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Best Of 2012
Biggest Waste of Tax Money
Trolley project, Elizabeth Avenue
Staff Pick
The Elizabeth Trolley, which will run from the Charlotte Transportation Center on Trade Street to the Presbyterian Hospital in Elizabeth, has been a waste of time and money since the beginning. Construction began on Elizabeth Avenue in 2008, closing it and even some of its businesses, including NoFo on Liz, an eclectic diner near CPCC's downtown campus. Total construction cost is estimated at $37 million, with about $25 million coming from a federal grant and the rest from the city. If it opens when it's supposed to - in less than a year - it will cost $1.5 million annually to operate. Why spend all that money when there's already a bus that runs along the route? Oh yeah, 'cause a trolley is cuter than a bus.
Previous Winners
- 2012 Biggest Waste of Tax Money - NASCAR Hall of Fame
- 2011 BIGGEST WASTE OF TAX MONEY - TIM NEWMAN’S SALARY
- 2011 BIGGEST WASTE OF TAX MONEY - NASCAR HALL OF FAME
- 2010 BIGGEST WASTE OF TAX MONEY - WARREN TURNER’S $35,000 INVESTIGATION
- 2009 BIGGEST WASTE OF TAX MONEY - NASCAR Hall of Fame
- 2009 BIGGEST WASTE OF TAX MONEY - Light Rail
- 2008 BIGGEST WASTE OF TAX MONEY - Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Committee Salaries
- 2008 BIGGEST WASTE OF TAX MONEY - Uptown Sports Arenas
- 2007 Biggest Waste Of Tax Money - Light Rail
- 2007 Biggest Waste Of Tax Money - Coliseum Implosion
- 2006 Biggest Waste of Tax Money - Light Rail
