Last week marked one month since NCDOT lowered the speed limits along the length of Davidson-Concord Road on Davidson's east side.
Regular readers will remember the story which was covered extensively at aShortChronicle.
After publishing citizen video coverage of how harrowing the road had become, the long simmering issue of high speeds and dangerous pedestrian crossings finally got the attention it deserved. Television media covered the issue and State elected officials got involved. Frustrated citizens then descended on Town Hall in May and June.
At the June meeting something unexpected happened. NCDOT engineer Scott Cole did a 180 on the plan the agency had published just days before for the most dangerous part of the road for pedestrians.
On June 17th, the speeds were lowered and new signs went up. As part of the deal to get speeds lowered sooner, Davidson agreed to increased enforcement.
Information provided by the Town shows a marked reduction in accidents along with increased enforcement in the corridor during the one month after the speeds dropped.
Data for June 17-July 17, 2016:
There were 6 citations and 5 warnings issued during that time frame and 1 accident.
The crash took place on Davidson Concord Rd. where it intersects with Apollinaire Dr. It was a single car accident and the driver lost control of her vehicle when swerving to avoid hitting an animal that ran out in front of her.
Data for May 16- June 16, 2016:
There was 1 warning issued during that time frame and 0 citations. There were 4 accidents.
One accident was caused by a vehicle running off of the road and hitting another vehicle while overcorrecting (Davidson Concord Rd. @ Parting Oaks Ln.). Another accident took place when a driver turned in front of another car and was struck (Davidson Concord Rd. @ Robert Walker Dr.). Another accident occurred due to a driver failing to yield the right away to another vehicle before turning and they collided (Davidson Concord Rd. @ Robert Walker Dr.). Lastly, a vehicle rear ended another vehicle (Davidson Concord Rd. @ Barnhardt Rd.)
At the June meeting NCDOT argued against lowering the speed in the pedestrian heavy area because it could actually make it more dangerous. The less than obvious logic was that an artificially low speed limit might lead to inconsistent driver speeds making it more uncertain when crossing the road.
When asked last week for a comment on the changes after a month of data, here's what the DPD had to say.
“We believe the speed limit reductions on Davidson-Concord Road make that part of town safer for pedestrians, bike riders, and motorists,” said Davidson Police Lt. Steve Ingram. “Our officers will continue to enforce the new limits.”
Based on the lower number of accidents it would appear DPD rather than NCDOT is right on this one.
Showing posts with label NCDOT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NCDOT. Show all posts
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Friday, June 24, 2016
A prime example of citizen activism
There’s a reason for the saying “you can’t fight city hall”. It’s hard!
To get what they want citizens need perseverance, organization, and a willingness to push. The recent successful effort to lower speed limits on Davidson-Concord Road provides a prime example.
To be fair, local residents weren’t so much “fighting town hall” in this case as the Town of Davidson had previously asked to have the speed limit lowered. The problem was that when NCDOT said “no” on each occasion, the town did not force the issue.
The situation came to a head this Spring when multiple videos surface showing harrowing scenes near a school bus stop in the area and as the new West Branch neighborhood proposed over 300 new residences on the Westmoreland Farm adjacent to the already dangerous Robert-Walker Drive intersection.
So, what did residents do?
In the interest of transparency, I was involved in some of the activities that follow,, but all of the heavy lifting was done by many other citizens.
Residents organized multiple trips to town hall leading to two packed meetings in May and June. They worked with the media to bring the issue more attention. They showed tremendous courage in speaking truth to power. Most importantly, they did public records requests.
The public records request may be the sharpest arrow in the activist’s quiver. The results of these requests provide information. They shed light on who said what to who and when they said it
.
In this case it, these requests showed many interesting things. Here are just a couple.
The public record showed on multiple occasions in 2013 and 2014, citizens asked the town how they could get involved. Should they go to their legislative representatives? Could they help with gathering petitions?
In at least three different situations during this time period, Mayor John Woods told different residents that if NCDOT did not agree to lower the speeds, the town would engage the citizens for these activities. That never happened.
Why?
In another thread, the record shows NCDOT actually being open to the idea of lower speeds around Robert-Walker Drive contingent on the installation of a roundabout. However, the discussion was related to the proposed West Branch development and on street parking – not as a pedestrian safety initiative. This conversation involved NCDOT and the developers, including Commissioner Brian Jenest whose firm is doing the project’s design. Somehow, that information did not make it to the town board as a whole for nearly three months?
Again, why?
The answers as to “why” are not in the public record, but it does show the mounting pressure having an impact.
The first records request went in on May 3rd. On May 4th, State Rep John Bradford posted on Facebook that he had been contacted by Davidson Mayor Pro Tem Beth Cashion on the issue. He said “I’m ready to help. I don’t know what can be done, but I’m willing to learn.”
That contact to state electeds appears to have been the turning point.
After the May 10th town hall meeting, Bradford again posted to Facebook saying he was coordinating with the State Engineer at NCDOT to have a closer look at the issue. Shortly thereafter, State Engineer Kevin Lacy spent a Sunday and Monday in the area, and before the June 14th meeting the decision was made to lower the speeds along the entire length of the road including the area at Robert-Walker - without a roundabout.
Still though, the activists work wasn’t done. NCDOT had made the speed reduction to 35mph by Robert-Walker contingent on the West Branch development being 25% occupied – potentially delaying it many months, if not years.
It took another trip to town hall and another round of impassioned speeches to NCDOT Rep Scott Cole who was in attendance to get the speed limit lowered immediately.
As of last Thursday, the new speed limit signs are up.
Should it have been this hard? No, it shouldn’t have. In the end however, it yielded the results citizens were seeking - making it all worth it.
To get what they want citizens need perseverance, organization, and a willingness to push. The recent successful effort to lower speed limits on Davidson-Concord Road provides a prime example.
