The head of the state's Republican Party said Friday that he has been told the competition to host the 2020 Republican National Convention is down to about three cities, with Charlotte one of the strongest bids.
N.C. GOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse, who is attending the Republican National Committee meeting in Miami, said he has been told by numerous national Republicans that they were impressed by the city's Democratic leadership teaming up with statewide Republicans.
Woodhouse said he believed Las Vegas is a strong competitor.
CNN reported that Nevada GOP chairman Michael McDonald made a presentation this week to a site selection committee.
Woodhouse said Las Vegas appears to have placed a late bid to host the RNC.
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the city of Las Vegas said they weren't aware of a bid.
A spokesperson for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said Thursday that Republicans asked the city to bid, but it had to decline because it "doesn't have the facilities to accommodate the event."
On Friday, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said it was surprised by the story that Las Vegas was bidding.
It said it turned down the GOP with a letter earlier this year.
Las Vegas considered bidding for the 2016 RNC, but dropped out.
But the state Republican party appears to be moving forward with a bid, even if tourism officials aren't on board yet.
On Thursday, the San Antonio City Council decided in a closed session meeting not to bid.
"There's a reason that San Antonio has not pursued a political convention for the past 20 years and why so few cities seem interested in this convention," San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said, citing disruptions to traffic and neighborhoods.
As San Antonio council members prepared to consider a late bid, some Democratic activists said the city shouldn't seek the RNC.
They said the Trump administration's push for a border wall would damage the city's close ties with Mexico.
The bids for the RNC were originally due Feb. 28, but that deadline was pushed back.
In past years, cities have been vocal about wanting to land a political convention, which are said to be worth tens of millions in dollars in economic impact.
But this year only Charlotte and Las Vegas have said publicly they want it.
Charlotte hosted the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
Woodhouse said he was told that as many as seven cities had expressed interested to the RNC, but some dropped out.
He doesn't know what the other city is, though he said he has heard Texas.
A tourism official in Dallas said the RNC approached the city about bidding, but the city declined.
A spokesperson for the Houston mayor's office declined to comment, but a City Council member said it had not been discussed.
"They were really impressed that a Democratic city and Democratic leaders have come together with Republicans to host the RNC," Woodhouse said.
He said the RNC will meet again in August. A decision could be made then, he said.
METRO DC BUDGET CUTS FORCES SYSTEM REFORM (TRUMP):
SLASHING METRO DC’S FEDERAL FUNDING WILL ALSO HELP ELIMINATE SYSTEMIC WASTE, FRAUD & POOR REGIONAL PLANNING.
BUDGET CUTS FORCES METRO DC TO MOVE INTO THE 21st CENTURY.
WILL METRO DC RETALIATE AGAINST MEDIA OUTLETS WHICH REPORT ON SYSTEMIC WASTE OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS?
GIVING METRO DC & WMATA MORE MONEY IS NOT THE ANSWER.
REFORMING AND RESTRUCTURING METRO DC IS THE ANSWER.
ALL METRO ACCESS DRIVERS SHOULD HAVE CDL LICENSES.
ALL DISPATCHERS SHOULD BE WMATA DISPATCHERS NOT CONTRACTORS.
ALL FARES SHOULD BE REASONABLE & AFFORDABLE.
METRO DC SHOULD OPERATE 24-HOURS.
TRAIN ALL WMATA & METRO EMPLOYEES ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT POLICIES.
Sources: Washington Post, WTOP, Youtube
****** Trump administration budget trims Metro subsidy instead of killing it, as feared
Metro got a little good news Monday when President Trump’s budget proposed to trim the agency’s federal subsidy to $120 million from $150 million rather than eliminate it, as feared.
But the White House and the Transportation Department also warned that they want to shrink federal support for Metro, at a time when the region’s top elected officials of both parties are seeking to increase such backing.
The office of Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) said earlier this month that the Trump administration planned to omit a critical grant for the transit agency from its budget for the 2019 fiscal year.
It wasn’t clear Monday whether the White House had changed its mind, possibly under pressure from Congress, or whether Warner and others had misread or overstated the administration’s intentions.
Either way, the Trump administration made clear it hopes the $30 million reduction is only the beginning of a decline in federal spending on Metro.
“The administration does believe that long-term, [the] federal role needs to be lessened, and reducing the federal contribution reflects that,” an Office of Management and Budget official said. “Federal direct subsidies and oversight should be curtailed.”
A Transportation spokeswoman said in a statement that “it makes sense for the Department to scale down” funding for Metro. The statement cited “constrained resources,” Metro’s advances in fixing safety issues, and progress in the District, Maryland and Virginia in raising funds on their own.
Warner and other local officials have been pressing the administration both to provide full federal funding for Metro and to increase such support. Two of the region’s top Republican officials — Rep. Barbara Comstock (Va.) and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan — have urged increased federal funding if Metro meets certain conditions.
Warner raised the alarm previously that the White House might scrap the Metro subsidy altogether. He said the administration believed the 10-year federal grant program for Metro has expired and cited a Federal Transit Administration briefing to Congress in the spring of 2017 that made that point.
OMB and the Transportation Department appeared to differ on that issue Monday. OMB said the authorization expires in 2019.
Transportation said it expires in fiscal 2018, but the White House proposes to continue direct funding at $120 million in fiscal 2019 anyway.
Metro welcomed Monday’s budget news and said it would work in Congress to reverse the proposed $30 million cut. Any reduction in funding would complicate Metro’s financial picture at a time when the agency is pushing for the federal grant program to be renewed to meet its considerable capital needs.
The grant money is used to purchase new rail cars, pay for track upgrades and replace aging equipment. The grant is part of the 2008 Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, known as PRIIA.
“We appreciate the Administration’s recognition of the important safety and reliability investments Metro requires, as well as this acknowledgment of the critical role the system plays in the nation’s capital,” a Metro spokeswoman said in a statement. “We will continue to work with our congressional delegation and leadership on the Hill to ensure the full $150 million PRIIA funding is included in the federal FY19 appropriations.”
Warner sought to claim some credit Monday for what he portrayed as a reversal.
“Not long ago, the Administration was planning to zero out funding for [Metro] in its budget request to Congress,” Warner said in a statement. “I, along with other members of the Capital Region delegation, publicly pushed the Administration to honor the federal government’s ten-year commitment to Metro.
We’ll keep up the fight in Congress to ensure that Metro receives the full $150 million in federal funds that they are owed for the next fiscal year.”
The FTA’s position last spring that the 10-year Metro funding program expires this year was based on a technicality in the wording of the bill.
