Citizen Servatius: Tweedledum and Tweedledumber 

With the exception of at-large candidates Alan Wells, Paul Eich and Warren Cooksey and Libertarian Chris Cole, who is running in District 4, I've never seen any of this year's political newcomers at a city council meeting, and couldn't have picked them out of a crowd until recently.

Understand that it is virtually impossible, without attending council meetings on a regular basis, to even begin to grasp the complexities of how city government operates. I'm not ashamed to admit that it took me a good six months as a full-time reporter to feel like I had a firm handle on my subject matter. Despite this, these people seem to think that they can simply show up to council after they're elected and lead you, me and the rest of Charlotte's voters into some visionary future.

Right. After they spend months locating their rear ends.

After a month on the stump and at forums, the new candidates have absorbed enough political yap from the incumbents to sound ­ to the untrained ear ­ as if they know what they're talking about. They don't.

It's wonderful how little divisiveness there has been this year, candidates like at-large council member Joe White told me last week. It's the first race like this that he has ever run in, he said. He's right. There has been no divisiveness because there are no issues and candidates either don't know what they're talking about, haven't taken the time to build substantive platforms, or have no new ideas.

The challenger candidates in particular will authoritatively explain to you that transit, smart growth and density are all linked, and that smart land use is one of their top priorities. They'll also tell you they want to stop sprawl and improve mass transit. But no one in the media is asking them how they plan to do this. That's fortunate because when pressed, they can't tell you.

Candidates will also tell you they plan to implement smart transit planning, yet when you mention the Mecklenburg-Union Municipal Planning Organization (MUMPO), an appointed board that makes recommendations about transportation needs, it's clear they have no idea what you are talking about. Usually at that point, they'll take one of two routes. They'll either tell you we must build light rail lines faster ­ many aren't aware that not every corridor can handle or will have light rail ­ or they'll tell you that bus lines need to be more accessible to those who need them. Of course, they can't tell you to whom these lines aren't currently accessible, or where we might run bus lines to meet their needs. Again, this is because they have no idea what they are talking about.

The incumbent candidates, who are aware of the existence of MUMPO, will tell you they, too, plan to fight for smart growth and density tailored to the transit lines. Where they were on these issues during their last couple of years in office is uncertain, but dozens of zoning changes for acreage in far-flung subdivisions were approved at zoning meetings every month for the last two years by these people. So what will now change? No one has been able to give me a concrete answer to that question, either. That's because they don't have one.

My personal favorite this season is the suddenly trendy environmental issue. About half the candidates I interviewed ­ incumbents included ­ listed cleaning up the local environment, including our air and water quality, as one of their top priorities. But not one person could list even one specific thing they would or could do to improve the environment. Zilch.

Then there's affordable housing. Newcomers will tell you there is a housing crisis, and that we must rush to solve it with a $40 million bond package. I think some of these people are actually under the impression that the city is going to solve this "crisis" by building people houses. But ask them if they agree with the low-income housing density bonus strategy for developers currently being discussed in a city affordable housing committee and many clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

Unfortunately, the real issues facing this city have gotten little air time and even less acknowledgment from almost everyone running for office. City revenues and revenue projections are down and will likely continue to fall. Service spending was just slashed by 10 percent. If the council wants to hold taxes where they are, tough decisions about what to cut from the budget will have to be made by the people I just described above, some of whom couldn't name 10 items in the city budget.

It's critical that this community discuss and plan for how it will recruit and retain businesses in light of a 15 percent county tax hike, a half-cent state sales tax hike, a decline in the revenues returned to the city from the state, and the rapidly declining ability of the city to pay its bills by annexing affluent suburban developments into the city.

These are the issues these folks aren't talking about, but will have to deal with. On November 7, a new council will take office. In all likelihood, it will include seven incumbents who voted for the $242 million sports and cultural facilities package the council wasted so much time on while pushing the city's true dilemmas onto the backburner. Four more newcomers will fill the remaining seats. And unless someone steps up to the plate, no one will lead. *