Streetcar wins key council vote

Amid poetry, passion and multiple standing ovations, the Charlotte City Council voted 7-4 Tuesday to move ahead with applying for a federal grant to extend the Charlotte streetcar route another 2.5 miles.

It was one of the best evenings of political theater I've watched in recent years. At-large council members Beth Pickering and later Patrick Cannon drew sustained applause from a street-car loving audience when Pickering and then Cannon announced in support of the proposal. Both had voted a year ago against including the streetcar expansion project in the city's long-range capital program.

But new City Manager Ron Carlee and his staff came back with a different proposal, which wouldn't put the streetcar into the city's capital program, and so wouldn't use property taxes to fund it.

In an election year, with Cannon already an announced mayoral candidate, the many passionate audience members from East and West Charlotte who spoke in favor of the streetcar might have had an effect. (Mattie Marshall quoted Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred?")

It's worth noting that Pickering, a Democrat, won her council seat in 2011 as a newcomer to local politics, coming in fourth for four at-large seats in a heavy Democratic turnout spurred by Mayor Anthony Foxx's re-election. For a Democrat without huge name recognition to anger the heavily Democratic West Charlotte AND the Democratic-leaning East Charlotte neighborhoods could be a huge political problem.

"All things considered, my No. 1 priority is to revitalize the East and West sides," Pickering said, as she announced her support. Because only one vote change was needed to switch last year's 6-5 vote against, her announcement meant the streetcar proposal would pass.

Amid sustained applause, the as-of-late seldom seen mayor walked into the chamber. Foxx, nominated to be U.S. Transportation secretary, has taken a low-profile role in recent weeks. (Question to ponder: Would he have joined the meeting if the streetcar vote were going the other way?)

Streetcar, trolley or light rail?

How many times do you hear people say they love the light rail line in Charlotte but they don't want a trolley. By which they mean a streetcar. If you know much about transit systems, that sentence may strike you as nonsense. A streetcar does not equal a trolley, although some streetcars may be trolleys. Trolleys typically run in the street, but not always.

Terminology is obscuring the public debate.

I'm sitting at Charlotte City Council meeting awaiting their votes on a couple of items: Whether to apply for a federal grant to extend the already-begun 1.5-mile streetcar project, and whether to spend almost $900,000 to demolish the now-city-owned Eastland Mall, a defunct regional shopping mall on Charlotte' East Side.

So I took advantage of the attendance of Ron Tober, former CEO of the Charlotte Area Transit System, former executive director of the nonprofit group Charlotte Trolley Inc., and current consultant with Parsons Brinckerhoff. He has worked on transit systems all over the country, from heavy rail (which does NOT mean intercity passenger rail; it means it has a third rail, which is electrified, as in subways, and deadly to touch, as in "Social Security is the third rail of American politics"), to light rail to commuter rail to streetcars to trolleys.

1. What is a "trolley"? 
Tober: The term trolley is used for a historic (or faux historic) car that runs on rails and is fed by an overhead electric wire.

2. Are streetcars and trolleys the same?
Tober: Not if they use modern cars. Trolleys can run in the street or on dedicated tracks.
In other words, streetcar systems such as Portland's or Seattle's are fed by overhead electric wires, but aren't "trolley" systems as the term is generally used in the transit-building world.

3. If the Lynx used old-timey-looking cars, would it then be a trolley?
Tober: Yes.

So there you are. To say Charlotte's proposed streetcars would "waddle" down the street is true only if the cars are unstable. Which the Federal Transit Administration won't allow.

To save money, for the early 1.5-mile streetcar starter project now under construction, the city plans to use the faux historic streetcars purchased originally to run on the Lynx tracks, part of the now-comatose Charlotte Trolley nonprofit group's pre-Lynx-line project that ran a historic and then the faux-historic cars along what's now the Lynx rails.

So you will see historic-ish cars running on overhead electric wires, along Elizabeth Avenue and East Trade Street. That will be both a streetcar and a trolley.

But when the envisioned modern cars arrive for the envisioned streetcar project -- whenever or if that happens -- it won't be a "trolley" line any more. It will be a modern streetcar.

New city manager, new streetcar plan?

Will a new name, a new tie-in to the county’s overall transit plan, and a new funding scheme using no property tax money mean a new outcome that puts an expanded streetcar project into the “yes” column with the Charlotte City Council? (see my article  at PlanCharlotte.org).

(Other news coverage from Erik Spanberg of the Charlotte Business Journal is here, and from the Charlotte Observer's Steve Harrison  here. For those of you who don't get the print edition, Harrison's article was splashed in a major way atop the front page.)

Among the many questions yet to be answered:

Changing minds? Will any of the six council members who last year opposed the streetcar change their minds, now that it's being paid for without property taxes and will, presumably, have the blessing of the Metropolitan Transit Commission? Council member Patrick Cannon, who is expected to run for mayor, told me those two things make it easier for him to support the streetcar.  Note, however, he did not give an unequivocal "Yes, I'll support it."

Thumb on scale at USDOT? Would having Mayor Anthony Foxx running the U.S. Department of Transportation (he's been nominated but not yet confirmed) increase the chances of the streetcar winning federal transit funding, from either the New Starts or the Small Starts pots of funds?

New name? As new (since April 1) City Manager Ron Carlee told the council Monday night, "The streetcar is not a toy...." By renaming it the CityLynx Gold Line the city hopes to make the point that it's just one part of the larger transit system strategy. Memo to city: The new name is TOO LONG.

Carlee, city staff, and the CEO of the Charlotte Area Transit System, Carolyn Flowers, teamed to give a presentation Monday night at the council’s dinner meeting, signaling a new approach to the controversial streetcar proposal. Last June, the council’s disagreements over the streetcar helped scuttle a larger proposal for a five-year capital projects plan.