It appeared to leave open the possibility that the authorization ends in the current fiscal year. But the FTA also said that Congress could extend the authorization to make sure Metro got the full allotment.
“Every indication from the administration was that they were strongly considering omitting the funding from the budget request,” Warner spokeswoman Rachel Cohen said.
Comstock, the only Republican in Congress who represents a jurisdiction in the immediate Washington area, said she had not heard from anyone except Warner and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) that the White House was considering omitting the Metro grant.
“I’m not sure what happened there,” Comstock said. “As we have in the past, we’ll fight for the full $150 million.”
Warner issued the warning about the administration’s plans at the same time that he, Kaine, and the two Democratic senators from Maryland — Chris Van Hollen and Benjamin L. Cardin — wrote to OMB Director Mick Mulvaney and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao urging continuation of the PRIIA funds.
FEDERAL FUNDING FOR THE DMV’s METRO SYSTEM SHOULD BE HALTED UNTIL PEOPLE SEE CHANGE.
METRO PASSENGERS & DMV BLACK VOTERS DESERVE TO BE RESPECTED.
DISABLED & SENIOR PASSENGERS ALSO DESERVE TO BE RESPECTED.
Sources: WTOP, NBC News, Washington Post, House.gov, YouTube
District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia all share the responsibility of managing a massive public transportation system called the METRO.
More than 600,000 people utilize the METRO System each week to travel to Work and other various reasons.
The METRO operates via Federal Funding and extremely high-priced, unregulated Passenger Fares.
It’s unregulated because each region is legally allowed to charge passengers whatever the Elected officials choose to for service.
Unlike New York’s very well-organized MTA Public Transportation system, the DMV’s METRO System can legally charge riders up to three different Fares for just one trip.
Yet despite receiving Billions and Billions of Federal dollars, along with daily Fares from passengers the DMV’s METRO Public Transportation system remains plagued with:
***** Poor Service levels (Late Arrivals),
Poorly trained Operators,
Waste & Abuse of Federal Funds,
No Accountability,
Black Management Employees with Bad Attitudes who consistently display Poor Customer Service especially to Black patronage,
Corrupt Private Contracts (Dispatchers), Preventable Accidents,
Broken Escalators (SUITLAND),
Workplace Drama (Adulterous Affairs & Sexual Harassment) which adversely impacts Employee Performance,
Top Heavy Management who are in it only for MONEY,
Nepotism,
etc.
Metro would get billions more in federal funding in exchange for a more powerful inspector general and better service under a new proposal to be introduced in Congress.
The region’s Democrats led by Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly are proposing to continue current federal funding of $150 million per year for capital projects, but would add another $50 million per year to support Metro’ operations for the first time plus $2 billion in additional cash over 20 years.
The proposed funding is dependent on a more independent inspector general, and that Metro would meet targets set by the U.S. Department of Transportation for better, safer, more cost effective service.
Among other competing proposals on Capitol Hill, Virginia Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock’s bill would require different reforms and provide significantly less money than the Democrats’ new proposal. She is the only Republican in Congress whose district includes a Metro station.
Even that bill has yet to have a hearing in the Republican-led House, so the prospects for the Democrats’ bill appear dim at best. Comstock opposes the latest proposal.
“It’s unfortunate that in the 9 years it took Gerry Connolly to write an 8-page bill, he failed to include any of the substantial management, financial or pension reforms advocated on a bipartisan basis by numerous transportation experts and Metro advocates who have been working for years to seriously improve and reform the system.
Throwing billions more at Metro without defined reforms is a dead on arrival strategy,” Comstock said in a statement.
General Manager Paul Wiedefeld has said additional money is needed beyond current levels to pay for maintenance and repairs that were put off for decades.
Without additional federal money, local taxpayers would have to foot the bill alone. Maryland, Virginia and D.C. are considering legislation to boost their share of dedicated funding for Metro.
The co-sponsors of the newly introduced bill with Connolly are Maryland’s Steny Hoyer, Jamie Raskin, Anthony Brown and John Sarbanes; Virginia’s Don Beyer; and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Raskin and Brown had also introduced their own Metro bill that tracked transit union recommendations.
A separate bill from Maryland Democrat John Delaney would require changes to Metro’s collective bargaining structure and the size of Metro’s Board in exchange for an extra $750 million over 10 years.
A partisan split in the Washington area’s congressional delegation over how to increase federal funding for Metro has raised concerns that the lack of unity will lead Congress to balk at giving the transit system critically needed support.
The division emerged Tuesday when Democratic House members from the area filed a Metro funding bill that would double the federal subsidy to the transit agency and be more friendly to its unions than legislation proposed by Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock (Va.).
The House bill, a copy of which was obtained in advance by The Washington Post, would raise the federal contribution to the transit agency from $150 million a year to $300 million a year for 10 years. Comstock’s bill would increase it by 50 percent, to $225 million annually.
The Democrats’ legislation also would provide a federal subsidy for Metro’s operating costs. That would be a significant change. The grants Metro receives — such as other direct federal subsidies for public transit — pay only for capital investments.
In perhaps the most important difference from Comstock’s bill, the Democrats’ legislation would not require the creation of a five-member reform board with power to revise existing union contracts and take other steps to restrain labor costs.
Instead, it addresses concerns about Metro’s performance by requiring that the agency to strengthen its Office of the Inspector General and meet targets for safety, reliability and cost efficiency as conditions for receiving the extra money.
“The other bill almost reads punitive when it comes to labor unions and the workforce,” said Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (Va.), the lead sponsor of the Democratic legislation. “We don’t tell Metro they have to vitiate existing labor contracts,” or weaken pension guarantees or limit overtime, as Comstock’s bill does, he said.
Connolly said his bill has support throughout the Washington region. Co-sponsors, all Democrats, include Reps. Anthony G. Brown, Steny H. Hoyer, Jamie Raskin and John Sarbanes, all of Maryland; Rep. Don Beyer (Va.); and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
But Comstock’s bill, which she filed in December, has the advantage of being sponsored by a member of the party that controls both the House and the Senate. Her bill, which was drafted in consultation with regional business leaders, including some Democrats, also reflects their support for replacing the 16-member Metro board with a reform board designed to improve the agency’s governance.
Comstock defended her bill in a statement Tuesday and faulted the Democrats’ legislation for not requiring specific management reforms on pensions and overtime supported by Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld.
“Throwing billions more at Metro without defined reforms is a dead-on-arrival strategy,” Comstock said. “It’s unfortunate that in the nine years it took Gerry Connolly to write an eight-page bill, he failed to include any of the substantial management, financial or pension reforms advocated on a bipartisan basis by numerous transportation experts and Metro advocates who have been working for years to seriously improve and reform the system.”
