these too were technically open to the public, few if any people ever attended. Thankfully, the town got rid of those. Nobody believed they were just for "team building" anyway.
Those meetings were replaced by this "1st Tuesday" gathering. There was not supposed to be a formal agenda, and the idea was that they would be more transparent by being held in a more open forum.
As these two examples show, that idea of more transparency only goes so far.
Update: Commissioner Cashion just contacted me to clarify one point. The date of this particular meeting was moved at her request because of conflicting graduation events, not to obscure any of the items on the agenda.
While the date move is not the main point of this post, we're glad to clarify that in case readers got that impression.
We've reported previously on the demise of the Lake Norman Transportation Commission. See here and here.
The transportation group funded by Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville, and Mooresville was incarnated to help represent the local towns and their collective interests when it comes to transportation issues.
Since 2008 the body has had what can best be described a a mixed bag of results. At best, it has given the area a seat at the table when it comes to local transportation discussions. However, that seat comes with no real authority and when facing the largest issues impacting the towns the body has been ineffective. Think of the failures surrounding the Red Line Regional Rail and I77 HOT Lanes projects as examples.
To that end Huntersville decided to pull out of the body earlier this year to pursue a less formal and less expensive approach. Cornelius and Davidson soon followed suit to avoid getting stuck with a larger portion of the bill. Almost all of the body's funding goes to pay the executive director's salary - over $80,000 per year.
So, with all that being said, it was rather surprising to see an agenda item for a new LNTC MOU on Monday night's special board meeting held at Davidson United Methodist Church. The main event for the meeting was to see a presentation on the towns new Rural Area Plan, but there were also a few other items for discussion (The meeting needed to be held off site presumably due to Tuesday's election and the Town Hall meeting room serves as a voting location.)
aShortChronicle obtained a copy of the Draft MOU for a new Interlocal Agreement. Here is the gist of it. Davidson is apparently looking to join a reconstituted LNTC made up of Davidson, Mooresville, Troutman, Statesville, and Iredell County.
Town Public Information Officer, Christina Shaul, provided a few wordsmithing comments made by Commissioners on the below document. However, none of them change the fact that the town is considering joining a body it just left and that it appears it will be the only Mecklenburg entity in what will be an Iredell County heavy organization.
Mayor Woods and Commissioner Jenest pushed hard for Davidson to remain in the LNTC even as Huntersville and Cornelius left the old organization. It appears they may have gotten their way if this goes forward.
What most disappointing about the below proposal is that it seems to have many of the same issues as the old body. It makes recommendations, but they aren't binding. Thus it seems hard to imagine it will have any more impact on large decisions than the old LNTC.
This indecision's buggin' me If you don't want me, set me free Exactly whom I'm supposed to be Don't you know which clothes even fit me?
-The Clash
That was definitely the theme of the discussion Tuesday night at Davidson Town Hall around the fate/future of the Lake Norman Transportation Commission (LNTC).
Readers will remember that back in February, the LNTC was thrown into turmoil when Huntersville unilaterally decided to withdraw from the organization. That prompted similar withdrawals by Cornelius and Davidson to avoid being on the hook for more money to fund it.
At Tuesday's meeting Mayor John Woods and Commissioner Brian Jenest put on the hard sell for keeping the LNTC with Woods claiming it provides "expert" advise.
The great bulk of the funding for the body goes to pay the Executive Director's salary. Bill Thunberg currently fills that role. Thunberg is the former Mayor of Mooresville and a jeweler by trade. He is NOT a career transportation "expert".
In a long soliloquy which he certainly thought would support continuing the body, Commissioner Jenest instead described a body designed to fail when it comes to controversial projects like I77 HOT lanes - the most important transportation decision in the region since the creation of I77 itself. That's because the LNTC won't take a position on an issue unless it is unanimous.
According to Jenest, the LNTC was never intended to manage smaller issues for the individual towns.
That combination of ineffectiveness on large issues and non-inolvement on small issues should make commissioners seriously question any future funding for the body.
If the LNTC reconfigured as an actual planning body with paid professional staff, then splitting the cost among the towns would make sense.
Short of doing that, it's time for the indecision to stop and for the LNTC to go.
With last week's action by Huntersville to withdraw from the LNTC, it was just a matter of time before the other shoes dropped. That happened this week.