To be fair, local residents weren’t so much “fighting town hall” in this case as the Town of Davidson had previously asked to have the speed limit lowered. The problem was that when NCDOT said “no” on each occasion, the town did not force the issue.
The situation came to a head this Spring when multiple videos surface showing harrowing scenes near a school bus stop in the area and as the new West Branch neighborhood proposed over 300 new residences on the Westmoreland Farm adjacent to the already dangerous Robert-Walker Drive intersection.
So, what did residents do?
In the interest of transparency, I was involved in some of the activities that follow,, but all of the heavy lifting was done by many other citizens.
Residents organized multiple trips to town hall leading to two packed meetings in May and June. They worked with the media to bring the issue more attention. They showed tremendous courage in speaking truth to power. Most importantly, they did public records requests.
The public records request may be the sharpest arrow in the activist’s quiver. The results of these requests provide information. They shed light on who said what to who and when they said it
.
In this case it, these requests showed many interesting things. Here are just a couple.
The public record showed on multiple occasions in 2013 and 2014, citizens asked the town how they could get involved. Should they go to their legislative representatives? Could they help with gathering petitions?
In at least three different situations during this time period, Mayor John Woods told different residents that if NCDOT did not agree to lower the speeds, the town would engage the citizens for these activities. That never happened.
Why?
In another thread, the record shows NCDOT actually being open to the idea of lower speeds around Robert-Walker Drive contingent on the installation of a roundabout. However, the discussion was related to the proposed West Branch development and on street parking – not as a pedestrian safety initiative. This conversation involved NCDOT and the developers, including Commissioner Brian Jenest whose firm is doing the project’s design. Somehow, that information did not make it to the town board as a whole for nearly three months?
Again, why?
The answers as to “why” are not in the public record, but it does show the mounting pressure having an impact.
The first records request went in on May 3rd. On May 4th, State Rep John Bradford posted on Facebook that he had been contacted by Davidson Mayor Pro Tem Beth Cashion on the issue. He said “I’m ready to help. I don’t know what can be done, but I’m willing to learn.”
That contact to state electeds appears to have been the turning point.
After the May 10th town hall meeting, Bradford again posted to Facebook saying he was coordinating with the State Engineer at NCDOT to have a closer look at the issue. Shortly thereafter, State Engineer Kevin Lacy spent a Sunday and Monday in the area, and before the June 14th meeting the decision was made to lower the speeds along the entire length of the road including the area at Robert-Walker - without a roundabout.
Still though, the activists work wasn’t done. NCDOT had made the speed reduction to 35mph by Robert-Walker contingent on the West Branch development being 25% occupied – potentially delaying it many months, if not years.
It took another trip to town hall and another round of impassioned speeches to NCDOT Rep Scott Cole who was in attendance to get the speed limit lowered immediately.
As of last Thursday, the new speed limit signs are up.
Should it have been this hard? No, it shouldn’t have. In the end however, it yielded the results citizens were seeking - making it all worth it.
This post first appeared in this week's edition of the Herald Weekly at HuntersvilleHerald.com
Thursday, June 16, 2016
#DavidsonConcordSpeedway No More: Lower speed limits posted on Thursday
Moving at what can only be described as lightning fast speed for a large government agency, NCDOT workers posted lower speeds along the length of Davidson-Concord Road on Thursday.
This comes just two days after the Board meeting described in the previous post where residents implored the agency to not wait and tie the lower speed to the West Branch development.
At the Tuesday meeting after the public hearing there was a rapid fire discussion with multiple points discussed about enforcement, the technicalities of how speed limits are set, and even an arcane discussion of the "default" speed limits for municipalities involving exactly which parcels of land along the road are (and are not) within the town limits.
In the end though it boiled down to this. The town sent the below letter.
The letter asks for speed limits according to the below map.
And NCDOT made the changes.
When asked to explain the change in approving the 35mph starting at the Beaver Dam House heading into town, NCDOT Engineer Scott Cole had this to say.
"We approved the speed limit reduction to 45mph and to 35mph prior to the meeting, but we're really discussing the details of the timing of the reduction. We had proposed reducing the speed limits as the proposed development was to come on line. The Town Commissioners and therefore the Town proposed and expressed through their resolution, that they wanted the reduction to 35mph to occur immediately. We respected the Town's wishes on timing and moved to implement immediately. The signs should be in place at this time."
And that they are, for which many in town are very thankful.
Drivers should also know that at the meeting Chief Miller said "35 means 35!", so don't say you weren't warned!
This comes just two days after the Board meeting described in the previous post where residents implored the agency to not wait and tie the lower speed to the West Branch development.
At the Tuesday meeting after the public hearing there was a rapid fire discussion with multiple points discussed about enforcement, the technicalities of how speed limits are set, and even an arcane discussion of the "default" speed limits for municipalities involving exactly which parcels of land along the road are (and are not) within the town limits.
In the end though it boiled down to this. The town sent the below letter.
The letter asks for speed limits according to the below map.
And NCDOT made the changes.
When asked to explain the change in approving the 35mph starting at the Beaver Dam House heading into town, NCDOT Engineer Scott Cole had this to say.
"We approved the speed limit reduction to 45mph and to 35mph prior to the meeting, but we're really discussing the details of the timing of the reduction. We had proposed reducing the speed limits as the proposed development was to come on line. The Town Commissioners and therefore the Town proposed and expressed through their resolution, that they wanted the reduction to 35mph to occur immediately. We respected the Town's wishes on timing and moved to implement immediately. The signs should be in place at this time."
And that they are, for which many in town are very thankful.
Drivers should also know that at the meeting Chief Miller said "35 means 35!", so don't say you weren't warned!
#DavidsonConcordSpeedway - Citizen pressure works to get the right things done.
The first major topic at Tuesday night's marathon Davidson Board meeting was an update from NCDOT on safety improvements.
The update from Division 10 Engineer Scott Cole began with informing the town that the crossing signals in downtown David son were being set to use a 3 second LPI or Leading Pedestrian Interval to allow pedestrians to cross before cars get a green light.
