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I definitely agree with talks on the table, discussions, and a plan. But I VERY much want our tax dollars to be spent wisely. Why is it such a difficult concept to grasp with the government these days that you shouldn't spend more money than you have, and that sometimes you have to prioritize, make a plan, and sometimes wait?
I say "anti-transit think tank" because they are well known to not favor many mass transit solutions. It wasn't exactly a unbiased report. Their conclusion was the traffic isn't bad enough yet.
Everyone lives all over the place and commutes to all over the place, which makes improving transit a huge challenge -- but that doesn't mean as a result we should just stick our head in the sand.
People are going to keep moving to Wake County and the number of vehicles on the road is only going to increase. Now is the time to start talking about all the potential solutions.
Im still an outsider (until next year) but the area needs some sort of transit master plan. I can see the traffic issues that have been discussed on Capital Blvd, and some of the other major thoroughfares which I experienced first hand on my now many visits to the area. Schools are another big issue with teacher pay, tenure, retention etc., being another hot topic. Hopefully the board and the Mayor can resolve these issues before its too late. Like anything else to fix these problems cost money, and the longer you wait the more its going to cost.
I say "anti-transit think tank" because they are well known to not favor many mass transit solutions. It wasn't exactly a unbiased report. Their conclusion was the traffic isn't bad enough yet.
That was pretty much the conclusion of the U.S. DOT in turning down the light rail proposal a few years ago.
I definitely agree with talks on the table, discussions, and a plan. But I VERY much want our tax dollars to be spent wisely. Why is it such a difficult concept to grasp with the government these days that you shouldn't spend more money than you have, and that sometimes you have to prioritize, make a plan, and sometimes wait?
Maybe we could get a special committee together.... (WE DID -- the STAC group several years back)
...and they could recommend transit corridors and service... (WE DID -- done)
...and perhaps we could organize regional leaders to look at the Triangle's development, and how cities like Salt Lake that are also modern/sprawling implemented light rail? (DONE -- ULI "Reality Check" exercise)
You know, when that's done, what if we galvanized community support into looking at how other North Carolina cities did transit... (DONE -- Char-Meck passed a local option sales tax for transit in the 1990s, which built their very successful Blue Line, and which survived a John Locke/Art Pope-funded recall try in the 2000s)
...and maybe do a referendum of our own... (DONE -- well, in Orange and Durham, which both passed local option sales taxes in the last few years to fund better bus service and, in a while, light rail)
...and maybe then we could get a light rail plan together... (DONE -- go to ourtransitfuture.org to see the Orange/Durham plan)
...and perhaps get some Federal agreement on the idea... (DONE -- Durham/Orange was approved for FTA's New Starts program earlier this year)
...and maybe get in line for funds to build a system? (DONE -- N&O noted, today actually, that the Governor's ten-year STIP program includes state-match and local funding for planning and starting to build the system)
Conservatives like to tell me government likes to do nothing more than sit around studying problems. Our region has studied transit. The progressive (lower- and uppercase both, in this case) parts of the region have a plan. We have local money. We're in line for federal and state funding.
We'll build a light rail line and drive in-fill development even as Boomers age out of single-family homes, X'ers want to downsize, and post-Millennials keep looking for smaller, urban options. We're connecting it to two of NC's three best hospitals, the largest private employment site in NC (Duke), and downtown Durham. We're running it through multiple greenfield and redevelopment sites that can support thousands of new condo/apartment units (Leigh Farm, Patterson Place, the Gateway site, old South Square Mall site.) And, we'll have the best tool to overcome the twin challenges -- Falls/Jordan Lake-enforced density restrictions, and small land areas -- that keep Orange and especially Durham from growing at the same rate Wake County does.
Durham and Chapel Hill are ready for transit. It's time for Wake and Raleigh to stop talking and start catching up.
I'd be curious to find out what the best over-all "well run" city/area/county whatever... in the country is - and study what exactly their state and local governments are doing right and how they balance things.
I'd be curious to find out what the best over-all "well run" city/area/county whatever... in the country is - and study what exactly their state and local governments are doing right and how they balance things.
