Small Business Knows Tolls Will be Bad for All Business

Seen at Toast in Davidson....

You know things are getting serious when businesses are willing to take this kind of a public stand on a political issue.  Typically, they stay neutral out of concern for alienating customers.  The fact that what is arguably the most visible business on Davidson's Main St does not have that concern is both commendable and telling.

It's commendable because most local politicians have spoken favorably for tolling residents.  It's telling because small business intuitively knows almost all residents disagree with them.

Toll Talk Turns to John Locke

The John Locke Foundation, North Carolina's leading conservative think tank, entered the toll road fray on Thursday releasing a lengthy policy analysis - Transportation Priorities for North Carolina - which included a section on toll roads and HOT lanes (Starting on Page 40).

Almost immediately the folks supporting HOT lanes latched onto that section and began circulating emails implying this document could be effective in refuting those who oppose toll lanes - at least that's what one mail forward to aShortChronicle would seem to imply.

I guess the good folks over at the JLF's Charlotte outpost - MeckDeck.com - did not get the memo that they were supposed to be supporters of tolls.  Here's what they had to say a day earlier about the proposed I-77 toll project...

That certainly doesn't sound like a glowing recommendation for I-77 tolls from JLF.  Though, the line about "powerful legislators" using their influence to get what they want does ring true in this case. See Tillis: Toll lanes or wait 20 years for I-77 widening

Incidentally, the Charlotte Observer article about the MeckGOP anti-HOT resolution referenced by the MeckDeck is the same story covered here last week.  Nice to see this important political story still has some legs and is getting coverage.

Update: John Hood, President and Chairman of the JLF, also weighed in on Thursday on toll roads in North Carolina.  Here's what he had to say about the I-77 project...


"There are other toll-road projects being considered elsewhere in the state, including some bridges on the coast and new lanes on I-77 north of Charlotte.

While I favor tolls as a useful tool for adding capacity, it isn’t suited for every job. It is possible, for example, that some of the proposed toll projects may not reduce congestion and increase safety enough to justify their construction at this time. After due diligence, the state Department of Transportation ought to defer them in favor of higher-priority projects."

While not as clear a rejection of the I-77 HOT plan as at JLF's MeckDeck.com, John Hood's criteria for not doing tolls under certain circumstances would seem to apply.  The NCDOT and its consultants are on record as saying HOT lanes do not reduce congestion, so they should look elsewhere for a real plan to solve the I-77 problem.

Raleigh Meeting First Response... WidenI77.org Gathers Wednesday

The last post seems to have created quite a stir.  However, until this evening, no other attendees have commented.  (For the record, two WidenI77 attendees were contacted for the original post.)  Here's a comment from Davidson Commissioner Rodney Graham on how the meeting occurred.

From Commissioner Graham...

Rick, as you mentioned I was at the meeting. It was in no way an ambush as it has been characterized. Kurt Naas and the other 3 people with him were allowed to ask several questions. In fact, I asked one question and was told by Speaker Tillis that this meeting was for the purpose of allowing the Widen I-77 group to ask questions, so my question was not answered.

Speaker Tillis did invite one consultant (from KPMG) as well as two staff members and two people from NCDOT to the meeting. As he admitted, highway funding is very complicated and he wanted to make sure that he had people at the meeting who could answer questions. They did so. I felt this was a much more effective meeting than had Kurt, et. al. met privately with Speaker Tillis.

Yes, it was 'Town Hall Day' and since we were there, we went. It was a good meeting for elected officials as well.

That's certainly a different take on what happened last week, and I'm certainly glad to present the other point of view on what occurred.

However, that doesn't quite explain all of the other roughly thirty or so people who attended beyond those mentioned by commissioner Graham - including business interests, chambers of commerce and even media.  It also doesn't explain, as DavidsonNews.net pointed out, why all local media in the affected HOT lane area did not know about the meeting.

And while I can appreciate that elected officials have had multiple opportunities to learn about HOT lanes at public meetings and while I am glad they attend, I believe they also did have a closed meeting back in February where they heard from consultants on the subject.

One would think citizens could expect the same thing when meeting with their representatives.

But enough about closed meetings, who said what to whom, and which media was invited....

The WidenI77.org group is having another PUBLIC meeting this Wednesday, 7pm at Cornelius Town Hall.

No April Foolin'...Be Back Soon

Some outlets post a witty and satirical April Fools edition.

We here at aShortChronicle were too busy enjoying some well needed family time over the holiday weekend to pull that together.

However, we do hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and want to thank everyone for their continued readership.

We'll be back later this week.

HOT Lanes: The Empire Strikes Back...

...or something like that.

After last Saturday's resolution at the MeckGOP convention where County Republicans rejected I77 HOT Lanes, circling the wagons was bound to happen. Those wagons appeared in the form of dozens of HOT lanes supporters, consultants, NCDOT officials, and two hand & picked media outlets at a meeting today in Raleigh.