This change comes after the tragedy on Main Street where local resident Janet McFadden was struck and killed in the crosswalk by Flatiron restaurant.
An LPI of 3 seconds, should reduce accidents by 60% and reduce the severity of any that do occur according to Cole. The obvious question of why not make it 5 or 6 seconds to make it even safer was not made clear. However, this is definitely an improvement and one that was to go into effect immediately. In fact NCDOT workers could be seen working on the lights at almost 10pm Tuesday night.
But the real show on pedestrian safety had to do with the Davidson-Concord Speedway.
We told you about the press release last Friday where NCDOT planned to lower the speed on "the DCS" to 45 for the whole length of the road. We also told you that did not address the most dangerous part of the road for pedestrians. We told you local residents would not be happy about that, or safety improvements being tied to Commissioner Brian Jenest's development at West Branch.
They weren't.
During the public comment section a parade of people came up to implore NCDOT to lower the speed limit and to lower it now!
Starting with Don and Jennifer Stewart whose son was hit at the Robert Walker intersection three years ago and running through more several speakers, one after another residents recounted stories of near misses, increasing traffic, and anecdotes proving why lower speed will work to make it safer.
One speaker roped in Police Chief Jeanne Miller who was in attendance. Chief Miller agreed with the residents that she wanted it to be 35 on that road.
Another speaker recounted how he had just returned from New York City where the city has made the entire city 25mph if you are not on a highway. The change wasn't phased in over time apparently. It was done to save lives and pedestrian fatalities are down significantly.
But the highlight was resident Jana Watt who has been one of the citizen leaders in the recent push to get this situation fixed. Watt gave one of the best citizen presentations at a public forum you will ever see. You are strongly urged to watch this video. Its about 9 minutes.
Watt dismantled pretty much any and all arguments for not lowering the speed limit in the pedestrian area now. She raised lots of questions about who is representing who between the town, developers, and NCDOT when it comes to development. She repeatedly mentioned public records requests.
It was brutal and it was beautiful to watch at the same time.
When the public hearing was over, the tide had turned. After a few questions from Commissioners and in what genuinely seemed like a surprise move to the Board, Cole agreed to lowering the speed with increased enforcement from the town.
The timing and exact details of the change are still being verified. Check back for another post on that hopefully by the end of the week.
Others deserve credit for this change as well. Rep John Bradford and Davidson Mayor Pro Tem Beth Cashion in particular.
The update from Division 10 Engineer Scott Cole began with informing the town that the crossing signals in downtown David son were being set to use a 3 second LPI or Leading Pedestrian Interval to allow pedestrians to cross before cars get a green light.
This change comes after the tragedy on Main Street where local resident Janet McFadden was struck and killed in the crosswalk by Flatiron restaurant.
An LPI of 3 seconds, should reduce accidents by 60% and reduce the severity of any that do occur according to Cole. The obvious question of why not make it 5 or 6 seconds to make it even safer was not made clear. However, this is definitely an improvement and one that was to go into effect immediately. In fact NCDOT workers could be seen working on the lights at almost 10pm Tuesday night.
But the real show on pedestrian safety had to do with the Davidson-Concord Speedway.
We told you about the press release last Friday where NCDOT planned to lower the speed on "the DCS" to 45 for the whole length of the road. We also told you that did not address the most dangerous part of the road for pedestrians. We told you local residents would not be happy about that, or safety improvements being tied to Commissioner Brian Jenest's development at West Branch.
They weren't.
During the public comment section a parade of people came up to implore NCDOT to lower the speed limit and to lower it now!
Starting with Don and Jennifer Stewart whose son was hit at the Robert Walker intersection three years ago and running through more several speakers, one after another residents recounted stories of near misses, increasing traffic, and anecdotes proving why lower speed will work to make it safer.
One speaker roped in Police Chief Jeanne Miller who was in attendance. Chief Miller agreed with the residents that she wanted it to be 35 on that road.
Another speaker recounted how he had just returned from New York City where the city has made the entire city 25mph if you are not on a highway. The change wasn't phased in over time apparently. It was done to save lives and pedestrian fatalities are down significantly.
But the highlight was resident Jana Watt who has been one of the citizen leaders in the recent push to get this situation fixed. Watt gave one of the best citizen presentations at a public forum you will ever see. You are strongly urged to watch this video. Its about 9 minutes.
 |
| Click HERE for video. |
Watt dismantled pretty much any and all arguments for not lowering the speed limit in the pedestrian area now. She raised lots of questions about who is representing who between the town, developers, and NCDOT when it comes to development. She repeatedly mentioned public records requests.
It was brutal and it was beautiful to watch at the same time.
When the public hearing was over, the tide had turned. After a few questions from Commissioners and in what genuinely seemed like a surprise move to the Board, Cole agreed to lowering the speed with increased enforcement from the town.
The timing and exact details of the change are still being verified. Check back for another post on that hopefully by the end of the week.
Others deserve credit for this change as well. Rep John Bradford and Davidson Mayor Pro Tem Beth Cashion in particular.
Saturday, June 11, 2016
#DavidsonConcordSpeedway - Lower speed while leaving pedestrians at increased risk
Three weeks ago, NCDOT State Engineer, Kevin Lacy, with the Transportation Mobility and Safety Division travelled to Davidson. He spent a Sunday afternoon and the better part of Monday looking at the situation along Davidson-Concord Road, meeting with residents, and discussing the local officials.
This was the trip we reported on immediately after the May Town Board meeting. Rep John Bradford deserves the credit for making this trip happen from speaking with those familiar with its details. It appears getting state legislators involved was the correct path all along over these many years to get this issue moving. Leaving citizens to wonder why the Town had not done that previously.
Yesterday afternoon, NCDOT issued a press release outlining plans to reduce the speed on Davidson-Concord Road.
That sounds like great news. That sounds like it should appease local residents who packed Davidson Town Hall last month. Right???
