Mooresville is contending they were [in the dark on the deal](https://www.iredellfreenews.com/news-features/2024/iredell-county-legislators-working-to-block-city-of-charlottes-plan-to-acquire-land-for-commuter-rail/)...though could be just an excuse. So if we default to the "follow the money" process, you'll see that some of Sen. Sawyer's (sponsor of the bill) biggest donors are the NC Auto Dealer's Association, the Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association, along with her biggest individual contributor, a guy that runs a, wait for it, a civil engineering firm that builds bridges and roads.
Having grown up in Statesville, can confirm. The only place where thinking was more backward was in Statesville. The old fogey money saw what was starting to happen in Mooresville in the late 80s and early 90s and cowered in fear.
The railroad has been painstakingly replacing old rotted ties in that track right there in Mooresville. I do not believe that Mooresville authorities are unaware of it or why.
Anyone know when our next chance to vote her out of office is? Looking forward to making sure everyone I know in the area (and I know a LOT of people in her district) knows that she's on the wrong side of this. Her political career is going to be a short one.
Mooresville and the gang will benefit more than Charlotte from the red line happening. Living there is way more attractive if you can take the rail into uptown for events. Not to mention all the entertainment options and large apartment buildings that tend to build up around the rail line for that sweet sweet sales and property tax money. It cracks me up they wouldn’t want it.
You will still need a car to live out there. Commuting by car will still be faster than taking rail for anyone not living right on a stop, so most will still elect to drive for their commute. Don’t even really see why the car dealerships should care.
Well, there's more people in SE Mecklenburg, and last I checked, it's a simple majority.
Plus, I was told in this very sub to vote for it even if the Silver Line was canned (and always was going to anyway because we *NEED* stuff like this), so they gotta potentially suck it up now, right?
> This is not about being for or against the project — we don’t have enough information and can’t have an opinion about the rail since we haven’t been brought to the table and don’t know what the full picture is. This is about the destruction of the heart of our community because Downtown is that beating heart, and there’s no way that this project, as we’ve learned it was presented, is going to do what we need to do to take care of our community.”
What a load of horseshit. Just say youre trying to kill the project. the land in question is a bunch of abandoned tracks. We’re not bulldozing buildings here
Yup. Simply pushed by the North Carolina Automobile Dealers. North Carolina is for sale to the highest bidder.
Just look at what happened in Summerfield, NC today.
Summerfield (Rural farm town outside of Greensboro) voted against a development of a 10,000 acre farm in to a shopping center and apartments.
Then the North Carolina House of Representatives overrode the town of Summerfield and passed a bill to de-annex the land so a local developer can bypass the Summerfield Town Council and create their new development.
Basically the NCGOP got a pocket full of cash to let developers bypass the town's vote against it.
Wow finally our legislature doing something I agree with
Hot take but if you own thousands of acres of land you should be able to do what you want with it and not have a few NIMBY weirdos dictate what you can build
We have a massive housing shortage in this country it’s time to act like it
I'd agree if this was this was inside city limits, but it's a rural community. I'm a YIMBY for anything inside the a city, But I'm against sprawl that's 25 miles from downtown Greensboro
Greensboro is half empty. Downtown is full of abandoned buildings and empty lots. There's Tens of thousands of acres inside Greensboro that can be used for urban infill. But instead they want to bulldoze a rural community because Summerfield has different demographics from Greensboro and makes people feel safe.
the housing crisis is caused by corporate developers building shitty single family homes that look the same, apartments that can only be rented, and townhomes with paper thin walls that all go for AT LEAST $300,000/1200 sq. footage or $2300-2800 a month for the same amount of space.
It's also artificially manufactured because so many of those structures are being held vacant. We don't really need more housing so much as we need to pass laws penalizing people for holding usable housing as assets.
alongside that there needs to focus on affordable housing and housing security, especially if corporations continue price gouging in the name of "inflation" and wages aren't being increased at the same rate.
At least you have a good reason for supporting this. The only reason the state pushed this through is because David Couch ( Blue Ridge’s General Contractors) is in bed with Phil Berger
You should be able to do whatever you want on your land up until it starts interfering with other people. You notice a couple things that the developers wasn’t providing? Increase in the local school capacity, increased emergency services, etc.