The differences between the parties’ bills aggravated concerns among Metro supporters that Congress will be reluctant to endorse a package that lacks unified support from the region.
“What’s so discouraging about this is, it really undercuts the bipartisan necessity of getting a federal funding source for Metro,” said Gus Bauman, a former chairman of the Maryland Blue Ribbon Transportation Funding Commission. “To have an all-Democratic bill and an all-Republican one does no one any good.”
The Democrats’ decision to take on Comstock appears aimed in part at hurting her chances of positioning herself as an effective champion of Metro when she seeks reelection in November. Comstock, whose Northern Virginia district has been trending Democratic, is viewed as vulnerable.
“I don’t know their true motivations, but they must be intensely aware that giving a major victory on Metro funding to Barbara Comstock would be an enormous benefit to her reelection chances this year,” said Mark J. Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
MetroNow, a coalition of leading business groups and nonprofit organizations, issued a statement applauding Connolly’s leadership, but warned that the region’s politicians need to work together on Metro.
“This is a critical time when our leaders must collaborate instead of compete against one another,” the group said.
While the region’s federal representatives trade jabs, there have been signs recently of a narrowing of partisan differences in Maryland and Virginia, where state lawmakers are considering bills to provide Metro with dedicated funding.
Numerous political obstacles remain to the legislation in both states, but many Metro supporters and political veterans say there is unprecedented momentum for change. The federal bickering adds another hurdle.
The Democrats’ position partly reflects their desire to represent the interests of labor, an important part of their political base.
Brown noted that his congressional district, which includes portions of Prince George’s County, is home to more Metro workers than any other, and said “they deserve a voice” in the debate about the agency.
“It’s mistaken to believe that Metro’s problems are excessive labor costs,” Brown said. “I don’t think you need to mess around with their pensions and arbitration, or somehow blow up or reform the board, and think that’s going to solve it.”
The Connolly and Comstock bills have one thing in common: They call for extending and increasing a $150 million annual federal subsidy for Metro that is scheduled to expire after the fiscal year ending in 2019.
Connolly’s bill would do so in two steps.
First, it would extend the program, part of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act (PRIIA), for 10 years and increase the subsidy to $200 million a year. Of that, $150 million would continue to be for capital investment. The District, Maryland and Virginia would continue making a matching contribution totaling $150 million.
The additional $50 million in the Connolly bill would go to operations. Of the latter, $10 million would be for Metro’s inspector general. This money would not require a local match.
Obtaining federal money for operating expenses — such as wages, fuel and electricity — would be a breakthrough long sought by many Metro supporters. They have complained for years that the District, Maryland and Virginia pay for all of Metro’s operating subsidies even though the federal government depends on the system to get its workers in the Washington area to their jobs.
“I have always believed that the federal government gets a free ride,” Connolly said. “The largest single user of Metro every day is the federal government.”
The condition for extending and increasing PRIIA money would be to strengthen the Office of the Inspector General by giving it new powers, including independent budget, procurement and hiring authority. Congress and others have pressed for a more robust IG to hold Metro accountable.
The second part of the funding plan in Connolly’s bill would give Metro an additional $100 million a year in grants for capital investment for 20 years. These federal grants also would have to be matched by a total of $100 million annually contributed by the three jurisdictions.
For the first five years, the additional money would be subject to the condition of Metro meeting performance bench marks set by the U.S. transportation secretary together with the District, Maryland and Virginia.
The secretary would grant the money each year only after certifying that Metro was “making progress toward goals and metrics for system performance established by the Secretary in collaboration with the signatories to the [Metro] Compact on safety, reliability and operations costs as measured by vehicle revenue miles,” the bill says.
For the remaining 15 years, the $100 million a year in additional grants would be conditioned on continued progress toward the goals and metrics, plus the establishment of a dedicated funding source by the District, Maryland and Virginia of at least $300 million a year.
METRO ACCESS' CORRUPT DISPATCHER CONTRACTS (MD & DC):
PRIVATE CONTRACTOR DISPATCHERS vs WMATA UNION DISPATCHERS.
UNPROFESSIONAL, POORLY TRAINED, PRIVATE CONTRACTED DISPATCHERS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO FREQUENT LATE PASSENGER PICK-UPS, SAFETY VIOLATIONS AND WORKPLACE SEXUAL HARASSMENT ISSUES.
REAL METRO SYSTEM REFORM SHOULD INCLUDE INVESTIGATING CORRUPT DISPATCHER CONTRACTOR AGREEMENTS.
A recently unsealed lawsuit alleges that MetroAccess and MetroAccess contractors steered taxpayer-funded paratransit service to favored firms and subcontractors, resulting in longer trips and more expensive rides for the region’s most vulnerable commuters.
In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt by the owner of a Maryland cab company, plaintiff Scott Bretner alleges that Metro and three of its contractors broke the law by shifting MetroAccess dispatch responsibilities from one contractor, MV Transportation, to another, Transdev North America.
The suit alleges that this led to a pattern of “self-dealing” in which Transdev would assign taxi trips to a service it owns and in other cases direct passengers to MetroAccess vans unnecessarily for its own financial benefit.
“Transdev is steering riders to use the vans unnecessarily, presumably to inflate its revenues, notwithstanding that vans often must travel from distant points including Virginia to serve riders in Prince George’s County,” the complaint reads.
MetroAccess is the transit agency’s door-to-door service for the elderly and people with disabilities. The contract splits dispatch and service delivery responsibilities to prevent the kind of conflict Bretner alleges. Transdev is responsible for providing 50 percent of MetroAccess service, and the remaining share of trips is to be divided between two other firms not named in the suit, according to the contract.
Further, the suit alleges that a third contractor, Medical Transportation Management, the company contracted to oversee MetroAccess, failed to bring the alleged conflict of interest to light.
“MV has continued to collect funds provided by the Federal Government and the compact jurisdictions despite knowingly and intentionally surrendering its responsibilities to Transdev,” the suit reads. “MTM has utterly failed to provide any meaningful quality assurance safeguards or oversight of Transdev and MV,” the suit says.
Metro did not respond to questions about the lawsuit. A spokesman said the agency could not comment on pending litigation.
Transdev declined to comment on the lawsuit.
MV Transportation and MTM did not respond to several email requests for comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland did not respond to an inquiry as to why it declined to intervene in the suit. The United States is named as a co-plaintiff along with the District.