Unfortunately, the "devil is in the details" and that's particularly true for the most dangerous section of the road for pedestrians.
Read the press release below...
NCDOT Reducing Speed Limit Along Portion of Davidson-Concord Road
CHARLOTTE – The N.C. Department of Transportation is reducing the speed limit from 55 mph to 45 mph along a portion of Davidson-Concord Road in Davidson.
After further review, the NCDOT determined that 45 mph is a safe and reasonable speed along Davidson-Concord road from south of Robert Walker Drive to N.C. 73. NCDOT crews will change the speed limit signs in that area on Thursday, June 16. The new speed limit becomes effective once the updated signs are installed.
The Department is also planning a future reduction of the speed limit from 45 mph to 35 mph along Davidson-Concord Road from south of Robert Walker Drive to the roundabout. The speed limit change will be implemented once the new residential development in that area is 25 percent occupied. On-street parking along this section of Davidson-Concord Road will be implemented with the commercial aspects of the development.
After further review, the NCDOT determined that 45 mph is a safe and reasonable speed along Davidson-Concord road from south of Robert Walker Drive to N.C. 73. NCDOT crews will change the speed limit signs in that area on Thursday, June 16. The new speed limit becomes effective once the updated signs are installed.
The Department is also planning a future reduction of the speed limit from 45 mph to 35 mph along Davidson-Concord Road from south of Robert Walker Drive to the roundabout. The speed limit change will be implemented once the new residential development in that area is 25 percent occupied. On-street parking along this section of Davidson-Concord Road will be implemented with the commercial aspects of the development.
Readers will remember that the current swirl around the speeds on this road came up when aShortChronicle published the traumatizing videos in this piece back in April. Those videos were taken in the area which will not have the speed lowered immediately. The plan presented in this press release leaves those children crossing the street at the exact same risk they are today - potentially for years.
What is even more perplexing is the arbitrary selection of 25% buildout on West Branch as the magic number for improving safety. That equates to about 77 houses. Yes, adding 77 houses will make it worse, but that entirely misses the point.
The intersection of Robert Walker and Davidson-Concord is terribly unsafe now. The speed needs to be lowered there now.
Arbitrarily waiting potentially as long as another 18 month to 2 years (maybe longer) before this is improved will very likely be seen as unacceptable to residents. It is inviting tragedy.
Just as disturbingly is how the town has allowed this issue to be convoluted with a development they've supported, a development involving a sitting Commissioner (Brian Jenest), and one that has received multiple special land/zoning related approvals.
NCDOT will be at the Tuesday Board meeting at Davidson Town Hall. The public comment and presentation are at the top of the agenda. Plan on attending at 6pm.
Hopefully, there is more to this plan that will be presented then to make it acceptable.
What is even more perplexing is the arbitrary selection of 25% buildout on West Branch as the magic number for improving safety. That equates to about 77 houses. Yes, adding 77 houses will make it worse, but that entirely misses the point.
The intersection of Robert Walker and Davidson-Concord is terribly unsafe now. The speed needs to be lowered there now.
Arbitrarily waiting potentially as long as another 18 month to 2 years (maybe longer) before this is improved will very likely be seen as unacceptable to residents. It is inviting tragedy.
Just as disturbingly is how the town has allowed this issue to be convoluted with a development they've supported, a development involving a sitting Commissioner (Brian Jenest), and one that has received multiple special land/zoning related approvals.
NCDOT will be at the Tuesday Board meeting at Davidson Town Hall. The public comment and presentation are at the top of the agenda. Plan on attending at 6pm.
Hopefully, there is more to this plan that will be presented then to make it acceptable.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Town Hall gets an earful on "Davidson-Concord Speedway"
Multiple speakers made reference to the flashing yellow beacons the town installed after Mason Stewart of River Run was seriously injured three years ago at the intersection of Robert Walker Drive and Davidson-Concord Road. Two of those speakers were Don and Jennifer Stuart, the teen's parents.
One of the more poignant moments of the evening came when Don Stewart noticed three boys who were his next door neighbors. The next accident could be any of the kids in the room. When Jennifer Stewart spoke she relayed how she has to go through the very intersection where her son was hit every time she leaves the neighborhood. She drove home the point that it's not a matter of if another serious accident will happen, but when.
Their son has recovered, but the next person may not be so lucky.
To all this, how did the town respond?
They told residents to come back next month when NCDOT is there. They also told people to contact their NCGA representatives, Rep. John Bradford and Senator Jeff Tarte. They said it's a state problem. They passed the buck.
Oh, and they said they were going to spend $75,000 this next budget cycle to install more of the flashing beacons around town. The same beacons many were saying do little to nothing at the site of Mason Stuart's accident.
Here is the thing.
It has been three years. Why are citizens just now being asked to contact state representatives? Isn't that sort of what we elect our town representatives to do?
And if that was what the town thought citizens should be doing all along, why weren't they encouraging that all along?
It's all about priorities.
Here is an example. In 2013 and again in 2015, Davidson Town Hall pulled out all the stops encouraging citizens to contact the General Assembly in a vain attempt to stop a bill that imposed inconsequential limits on the town's ability to enforce design restrictions on single family homes. It was an effort reminiscent of Don Quixote tilting at windmills. They used a big chunk of Federal grant money to write a "Health Impact Assessment" hoping to convince people that their ability to enforce certain types of design on builders was somehow protecting the health and well being of citizens.
Ultimately, the bill passed overwhelmingly last year with overwhelming bi-partisan support - a rarity in this day and age. All Davidson Town Hall achieved with its Quixotc effort was wasted political capital.
They've proved in the past that they are willing to put effort into applying pressure to Raleigh. It has just been for the wrong things.
Hopefully, the message got through Tuesday night that the Town needs to be spending its effort on things that actually matter - like working with NCDOT to do whatever it takes to get the speed limit lowered before someone gets killed.