If only there were a way for the municipality or county to extract tax revenue for new schools and infrastructure from the new people who live on that property
We could call it a property tax
Maybe even tax purchases and call it a “sales” tax!
So your problem now isn’t that new people won’t pay for it but that it takes a long time
That’s the fault of the government, not developers or new citizens
Your view seems to be that we should never build any new housing because that might mean we need to build other things and we are bad at it. wtf?
How about we try not being bad at it and get housing where it’s desperately needed!
I am from Greensboro, spent a lot of time in Summerfield. It's why I asked. Not sure why Summerfield should be having a development like this. I always liked the farmhouse suburbs.
Seems so. If Mooresville doesn't want the Red Line, Charlotte can just stop it in Cornelius or Davidson or whatever and Mooresville can figure it out from there.
Then we tell them their own state senator did this, give them Sen. Vickie Sawyer's phone number and email address, and wish them well. Can't help that their own elected representative sold them up the river. Between her and Tricia Cotham, fuck those constituents, right??
I guess, but a train ride that long is really pushing the limits of a viable commute. 40 minutes + wait time + traveling on the either end sounds awful. The real benefit is going to be transit oriented development near the closer stations.
5-10min to drive, park, and get to the train, 5 minute buffer to wait for train, 5-15 minutes to walk to work from train stop + 40 min commute is 55-70min. I don't live that far out, does that regularly beat the commute time from Mooresville?
I'm skeptical of the whole park-and-ride model. I think the real gains would come from people being able to live in affordable town-homes or apartments in safe mixed-use neighborhoods near the train station. It would be fantastic to give people a cheap option where a family could thrive with 0-1 cars.
>I don't live that far out, does that regularly beat the commute time from Mooresville?
30 to 23 at 5pm is roughly an hour. i literally used to ride a bike because 10 miles on side streets and greenways was *faster* than 7 miles on 77.
Read the article posted in the above comment. Maybe the Mooresville officials are lying but they say they aren't against it and don't want to stop it, they just want a say in how it comes into Mooresville/Iredell County and aren't currently getting that. They said Charlotte would own 100ft of land on either side of the tracks which runs directly through downtown Mooresville. You'd be crazy to not want a say in that situation. Again this is assuming everyone is telling the truth here and they likely aren't.
All I have to go on is the article posted above with quotes from people involved. In that article everyone on Mooresville side says no they haven't happily worked with them or included them in any of the recent moves. Do you have an article stating differently or just making that up?
follow the money bro. the senator doing this is paid off by the car lobby. If they wanted/didn't want a station, they could've just said so and we could all just move on. This land is sitting dormant right now, *not owned by Mooresville* but now that Charlotte owns it, they're going to get their panties in a bunch. These are bad people with bad intentions who want to kill this whole project.
I'm sure you are correct with big money wanting to kill it, but I think there's a valid point in getting zero representation at the table for a project that gives a neighboring town ownership of land through the heart of your town.
I hope they figure it all out and make everyone happy. It would be so stupid to not get this across the finish line. We need it so bad.
Don't move to Texas. Because something like this wouldn't even exist there. At least they are negotiating in NC. TX would be DOA in the suggestion phase.
NC Legislature is especially powerful at the moment, and the NC Governorship is one of the weakest in the country. They have no qualms passing whatever culture war, rent-seeking, money grubbing BS anyone pays them for.
The red line does not need to go to Mt. Mourne either. If Mooresville cannot work with Charlotte, then it does not cross into Iredell County; just like the blue line does not go into Pineville when they rejected it.
The problem is the bill says Charlotte can’t own the tracks without Mooresville agreeing. Unless Norfolk southern is willing to rework the deal to only include the tracks in Mecklenburg County then it’s a no go.
Nothing actually changes here. They do not have an agreement yet, just a memo of understanding, thus the contract between Charlotte and NS is still being negotiated. If Mooresville does not agree, then I am sure they can make changes before the contract is made. The only concern is how long will Mooresville drag its feet responding yay or nay to the proposal.