On Tuesday, Davidson voted to withdraw from LNTC by a vote of 3-2 with Commissioners Fuller and Jenest opposing it. (Officially, it was 3-1 due to Jenest being on the phone and only present voters count.) As part of the vote, they retained the right to revisit the decision to withdraw at the next regularly scheduled meeting in March. On Friday, Cornelius is likely to do the same at a special meeting called for that purpose.
There is some question on the validity of the Davidson vote, as it was not on the published agenda, and the agenda that was published actually said the work session portion of the meeting was cancelled. Questions are out to the Town and UNC-SOG to see if this can be verified.
However, it was the Davidson meeting on Tuesday that gives a little insight into what may be coming in the very near future. The video is here. Its the first 45 minutes.
Apparently, this coming Monday there will be a closed meeting of area mayors to discuss a way forward. The meeting was called by Davidson Mayor John Woods. A few additional staff may be there, but Woods specifically indicated that this would be a non quorum meeting and that the media was not invited.
There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in Davidson about how the region had gotten to this point with Woods using the word "bullying" to describe Huntersville actions. Commissioner Fuller also appeared upset, and Commissioner Jenest who was on the phone seemed particularly disappointed.
One thing that became clear from the Davidson video is why the action is all taking place now within the towns. There is apparently a 4 month notice clause in the LNTC interlocal agreement for members to pull out of the group. Since funding of the body comes from the town budgets a decision has to be made now. March 1st is 4 months prior to the July 1st start of the new budget year.
Davidson's Board seemed most concerned about whether they would be on the hook with Mooresville alone to fund the body if both Cornelius and Huntersville had dropped out. That, much more than a belief the LNTC had no value, appeared to be the driving force behind their withdrawal.
Monday's Mayors' meeting will be interesting. My hope is that Huntersville Mayor Aneralla is wearing his body armor. My guess is that he will be the target of many barbs from the other mayors.
Some might call holding that meeting behind closed doors where that can't be seen to be "bullying".
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.
The good news is that in general the answer is "no" they aren't completely and totally biased on this subject.
Most local news outlets seem to be doing a decent job of getting out both sides of this story - covering the WidenI77.org efforts to promote investigating alternatives. Most are at least making an attempt to give space to alternative opinions in their letters to the editor or commentary pages. Most aren't aggressively attacking those alternative opinions when they should know better.
DavidsonNews.net & CorneliusNews.net have covered the story well - posting notifications of WidenI77.org meetings, multiple articles about the citizens group's efforts, and even giving space for a lengthy commentary on the subject by Mr Vince Winegardner. See articles here, here, and here with Mr. Winegardner's commentary here. DNN has even posted links directly to WidenI77.org information and links to audio and video of the Iredell County Commissioners and Cornelius Board meetings where those boards voted against the proposed toll plan. They are doing a good job of giving citizens all sides of this important story as it unfolds. (Note: Posting Mr. Windgardner's commentary shows a particular willingness to give hearing to all voices. During the last municipal election in Davidson, there was a bit of tension between Candidate Winegardner and DavidsonNews.net, but the publication does not appear to let that impact it's editorial choices.)
The Huntersville Herald has also done a fair job of reporting. It's coverage of the WidenI77.org January 14th meeting was nothing but a presentation of the facts of the event. The publication has also allowed letters to the editor from the citizens group's members to be published. See here and here.
Cornelius Today has had similar reporting to the Herald - covering the January 14th meeting here as well as the Cornelius Board resolution against the project here. They also posted the announcement for the December North Mecklenburg Republican Women's (NMRW) meeting in December where this topic was discussed as did some of the other publications.
Incidentally, the NMRW hosted both Kurt Naas, founder of the WidenI77.org group, and Bill Thunberg of the Lake Norman Transportation Commission (LNTC) at their December monthly meeting. There was a conscious effort on the group's part to include both sides of the discussion at the meeting to ensure attendees heard as much information as possible. For a group that's not a news organization, this effort at evenhandedness was nice to see.
Then we get to the Lake Norman Citizen. The Citizen is one of the Lake Norman area's main sources of local news. They have a history of poking at some of the Lake Norman area municipal governments and have regularly posted biting letters to the editor on controversial subjects. However, on the I-77 HOT Lanes the Citizen has fallen down on the job. In fact at times, they have veered into actively attacking those who are questioning the proposal. They seem to have thrown objectivity into the backseat on this ride.