Update: NCGA Rep John Ray Bradford posted this earlier on his Facebook with a link to this story. Good news!
"I met with the State's Traffic Engineer today, Kevin Lacy. His department is responsible for establishing speed limits across the state We met in my office to review the Town of Davidson's Resolution. He committed that he would be willing to travel to Davidson to meet with Town officials, Senator Tarte and me. He agree he would personally tour/drive/observe the road to determine if the posted speed limits are still appropriate per NCDOT's speed standards. The next step is he is going to give me some dates of his availability so that we can all coordinate our calendars. For clarity, legislators do not set speed limits but Senator Tarte and I want to help which is why we will coordinate this meeting and site tour. My sincere hope is that a re-evaluation by the head of the department will yield a fresh perspective and lower speed limit. Stay tuned..."
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
#Davidson seeking #NCDOT rep for feedback on "Davidson-Concord Speedway" at May 10th meeting
Late last Thursday we posted this piece with three disturbing videos showing incidents on Davidson-Concord Rd involving bad behaviour by inconsiderate drivers around school buses.
On Friday, after one reader saw the post, this event encouraging residents to attend the regular Davidson Board meeting on May 10th began circulating around cyberspace. The invite encourages people to speak out before tragedy ensues (again) in this area. Readers will remember the skateboarder who was involved in a serious accident at the intersection with Robert-Walker Drive a few years ago.
After several hundred page views and watching that invite circulate, aShortChronicle has learned that by Monday an official request was made to get this subject on the agenda for May 10th and a representative from NCDOT may be present.
Here's hoping that's true. Otherwise it will likely be an extra long "public comment" period which traditionally occurs at the beginning of regular Board meeting.
At the April Board meeting when the town was discussing pedestrian safety in the wake of the tragedy on Main St a few weeks ago, Mayor John Woods indicated he had a good working relationship with the "Chair of the whole department" (referring to NCDOT) and could use that influence to get them involved on the Downtown crosswalk issue they were discussing at the time.
Assuming the Mayor meant NCDOT Secretary Tennyson, here's also hoping the Mayor can use that influence to ensure someone from NCDOT shows at the May meeting to hear citizen concerns.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
VIDEO - Davidson-Concord Road Speedway while NCDOT waits....
It's long been known that the speed limit on Davidson-Concord currently set at 45mph is too high for an area with multiple pedestrian crossings.
These videos all occur right near where the new West Branch neighborhood will be. That's the 306 residence development the town recently let sail through approvals without addressing the traffic study issues first, the one where a sitting Commissioner - Brian Jenest - is involved with the project.
The town MUST do something about this before a truly dangerous situation becomes a truly tragic one.
Update: From the videographer...Just so people know the last video is cut short because the phone was dropped as the moms ran into the street to try and stop the accelerating driver---sounds crazy right? But the squeaking you hear at the beginning were the bus brakes---children were starting to unload and this idiot was ACCELERATING 50+ MPH with kids entering the cross walk! Trying to beat the pedestrians!
The town has repeatedly said they've tried tow have NCDOT lower the speed, but NCDOT has refused. From their point of view it's still "rural".
The following videos were provided to aShortChronicle showing multiple incidents at just one crossing.
Does it look "rural" to you?
Will anyone let this girl cross the road?
Click HERE for Video
Does anyone not know you stop for school buses?
Click HERE for Video
Clocked at 50mph with no intention of slowing down?
Click HERE for Video
The town MUST do something about this before a truly dangerous situation becomes a truly tragic one.
Update: From the videographer...Just so people know the last video is cut short because the phone was dropped as the moms ran into the street to try and stop the accelerating driver---sounds crazy right? But the squeaking you hear at the beginning were the bus brakes---children were starting to unload and this idiot was ACCELERATING 50+ MPH with kids entering the cross walk! Trying to beat the pedestrians!
Saturday, September 5, 2015
NCDOT and their Spanish partners at Cintra have some splaaaynin' to do...
On Friday, WidenI77.org put out this piece which pretty clearly shows how the contract with Cintra is structured to avoid NC law.
The activists at WidenI.77.org lay out how the contract basically allows Cintra to get around ever paying anything to the state in revenue sharing as required by the P3 authorizing legislation. This is due to the thresholds being set at levels likely never to be reached before the state would receive a dime from any excess toll payments.
What's even more egregious is that this wasn't made clear by the state until citizen activists essentially forced them to admit to it prior to signing the financial close with their partners at Cintra/I77 Mobility Partners.
...and remember, after all of this numeric tomfoolery, the debt for the HOT lanes still only came in one level above junk bond status. If the contact was written fairly for NC taxpayers and forced them to give up any revenues, what does their rating likely look like? Not good is the likely answer.
But that was just the first of a one-two punch combination with the second hitting the wires Saturday night.
In a press release sent out Saturday evening by Vallee Bubak and Diane Gilroy separate from WidenI77 and the story mentioned above, another potential bombshell is dropped. Gilroy is the wife of Cornelius, N.C. Commissioner Dave Gilroy, and recently traveled to Spain to research Cintra's parent company Ferrovial and its subsidiaries. She has become a real thorn in the side of Javier "Mr Who Knows" Tamargo and the folks at Cintra. She has also been the target of some of the company's pushback.
The information in the press release is said to come from a 198 page Spanish language document received on Friday.
Press release below.
The activists at WidenI.77.org lay out how the contract basically allows Cintra to get around ever paying anything to the state in revenue sharing as required by the P3 authorizing legislation. This is due to the thresholds being set at levels likely never to be reached before the state would receive a dime from any excess toll payments.
What's even more egregious is that this wasn't made clear by the state until citizen activists essentially forced them to admit to it prior to signing the financial close with their partners at Cintra/I77 Mobility Partners.
...and remember, after all of this numeric tomfoolery, the debt for the HOT lanes still only came in one level above junk bond status. If the contact was written fairly for NC taxpayers and forced them to give up any revenues, what does their rating likely look like? Not good is the likely answer.
