Was going to let this one slide, but after reading this and this over at the Charlotte Business Journal it seems like there might be a bit more to the story posted here last week - Charlotte Throwing Weight Around at MUMPO.
This post referenced a story from the previous Monday at Mary Newsom's The Naked City blog regarding a unanimous decision by Charlotte City Council to seek a symbolic re-vote on a resolution by MUMPO supporting the Monroe Bypass toll road. That effort was scheduled to occur at last Wednesday's MUMPO meeting - a meeting that was also going to feature a presentation by WidenI77.org opposing the I77 HOT lanes toll project.
This past Sunday, the Charlotte Observer posted this story - Emotions high over airport authority push - which outlines a flurry of activity in Raleigh by legislators to prevent this symbolic re-vote from happening.
At this past Saturday's NC-9 GOP Convention it was communicated that the MUMPO post from aShortChronicle had made it's way around Raleigh last Wednesday - the same day as that flurry of activity described in the Observer article about the Naked City post.
Now, we here at aShortChronicle are not in the business of taking credit for things. We could care less whether or not our post was the real spark for some or all of the activity described by the Charlotte Observer by bringing added attention to the Naked City post. But we do like to ask questions...
Knowing that the Charlotte City Council unanimously approved bringing up the Monroe Bypass resolution again, and knowing that the posts from aShortChronicle and The Naked City were also circulating in Raleigh on the same day as all this activity to stop that resolution from being brought up - a resolution which would clearly have zero actual impact on the Monroe Bypass toll road, it seems curious why Raleigh would expend such a flurry of effort to stop such a possible re-vote.
The stated reason in the Observer is that Speaker Tillis asked that Charlotte "not to do anything that would further complicate a situation already complicated.” Assuming that was in reference to not adding more turmoil to the Airport issue, Charlotte's acquiescence was very short-lived. By this Monday, Charlotte City Council was relentlessly grilling the Airport Advisory Board Chairman, Shawn Dorsch - someone who had been helping the General Assembly's effort to remove the airport from Charlotte's control. By Tuesday, Mr Dorsch had been removed from the Advisory Board. And today, Wednesday, we have Republican Warren Cooksey of Charlotte City Council lobbing verbal hand grenades at fellow Republican, Senator Bob Roucho.
If the true intent of stopping that re-vote at MUMPO was to not further stir the pot on the Airport, it seems nobody in Charlotte was really listening.
You'd also have to believe that, as the Observer reports, Charlotte Councilman Michael Barnes had already decided on his own to not bring up an issue that had been voted on unanimously by Charlotte City Council for him to bring up.
A more reasonable explanation is that Raleigh realized how bad the optics were of Charlotte "opposing" one toll project at MUMPO (the Monroe Bypass) while they were planning to shut down debate on another toll project (I77 HOT lanes). That's the scenario outlined in the post from aShortChronicle.
Not creating that scene is something the I77 toll road supporters in both Raleigh and Charlotte could agree on.
Showing posts with label Charlotte City Council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charlotte City Council. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Charlotte Throwing Its Weight Around at MUMPO
Mary Newsom reports over at The Naked City Blog on Charlotte City Council's meltdown over the General Assembly's move to remove Charlotte Douglas International Airport from City control. In a classic case of "we'll take our ball and go home if we don't get our way" the City Council voted unanimously to seek a re-vote on a resolution supporting quick construction of the Monroe Bypass - a toll road project proposed for Union County - at this Wednesday's (4/17) MUMPO meeting.
MUMPO is the regional planning organization which decides on road projects in the region. It currently encompasses Mecklenburg and much of Union Counties and will soon add much of Iredell County as well. Charlotte seeking the re-vote is simple and base retribution against Union County for voting to support the NCGA legislation that would strip the airport from Charlotte's control. The decision to seek the re-vote has nothing to do with transportation and everything to do with power. Charlotte has 16 votes on MUMPO due to its size with all other entities getting a combined total of only 22 votes. It's easy for them to get their way, and they appear willing to bully their neighbors to get what they want.
In an ironic contrast, while Charlotte seeks to use it's influence to possibly slow/punish one toll road, they are using their power to force through and minimize opposition to another toll road - the HOT lanes on I77. Charlotte has all but told North Mecklenburg and Iredell county if you want I77 widened it will only get done with HOT lanes. Charlotte is using it's MUMPO votes to force that outcome. It's telling that Charlotte is not taking the same hard line against the I77 HOT lanes because Iredell County also voted to support the NCGA taking Charlotte Douglas from the City.
What's the difference between I77 and the Monroe Bypass toll roads? The Monroe Bypass does not help Charlotte directly. The I77 toll project does. Even better the I77 project will be paid for by non-Charlotte residents, but the biggest benefits will be to Uptown Charlotte.
