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CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines


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14 minutes ago, kermit said:

Honestly, I don't think we can have any confidence in estimated completion dates before local funding has been ratified / the referendum has been passed.   Bohkari is going to need to pull his head out of his ass before that can move forward.

https://www.wfae.org/charlotte-area/2021-10-02/new-details-emerge-on-charlottes-silver-line-light-rail

Just reading the article in the link you posted.  "The most likely sources of money seem to be an increase in local sales taxes combined with cash from the federal government and possibly the state."  And *possibly* the state???  That's very disheartening.

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6 minutes ago, JacksonH said:

Just reading the article in the link you posted.  "The most likely sources of money seem to be an increase in local sales taxes combined with cash from the federal government and possibly the state."  And *possibly* the state???  That's very disheartening.

Several years ago the anti-urbanists in the NC GOP passed a law capping the maximum amount that the state could provide to local transit project. I don't recall the amount now, but its small (a quick google indicates that NCDOT contributions to transit may not exceet 10% of the total regional allocation from NCDOT). So any state participation will be token at best -- yet they get veto power anyway since they must approve any local tax hike.

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On 11/26/2021 at 1:16 PM, kayman said:

Huh? They put those timelines out to be that conservative to satisfy the b*tchiest and most delusional member of the Charlotte City Council i.e., Tariq Bohkari.  If the transit referendum is to occur in 2023 then it will be shovel ready right around 2028-29 as originally planned.  Some of you need to understand how politics are the reasoning behind the conservative figures.  You cannot let political adversaries (NCGOP) know what you're truly doing  to improve QOL unless you want them to sabotage your plans everytime. 

LOL.  I'd say the 18 year timeframe is optimistic.  It's also not altogether a bad thing., it puts a clear place for growth to occur and pushes for concentration of development in one corridor.  Part of MARTA's problem is that Atlanta didn't push for denser development around it's stations. In someways I'd say the BLE opened too early, there is now less pressure to develop southend.  Likewise opening the silver line too early  would decrease station area demand resulting in lower densities around the stations, which makes the station areas more car oriented, ultimately reducing the value of building "high speed" transit.  

Also trying to sneak something by your political adversaries is a great way to get something to fail.  If you believe in something then own it and argue stridently for it.  Trying to hide an agenda will only piss off the undecided voters which will end up with you (or your party) unelected.

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While Bohkari is being obstructionist.... what actions are CATS and the other members of City Council doing to persuade the NC General Assembly to support a transit tax?  Seems quiet on the cheerleading front for the transit tax, so the negative voices sound much louder.

Edited by CLT2014
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If improving the economic environment were the issue the General Assembly would have passed Medicare expansion/individual insurance markets which make for a healthier workforce. They would have encouraged growth of local systems rather than enforcing state control of water, airport and other basic local functions. They would have ignored calls to legislate personal behaviors. The GA is willing to sacrifice money, economy, expansion and our future for personal and political issues of interest to a minority, without concern for the consequences.
In an inappropriate, ahistorical comparison, the segregated South sacrificed their economy to the status of whites and blacks in their midst. No loss of income was too great to maintain separation of peoples. In 1929, after a decade of expansion similar to our recent decade past , the richest state in the South was poorer than the poorest state in the rest of the union except N and S Dakota and New Mexico.* The wealthiest city in the former Confederacy, Texas to Florida to Virginia, was New Orleans. All for Plessy v Ferguson.
If one believes the NC GA exists to serve its citizens look elsewhere.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/release/tables?rid=110&eid=257197&od=1930-01-01#

If our state capitol is any indication of how well the GA does it’s job… lol it all makes sense.
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6 minutes ago, Mgelbach said:

Any reason we aren't talking to Arrival about their Electric buses?

With their NA headquareters being here, I feel like we'd be great for a pilot program.

I think those electric buses are from the pilot program. Fingers crossed we still get Arrival buses on our streets 

https://news.duke-energy.com/releases/charlotte-area-transit-system-etransenergy-announce-electric-bus-partnership

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On 11/29/2021 at 10:02 PM, DEnd said:

LOL.  I'd say the 18 year timeframe is optimistic.  It's also not altogether a bad thing., it puts a clear place for growth to occur and pushes for concentration of development in one corridor.  Part of MARTA's problem is that Atlanta didn't push for denser development around it's stations. In someways I'd say the BLE opened too early, there is now less pressure to develop southend.  Likewise opening the silver line too early  would decrease station area demand resulting in lower densities around the stations, which makes the station areas more car oriented, ultimately reducing the value of building "high speed" transit.  

Also trying to sneak something by your political adversaries is a great way to get something to fail.  If you believe in something then own it and argue stridently for it.  Trying to hide an agenda will only piss off the undecided voters which will end up with you (or your party) unelected.

To the embolden, no it's not.  The NC GOP is as sneakier and more backhanded about other issues and have yet to reap political failures.  The majority of locals only care if transit is expansions are done and bettering their daily lives. Also the majority of the people in Mecklenburg County want and desire more transit investments to improve overall personal mobility from first-mile and last-mile connectivity. The people who care are locals within Mecklenburg County and they will know what this transit referendum is for and don't care how it's done in Raleigh with the NC GOP straightforward or not as long as it's done. 

FYI, politics isn't about being right, wrong, or fair towards political adversaries, especially underhanded ones like the NC GOP.  It's about having potent messaging and getting that message to the people who will vote for and support this by turning out to the polls. Undecided voters aren't reliable to turnout nor worth wasting time upon when the core base supports the partisan group or an initiative referendum.  Thinking otherwise is very naive. 

Edited by kayman
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19 hours ago, michaelef said:

I think those electric buses are from the pilot program. Fingers crossed we still get Arrival buses on our streets 

https://news.duke-energy.com/releases/charlotte-area-transit-system-etransenergy-announce-electric-bus-partnership

These are some good-looking buses: Arrival | Products I really, really like the front route indicator. Maybe we could finally get some articulated buses too?

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On 12/2/2021 at 5:53 PM, kermit said:

Eric Spanberg at CBJ rounds up the transit news of the past few days (Honeywell event and VP, Fed DOT secretary event). It mostly repeats stuff we have discussed above but I’ll share a few excerpted highlights (whole paragraphs were cut and pasted but I omitted several transition paragraphs from the quote below)

So it appears the plan is to move forward with zero money from the state -- given that I gotta ask why Tim Moore et al. feel the need to stick their noses so far into the plan.

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2021/12/02/partisan-differences-leave-transit-plan-in-limbo.html


I personally knew Tim Moore on some level because he was a frequent visitor to a place my mom had in Kings Mountain. 
 

The man is revered by all those in his district. He lives purely in an echo chamber of people who brag to know him, who thinks he is so powerful, etc. He never ever has a Democrat to run against and republicans know it’s useless to primary him. 
 

A lot of people like him, people you’d never assume had money or would ever like Charlotte actually have condos in uptown and such. I’d imagine Tim Moore does too so maybe he personally cares on behalf of some of his peeps or I just honestly think this *nice* man just truly think his opinion is so great because he’s just used to getting the treatment that he is so great. 
 

im going to guess the others are the same. They live in districts where there are ZERO consequences to anything except voting against guns, god or Trump. 

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