But that was just the first of a one-two punch combination with the second hitting the wires Saturday night.
In a press release sent out Saturday evening by Vallee Bubak and Diane Gilroy separate from WidenI77 and the story mentioned above, another potential bombshell is dropped. Gilroy is the wife of Cornelius, N.C. Commissioner Dave Gilroy, and recently traveled to Spain to research Cintra's parent company Ferrovial and its subsidiaries. She has become a real thorn in the side of Javier "Mr Who Knows" Tamargo and the folks at Cintra. She has also been the target of some of the company's pushback.
The information in the press release is said to come from a 198 page Spanish language document received on Friday.
Press release below.
Charlotte, N.C. – September 6, 2015 – Opponents of the I-77 toll project may have just gotten a needed break as a result of documents revealing that Cintra, the subsidiary of parent company Ferrovial, failed to disclose in required contractual documents that its affiliate was being investigated for breaking Spain’s anti-trust laws. Ferrovial’s waste management subsidiary called Cespa had their offices raided in 2012 and 2013, yet failed to disclose those investigations as required by the NCDOT’s Request for Proposal (RFP) process in 2014. As a result of those investigations, Cespa (Ferrovial) was fined more than 13.6 million Euros (approximately $15 million USD) for engaging in market sharing and collusive activity.
Journalist Baltasar Montaño explained in Spain’s January 28, 2015 digital publication Vozpópuli how the “garbage cartel” was rigged. He explained, the CNMC [Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia – Spain’s National Commission of Markets and Competition] went through thousands of emails from companies like Ferrovial, FCC, ACS, and Sacyr in which they divided contracts, clients, territories, and they expelled possible competitors among other illegal practices.
“A 198-page document by Spain’s CNMC dated January 8, 2015 details the investigations, scandalous emails and documents showing collusive joint agreements between Cespa (Ferrovial) and others,” said Diane Gilroy, a local Spanish professor who recently traveled to Spain and researched Cintra’s parent company Ferrovial. “Because Cintra failed to disclose this serious anti-trust investigation that Ferrovial/Cespa was notified of by the CNMC in 2012 and 2013, the toll contract
documents signed in 2014 between Ferrovial and the NCDOT are likely invalid and the so-called $100 million penalty is baseless.”
As more and more of these revelations start to pile up, everyone looking at this situation should channel their best Ricky Ricardo and say...
"NCDOT and Cintra, you got some splaaaaynin' to do!!!"
Sunday, August 16, 2015
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.
Friday, May 15, 2015
I77 HOT Lanes debt should be 'Junk'
Once again, the I77 HOT lanes project has been in the news and not for good reasons.
This past week, local elected boards one after the other passed resolutions demanding answers to new questions or asking for outright delay prior to financial close of the contract. On Monday evening, Rep John Bradford posted on Facebook that members of the North Mecklenburg delegation to the General Assembly asked Governor McCrory if it is “possible” to delay and assess other funding options.
All of this activity takes place in the final days of the re-re-rescheduled financial close date now slated for May 27th – an event which gained momentum with the recent approvals of Federal TIFIA loans and State Private Activity Bonds. As part of the run-up to this event the public is finally getting see what the ratings agencies have to say about the project.
The results explain a lot and leave a lot to be desired at the same time.
Two agencies were required by the State to rate the project’s debt. One of the big three agencies, Fitch, provided one rating, and a lesser known Canadian firm, DBRS, provided the other. Those ratings were BBB- from Fitch and BBB from DBRS.
To put it another way, both firms rated the project one ratings step above “junk bond” status on their respective ratings scales.
Think about this for a minute.
A road project this important intends to be built using financing that can barely make investment grade status. Investment grade status is required for many institutions such as pension funds and large endowments to invest in the bonds.
We can presume the I77 debt barely achieved these ratings because of a number of things that happened along the way to setting them.
• Of the four short-listed companies initially looking at the project, only Cintra submitted a bid – a strong indication the others could not make the numbers work.
• Cintra and NCDOT started with low expectations on bond ratings. According to an April 2014 report from the State Chief Financial Officer and NCDOT to the General Assembly (a full year before the agencies presented their preliminary ratings), the General Assembly was told that Cintra expected exactly the mediocre ratings they ultimately received.
• The State and Cintra have had to put in more capital than originally planned and reduced the initial request for TIFIA debt. One can reasonably assume both entities put in just enough capital to get over the hump.
• DBRS specifically sites the “compensation event” clause regarding the addition of new general purpose lanes in the future as a supporting justification for its BBB rating. This is the issue that has been getting a lot of attention the past two weeks at local town halls because it is now known the State would have to pay penalties to Cintra if they build any more free lanes.
• Both Fitch and DBRS site the “unique” nature of the so-called DRAM facility in the contract with NCDOT. This chunk of up to $75 million from the State serves as a backstop in early years if toll revenue comes in low. In fact, Fitch estimates $47 million of this facility will need to be used.
Again, all of these red flags must be ignored, and all of these special provisions must be accepted to support a barely not-junk rating.
However, to the general public the most interesting information revealed in these preliminary ratings documents has to do with proposed toll rates. From the Fitch press release it says the following:
“The initial proposed tolls in the sponsor case are reasonable for this type of asset (between $0.14/mile and $0.40/mile in 2012$)”.
“Reasonable” is relative to one’s ability to pay, but that works out to $3.84 up to $10.40 one way for a full-length 26-mile ride - numbers surprisingly close to those presented by NCDOT consultant, Stantec. When those numbers were made public last year, local officials did backflips trying to debunk and minimize them.
At a meeting arranged by local mayors, NCDOT, and Cintra, a meeting initially intended to be closed to the public, then Cornelius Commissioner John Bradford was caught on tape by WCNC saying “there is no one I have spoken to that believes an eleven dollar trip is reasonable in any way.”
