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Tuesday, May 28, 2013
News Critical streetcar vote tonight
Posted By John Grooms on Tue, May 28, 2013 at 2:26 PM
The Charlotte streetcar picture should become much clearer at tonight's City Council meeting. Right now, the outcome is uncertain, but it's safe to say the streetcar's prospects look better now than a couple of months ago, when Mayor Anthony Foxx couldn't gather enough support to proceed with the project.
Three things happened: new City Manager Ron Carlee acted quickly and with striking knowledge of government processes to address the issue; Foxx was nominated by President Obama to the post of U.S. Transportation Secretary; and consultants weighed in on the project with a couple of impressive studies (unlike the usual Chamber-sponsored bullshit studies such as the infamous baseball stadium report by UNC Charlotte professor John "Every project is wonderful" Connaughton).
Officials have been discussing an extension of the streetcar line from the 1.5-mile "starter kit" section approved for Elizabeth Avenue to a full four-mile route that would go west to Johnson C. Smith University and east to the Central Avenue corridor. More west-east extensions would be taken up in the future as needs and money arise.
Funding for the project has been the major stumbling block, but Carlee offered up a plan that would use surplus city money rather than new taxes and recommends applying for a federal grant and loan that would pay for half the total cost. The deadline for the grant application is this Friday, thus the importance of tonight's vote.
Bay Area Economics, a consultant firm hired four years ago by the city, delivered a report in mid-May that said the second phase of the streetcar project (the part that's up for a vote tonight) could bring up to $2.4 million in property taxes and over a million square feet of new development. And then on Friday, Sustain Charlotte, a local nonprofit that supports - you guessed it - sustainability, released its own collaborative study produced by students from Davidson, Johnson C. Smith, Duke University, UNC Charlotte and CPCC. The study, which goes into great detail and is well worth checking out here, projects a veritable laundry list of economic, social and environmental benefits to be derived from the streetcar project. It also examines how streetcars have affected three other cities - Seattle, Little Rock, Ark., and Portland, Ore. - and delves into financing plans for streetcars in Milwaukee, Kansas City, Mo., Los Angeles and Cincinnati. Here's hoping City Council will take the Sustain Charlotte study seriously, as well as the Bay Area Economics report.
Hovering over the deliberations tonight will be Foxx's upcoming role as national Transportation Secretary. No one is willing to say that Foxx's position guarantees smooth sailing for any grant applications the city may make, but everyone has taken note that the home states of previous Transportation Department heads have fared well in the chase for federal dollars.
The City Council meeting starts at 7 p.m in the Government Center at 600 E. Fourth Street.
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