The naked hypocrisy of this position is stunning. It's made even more so when you read in Mary Newsom's post about Charlotte City Council members tossing around veiled threats regarding City funding for other regional planning groups such as Centralina Council of Governments and the Charlotte Regional Partnership.
Apparently, regionalism to Charlotte means the City getting what it wants and everybody else better keep their collective mouths shut.
Wednesday night's MUMPO meeting will be interesting. In addition to the Monroe Bypass item, WidenI77.org is scheduled to give a presentation on the HOT lanes project. In emails received by aShortChronicle, the group has been asking to receive a 30 minute time-slot but is currently only being granted 10 minutes. At least one MUMPO member has replied in support of their request for a longer presentation. In support of giving WidenI77.org more time, Lynda Paxton, representing the Town of Stallings, said...
"We are responsible for making extremely important decisions for how our limited transportation dollars are spent. We should not rubber stamp recommendations from staff without complete understanding of all facts and viewpoints."
The question is will Charlotte use its influence to squash debate or will they have the decency to allow for 20 extra minutes of discussion before trying to ram through a $550 million project for the City's benefit?
Update: The WidenI77.org presentation at MUMPO this evening was reportedly limited to only 10 minutes per a Facebook comment on this story from activist Sharon Hudson.
MUMPO is the regional planning organization which decides on road projects in the region. It currently encompasses Mecklenburg and much of Union Counties and will soon add much of Iredell County as well. Charlotte seeking the re-vote is simple and base retribution against Union County for voting to support the NCGA legislation that would strip the airport from Charlotte's control. The decision to seek the re-vote has nothing to do with transportation and everything to do with power. Charlotte has 16 votes on MUMPO due to its size with all other entities getting a combined total of only 22 votes. It's easy for them to get their way, and they appear willing to bully their neighbors to get what they want.
In an ironic contrast, while Charlotte seeks to use it's influence to possibly slow/punish one toll road, they are using their power to force through and minimize opposition to another toll road - the HOT lanes on I77. Charlotte has all but told North Mecklenburg and Iredell county if you want I77 widened it will only get done with HOT lanes. Charlotte is using it's MUMPO votes to force that outcome. It's telling that Charlotte is not taking the same hard line against the I77 HOT lanes because Iredell County also voted to support the NCGA taking Charlotte Douglas from the City.
What's the difference between I77 and the Monroe Bypass toll roads? The Monroe Bypass does not help Charlotte directly. The I77 toll project does. Even better the I77 project will be paid for by non-Charlotte residents, but the biggest benefits will be to Uptown Charlotte.
The naked hypocrisy of this position is stunning. It's made even more so when you read in Mary Newsom's post about Charlotte City Council members tossing around veiled threats regarding City funding for other regional planning groups such as Centralina Council of Governments and the Charlotte Regional Partnership.
Apparently, regionalism to Charlotte means the City getting what it wants and everybody else better keep their collective mouths shut.
Wednesday night's MUMPO meeting will be interesting. In addition to the Monroe Bypass item, WidenI77.org is scheduled to give a presentation on the HOT lanes project. In emails received by aShortChronicle, the group has been asking to receive a 30 minute time-slot but is currently only being granted 10 minutes. At least one MUMPO member has replied in support of their request for a longer presentation. In support of giving WidenI77.org more time, Lynda Paxton, representing the Town of Stallings, said...
"We are responsible for making extremely important decisions for how our limited transportation dollars are spent. We should not rubber stamp recommendations from staff without complete understanding of all facts and viewpoints."
The question is will Charlotte use its influence to squash debate or will they have the decency to allow for 20 extra minutes of discussion before trying to ram through a $550 million project for the City's benefit?
Update: The WidenI77.org presentation at MUMPO this evening was reportedly limited to only 10 minutes per a Facebook comment on this story from activist Sharon Hudson.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Charlotte Streetcar...a real "threat" from Governor Pat or just kabuki theater?
From Thursday's Charlotte Observer...
Gov. McCrory warns streetcar could risk light rail money
and Friday at WCNC...
Council Members to Gov. McCrory: Wait, was that a threat?
Call me a cynic, but people need to remember that this is politics. What you see is not always what is really going on. To think that Governor Pat McCrory is going to let anything derail the Blue Line Extension is fantasy.
Governor Pat is and always has been a mass transit supporter in all its forms and at all costs. Between his two runs for the Governor's mansion he spent his time lobbying for higher transit taxes elsewhere around the country. See here for an example as recently as 2011 from our neighbors to the south in Atlanta.