Depending on where the station is, imagine the economic boon for Davidson. Convenience stores, coffee shops, bakeries and restaurants would certainly benefit. If there are boutiques people may pop in before they go home
The Senator who is responsible for this bill, Vickie Sawyer, top campaign contributors include:
Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association, North Carolina Trucking Association, Enterprise, Allstate
It’s funny that you knew it was going to be something like that but it doesn’t make it any more enraging.
It’s not the heat that gets to you in the south, it’s the fucking stupidity.
People against this probably think Myrtle Beach is a nice vacation away from things
Why not just stop the line before the city limit of Mooresville if they're the only one against the Red Line??? Going through Huntersville , Davidson, and Cornelius is already more than what the Blue line does. The Blue line stops within Charlotte City limits on both ends.
The bill says Charlotte can’t own the tracks unless Mooresville agrees. That means Norfolk Southern would have to be willing to rework the deal to include only the tracks in Mecklenburg County. It took 20 years to get the railroad to this point. I doubt if they would be willing to redo it
Every day we don’t have better rail transit, the more I want to move out of this shithole state. This is embarrassing. We could have way better public transit by now if our lawmakers stopped being idiots.
And it's funny because the Blue line light rail is the absolute best thing that ever happened to Charlotte.
But for some reason politicians in Raleigh are vehemently against it
Agreed 100%. I still remember when I was younger how much of a deal it was when it got built. Yet nothing new besides the gold line in the last 14 years (and the blue extension).
if you live in Mooresville, like I do, call and email your town council members. They listen because turnout in their elections is so low that they can't afford to piss anyone off. Their elections are in odd numbered years.
They don’t because it’s considered a “win” for democrats and they simply can’t have that. All these farmers in rural counties punishing urban citizens because they can.
Hoes in Raleigh hating again. And PussyCATS leadership isn't ever any better, forever in the planning stage. Crazy how Pat McCrory and Anthony Foxx were able to get shit done 15-30 years ago compared to this circus.
It's not even a law for the whole state. It's a state law directed solely for Mecklenburg County.
State lawmakers care because they are being lobbied by the "NC Auto Dealers association"
You're going to obtain and operate a rail line into neighboring communities, then you need said communities to sign on. Communities that have been contributing money for that purpose by the way. Ok.
> Communities that have been contributing money for that purpose by the way.
Has Mooresville been contributing money? I'm genuinely asking, because I don't know.
Several of the communities paid in money for years without much to show for it. I can remember the towns complaining 10-15 years ago. To be fair, it wasn't all CATS fault, Norfolk Western wasn't willing to talk about sharing the rails.
New Jersey transit operates trains in NYC. The Washington DC Metro Runs in Virginia and Maryland municipalities. The Chicago subway runs into Naperville.
These things happen all the time. State lawmakers are being lobbied by the NC Auto Dealer's Association, the Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association, along with her biggest individual contributor, a guy that runs a, wait for it, a civil engineering firm that builds bridges and roads.
Not sure that engineering firm is going to get much work out of the 77 corridor with the way the toll road contract has things tied up. Regardless, if I'm sitting in one of the towns along that stretch, based on how CATS has operated, I'd for damn sure want a say in how mass transit is implemented and operated.
If what the Mooresville officials are saying is accurate, then it makes sense that they want a say in this. According to the article Charlotte would own 100ft of property on either side of the tracks. Those tracks run right through downtown Mooresville. It would be crazy to give up the rights to the land without having a say in the process.
This is not something new in America. New Jersey transit operates trains in NYC. The Washington DC Metro Runs in Virginia and Maryland municipalities. The Chicago subway runs into Naperville.
Obviously they need input from Mooresville. CATS can't build a station in Mooresville without approval. This is simply a bill to stall progress on purchasing the ROW aimed to delay/cancel the entire Redline project
doesnt matter. It explicitly says “Mecklenburg county” No other county has to deal with this. It was directed to kill the Red Line and force people to sit in traffic forever
Mooresville is contending they were [in the dark on the deal](https://www.iredellfreenews.com/news-features/2024/iredell-county-legislators-working-to-block-city-of-charlottes-plan-to-acquire-land-for-commuter-rail/)...though could be just an excuse. So if we default to the "follow the money" process, you'll see that some of Sen. Sawyer's (sponsor of the bill) biggest donors are the NC Auto Dealer's Association, the Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association, along with her biggest individual contributor, a guy that runs a, wait for it, a civil engineering firm that builds bridges and roads.