Bretner’s attorney said summonses have yet to be served in the suit, so the defendants have not responded in court.
With about 43,000 registered users, MetroAccess is the transit agency’s fastest-growing and most expensive service. The agency spends more than $100 million annually to provide the service through five contractors.
MetroAccess performance dropped sharply during a stretch beginning last fall — at one point, on-time performance was down nearly 10 percentage points from target — but has recovered in recent months, according to the latest figures. Pressed to explain the performance drop in a recent report, Metro and its contractors blamed the issues on a driver shortage that left the companies 10 percent short of the 1,000 needed to run at full capacity.
It’s unknown, however, whether problems with dispatch factored into the service decline.
Bretner, who owns Transportation Maintenance Services, Blue Bird Cab Co., and Prince George’s Yellow Cab Company, said in the lawsuit that he was thwarted in his attempts to become a MetroAccess subcontractor after months of “obfuscation and delay” as the alleged scheme unfolded. Bretner’s attorney, Ryan S. Spiegel, said the alleged offenses are particularly egregious, given the vulnerable population MetroAccess serves.
Neither Spiegel nor Bretner could immediately provide evidence directly supporting their claims, which were said to be based upon “information and belief,” but they said they planned to present evidence in court.
“In this case, the MetroAccess contract at issue was very clear that there were supposed to be different silos of activity that were supposed to be intentionally separate and independent,” Spiegel said in an interview. “The contract was also clear that the service providers were supposed to use a very specific system to provide a vulnerable population with a necessary service.
“We think the evidence is pretty strong that in this case, these defendants knowingly violated those obligations.”
In addition to the contractors, the lawsuit filed by Bretner names Metro and MetroAccess chief Christian Kent as bearing responsibility in the alleged arrangement. Metro, on behalf of Kent, declined to comment.
Bretner claims that Transdev, Metro, Kent, MTM and MV Transportation violated the federal and state False Claims Acts by “falsely certifying that they would comply with local laws governing taxicab services and then knowingly circumventing those laws.” Further, the lawsuit says, Metro and its paratransit contractors “knowingly presented” or conspired to present “false claims to obtain government money under the . . . MetroAccess program.”
It goes on to claim that Transdev has been directing customers onto vans unnecessarily, despite the fact that many customers in Prince George’s County — the most popular MetroAccess jurisdiction — can walk and don’t require wheelchair-accessible vans.
“Now that Transdev is essentially in control of the [call center], it has every incentive to use MetroAccess vans more often than necessary, because its reimbursement rate from [Metro] for those van trips — approximately $65 per ride — is much higher than the rate for subcontractor taxi trips billed at $3.77 per mile,” the complaint alleges.
“Indeed, [Metro], through Mr. Kent and others, has been knowingly complicit in this unlawful conduct by Transdev,” the lawsuit says.
The suit comes three years after another Maryland cab company, Challenger Transportation, alleged a conflict of interest in the awarding of the MetroAccess contract because then-Metro board chairman Tom Downs also helmed the board of advisers for Veolia Transportation of North America (now Transdev North America) at the time the agreement was reached. That lawsuit, also filed in U.S. District Court, has not been resolved, and Bretner’s suit renews the conflict-of-interest concerns, alleging that Downs’s failure to disclose those ties at the time was a violation of the law.
Downs said that while he knew from internal conversations at Veolia that the company was considering bidding for the MetroAccess contract, he recused himself from discussions of any potential contract.
He said he also recused himself from any action, contact or information about the bid. In addition, he physically left Metro headquarters whenever the contract was discussed, he said.
“I was physically removing myself from the board meeting and to be extra safe, I said I was leaving the building during this discussion,” he said.
A written recusal followed, Downs said.
Asked whether his dual roles as Metro board chairman and chairman of Veolia North America’s board could have contributed in any way to the contract’s award: “If you doubt [former Metro General Manager] Rich Sarles’s integrity,” Downs said. “I asked Rich to make sure that . . . I received no verbal or written information at any time from any staff and that they were not to even accidentally provide me with any information.”
The suit also accuses another cab company, Sun Cab, of benefiting from Transdev’s arrangement. It says Transdev dispatched taxi trips to companies unlicensed for access services in Prince George’s, with the money going back into the parent corporation’s pocket.
“By controlling the [dispatch services], Transdev has directed a vast majority of the taxi trips in the overall MetroAccess service region to Sun Cab, which Transdev also owns,” the suit alleges. “Therefore Transdev is able to engage in self-dealing and to ‘double dip’ and pay itself twice for each such instance of taxi service delivery.”
Reached by phone, a person who identified himself as Sun Cab’s general manager referred any questions about the lawsuit to Transdev.
The amended complaint was filed in June, but the case was under seal until late that month as the jurisdictions named as co-plaintiffs decided whether to intervene. Maryland and Virginia sought to remove themselves from the case, and late last month, a federal judge asked that any claims filed on their behalf be dismissed.
NATIONAL EXPRESS ACQUIRES DIAMOND TRANSPORTATION PARATRANSIT (METRO REFORM BILL):
INCLUDES TEMPLE HILLS, MD LOCATION.
REP BARBARA COMSTOCK HAS INTRODUCED THE METRO REFORM BILL.
DID NATIONAL EXPRESS ACQUISITION FIX DIAMOND’S MANY PROBLEMS, SAFETY & SEXUAL HARASSMENT ISSUES?
SEXUAL HARASSMENT TRAINING AT DIAMOND TRANSPORTATION & NATIONAL EXPRESS IS A JOKE.
OLDER MARRIED MALE BUS OPERATORS HAVING AFFAIRS WITH MUCH YOUNGER SINGLE FEMALE DISPATCHERS AT WORK ON COMPANY TIME.
THEN THOSE MUCH YOUNGER FEMALE DISPATCHERS TRY TO BLACKMAIL THE OLDER MARRIED MEN.
DISABLED & SENIOR PASSENGERS ARE LEFT HOLDING THE BAG DUE TO COMPANY’S UNPROFESSIONALISM.
Sources: Metro Magazine, NLRB, Fox News, WJLA, Youtube
****** National Express acquires Diamond
Transportation Services In Temple Hills, MD
National Express Transit, provider of transit services in North America, announced the acquisition of Diamond Transportation Services (DTS) in October, 2016.
Diamond Transportation Services (DTS) is located in Alexandria, Va. Established in 1984, DTS has approximately 270 employees and 151 vehicles providing paratransit and shuttle service to the Greater Washington, D.C. area.