Here are some examples:
Citizen coverage of the WidenI77.org January 14th meeting painted a much different picture than what actually happened. The post-meeting article focused almost entirely on comments by State Rep Bill Brawley rather than the presentation which was the reason for the meeting. It very incorrectly painted the meeting as "tense". If anything, the presenters from WidenI77.org did an excellent job throughout the evening of keeping what could have been a tense evening rather light. Everyone was treated with respect including those on hand from the NCDOT and the elected officials willing to express support for the project. The Citizen apparently didn't see it that way. (Watch the whole presentation here if you want proof.)
They took their disdain for opposition to toll lanes a step further when they also attacked a fellow member of the media - Mark Washburn of the Charlotte Observer - for writing this piece. The Citizen's anonymous Talkers page took a few cheap shots - anonymous cheap shots - at people who might want to speak out on the subject. And here's the kicker, they paint Mr. Washburn this way...
"Talkers just love it when one of the Charlotte daily paper's professional pontificators practices his profundity on a topic impacting we suburban pioneers (Did you know there are towns north of Charlotte that actually are in Mecklenburg County? Astounding!)."
...as if they didn't know Mr. Washburn actually lives in North Mecklenburg himself and certainly would have an opinion on what it's like actually driving I77 every day.
The Citizen has also refused to open it's pages to the members of WidenI77.org for commentary pieces and letters to the editor - at least since that January 14th meeting when the subject has become a much hotter topic. Based on what members of the group have made available to aShortChronicle, multiple pieces have been turned down from multiple writers. That's a sharp diversion from the openness to differing opinions the paper has shown in the past.
Finally, Citizen coverage of Cornelius's vote to oppose the current toll lane plan focused almost exclusively on why supporters thought opposition should be muted, and it reinforced the status quo position that there are no other options.
For all these reasons, the Citizen deserves 4 tanks out of 5 on their I-77 HOT Lanes coverage.
UPDATE: The Citizen has finally published a piece that is just "the facts" on the subject of I-77 HOT Lanes for their January 31 issue. Nice to see they were finally able to get there. See here.
On Thursday, January 17th, the Lake Norman Transportation Commission (LNTC) met in Mooresville to discuss the group's future plans, how to remain relevant, and hear presentations on the impacts of growth in the LKN Area. (See below for video of the meeting, courtesy of Jay Privette.)
Attendees including elected officials, staff, and other interested parties talked through 4 major areas: Roads, Transit, Land Use, and Bike/Pedestrian. Here are the top vote-getters in each category from the informal straw poll conducted at the end of the event.
Roads - Increase capacity on I-77 from Exit 19 to Exit 36 followed by a close second Widen I-77 with GP Lanes. Notice, toll lanes as defined in the current I77 plan did not even make the list.
Transit - Decide on the Red Line received by far the most votes. There seems to be a serious lowering of expectations with this project. The group is now trying to just get to a point on whether the project should go forward rather than pushing it forward on an expedited schedule.
Land Use - Work with private sector to develop employment center space blew away all other land use items.
Bike and Pedestrian - Complete thread trailreceived the most votes.When this trail network is complete it would connect 15 counties through an extensive network of greenways.
Nobody would seriously challenge the notions that the LKN area has some serious congestion issues during rush hour and the area's future growth poses significant challenges. What can be challenged though is how our leaders go about addressing it. Who those leaders are. And how information is presented to the public. Regarding those questions, the LNTC Summit provided an interesting view into how transportation projects really get done.
They operate on the revolving door between government and the private sector with a little revisionist history thrown in.
The summit kicked off with the LNTC's new director, Bill Thunberg, setting out the afternoon's agenda. Who is Bill Thunberg you may ask? Mr Thunberg is the former Mayor of Mooresville who lost a re-election bid to political newcomer and eventually scandal ridden, Chris Montgomery, in 2009.
Much of the reason for that loss has to do with Mr Thunberg's tie breaking vote as Mayor in 2007 to create the municipally owned Mi-Connection cable company along with the Town of Davidson. His was the vote that broke a 3-3 tie in Mooresville's decision to create the company from the remnants of the old Adelphia Communications. That decision has become a weight around the necks of both towns. Comments on this post from The Gatton Report blog also provide a window into why Mayor Thunberg became Former Mayor Thunberg. There was apparently a sizable "anybody but Thunberg" group of voters, and he ended up losing by a razor thin margin of only 16 votes.