I'm no expert, just a former local news/politics blogger, and have lived in a bunch of places. On the local government level -- and even state level, in some ways -- there are lots of things we do RIGHT in NC:
1) Council-Manager form of government in cities. You don't elect a strong-mayor, like big cities do. Instead, the City/Town Manager is the CEO who runs the city, and they're professional, well-compensated, and know their stuff. (This is the role of the County Manager for county government.) The City Councils, Town Councils, and County Commissioners can hire, discipline, motivate, and fire their manager, along with two other employees (the city/county attorney and city/county clerk), and that's it. Cuts down on patronage, meddling, you-name-it.
2) NC Local Government Commission. The most important agency you have never heard of. City or county wants to borrow money? Float a bond? Refinance something? The LGC has to review/approve it. Created in the 1930s (IIRC) after cities like Asheville got in ginormous trouble with debt. North Carolina is one of very few states to traditionally be AAA-rated (highest rated) by all the major agencies for debt issues, and Raleigh, Durham and other major cities are typically also AAA-rated. That means we spend less on interest for major civic projects, meaning we can have lower taxes and/or get more bang for the buck. Also, we don't get bamboozled into crap deals by Wall Street like Detroit and Birmingham, Ala. did.
3) Annexation (well, previously.) In the 1950s, Columbia S.C. and Raleigh N.C. were the same size. Today, Columbia is a small, poor Southern city surrounded by suburbs and is not on anyone's Best-Anything list. Raleigh is, well, the Raleigh we and listmakers all know and love. The difference? Raleigh and other NC cities could liberally annex surrounding developments into The City, keeping cities healthy. When cities are ghettoized by 'burb-droids who want low taxes and (let's face it) racial homogeneity, they strangle the tax base and success of the city. And sorry, nobody is attracted to move here because of Fuquay-freakin'-Varina, even if that's where they ultimately live. They move here because *Raleigh*, and other cities, are strong communities with good jobs, high employment opportunities, etc. The same is true of Durham, Charlotte and other NC cities. Annexation rules have changed but the legacy of large city growth has really helped us be successful. (For a counter example, see my hometown of Orlando, a sub-200k city in a 2m person region, and see how UN-successful they've been on a wide range of fronts.)
4) Civic investment. We built UNC in the 18th century. In the 1930s, we listened to Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker and built RDU, instead of competing Raleigh and Durham airports. We have a state railroad where the state (not the long-term lessor, Norfolk Southern) owns and controls the rail corridor; while regulatory capture is a risk, we have a state owned asset connecting the Morehead City port, major cities, and the CLT airport's new intermodal freight destination. In the mid-20th century, visionary leaders arranged to buy up land for a research park. (In my hometown, Disney secretly bought up land for a theme park, creating a vast wasteland of low-wage jobs and social ills for locals.) Simply put: we invested smart, in smart assets, people, education, and places, and weren't dummies falling for low-tax/low-investment humdrum.
I'm no expert, just a former local news/politics blogger, and have lived in a bunch of places. On the local government level -- and even state level, in some ways -- there are lots of things we do RIGHT in NC:
1) Council-Manager form of government in cities. You don't elect a strong-mayor, like big cities do. Instead, the City/Town Manager is the CEO who runs the city, and they're professional, well-compensated, and know their stuff. (This is the role of the County Manager for county government.) The City Councils, Town Councils, and County Commissioners can hire, discipline, motivate, and fire their manager, along with two other employees (the city/county attorney and city/county clerk), and that's it. Cuts down on patronage, meddling, you-name-it.
2) NC Local Government Commission. The most important agency you have never heard of. City or county wants to borrow money? Float a bond? Refinance something? The LGC has to review/approve it. Created in the 1930s (IIRC) after cities like Asheville got in ginormous trouble with debt. North Carolina is one of very few states to traditionally be AAA-rated (highest rated) by all the major agencies for debt issues, and Raleigh, Durham and other major cities are typically also AAA-rated. That means we spend less on interest for major civic projects, meaning we can have lower taxes and/or get more bang for the buck. Also, we don't get bamboozled into crap deals by Wall Street like Detroit and Birmingham, Ala. did.