“The addition of Diamond Transportation Services complements our assembly of transit providers,” said Judith Crawford, CEO of Nation Express Transit. “Their values of providing ‘reliable and safe transport services’ align with our mission of providing the safest, highest quality transportation services for our customers and the communities we serve — on time, every time.”
Diamond Transportation Services is the second location for National Express Transit in the Washington D.C. area. National Express also operates ART - Arlington Transit located in Arlington County, Va.
****** Rep. Barbara Comstock Introduces METRO Accountability and Reform Act
Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and Metro Reform Coalition Support The Bill
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Barbara Comstock (R-VA) released the following statement after she introduced The METRO Accountability and Reform Act, the largest reform to Metro since its inception:
“This Metro reform legislation represents a culmination of over a year of working together with a wide array of experts with an incredible combined experience in transportation,” said Congresswoman Barbara Comstock. “It provides substantial new funding for Metro, but only on the condition of making fundamental changes necessary to meet reasonable benchmarks of a functional mass transit system. Metro is a system in crisis and we need serious reforms to move our region forward and provide the public with a safe and efficient transit system. My office has collaborated with former Mayor Anthony Williams, and Federal City Council, as well as former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, former Virginia Transportation Secretary Jim Dyke, current Transportation Department officials including those with current Secretary Chao, General Manager Paul Wiedefeld along with others at WMATA, whistleblowers, and those affiliated with the successful efforts to turn the Boston transit system around and others.
“Years of deferred maintenance, increasing budget deficits and decreasing ridership on Metro threatens the safety and reliability of the system. Without significant reforms, the system will continue to decline and lose ridership and fail the nation’s capital which needs this vital system for the vitality of our local and national economy. The riders who use the system and the taxpayers who help support it deserve much better.
“This reform legislation reduces the use of overtime, shifts employees from a pension system to a 401k system (as recommended by the current manager), controls contract increases and promotes Metro ridership by improving reliability
“This bill will create a Metro Reform Board, which will serve as an interim control entity to govern Metro in order to achieve the necessary changes in the near-term. It will also establish a Metro Reform Commission, which will be an advisory commission whose purpose is to keep Congress and other relevant stakeholders informed of the progress of the efforts by the Signatories to increase efficiencies at the Authority, amend the interstate compact, and other relevant actions. Whistleblower protections are also included in the bill for WMATA employees who fear retaliation from management.
“I would like to thank the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Greater Washington Board of Trade, and Federal City Council, all of whom have also contributed to this final product and expressed their support along with leaders of business and Capital regional groups. It is critical that our region has a top-tier public transportation system on which the riding public can rely. Commuters need a system that can get them to work quickly and safely so they can do their jobs. Every day we see delays and incidents that affect our entire region, and this bill will put Metro on a path to fixing the systemic issues that plague riders every day.”
Harry Klaff, Chair, Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce said of the The METRO Accountability and Reform Act:
“Metro is critical to the future of Northern Virginia and Greater Washington, and is an invaluable asset to the federal government and the regional workforce. Implementing meaningful operational and governance reforms along with committing dedicated, sustainable funding is the most important challenge facing our region. The Metro Accountability and Reform Act, introduced by Congresswoman Comstock, is a significant step forward in addressing this challenge. This bill combines new federal investment with common sense reforms that are consistent with the recommendations of the business community and experts in the transportation field, including those of Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
“The development of this legislation has been a thoughtful, collaborative process inclusive of many regional stakeholders and experts in transit operations. The Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce is grateful to Congresswoman Comstock for her leadership on this vital issue and is appreciative of her inclusion of the business community in the development of this legislation from the beginning.”
Metro Reform Coalition Reaction to Introduction of METRO Accountability and Reform ACT:
“We applaud Representative Barbara Comstock for taking the initiative to introduce federal legislation to reform WMATA, a vital component of Greater Washington’s transportation infrastructure that impacts the region’s economic security, quality of life, and global competitiveness. Representative Comstock’s legislation calls for significant changes to the governance structure of WMATA’s Board of Directors, including requiring the establishment of a smaller and more effective reform board, which we support. The bill also requests the commitment of federal funding, which is urgently needed. We strongly believe that comprehensive reform to Metro’s governance and funding will lead to operational improvement across the system.
“Both proposals align with the recommendations we made in June to Governors McAuliffe and Hogan, Mayor Bowser and U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Chao calling for comprehensive reform. Specifically, we believe the legislation’s call for a temporary reform board will allow for more sound decision-making and establish the framework necessary for long-term structural improvements for the system. Further, we see the commitment of federal funding as a key component of a sustainable funding structure. Federal funding, combined with at least $500 million in dedicated and bondable funding per year from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, is required to provide the level of funding necessary to sustain the system.
“We look forward to working with Representative Comstock, other members of Congress and our state and local elected officials to ensure the necessary reforms to Metro are made this fiscal year. The three jurisdictions – the District, Maryland and Virginia – must act immediately in their upcoming legislative sessions to advance comprehensive reform and sustainable funding. At the same time, given the importance of this issue, we must also work urgently through Congress. We call upon our elected leadership and all stakeholders to work together to ensure the economic stability and livability of our region by reforming and funding Metro now."
Members of the Metro Reform Coalition include:
The 2030 Group
The Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA)
Arlington County Chamber of Commerce
Associated Builders and Contractors – Virginia Chapter
Committee for Dulles
The DC Building Industry Association
DC Chamber of Commerce
Enterprise Community Partners
Federal City Council
The Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce
Greater McLean Chamber of Commerce
Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce
Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce
Greater Washington Board of Trade
Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
The Greater Washington Partnership
The Housing Association of Non-profit Developers (HAND)
Disabled riders and MetroAccess drivers have joined hands to complain about the transit service that they say could use a lot of improvement.
Both riders and drivers complain that they are victimized by poor service, and they gathered together at Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church on Friday to air their complaints.
“It’s totally unreliable, totally unreliable … I have been abandoned more times than you can imagine,” says Gloria Jones Swieringa of Fort Washington, who is blind.
Unionized drivers, who are members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, say that dispatchers don’t welcome their input, that the policy of collecting fares outside the vehicle is unsafe and low driver pay produces high turnover rates.
“We need to make changes as far as the drivers, clients, the dispatchers, it needs to be a better service,” says Genoa Greene, a MetroAccess driver for the past eight years.
The complaints have drawn the attention of Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker.
“[I’m] very much concerned,” he says. “It was part of our budget hearing and so we want to hear what the problem is. I know a lot about people with disabilities trying to get back and forth so it’s a big concern of mine.”
