An ill-conceived transit vote?

Mr. Koconis’ article in this mornings Observer is full of misinformation, speculation and falsehoods……and the Observer lets him get away with it. Here is the article and Tom Ashcraft’s response. ~Don

What Mr. Koconis wrote:

An ill-conceived transit vote If measure hits ballot, be aware it will kill more than light rail

Nothing is free. That's true in business as well as government. All services which governments provide to citizens cost money, and the primary place that money comes from is taxes. Nobody likes taxes, but unless we want anarchy, we have to pay them, so our government can function.

In Charlotte, as in most cities, one of the services that our local government provides is the mass transit system. Fares pay some of the cost to run it and tax revenue pays the rest. And part of that comes from the half-cent transit tax. This is the tax that the group calling itself "SCAT" is trying to get eliminated, by placing a referendum on the ballot this fall. To get this measure on the ballot, SCAT is circulating a petition which needs 48,000 verified signatures. It appears likely they will reach this goal before the August deadline for making the November ballot.

The acronym "SCAT" stands for "Sensible Charlotte Area Transportation." Interesting. Because that's exactly what repealing the transit tax would not be. This is a great example of an organization naming itself deceptively. Its real goal is to kill the light rail line soon to be completed between Charlotte and Pineville. SCAT even calls the tax "the light rail tax" on its web site. That's not correct, as the tax funds all mass transit, not just light rail.

Opponents never wanted rail
This is an attempt to kill light rail by the folks who never wanted it in the first place. Don't be fooled by their name. And don't think that just because they got a lot of signatures, people really support them. Most people probably signed the petition without even reading it. (You see it all the time, on your way into the grocery store, someone says, "Here, sign my petition." Most people just do it.)Even if the tax is repealed, they will not succeed in stopping the rail line. It is almost complete and will begin service sometime in fall, very near the date of the likely vote on this ill-conceived measure. Yes, it's true it has gone over budget, and this should and will be investigated. But it makes no sense to abandon it at this point. If you were building a house and had only a few shingles left to put on the roof, would you tear it down, because the cost was higher than expected? Of course not.

Kill rail, repay feds

A large portion of the cost for the light rail line was paid with state and federal funds. If we don't operate it, Uncle Sam and the state will want that money back, $306 million. Killing it simply isn't an option.

If the transit tax is repealed, what will actually happen? Bus service will have to be cut, which will hurt those who depend on it: the poor, disabled and elderly. They use the bus because they have no alternative. If we care about them, we should keep the transit tax.

Remember, the tax we are talking about is just one-half of 1 percent. Boy, I can tell you, I'm looking forward to getting that back, come November! Just what will I do with all that money I'll suddenly have? Gee, maybe buy a few extra cans of diet cola each week? That's about what the tax is costing me.

I can understand that people who don't use mass transit might not want to pay for it. If you never ride the bus and you don't plan to use the light rail line, maybe you feel you shouldn't pay for them.
I suppose people who don't drive on it shouldn't pay for Interstate 485 or any other major highway projects, then. Of course, they do. Even people who don't drive cars pay for street and road projects, through state and federal taxes and city property taxes. Bus riders indirectly support the cost of road construction and maintenance through registration fees and fuel taxes paid by the transit system.

We all depend on each other
We are all interdependent here, which is exactly as it should be. There shouldn't be a feeling of any "us" and "them," between the drivers and the mass transit riders. Should each of us try to eliminate every function of local government that we do not personally use? That's not how a city works.

Everyone who lives and works here should want all government services to work for everybody. This includes the mass transit system, and that now includes both the buses and the south corridor light rail line.

It makes no sense to repeal the small tax that supports it. If that appears on the ballot in November, don't vote for it.

Frank A. Koconis

Observer community columnist Frank A. Koconis is a database consultant. Write him c/o The Observer, P.O. Box 30308, Charlotte, NC 28230-0308, or at fkoconis@windstream.net

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  Please note that, Mr. Koconis is a community columnist, which means he is publishing his opinion. Please also note that in this write up he never quotes anyone from SCAT or spoke to any representative of that organization. Opinions... well everyone has one.

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Dear Mr. Koconis:

The above column by you and its accompanying photographic depiction contain a factual falsehood. I’m part of the embryonic SCAT group, and I do not want “to kill the light rail line” along South Boulevard as you wrote. Obviously, with the money already spent, that line should be run; indeed, it was supposed to have opened months ago, but as with many things coming from CATS you can’t trust what they say.

Attached is the official report of cost overruns on the south corridor line, a disgrace by any measure. If the transit sales tax is not repealed this fall, there will be, in my opinion, many more cost overruns in the future.

The photo depiction with your column shows the south corridor line with a caption asserting, “The real aim of SCAT is to kill the light rail line.” As to the line shown, that’s a fabrication as far as this SCAT supporter is concerned. You and The Charlotte Observer owe your readers an apology and a correction. Will we get one?

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,
Thomas J. Ashcraft