3) Annexation (well, previously.) In the 1950s, Columbia S.C. and Raleigh N.C. were the same size. Today, Columbia is a small, poor Southern city surrounded by suburbs and is not on anyone's Best-Anything list. Raleigh is, well, the Raleigh we and listmakers all know and love. The difference? Raleigh and other NC cities could liberally annex surrounding developments into The City, keeping cities healthy. When cities are ghettoized by 'burb-droids who want low taxes and (let's face it) racial homogeneity, they strangle the tax base and success of the city. And sorry, nobody is attracted to move here because of Fuquay-freakin'-Varina, even if that's where they ultimately live. They move here because *Raleigh*, and other cities, are strong communities with good jobs, high employment opportunities, etc. The same is true of Durham, Charlotte and other NC cities. Annexation rules have changed but the legacy of large city growth has really helped us be successful. (For a counter example, see my hometown of Orlando, a sub-200k city in a 2m person region, and see how UN-successful they've been on a wide range of fronts.)
4) Civic investment. We built UNC in the 18th century. In the 1930s, we listened to Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker and built RDU, instead of competing Raleigh and Durham airports. We have a state railroad where the state (not the long-term lessor, Norfolk Southern) owns and controls the rail corridor; while regulatory capture is a risk, we have a state owned asset connecting the Morehead City port, major cities, and the CLT airport's new intermodal freight destination. In the mid-20th century, visionary leaders arranged to buy up land for a research park. (In my hometown, Disney secretly bought up land for a theme park, creating a vast wasteland of low-wage jobs and social ills for locals.) Simply put: we invested smart, in smart assets, people, education, and places, and weren't dummies falling for low-tax/low-investment humdrum.
A real raise. Enough to keep teachers from running to Texas?
tell me how many of them moved to Texas.
And link the article from after the school year ended/right before this school year, and tell me what % of teachers left that was "dramatically" and "concerningly higher" than previous years.
Maybe we could get a special committee together.... (WE DID -- the STAC group several years back)
...and they could recommend transit corridors and service... (WE DID -- done)
...and perhaps we could organize regional leaders to look at the Triangle's development, and how cities like Salt Lake that are also modern/sprawling implemented light rail? (DONE -- ULI "Reality Check" exercise)
You know, when that's done, what if we galvanized community support into looking at how other North Carolina cities did transit... (DONE -- Char-Meck passed a local option sales tax for transit in the 1990s, which built their very successful Blue Line, and which survived a John Locke/Art Pope-funded recall try in the 2000s)
...and maybe do a referendum of our own... (DONE -- well, in Orange and Durham, which both passed local option sales taxes in the last few years to fund better bus service and, in a while, light rail)
...and maybe then we could get a light rail plan together... (DONE -- go to ourtransitfuture.org to see the Orange/Durham plan)
...and perhaps get some Federal agreement on the idea... (DONE -- Durham/Orange was approved for FTA's New Starts program earlier this year)
...and maybe get in line for funds to build a system? (DONE -- N&O noted, today actually, that the Governor's ten-year STIP program includes state-match and local funding for planning and starting to build the system)
Conservatives like to tell me government likes to do nothing more than sit around studying problems. Our region has studied transit. The progressive (lower- and uppercase both, in this case) parts of the region have a plan. We have local money. We're in line for federal and state funding.
We'll build a light rail line and drive in-fill development even as Boomers age out of single-family homes, X'ers want to downsize, and post-Millennials keep looking for smaller, urban options. We're connecting it to two of NC's three best hospitals, the largest private employment site in NC (Duke), and downtown Durham. We're running it through multiple greenfield and redevelopment sites that can support thousands of new condo/apartment units (Leigh Farm, Patterson Place, the Gateway site, old South Square Mall site.) And, we'll have the best tool to overcome the twin challenges -- Falls/Jordan Lake-enforced density restrictions, and small land areas -- that keep Orange and especially Durham from growing at the same rate Wake County does.
Durham and Chapel Hill are ready for transit. It's time for Wake and Raleigh to stop talking and start catching up.
Didn't the McCrory administration institute a spending cap for individual road/transit projects, which ended up drastically reducing the state funding commitment from the Perdue administration for Durham/Orange light rail? I can't remember the exact numbers, but I thought it was something like a 50% cut.
I really hope that construction starts in 2020, but I thought that the funding situation was still kind of uncertain. Is the outlook more positive than I had thought?
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