Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Symbolic Gestures
Looks like Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory vetoed the Charlotte streetcar study. But no matter, it initially passed with a 7 to 4 vote, wherin 7 votes are needed to override a veto. It was a symbolic gesture that might win him some local support from the local libertarian set, but ultimately would hold the city back from planning the line which would likely not be constructed for at least another few years, hopefully when the economy is better. Gotta plan for the future.
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8 comments:
I thought he was pro-transit?
http://theoverheadwire.blogspot.com/2009/08/building-something-of-meaning.html
Well in the article he states that while he likes the streetcar, he wants to be fiscally pragmatic.
planning the line which would likely not be constructed for at least another few years
this would be the line where some of the tracks were already laid on a recently reconstructed street?
Yes about two large blocks were paved between Kings Drive and Hawthorne Lane on Elizabeth Ave Southeast of Downtown.
The rest of the line is in planning. The city saw that they were going to reconstruct Elizabeth and decided that it would be easier to do it once with streetcar tracks rather than rip it up again in a few years.
You should know that McCrory is both:
(1) a lame duck (his term is up this fall) and is
(2) planning to run for NC Governor again in 2012 (http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/5855269/). He would have won the 08 race had it not been for the Obama focus on winning NC.
And of course he knows the votes are there to pass the streetcar anyway, so the study will go ahead and he can score some political points on his way out. The thing that annoyed me in his 08 campaign was that he purposely avoided talking about transit, I suppose because it wasn't considered a statewide issue.
McCrory is pro-transit, but he's also a politician who has aspirations for a higher public office.
I was going to point out what JoJo said; McCrory is definitely one of the more pro-transit Repubs out there, but if he's aspiring to any higher office, especially since he most likely knew this had the votes to pass even w/out his approval, why not veto it?
thanks. i always get nervous about that kind of thing because things never work out as planned. for example look at all the ghost highway ramps built for future highways that never happened. or those places where rail/metro stations were built ahead of time for a rail line that never came and eventually get torn out. that said i certainly agree, the charlotte streetcar looks likely.
The main reason McCrory vetoed it is that in the 2007 campaign to keep the transit tax he promised that the system would be built with no new taxes (at least for the city of Charlotte). This was feasible then but now it is not because of the 300+- deficit in the transit tax. So he is pro transit but opposed to new taxes. So yes this does have to do with his future intentions; however I believe his integrity is more of a factor.
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