Carlee said he thought the streetcar expansion project – adding 2.5 miles to an already-funded 1.5-mile streetcar “starter” project – would compete well for federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Old Charlotte, meet New Charlotte

Old Charlotte met new Charlotte Thursday night. And in this case, "old" doesn't necessarily refer to people's ages.

Thursday night, I sat in on WFAE's latest public conversation, this one on "One Charlotte or Many? A Neighborhood Perspective."

Among the panelists was Tim Timmerman, a south Charlotte resident and founder of a group called South Mecklenburg Alliance for Responsible Taxpayers (SMART). He's of the opinion that south Charlotte – the wedge-shaped pie slice with the city's least crime, highest incomes, highest property values, highest education levels, etc. – is not getting its share of city resources while its property owners pay the lion's share in property taxes. His part of the city would end up paying for a streetcar nobody wants, he said, and he's tired of so much city money going to center city. South Charlotte has no voice, he said.

The other panelists – Diane Langevin, president of the Winterfield Neighborhood Association in east Charlotte, Vee Veca Torrence, president of the Thomasboro Neighborhood Association in west Charlotte, and City Manager Ron Carlee, only three weeks into the job – didn't loudly denounce Timmerman.

But the audience sure did. Several audience members drew applause when they said Timmerman was being divisive. We are one city, they said. Stop being adversarial. We need a strong downtown and strong neighborhoods. We need not only a streetcar but a "spider web" of transit connections throughout the city. Two who drew applause were long-time Charlotte residents, one in her late 60s and a Charlotte native, the other a man who said he, too, lived in "the wedge," yet he was delighted the city had spent time and attention on uptown. He recalled uptown Charlotte in the 1970s. It was dead, he said, and so much livelier now.

Which mayors weighed in on airport issue?

More regional voices are diving into the issue of who should control the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.  This morning's Charlotte Observer has an article from Jim Morrill, "Mayors urge delay on airport bill." 

The article quotes Miles Atkins of Mooresville saying a dozen mayors at a regular meeting last week of a group called the Regional Conference of Mayors Central Carolinas Advisory Board

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/04/25/4003485/mayors-urge-delay-on-airport-bill.html#storylink=cpy

discussed the issue with Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx.

It also quotes Matthews Mayor Jim Taylor as concerned that the airport bill is another example “of those in Raleigh trying to whittle away at local control.

“We’re just asking them … to hold off making a decision so there is additional time to investigate all the ramifications with all parties at the table,” Taylor said. “We keep hearing they (Charlotte) have done something wrong, but we don’t know any details.

“We want to know specifically what is driving the need for this legislation. We haven’t gotten a satisfactory answer.”

The sponsors of the bill, N.C. Sen. Bob Rucho and N.C. Rep. Bill Brawley, are also from Matthews.

According to Morrill, the mayors who signed a letter to N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, urging delay on the bill were: Atkins of Mooresville, Taylor of Matthews, plus:

• Belmont Mayor Richard Boyce
• Spencer Mayor Jody Everhart
• Waxhaw Mayor Daune Gardner
• Statesville Mayor Costi Kutteh 

The issue has created discussion throughout the Charlotte region about regional cooperation. To read more:
Regional cooperation at risk? 
Threatened revote on bypass didn't happen
 and, from the Observer: 
Emotions high over airport authority push

Threatened revote on bypass didn't happen

While I was heading out of town last week, the threatened move by Charlotte, planned for Wednesday night, to revisit a vote of support for the Monroe Bypass did not take place.

Robert Cook, secretary to the transportation planning group formerly known as MUMPO (see "MUMPO no more") reports that, indeed, Charlotte City Council member Michael Barnes told the group that he did not intend to raise the Monroe Bypass issue at the meeting. 

Here's the background on the issue: "Charlotte council, smarting over airport resolutions, threatens Monroe Bypass."

And here's the Sunday article from The Charlotte Observer's Jim Morrill, "Emotions high over airport authority push."  He was at the legislative building on Wednesday as city officials and legislators were discussing whether this vote – which was to have been symbolic only, not actually a vote on revoking funding for the project – should happen.

Meanwhile, for those of you following the political soap opera around Charlotte's airport, the Airport Advisory Committee has been asked to attend the 5 p.m. Charlotte City Council dinner meeting.

The council's agenda packet includes a complete list of Airport Advisory Committee members, including who appointed them and when, and when their terms end. Want to see?  And here's a link to download the full council agenda. The Airport Advisory Committee agenda item is on page 5 of the PDF document. And here's the Observer's take on the impetus for today's meeting: Charlotte City Council to grill airport board over power struggle.

MUMPO no more

While reporting further on the Charlotte City Council vote Monday to seek a re-vote on a resolution supporting the Monroe Bypass I learned of a name change.

But first, it's important to note the vote to be possibly revisited was on a resolution, not a measure directly affecting the project's funding; I've updated the original blog, "Charlotte council, smarting over airport resolutions, threatens Monroe Bypass," to clarify that.)

The Mecklenburg Union Metropolitan Planning Organization, known for years as MUMPO, has renamed itself the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO), says MUMPO (or CRTPO?) Secretary Robert Cook.

As I've opined in the past, since the 2010 census brought portions of Iredell and Lincoln counties into the jurisdiction of the MPO, I was hoping for MILUMPO. I have an odd fascination with the bizarre names of the regional transportation groups surrounding Charlotte, not to mention a continuing frustration that transportation planning in this huge metro region is fractured among so many groups: GUAMPO, CRMPO, GHMPO, RRRPO (the pirate?) and RFATS. What do those excellent acronyms stand for? Read it here: "No more MUMPO. Get ready for ... MILUMPO?"