Commissioner ponders job options

Mecklenburg County commissioner Dan Ramirez may be ready to switch seats -- and jobs. Eight months after winning election, the Charlotte Republican is mulling a race for Charlotte City Council. He expects to make a decision next week.
Why?
"The answer is really very simple," says Ramirez, a 60-year-old businessman. "It's not that I don't like the county commission -- I really love it. But I think my skills are more attuned with the business of the city ... the infrastructure ... projects in general."Ramirez would run at-large. At least one incumbent, Republican Pat Mumford, is stepping down. If elected, Ramirez would sit at the same government center dais he does now. But on Monday nights, not Tuesdays. -- Jim Morrill

Edwin Peacock Jr. was just a kid when his dad, Ed, was elected to the Charlotte City Council. Now he's running himself. Peacock, a 37-year-old Republican, will run at-large. That's the same position once held by his father, who also chaired the Mecklenburg County commissioners and ran for mayor. Peacock Jr. says his dad never pushed him to run. "He's just told me how much he enjoyed it and how much I would enjoy it," he says. ~Jim Morrill

Light-rail facility tour today
Building opens to public as part of CATS' push to promote mass transit

The South Boulevard Light Rail Facility will open today with fanfare from local officials eager to show off the building and the LYNX blue line rail cars to the public.
Light rail has come under attack recently by critics who say it's unnecessary and overpriced. They want to repeal a half-cent sales tax dedicated to mass transit and have collected enough signatures to put the matter to voters on the Nov. 6 ballot.
The Charlotte Area Transit System, meanwhile, has been working to open the $462.7 million South Corridor line early to persuade voters to keep paying the tax.
The original cost estimate for the line was $227 million in 1998. CATS will celebrate the grand opening of its 92,000-square-foot facility from 10 a.m. to noon today. Jennifer Roberts, chairman of the Mecklenburg County commissioners, and Charlotte City Council member Patsy Kinsey, District 1, will join CATS chief officer Ron Tober to open facility.
"We want the community to come out and see the LYNX light-rail vehicles, walk through the cars and learn how they operate," Tober said in a statement. "Visitors will also get to see how the trains are maintained and other operational features at this new site." ~KAREN CIMINO

Keep your heads up there is a MTC Meeting regarding the repeal of the half -cent sales tax coming up very soon.