For a while now, the WidenI77.org activists have been trying to meet with Speaker Tillis, and recently, a meeting was set for today at 1030am in Raleigh. Initially, the expectation was that this was going to be just a small sit-down between constituents and their representative in the Legislature.  

Earlier this week, information began to leak out that there may be a few additional guests.  A few dozen would turn out to be more accurate.

Wednesday afternoon a post popped up on Facebook outlining what appeared to be a "dirty trick" by Governmental HOT supporters on the activists of WidenI77.org.   

Here's what happened

When the activists arrived, they went to the Speaker's office and then were directed to an adjacent building.  Upon arriving there were about 40 people from various levels of state and local government as well as a consultant and NCDOT officials waiting for them.  Then a bridge line was opened revealing another dozen or so people on the phone.  

Some officials were apparently in Raleigh for "Town Hall Day", but apparently they found time to break away to head to this meeting.  (For those keeping score here in Davidson, Town Manager Leamon Brice was there in person along with Commissioners Brian Jenest and Rodney Graham.  Mayor woods was on the phone.)

The media outlets linked above somehow made the cut on knowing this event was coming as they had the conference bridge information.  Several other media outlets were contacted this afternoon and evening, and to a one, they had not heard about this giant confab.

So, instead of a sit-down meeting with their representative - something that should be available to any citizen - the activists of WidenI77.org were treated to a press conference of sorts where they were allowed to ask one question each among comments by literally dozens of HOT supporters.

An overwhelming display of force, is that what passes as our new example of responsive government?

It seems more like that scene in Star Wars where the Death Star is rolled out to blow up defenseless Alderaan.

Correction:  The consultancy represented at the meeting was KPMG per comment from Davidson Commissioner Rodney Graham below, not Parsons Brinckerhoff, the consultancy that has presented at other recent HOT lanes meetings.

MeckGOP Raises the Political Stakes for HOT Lanes Supporters

For the past few months as the WidenI77.org citizens group in North Mecklenburg questioned the effort to install HOT Lanes on I-77, the Mecklenburg County Republican Party remained noticeably silent on the subject.  To a degree, that silence was understandable considering the push to install these toll lanes is being led by local Republicans in the State Legislature.

This week that changed - culminating in a dramatic scene during Saturday's annual MeckGOP County Convention.

On the morning of the convention a resolution was submitted opposing the current HOT Lanes plan for I-77.  After working with the Resolutions Committee, the proposed language for the resolution was edited down for brevity and content.  However, the overall intent of the resolution remained in place.  This was a resolution to oppose the current HOT plan for I-77.

The resolution was submitted to the convention as one of only three public policy resolutions on the official agenda.  The fact that this resolution "made the cut" is a statement in itself.  There was at least one other resolution rejected by the committee.  Seeing that the Resolution Committee is made up of party insiders, the fact that they allowed this to be one of the officially presented resolutions shows a willingness of at least some in the party hierarchy to support alternatives to the current HOT lanes proposal supported by many Republican elected officials.

The HOT Lanes resolution was held until the end partly due to the expectation that it would be somewhat contentious.  The edited resolution was read from the podium and then the floor was opened for debate.

What happened next will be hard to ignore.

There was no debate.  Nobody spoke against the resolution.  Nobody spoke for it.  It stood on its own.

Then it was time to vote.

By a unanimous voice vote, the MeckGOP County Convention passed the resolution opposing the current plan for HOT Lanes on I-77 without further study.

It took a huge amount of political courage to submit that resolution to the convention, but speaking truth to power always does.  Saturday, that courage was unanimously rewarded.

Now that Republican elected officials have unequivocal proof that the path they have chosen is unsatisfactory to the party faithful, there is only one question left.

Will they listen?


See below for a copy of the resolution received by aShortChronicle.  This was transcribed from a recording made by a member of the audience as it was read from the podium.

For more on I-77 Hot Lanes see...  The Hot Lanes Chronicle

MeckGOP Elects New Board

Saturday morning at the Mecklenburg Republican Party County Convention, a new slate was elected to lead the local party for the next two years.

As was mentioned in this earlier post, at the February County Precinct Meeting there were originally two candidates interested in the top spot of Chairman - one from Pat McCrory's camp, the other from Robert Pittenger's.  Also, on the copy of that post over at PunditHouse.com there were rumblings from activist extraordinaire Adam Love of Campaign for Liberty that there may be a candidate from the "grassroots" who could possibly challenge for the leadership spot.

However, by Saturday that was no longer the case with only Brad Overcash officially throwing his name into the ring.  After Mr Overcash was officially designated as the next Chairman, he made a motion to forego elections for the remaining positions and presented his selected slate for the Board.

In a sign hinting at party unity there was no showdown over who would lead the party through the next election cycles.

Congratulations and good luck to the new Board!

Bonus Observation: As "Chairman of the Convention" Charlotte City Councilman Warren Cooksey put on a great performance as Master of Ceremonies for the day.  His knowledge of the minutiae in the rules of parliamentary procedure was impressive.