Out of office and looking for a job, Mr Thunberg somehow managed to land the position at the LNTC - an $80,000/yr position. It's good to have friends in the right places when the revolving door turns.
Mr Thunberg was not a telecommunications expert when he tossed Mooresville into the deep end of the pool with his Mi-Connection vote, and he is not a transportation expert even though he is Lake Norman's chief representative for over $1 billion in proposed transportation projects.
The question taxpayers should be asking is why is someone best defined as merely a self described expert running our local transportation body here in the Lake Norman area? Do qualifications count, or only connections?
Other examples of the revolving door on display at the meeting were Carroll Gray, a former Charlotte Chamber President, and himself a former LNTC Director as well as Barry Moose - formerly of NCDOT and now with SEPI Engineering. Mr Gray and Mr Moose have long been fixtures at area transportation meetings and both were prominent speakers during the afternoon's discussions. Now that they have moved back to the private sector, one can only guess at their continued interest in keeping a hand in local transportation decisions.
During Mr Gray's update on the Red Line commuter rail project another theme in area transportation discussions reared its head. That's the theme of revisionist history when it comes to how we have gotten to where we are with our mass transit decisions.
In giving a history of the Red Line, Mr Gray mentioned the transit tax of 1998 and the tax repeal effort in 2007. Whenever the repeal effort is mentioned, local rail transit supporters always remind people that voters have approved this "twice". They say it as if that alone justifies any amount of spending on trains from any sources of tax revenue. As they present it, those two votes put questioning trains out of the question. Here's what they don't tell you.
Voter turnout in the 2007 repeal vote was much lower than in 1998 due to being an off year election - 24% vs 40%. Yes, voters kept the tax, but a much smaller percentage of overall registered voters actually voted to keep it than in 1998. When population growth in the decade between 1998 and 2007 is considered, the numbers are even worse. The tax was kept based on approval of 17% of all registered voters. Yet, train supporters somehow translate that into an overwhelming victory.
During the repeal effort, voters were deliberately deprived of a viable option to keep the tax but to make it for buses only. The Mecklenburg County Commission voted 4-4 to not promote that as a viable option even though the County Attorney said it would be legal. (See page 12 at the link.) See these links from the old RhinoTimes for more detail - Pro Taxers Lampoon Plans to Save Buses and Pro Taxers Want Flawed Transit Plan Kept on Track .
The pro-tax side in that debate was awash in money compared to those supporting repeal. See this article from the Charlotte Business journal on how the Charlotte Chamber (Mr Gray's former employer) took the lead on raising that money.
What has happened in the wake of the tax repeal's failure? Bus fares have gone up repeatedly - affecting those who need mass transit most. The Streetcar has stalled and may never reach the East and West side communities who supported the tax based on that promise. The communities of North Mecklenburg are being asked to commit their property tax base to the Red Line.
Red Line supporters never emphasize in public that the current Red Line financing plan includes TIF and SAD financing components which do not require a vote of the general public. This is money well above what was approved by the voters in those two previous referendums. Even more disturbing, one of the "positives" of TIFs in the Red Line documentation is the fact that it does not have to go before the voters. See As We See Fit for why there will not be another referendum on the Red Line even though it will commit local tax dollars well beyond the 1/2 cent transit tax.
Why is this history important? Why bring it up now?
If you live in North Mecklenburg you already know the Red Line is going to cost you more. You know the history of the current transit plan has not delivered what was promised when you voted for it - twice. Now, if you listen closely to the discussions going on about the I77 HOT Lanes and the plan to toll commuters, you will hear many similarities to the tactics used in the Transit Tax Repeal and Red Line discussions.
"There is no other option than the one we've presented."
"Take it or leave it." "It's this way or no way."
Those lines are beginning to sound eerily familiar.
Video courtesy of Jay Privette
LNTC Summit 1-17 Early Afternoon Part 1 8:45 - Jeff Tarte (NC SEN 41) speaks on his involvement in creating LNTC and what it needs to do to remain relevant. 20:00 - Jeff Michael of UNCC Urban Institute presents on regional growth.
LNTC Summit 1-17 Early Afternoon Part 2 2:10 - Barry Moose (former NCDOT) now consultant with SEPI
LNTC Summit 1-17 Late Session 0:00 - Bill Thunberg gives I77 HOT Lanes update. 5:15 - Carroll Gray gives Red Line update.