In that same meeting Cornelius Commissioner Dave Gilroy pushed Cintra’s point-man for the project, Javier Tamargo, regarding how high rates could go. Tamargo’s response?
“Who knows?”
Based on the credit agency reports, somebody definitely knew. They just didn't want that somebody to be you.
Multiple attempts to contact Fitch Ratings for more details for this story went unreturned.
This post originally appeared in the Herald Weekly at huntersvilleherald.com
This past week, local elected boards one after the other passed resolutions demanding answers to new questions or asking for outright delay prior to financial close of the contract. On Monday evening, Rep John Bradford posted on Facebook that members of the North Mecklenburg delegation to the General Assembly asked Governor McCrory if it is “possible” to delay and assess other funding options.
All of this activity takes place in the final days of the re-re-rescheduled financial close date now slated for May 27th – an event which gained momentum with the recent approvals of Federal TIFIA loans and State Private Activity Bonds. As part of the run-up to this event the public is finally getting see what the ratings agencies have to say about the project.
The results explain a lot and leave a lot to be desired at the same time.
Two agencies were required by the State to rate the project’s debt. One of the big three agencies, Fitch, provided one rating, and a lesser known Canadian firm, DBRS, provided the other. Those ratings were BBB- from Fitch and BBB from DBRS.
To put it another way, both firms rated the project one ratings step above “junk bond” status on their respective ratings scales.
Think about this for a minute.
A road project this important intends to be built using financing that can barely make investment grade status. Investment grade status is required for many institutions such as pension funds and large endowments to invest in the bonds.
We can presume the I77 debt barely achieved these ratings because of a number of things that happened along the way to setting them.
• Of the four short-listed companies initially looking at the project, only Cintra submitted a bid – a strong indication the others could not make the numbers work.
• Cintra and NCDOT started with low expectations on bond ratings. According to an April 2014 report from the State Chief Financial Officer and NCDOT to the General Assembly (a full year before the agencies presented their preliminary ratings), the General Assembly was told that Cintra expected exactly the mediocre ratings they ultimately received.
• The State and Cintra have had to put in more capital than originally planned and reduced the initial request for TIFIA debt. One can reasonably assume both entities put in just enough capital to get over the hump.
• DBRS specifically sites the “compensation event” clause regarding the addition of new general purpose lanes in the future as a supporting justification for its BBB rating. This is the issue that has been getting a lot of attention the past two weeks at local town halls because it is now known the State would have to pay penalties to Cintra if they build any more free lanes.
• Both Fitch and DBRS site the “unique” nature of the so-called DRAM facility in the contract with NCDOT. This chunk of up to $75 million from the State serves as a backstop in early years if toll revenue comes in low. In fact, Fitch estimates $47 million of this facility will need to be used.
Again, all of these red flags must be ignored, and all of these special provisions must be accepted to support a barely not-junk rating.
However, to the general public the most interesting information revealed in these preliminary ratings documents has to do with proposed toll rates. From the Fitch press release it says the following:
“The initial proposed tolls in the sponsor case are reasonable for this type of asset (between $0.14/mile and $0.40/mile in 2012$)”.
“Reasonable” is relative to one’s ability to pay, but that works out to $3.84 up to $10.40 one way for a full-length 26-mile ride - numbers surprisingly close to those presented by NCDOT consultant, Stantec. When those numbers were made public last year, local officials did backflips trying to debunk and minimize them.
At a meeting arranged by local mayors, NCDOT, and Cintra, a meeting initially intended to be closed to the public, then Cornelius Commissioner John Bradford was caught on tape by WCNC saying “there is no one I have spoken to that believes an eleven dollar trip is reasonable in any way.”
In that same meeting Cornelius Commissioner Dave Gilroy pushed Cintra’s point-man for the project, Javier Tamargo, regarding how high rates could go. Tamargo’s response?
“Who knows?”
Based on the credit agency reports, somebody definitely knew. They just didn't want that somebody to be you.
Multiple attempts to contact Fitch Ratings for more details for this story went unreturned.
This post originally appeared in the Herald Weekly at huntersvilleherald.com
Friday, October 17, 2014
Community Outreach on Tolls: “Ministry of Truth-style"
One would be hard pressed to find a local issue in recent
(or not so recent) memory that has caused more confusion, anxiety, and distrust
of state and local government than the proposed HOT Lanes project for widening
I77. At the root of all that distrust
has been the ineffective communication to the public all along the way.
In what would seem to be an effort to remedy this, last
November NCDOT put out a job posting for a position called “Director of
Outreach and Community Affairs” to cover the Charlotte region. This past spring, former Charlotte City
Councilman Warren Cooksey stepped into the job.
The job title and hiring a local would seem to be a good thing,
but reading the job posting may leave you with a different opinion.
“This position
supports community relations and public affairs for all NC Department of
Transportation activities in the Charlotte area, including highway, rail,
transit, bike/pedestrian and aviation.
The position develops and implements communication strategies, programs,
and initiatives designed to inform Congressional, State, and Local Elected
Officials, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, Rural Planning Organizations,
Chambers of Commerce, transportation associations, the media, and various
stakeholders on how innovative projects and techniques help achieve
Departmental objectives. The Liaison
serves as a senior staff member and responds professionally to internal and
external issues, helping make decisions on the appropriate organizational
response to the public and news media.
The position provides communication expertise supporting project
delivery by crafting marketing materials on promotions and time sensitive
campaigns.”
Under the “Skills” and “Experience” sections it lists
managing relations with government agencies, private and public interest
groups, and members of the media. The
position also requires a “thorough understanding of the political process and
experience in the intergovernmental relations arena.”
Unfortunately, judging by the description and job qualifications,
this Director of Outreach and Community Affairs position sounds like it would
fit in just fine at the “Ministry of Truth” from George Orwell’s 1984. Rather than a position designed to ensure the
public is informed adequately and in
a timely manner, the position appears focused on managing the information flow to
ensure NCDOT gets what it wants.
