Action Item! Stop the Streetcar!

Hello Tea Partiers!

This is a very important email about the Charlotte Streetcar–but we need EVERYONE’s help, not just those who live in Char-Meck. There is a lot of meat in this email, please read it thoroughly, email the people listed, and please forward this email to all of your friends! This is our last shot at not spending millions on the Elizabeth Ave streetcar!

INTRO

There’s one more chance to let people know how you feel about the Streetcar, and it’s going on right now. The City of Charlotte is asking for MUMPO (Mecklenburg Union Metropolitan Planning Organization) to amend its long-term transportation plan agreement, and codify the streetcar’s jumping ahead of other plans, in order to secure the federal $$$ to build it. This is bad policy, it won’t deliver more transit options, and there’s no way to know how it’ll be paid for and extended, to meet intended goals, for starters.

Three good reason to oppose the Streetcar on MUMPO:

1. If the Streetcar gets on MUMPO’s Priority list, it can compete for Sate and NCDOT money against the Light Rail Expansion, 458 widening and other road projects. That means some road widening projects will be delayed.

2. The Streetcar is a City of Charlotte Project, CATS refuses to deal with it. MUMPO is supposed to work on regional transportation solutions for Mecklenburg and Union Counties, not political pet projects.

3. The Streetcar does not make economic sense during these tight budget years. The 1.5 mile line will cost $1.5 million tax payer dollars to operate per year and is only expecting 475 round trip rides per day. And CATS said it will still operate a Bus Line down Elizabeth Avenue. Do we need a bus line and a street car on the same short route??

ACTION

So here’s what you need to do: Write letters. Call. Email. By Feb 23rd. Then plan on showing up to the March 16th Meeting at 7pm in the Government Center.

All Comments need to go to:

Robert W. Cook, AICP
MUMPO Secretary
600 E. Fourth St.
Charlotte, NC 28202
FAX: 704-336-5123
E-Mail: rwcook@charlottenc.gov

Feel Free to also contact the members MUMPO Board:

info@davidhowardclt.com,
jbensman@attglobal.net,
bjenest@colejeneststone.com,
sMcAulay@huntersville.org,
mayor@indiantrail.org,
jtaylor@matthewsnc.com,
dumontclarke@mvalaw.com,
manager@minthill.com,
jbashcraft@wedamon.com,
JEschert@aol.com,
lpaxton@stallingsnc.org,
jerry.simpson@co.union.nc.us,
dgardner@waxhaw.com,
hunterberryfarm@yahoo.com,
brad.horvath@wachovia.com,
bgbraswell@hotmail.com,
jcollett@collett.biz

WHAT TO WRITE

Please begin your letter as follows:

“I strongly encourage you NOT to change the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) to advance construction of the proposed streetcar.”

In order to communicate effectively this position, please note the following points:

1. There is no identified funding plan for the full streetcar corridor. Moving the date of the streetcar in the LRTP does nothing to address this point. In fact, moving the project may become a reason to promote future extension of the streetcar, at the expense of other necessary projects on the LRTP.

2. The proposed streetcar project does not meet any transportation need. The mile and a half corridor proposed for construction is currently served in its entirety by two bus lines. Five other transit lines serve part of the corridor, including the free-to-ride Gold Rush trolley.

3. Advancing the streetcar violates the regional transit plan adopted by the Metropolitan Transit Commission. The regional vision for transit focuses on the Blue Line Extension and the Red Line before the streetcar.

4. The streetcar does not have consensus support within Charlotte. the last vote by the Charlotte City Council on the streetcar was 6 to 5. Furthermore, the vast majority of supporters of the streetcar live or work in the corridor itself. In contrast, a majority of voters in all but two precincts in Mecklenburg County supported the transit tax in 2007. the community supports the transit tax and the transit plan, not the streetcar as a separate project.

5. The federal grant for the streetcar is not from a regularly-funded program. Instead, the money came from a discretionary pool of one-time unused funds controlled by the Federal Transit Administration. Without a funding plan in place, construction of a portion of the streetcar line creates future pressure for Charlotte to find money from whatever sources possible, to build out the corridor.

Please remember, you are not trying to persuade anyone that transit in general is good or bad. This vote is solely about whether or not the streetcar should be built out of sequence, without a plan to pay for the whole project.

FURTHER READING

http [:/] /www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/print-edition/2010/12/03/streetcars-best-hope-is-now-uncle-sam.html

http [:/] /www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2010/11/17/mtc-considers-options-for-spurring.html

http [:/] /www.wfae.org/wfae/1_87_316.cfm?action=display&id=6840

http [:/] /www.wcnc.com/news/local/Streetcar-line-wins-approval-after-contentious-debate-99291839.html

REMEMBER! ALL CALLS, EMAILS, FAXES, LETTERS MUST BE DELIVERED BY FEBRUARY 23RD! THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW. THEN, PLAN ON ATTENDING THE MEETING ON MARCH 16TH AT 7PM IN THE GOVERNMENT CENTER. (Details to follow)

GO GET ‘EM, TEA PARTIERS!!

In Liberty,

Matthew Ridenhour
twitter: @mridenhour

“It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather a small, tireless minority intent on lighting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men.”

-Samuel Adams

Charlotte Tea Party
twitter: @CLTTeaParty
www.charlotteteaparty.org

About

The Charlotte Tea Party is just getting started! We are growing stronger everyday as more and more ordinary people recognize that the direction this country is heading is wrong.
Join a club, volunteer for a candidate, blog, send money to good causes....YOU can make a difference!