Tracking the 1/2-cent transit tax through the Raleigh “Wye”
Very interesting meeting at Raleigh City Hall last night on regional transit and the so-called “Mayor’s Plan” for the Raleigh-Wake portion of the region. I will say, this thing has a lot of moving parts, some of which are picking up speed — but enough to run a regional railroad in my or Charles Meeker’s lifetime? (We’re the same age.)
Perhaps.
One question I didn’t get to ask Mayor Meeker afterward is where to put the apostrophe in the name — is it “Mayor’s Plan” or “Mayors’ Plan”? I believe the effort is to make it the latter. But so far, apparently, it’s Meeker’s plan. It’s “been looked at” by the county’s other 11 mayors, Meeker said as he kicked off the session. But he didn’t say “endorsed.”
Point is, the whole transit funding concept is back-burner for most of the county’s political leaders right now, including — as near as I can tell — all seven of the Wake County Commissioners. They’re struggling with school budgets and social services. Transit’s not on their radar screens.
That said, however, Meeker is stepping up to the plate for transit, as is state Sen. Richard Stevens, a Wake Republican, as are a half-dozen of Wake’s Democratic legislators including, principally, state Rep. Deborah Ross.
The biggest question mark at the moment is whether the proposed “intermodal” funding legislation — which contains the 1/2-cent sales tax for transit option for Wake, Durham and Orange counties — can make it through the General Assembly this year. Ross’s presentation last night makes me think its chances are decent, which is not what I thought going in.
The meeting, co-sponsored by CAMPO, the Capital Area transportation planning organization (the “m” stands for metropolitan) and WakeUP Wake County, the civic group, drew 150 people, including most of Raleigh’s transit groupies advocates.
Below, my three takeaways:
Continue reading »