As was pointed out in the above CO article, Governor Pat has in the past supported going outside the Mecklenburg County transit tax in support of the Red Line. Also true is the fact that backing out now on the Blue Line Extension is highly unlikely with the Full Funding Grant Agreement in place. Finally, the newly preferred way to build infrastructure for NC Republican appears to be increased use of local funds rather than more State funds.
The Red Line plan, the Charlotte Streetcar plan, and the I77 HOT lanes plan are ALL following this model.
Here's how this very likely could play out. Governor Pat's "threat" causes the Charlotte City Council which is dominated by Democrats to reflexively vote to put Streetcar funding in a future CIP simply because a Republican "threatened" them. That gets the Streetcar moving again - accomplishing the real goal of the so called "threat". Governor Pat feigns outrage, but nothing happens to the BLE.
The other projects go forward as well following the additional local funding model. Much of the time this will be done without even asking the voters. My guess is that at some point they will actually use the Charlotte Streetcar as the example of how local funding works to support these other efforts.
There is one way to know if the above is possibly not the case. As the NCDOT reorganizes under the new Transportation Secretary (Tony Tata), if Paul Morris keeps his job as DepSec for Transit that can be taken as a sign it's going to be full speed ahead and business as usual. If he is replaced, then maybe there is a course correction in the works when it comes to building trains.
Until we know what happens at NCDOT, this is all just kabuki theater.
Gov. McCrory warns streetcar could risk light rail money
and Friday at WCNC...
Council Members to Gov. McCrory: Wait, was that a threat?
Call me a cynic, but people need to remember that this is politics. What you see is not always what is really going on. To think that Governor Pat McCrory is going to let anything derail the Blue Line Extension is fantasy.
Governor Pat is and always has been a mass transit supporter in all its forms and at all costs. Between his two runs for the Governor's mansion he spent his time lobbying for higher transit taxes elsewhere around the country. See here for an example as recently as 2011 from our neighbors to the south in Atlanta.
As was pointed out in the above CO article, Governor Pat has in the past supported going outside the Mecklenburg County transit tax in support of the Red Line. Also true is the fact that backing out now on the Blue Line Extension is highly unlikely with the Full Funding Grant Agreement in place. Finally, the newly preferred way to build infrastructure for NC Republican appears to be increased use of local funds rather than more State funds.
The Red Line plan, the Charlotte Streetcar plan, and the I77 HOT lanes plan are ALL following this model.
Here's how this very likely could play out. Governor Pat's "threat" causes the Charlotte City Council which is dominated by Democrats to reflexively vote to put Streetcar funding in a future CIP simply because a Republican "threatened" them. That gets the Streetcar moving again - accomplishing the real goal of the so called "threat". Governor Pat feigns outrage, but nothing happens to the BLE.
The other projects go forward as well following the additional local funding model. Much of the time this will be done without even asking the voters. My guess is that at some point they will actually use the Charlotte Streetcar as the example of how local funding works to support these other efforts.
There is one way to know if the above is possibly not the case. As the NCDOT reorganizes under the new Transportation Secretary (Tony Tata), if Paul Morris keeps his job as DepSec for Transit that can be taken as a sign it's going to be full speed ahead and business as usual. If he is replaced, then maybe there is a course correction in the works when it comes to building trains.
Until we know what happens at NCDOT, this is all just kabuki theater.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Streetcar Supporters Run Away, Live to Fight Another Day
So what happened at the CharMeck Government Center on Monday night?
In the blink of an eye, Charlotte City Council went from a veto threat against a compromise budget that would still have spent over $600 million in additional capital projects to one that included zero dollars. Yes, zero. No tax increase this year and no new Capital Improvement Plan or CIP.
The vote occurred along faction lines, not party lines, with the breakaway Democrats (Barnes, Cannon, Fallon, and Pickering) voting for the smaller plan and 2.44c tax increase that did not include the Streetcar. Republicans Dulin and Cooksey switched votes to side with the Mayor's new zero tax increase budget, along with all of the Streetcar supporters.
Ironically, in the end only the two Republicans on the Council got what they wanted. That's an amazing feat when outnumbered 9-2!
However, why did this happen the way it did?
In the blink of an eye, Charlotte City Council went from a veto threat against a compromise budget that would still have spent over $600 million in additional capital projects to one that included zero dollars. Yes, zero. No tax increase this year and no new Capital Improvement Plan or CIP.
The vote occurred along faction lines, not party lines, with the breakaway Democrats (Barnes, Cannon, Fallon, and Pickering) voting for the smaller plan and 2.44c tax increase that did not include the Streetcar. Republicans Dulin and Cooksey switched votes to side with the Mayor's new zero tax increase budget, along with all of the Streetcar supporters.
Ironically, in the end only the two Republicans on the Council got what they wanted. That's an amazing feat when outnumbered 9-2!
However, why did this happen the way it did?
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