Former Commissioner Cooksey with his connections and
experience is the perfect man for the job.
In recent months, Mr Cooksey has covered all the bases the
job description requires. He has met
with the Lake Norman Chamber to promote the project, and last week he was back
at Charlotte City Council on the other side of the dais fending off questions
from councilmembers. He recently debated
Cornelius Commissioner Dave Gilroy, a HOT Lanes opponent, at the Don Reid
weekly breakfast in South Charlotte, and he is scheduled to debate members of
WidenI77 at an upcoming meeting of the Bastiat Society on Public Private
Partnerships. These last two are
interesting because they are conservative groups and some of the strongest
opposition to the toll lanes and P3s has come from the political right.
Mr Cooksey has also put his understanding of the political
process and experience in intergovernmental relations to good use.
Emails show he was at the center of efforts to keep meetings
closed to the public when HOT Lanes contractor Cintra came to town in
August. Mr Cooksey defended the use of a
legal loop hole to do this – a loop hole that ensured no town board had a
quorum of elected officials at any meeting.
On a separate occasion he offered to coach County Commission Chair
Trevor Fuller on HOT lanes when Commissioner Fuller came to Davidson for a
public forum. Finally, this past week he
oversaw the public open houses on the project – open houses scheduled well
after NCDOT says there is nothing that can be done to stop the project. The sessions were complete with the debut of
a utopian video of the I77 HOT lanes in action with no mention of the real toll
rates and no presence of any traffic on any lanes.
If all of this does not sound like “community outreach” to
you, it gets even better. One should not
expect Mr Cooksey to be spending too much time on all those other
transportation methods mentioned in his job description .
There is a reason why Charlotte is the only region in the
state that actually has this position for NCDOT. It was transferred to NCDOT’s Charlotte
Division from the NCTA – the North Carolina Turnpike Authority. The position is a toll road position
transferred to the local NCDOT office because this is where the action is with
the tolling – now and in the future.
George Orwell would be proud.
This post was first printed in the Opinion Section of this week's Weekly Herald.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Revolving Door Continues Turning on Charlotte Region Transportation Projects
Sad and disappointing best describes the ongoing revolving door between government and the private sector relative to the massive transportation projects impacting the North Mecklenburg region. See previous coverage of this stomach churning phenomena reported in these pages here, here, and here. With continued coziness between senior public officials and the consultants who are really driving these decisions, can any reasonable resident really believe they have our best interests at heart?
Here's another example from last month. Thanks to the reader who forwarded the below tidbit from NCDOT.
"Atkins is currently working on the NEPA analysis for conversion of the existing high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes along I-77 in Mecklenburg County. Two scenarios are currently being analyzed—one is a direct conversion of the existing HOV lanes, and a second would convert the existing lanes as well as add a second HOT lane in each direction. The limits of the project are I-77 from I-277 (Brookshire Freeway) to West Catawba Avenue (Exit 28). All work will be completed in the existing right-of-way.
Atkins has provided a variety of services for this project including threatened and endangered species assessments; a community impact assessment; an environmental justice analysis, noise impact, traffic operations, and air quality analyses. Our work to-date has also included development of alternatives, preliminary roadway and hydraulic design, a review of toll operations, and public involvement support."
These assessments comprise a critical piece of the approval phase of the project. It is also a piece that has come under scrutiny from the Southern Environmental Law Center. This is the same organization that stalled the Monroe Bypass with legal action over that project's environmental assessment.
One has to wonder if Atkins is beefing up its staff with a well connected employee in the event the project and their work faces a similar challenge?
Friday, February 22, 2013
UPDATED: Shakeup at NCDOT. Will it affect the Red Line?
In case you missed it, the shakeup at NCDOT has begun with Deputy Secretary for Transit, Paul Morris, being one of its first casualties. Hat tip to the Daily Haymaker blog for picking up on this one.
As mentioned previously, Paul Morris's fate at NCDOT could be a harbinger of things to come with the Red Line project. Mr Morris was brought onto the project by NCDOT as a consultant to get the project off of life support and then managed to work his way into a cabinet level appointment. His experience working for well-connected outfits like Parsons Brinckerhoff and Cherokee Investment Partners certainly couldn't have hurt that meteoric rise, and I'm guessing having Deputy Secretary for Transit on his resume won't hurt either as he eases back into the private sector.
How his departure affects the project remains to be seen. In light of events earlier this week with the introduction of pro-Red Line legislation at the General Assembly, the jury is still out on where this train ride is headed.
UPDATE: Other Links to story line...
Paul Morris will be replaced by Richard Walls per the Triangle Business Journal. A quick review of Mr Walls previous employers shows that the new Dep Sec Transit may be no different than the old Dep Sec Transit - big-time consulting background, former employers involved in issues, more sure to come on this one...
NCDOT undergoes organizational changes - Railway Track & Structures
NCDOT leadership gets total makeover -Triangle Business Journal
As mentioned previously, Paul Morris's fate at NCDOT could be a harbinger of things to come with the Red Line project. Mr Morris was brought onto the project by NCDOT as a consultant to get the project off of life support and then managed to work his way into a cabinet level appointment. His experience working for well-connected outfits like Parsons Brinckerhoff and Cherokee Investment Partners certainly couldn't have hurt that meteoric rise, and I'm guessing having Deputy Secretary for Transit on his resume won't hurt either as he eases back into the private sector.
How his departure affects the project remains to be seen. In light of events earlier this week with the introduction of pro-Red Line legislation at the General Assembly, the jury is still out on where this train ride is headed.
UPDATE: Other Links to story line...
Paul Morris will be replaced by Richard Walls per the Triangle Business Journal. A quick review of Mr Walls previous employers shows that the new Dep Sec Transit may be no different than the old Dep Sec Transit - big-time consulting background, former employers involved in issues, more sure to come on this one...
NCDOT undergoes organizational changes - Railway Track & Structures
NCDOT leadership gets total makeover -Triangle Business Journal
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