Rick Vetter and his teen son got a pretty good look at the legal line between privacy and security last month, as they wrapped up a day trip to Charlotte, North Carolina.
After watching the NFL's Atlanta Falcons beat the Carolina Panthers, they were looking forward to a three-hour train ride back home to Raleigh when they arrived at the train station.
Walking up a ramp toward the platform, they noticed what appeared to be a uniformed Transportation Security Administration officer holding a leashed police dog.
"He just loosened the leash on the dog, and the dog came over to check me out," Vetter said. Standing on the platform above Vetter were three other officers who appeared to be wearing bullet-proof vests.
As the guard dog smelled him, Vetter -- who has two dogs of his own -- told the officer that it probably was reacting to the smell of Vetter's pets.
"The TSA officer said 'OK' or something like that. Then it was clear that the dog had done what he needed to do, and we went on up the ramp to get on the train."
"I'm sure somebody who wasn't comfortable with dogs would have found it a lot more disconcerting than I did, but I sort of didn't worry about it," said Vetter, an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Vetters had encountered VIPR -- special TSA Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response teams that are tasked with performing random, unpredictable baggage and security checks at passenger train, subway and bus stations as well as trucking weigh stations across the nation.
TSA officials like to point out that the acronym stands for Transportation Security Administration, not the Airport Security Administration. And that's where VIPR comes in.
Born after 2004's Madrid railway bombings, VIPR suffered some embarrassing coordination struggles, transit officials say.
The program has 15 teams and is expanding to get access to 12 new teams to spot-check thousands of transportation depots across the nation.
VIPR teams conducted 3,895 operations in "surface modes" nationwide in 2010, according to the Department of Homeland Security (PDF).
The expansion comes after intelligence from Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound revealed al Qaeda plans to target U.S. rail systems on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
At a time when TSA airport searches are unpopular among many air travelers, civil liberties groups say VIPR's joint participation with local police in "warrantless" searches have been "flying under the radar" in violation of constitutional protections.
Transit police say it helps them better guard against attacks like those that have hit Madrid, London and Moscow since 2004.
VIPR teams join local authorities for many of their operations aimed at searching passenger bags. Authorities say officers include plainclothes and uniformed team members -- some of them armed -- who arrive without telling passengers in advance.
Officers in the joint operations then randomly ask travelers for permission to search their bags for explosives. To prevent accusations of profiling, searchers choose a random number -- eight for example -- and then search the bags of every eighth passenger before they board.
Also, VIPR observers may be in the vicinity, keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior, police say.
Local and federal authorities insist the searches are not mandatory.
But passengers who refuse are not allowed on the train, forcing some travelers to make a tough decision.
"If you're going to make a choice between having somebody search you -- even though you question whether they have the right to do that -- or having to find another way home, I'd probably have let them search me," Vetter said. Luckily, he said, it didn't come to that. Officers did not ask to search his backpack.
As an attorney for the EPA, Vetter is pretty familiar with his Fourth Amendment constitutional right protecting him from "unreasonable searches."
"At the airport, everybody now understands it's part of the process," he said. "You can either choose to deal with it or not. But in a surprise situation like that, I would not have been pleased."
'Security theater'
New Jersey Transit Police Chief Christopher Trucillo, who works regularly with VIPR teams, acknowledged that the search system isn't perfect.
Potential attackers carrying explosives who refuse searches are free to simply drive to the next station on the line and board there.
"Because of the sheer number of passengers, there's nothing that would prevent you from doing that," Trucillo said. But there also are "things behind the scenes that are not visible to the traveling public that we employ to keep our system safe."
This isn't security, Christopher Calabrese of the American Civil Liberties Union says. It's "security theater."
Such searches offer no protection to society at the cost of passengers' civil liberties and convenience, he says. "We're very troubled by the VIPR program."
A high-profile example of VIPR's growing pains, transit officials say, is a VIPR-assisted passenger screening a year ago at Amtrak's station in Savannah, Georgia.
Instead of screening passengers as they boarded trains -- which is standard security procedure -- officers were screening passengers as they were getting off trains.
Security experts know that makes no sense, because potential terrorists probably would be interested in bringing explosives onto trains, not taking them off.
When Amtrak's police chief, John O'Connor, got wind of it, he "was very clearly angry," said Trains Magazine reporter Don Phillips, who spoke to O'Connor at the time.
O'Connor and TSA officials then hammered out an agreement on how future VIPR/Amtrak operations would be conducted.
The chief now says the Savannah operation simply "didn't make a whole lot of sense, and VIPR has since realized their misunderstanding and have corrected what they do."
"We were pleased with the way O'Connor responded," said Sean Jeans-Gail of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, who fears that the searches might affect a more than century-old tradition in America's train stations.
"The TSA needs to understand that train stations are not airports, they're publicly open hubs for community activity, which often include shopping facilities.
The TSA needs to be more mindful of that."
VIPR-assisted transit and rail searches haven't been challenged in court, but it's likely, civil liberties groups say. "I think expanding the program will be problematic politically and legally," said Ginger McCall of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Any courtroom battle over VIPR searches will pick apart the Fourth Amendment, which bars police searches unless there's "probable cause" to believe a crime has been committed.
But the TSA claims "administrative search authority" to conduct random checkpoint searches of passengers and baggage at "surface transportation venues" without probable cause, according to TSA spokeswoman Kimberley Thompson.
"... the administrative search does not require probable cause, but must further an important government need, such as preventing would-be terrorists from bringing an explosive device onto a crowded commuter train," Thompson said.
In certain very limited circumstances, especially after the 9/11 attacks, courts have ruled that Fourth Amendment rights don't apply because of the threat of terrorism.
In a 2006 case that didn't involve VIPR, subway rider Brendan MacWade and three others sued the City of New York and its police commissioner, challenging passenger bag searches at subway entrances where people were chosen at random.
MacWade lost on appeal because the court ruled the searches were legal under the Fourth Amendment's "special needs doctrine."
"The courts have said that -- because airplanes are so vulnerable to hijacking and bombs -- certain privacy interests have to be sacrificed," CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin said. "I think subways are a harder call because so many people ride them and they don't fly in the sky.
But because they're underground and vulnerable, the court said the searches were OK. Would it be the same at a bus station or a busy city street? The line starts to get very tough."
Few Amtrak passengers have ever refused to be searched, O'Connor said. "We've done thousands of them, and I would say less than a handful of people have chosen to seek other transportation."
The TSA says VIPR is performing the searches often at the invitation of local or state authorities. "TSA is not arbitrarily going out there now and searching passengers and trying to violate their rights," Thompson said. "We're conducting searches in conjunction with the stakeholders."
