Charlotte Observer----
Charlotte City Council overrides streetcar veto
Charlotte's streetcar was revived Monday night when the Charlotte City Council voted 7-4 to override Mayor Pat McCrory's veto on spending $4.5 million to design it.
After an hour-long debate, council member Warren Turner, a Democrat who represents west Charlotte, cast the deciding vote in favor.
Last month, McCrory vetoed a plan to pay URS Corp. $4.5 million to start design work on the line, which would run from Beatties Ford Road to Eastland Mall, via uptown. He argued that because of the recession, the city needed to cut its spending. He and other Republicans said it wasn't prudent to spend the money when Charlotte doesn't have a plan to pay for the line, which could cost $450 million.
But the council's Democratic majority said it was important to get the project started. They hope the Federal government will change its rules to pay for streetcar construction, and they argued by spending the money now the city would be first in line.
Council member Nancy Carter, who represents east Charlotte, said the vote was “crucial.”
She said that building the streetcar to Eastland Mall would spur efforts to redevelop the dying retail center.
Charlotte Observer's Endorsements for today's primaries
If history is any guide, a tiny percentage of registered voters will cast their votes in today's primary and help influence Charlotte's future.
Because so few people are likely to vote, and because local politicians can have such direct impact on our daily lives, each vote is worth that much more.
After tonight, five of the seven district seats on the City Council will be decided because there is no competition for them in November. And candidates for mayor and City Council at-large will be nominated.
(Most other Charlotte-area communities have nonpartisan local elections, and so have no primary.)
Your vote does count. We encourage you to take a couple of minutes, get familiar with the candidates and make your opinion heard.
Here's how we see the races on today's ballot:
Mayor (Republican)
We believe John Lassiter is a significantly stronger candidate than his opponents, Martin Davis and Jack Stratton. Lassiter has a long record of civic involvement in Charlotte, including 11 years on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board and six years on the City Council. Through that experience he has developed a solid understanding of the issues the city faces.
That's a significant contrast with Davis and Stratton. Davis is an anti-tax ideologue who does not demonstrate an appreciation of the complexities of the city's challenges. And Stratton says he's running not to serve Charlotte residents but primarily to regain custody of his 10 children who were taken from him in 2001 by social workers armed with a court order.
Lassiter is far more prepared to lead the city than Davis or Stratton and would give Republicans a better chance of winning in November. We strongly recommend John Lassiter in this contest.
Charlotte Light rail to U-City might be delayed
The 11-mile Lynx Blue Line extension to University City might not be finished until 2019 – six years later than the Charlotte Area Transit System planned two years ago.
The project may be delayed to give the transit system more time to pay for it.
CATS had projected the half-cent transit sales tax would generate $76 million in fiscal year 2009. Instead, it only produced $62 million.
“If the sales tax recovers, we can revise this,” said CATS interim chief executive John Muth. “I'm not saying the schedule is 2019. But we've had to revise it a little bit.”
If sales tax revenue recovers, the line could open in 2016.
Two years ago, CATS planned to build a commuter rail line to Lake Norman and the Lynx extension early next decade, at almost the same time. The Lynx extension – from uptown to I-485 in northeast Mecklenburg – would have opened in 2013.
But the commuter train has now been delayed indefinitely. And CATS may need more time to fill its coffers until it can start construction.
The Federal Transit Administration, which will need to pay for at least half of construction costs, wants to make sure CATS has a viable financial plan to construct the line.
CATS said the line will cost between $1.18 billion and $1.135 billion.
It also said it may build a second maintenance yard in land being vacated by Norfolk-Southern railroad, which is moving an intramodal facility to the airport.
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Sources: Charlotte Observer, Charmeck.org, Wikipedia, Google Maps
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