Is VIPR working? It's hard to know.
When asked if VIPR has ever directly resulted in discovered explosives or the arrest of suspected attackers, Thompson said, "Specific operational results are considered security sensitive information.
Although the value of deterrence is difficult to measure directly the presence of law enforcement transportation security personnel VIPR assets increases the difficulty with which potential terrorists plan and conduct terrorist activity."
VIPR's spot-checking role, rail security experts say, saves the high cost of deploying officers at every passenger transportation depot in the nation -- which they point out would be virtually impossible.
The surprise element of a VIPR team accompanying local police at a train station or truck weigh station on the day of a planned attack might force a terrorist to cancel the attack.
"This kind of unpredictability is another tool in the toolbox to manipulate and play with their minds and cause a level of tactical deterrence," Rand security analyst Brian A. Jackson said.
As Amtrak's O'Connor puts it: "You never know where those search scenes are going to show up."
Watching the truckers
Truckers driving their rigs through Tennessee last October were surprised to be caught up in a VIPR joint exercise with local law enforcement targeting five freight truck weigh stations and two bus stations, CNN affiliate WTVF reported.
"Transportation Security officers did not search the trucks," the TSA's Thompson told CNN. "Technically, if you think about a dog walking around a truck, sniffing for trace explosives, from my understanding is still technically a search.
That's the only search the VIPRs were actually involved in." TSA officers, she said, were mostly handing out fliers. "They weren't out there searching people, and they weren't out there searching trucks."
The action was described as a statewide VIPR operation, and officials told WTVF that it wasn't a response to any particular threat, which troubles the American Trucking Associations.
"Adding security personnel at weigh stations in unfamiliar federal uniforms is not likely to raise the comfort level of commercial drivers entering weigh stations, unless there is a threat to the highway sector," ATA spokesman Martin Rojas said.
It "doesn't seem like the best use of TSA resources unless there is information or intelligence that supports increased highway security."
What other countries are doing
Spain and Russia significantly beefed up their rail security in the years after deadly terrorist bomb attacks killed 191 in Madrid in 2004 and 40 in Moscow in 2010.
Although there are no regular baggage checks for passengers on Spanish trains, subways and buses, the nation's bullet trains do use electronic scanners.
Far more undercover plainclothes agents and uniformed officers are believed to be stationed in or near major transit hubs. Madrid's metro trains use a private security patrol force and closed-circuit video surveillance.
Moscow -- with the world's second-busiest subway system -- has spent $1.6 billion over three years to strengthen its transit security, said security analyst Rick Nelson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
U.S. transit officials look to VIPR to augment security during tough financial times for many communities.
"We'd prefer to see a greater investment directly with the transit agencies," said Greg Hull of the American Public Transportation Association.
"Failing that, having the ability to draw upon these resources that are under the control of the Department of Homeland Security certainly is a viable alternative."
For the Vetters, their father-and-son brush with train passenger searches offered a real-world life lesson.
Rick Vetter remembers that his wife recently gave him a refrigerator magnet featuring a quote from Ben Franklin: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."
"The VIPR operation certainly didn't amount to that," Vetter said. "They could have handled it better in the sense that they could have provided some advance warning that they're expanding this to train stations and bus stations."
The Ben Franklin magnet sprang from his son's government lessons in school, Vetter said, which led to a family discussion about tradeoffs in society.
"You've got to decide in society where you're going to draw some of those lines," Vetter said. "You, as an individual, may or may not agree where that line is drawn, but once it's drawn, you've got some choices to make."
Please note that what you have viewed on the video above is NOT the way Charlotte's Mass Transportation System functions Citywide.
Charlotte, NC like most Southern Cities is still 20 years behind Major Metropolitan Cities as it relates to the benefit Of Mass Public Transportation. Especially Major Metropolitan Cities on the East Coast. Charlotte City Leaders like other Southern City Leaders, believe ONLY Low Income Citizens use Public Transportation, thus they rarely invest in Improving that segment of Public Service. Of course Nothing could be further from the Truth! More than 85% Of New York City & New Jersey residents including Very Well-To-Do Citizens, frequently use Mass Public Transportation traveling to & from Work on a Daily basis. In fact there are many, many New Yorkers who have NEVER possessed a Drivers' License due to the city's Very Efficient Public Transportation System. i.e., Amtrak, Subway, Buses, Ferry. This includes thousands of Wall Street employees who live in Connecticut & Pennsylvania but prefer to travel via Public Transportation versus Driving hundreds of miles. By providing Efficient means of Mass Public Transportation in BLACK, Latino & WHITE Communities, in return those East Coast Major Metropolitan Cities reap HUGE Revenue Profits Annually from the Passengers! So it would be to the benefit of Charlotte's future to STOP Stereotyping the type of Passengers who utilize its Mass Public Transportation System & just invest in improving the entire Freaking System Citywide NOT just in Charlotte's WHITE Communities! Thank You
Still struggling with stagnant sales-tax revenue, the Charlotte Area Transit System is seeking a fare increase for bus and light rail - its fourth hike since 2008.
CATS is proposing to raise the one-way local fare for buses and trains to $2, up from $1.75.
The fare hike is expected to generate an additional $2.5 million in revenue. The transit system expects ridership to decline by 3 percent because of the hike.
CATS receives roughly half of its budget from the half-cent sales tax dedicated for transit. But since the 2008 recession began, tax revenues have plummeted.
Olaf Kinard, CATS director of marketing and communications, said the sales tax is stuck at 2005 levels.
"We have reduced over $23 million in expenses," Kinard said. "But you run against the sales tax. We don't know yet what will truly happen."
In 1998, the cost of a local one-way bus fare was 80 cents. The next fare hike was in 2004, when it increased to $1.10.
CATS has continued to have increases, in 2006 ($1.20); 2008 ($1.30); 2009 ($1.50); 2010 ($1.75) and now 2012 ($2).
The cost of express buses also would go up.
One-way express bus fares within Mecklenburg County would go from $2.40 to $2.75; one-way express bus fares outside of the county would go from $3.50 to $4.
The Metropolitan Transit Commission will hold a public hearing on the increases at its March 28 meeting.
RENOVATED NORTH DAVIDSON BUS FACILITY REOPENS ITS DOORS Charlotte, N.C., July 26, 2011 — Construction is almost complete and you are invited to come take a look inside the Charlotte Area Transit System’s (CATS) North DavidsonBus Facility Renovation and Expansion Project on Thursday, July 28 at 10 a.m. at 901 North Davidson Street.
Join Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, CATS CEO Carolyn Flowers, District 1 City Council Member Patsy Kinsey and Director of the Governor’s Piedmont Regional Office Bud Berro to see the refurbished facility that will improve the efficiency of bus operations and maintenance for up to 200 buses. Attendees can park in CATS Bus Lots 5 and 6 on McGill Garden Way. Signs will be posted.
The renovation and expansion project is the recipient of $20.7 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus funds through the Transit Capital Assistance Urbanized Program.
“CATS ridership has increased 100 percent within the past decade; this facility will be key in sustaining operations now and well into the future,” Mayor Anthony Foxx said. “This project was a bright spot during a time when we needed it most, it has helped put Charlotte businesses and citizens to work. Approximately 150 jobs were created throughout the last two years at this facility.
There are currently 21 Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) contracts in the amount of over $1.4 million awarded as part of this project, which is extremely important for the sustainability of small businesses in our city,” said Foxx.
The renovations allow operational and maintenance improvements for up to 200 transit buses. Updated facility conditions include mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems as well as bus maintenance equipment. CATS Special Transportation Service, which operates 83 vehicles, will move its administration and operations to the North Davidson campus to provide more consolidated operations. A new, multi-level parking garage will provide ample space for employees working out of this facility.
“We are very excited to provide transit employees a more efficient building with added environmental benefits such as passive lighting and dual bus usage,” said Carolyn Flowers, CATS CEO. “The exterior changes also allow the buildings to better blend into the fabric of the nearby communities. None of this would have been possible at this time without the support and assistance received by this stimulus grant through the Federal Transit Administration.”
Exterior panels on the buildings, designed by North Carolina artist Jimmy O’Neal, depict the visual translations of actual sounds recorded at the facility. The maintenance building includes images from the sound of a bus operator’s announcement to passengers, a worker’s tool, the message heard by CATS bus operators when they start up a bus and the sound of bus brakes. The administration building images are from the sounds of a bus horn and wheel.
The CATS North Davidson Bus Facility is expected to resume full operations in late summer 2011. The facility was originally constructed in 1981 and includes a two-story administration/operations building, a three-level maintenance building and a fuel and wash facility.
To learn more about CATS and its services, please call 704-336-7433 or visit us on the web at www.ridetransit.org.
“We are constantly seeking grants and other revenue sources to leverage the investment Mecklenburg County citizens make to Public Transit through the dedicated sales tax,” said Carolyn Flowers, CATS CEO. “These two grants will assist us in reducing operational expenses.” CATS has been awarded over $28.5 million this year in state and Federal Grants.
The Bus Canopy Solar PVS/Charging Project is part of the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER II) program. The $1.0 million award will be used at the CATS South Tryon Bus Facility which includes nine bus canopies in the middle of the lot that provide shade for the vehicles and allow the buses to cool quicker when going into service.
These canopies will be the site of 2,268 solar PV panels which could generate up to 50.5 megawatt hours of power each month and approximately 12 percent of the annual electric use at this facility.
CATS also received $421,580 for the Clean Fuels Bus and Bus Facilities Program. This grant award will be used to purchase more efficient and light weight Special Transportation Service (STS) vehicles as identified as part of CATS’ 2007-2012 Countywide Transit Services Plan.
CATS will replace five older, less efficient STS vehicles in the fleet with five new vehicles that emit 56 percent less carbon dioxide, get more miles per gallon, only require preventative maintenance every 10,000 miles and have an increased lifespan up to 7 years and 200,000 miles.
To learn more about CATS and its services, call 704-336-RIDE or visit us on the web at www.ridetransit.org.
The Charlotte City Council narrowly agreed Monday night to take $25 million in federal money to begin the first 1.5 miles of its planned streetcar route.
The 6-5 council vote came after more than three hours of passionate debate from residents and the council. It also survived a last-minute effort to defer the issue until a later meeting.
Supporters said the streetcar would spur development along its eventual 10 miles and would provide another transportation option.
But opponents argued the city can't afford the project now, and that the streetcar would eat up money that could be used on other community needs.
Voting in favor of accepting the federal grant were Democrats Jason Burgess, Patrick Cannon, Nancy Carter, David Howard, Patsy Kinsey and James Mitchell.
Voting no were Republicans Warren Cooksey, Andy Dulin and Edwin Peacock, plus Democrats Michael Barnes and Warren Turner.
The first $37 million, 1.5-mile segment would run from Time Warner Cable Arena in uptown to Presbyterian Hospital in the Elizabeth area, with six stops or stations along the way. Construction will start within 18 months, and the city wants to have the streetcar up and running by 2014.
In addition to the federal money, the city will spend $12 million from three of its capital funds for the streetcar.
But that only covers construction. The first leg is also expected to carry a $1.5 million annual operating bill.
The Charlotte Area Transit System has said it can't cover the tab, pushing the costs to the city. Officials there haven't said how they would pay for the operating costs, only that the money would likely come from the city's general fund.
The lack of operating money fueled some of Monday's opposition to the streetcar. Many speakers said the community has more pressing needs, including crime-fighting and schools.
"Just because ... you vote against accepting that grant, it doesn't mean you don't believe in mass transportation," said Tariq Bokhari. "It just might mean that this expenditure doesn't make sense with our current priorities."
But other speakers said investing in the streetcar will pave the way for more development in the future, particularly in east and west Charlotte.
The city has proposed building a 10-mile streetcar line from the Rosa Parks Transit Center on Beatties Ford Road near Interstate 85 to Eastland Mall, via Trade Street uptown.
Malcolm Graham, a special assistant to the president of Johnson C. Smith University and a state senator, urged the council to "not make a decision for today, but to make a decision for tomorrow."
"Invest in our community the same way many on council who sat in those chairs before invested in our community," he said.
Comments from council largely mirrored that of citizens who packed the chamber.
Many council members who voted against the grant money lamented that the city had not identified a way to pay for the operating costs.
They also worried that moving ahead with the streetcar meant the city was pushing aside previously announced plans to extend the Lynx light rail line to the University City area, as well as commuter rail to the northern Mecklenburg towns.
Other council members argued they weren't sidestepping those projects but were taking advantage of federal money that's become available.
Under the Bush administration, federal transit money wasn't available for streetcars. That changed under the Obama administration, and earlier this month, Charlotte was among the cities awarded $130 million in streetcar grants.
Leaders have said they plan to keep looking for more money to help pay for the rest of the project, though they said they likely would only be able to build 2- or 3-mile segments at a time.
The entire 10-mile stretch could cost about $500 million.
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