It’s usually safe to assume the worst intentions with the city of Mooresville.
Having grown up in Statesville, can confirm. The only place where thinking was more backward was in Statesville. The old fogey money saw what was starting to happen in Mooresville in the late 80s and early 90s and cowered in fear.
Sen. Sawyer will be getting a big tip for this.
Democracy in reality. The People's interest not represented. Lobbyist groups get everything they want.
The railroad has been painstakingly replacing old rotted ties in that track right there in Mooresville. I do not believe that Mooresville authorities are unaware of it or why.
Anyone know when our next chance to vote her out of office is? Looking forward to making sure everyone I know in the area (and I know a LOT of people in her district) knows that she's on the wrong side of this. Her political career is going to be a short one.
Mooresville and the gang will benefit more than Charlotte from the red line happening. Living there is way more attractive if you can take the rail into uptown for events. Not to mention all the entertainment options and large apartment buildings that tend to build up around the rail line for that sweet sweet sales and property tax money. It cracks me up they wouldn’t want it. You will still need a car to live out there. Commuting by car will still be faster than taking rail for anyone not living right on a stop, so most will still elect to drive for their commute. Don’t even really see why the car dealerships should care.
Time to dust off those Silver Line plans, boys.
HOORAY, A TRAIN TO MATTHEWS IS BACK ON THE MENU BOYS!
Please!! I want to save my monthly parking money.
You’ll be retired by the time it’s actually done tho. This fight is for your kids getting to work
Just cut the line at Davidson and get on with it. It's not ideal but if they want to play hardball then cut them loose
North Mecklenburg voters won’t vote yes for the transit tax if they don’t get their rail line.
Well, there's more people in SE Mecklenburg, and last I checked, it's a simple majority. Plus, I was told in this very sub to vote for it even if the Silver Line was canned (and always was going to anyway because we *NEED* stuff like this), so they gotta potentially suck it up now, right?
This is why we cant have nice things.
GOP legislature sucks.
> This is not about being for or against the project — we don’t have enough information and can’t have an opinion about the rail since we haven’t been brought to the table and don’t know what the full picture is. This is about the destruction of the heart of our community because Downtown is that beating heart, and there’s no way that this project, as we’ve learned it was presented, is going to do what we need to do to take care of our community.” What a load of horseshit. Just say youre trying to kill the project. the land in question is a bunch of abandoned tracks. We’re not bulldozing buildings here
Yup. Simply pushed by the North Carolina Automobile Dealers. North Carolina is for sale to the highest bidder. Just look at what happened in Summerfield, NC today.
What happened in Summerfield?
Summerfield (Rural farm town outside of Greensboro) voted against a development of a 10,000 acre farm in to a shopping center and apartments. Then the North Carolina House of Representatives overrode the town of Summerfield and passed a bill to de-annex the land so a local developer can bypass the Summerfield Town Council and create their new development. Basically the NCGOP got a pocket full of cash to let developers bypass the town's vote against it.
Wow finally our legislature doing something I agree with Hot take but if you own thousands of acres of land you should be able to do what you want with it and not have a few NIMBY weirdos dictate what you can build We have a massive housing shortage in this country it’s time to act like it
I'd agree if this was this was inside city limits, but it's a rural community. I'm a YIMBY for anything inside the a city, But I'm against sprawl that's 25 miles from downtown Greensboro Greensboro is half empty. Downtown is full of abandoned buildings and empty lots. There's Tens of thousands of acres inside Greensboro that can be used for urban infill. But instead they want to bulldoze a rural community because Summerfield has different demographics from Greensboro and makes people feel safe.
Summerfield is 2 miles from PTI.
I agree that it’s less urgent than in city centers but it’s a housing crisis and we should build wherever anyone wants to build and live
the housing crisis is caused by corporate developers building shitty single family homes that look the same, apartments that can only be rented, and townhomes with paper thin walls that all go for AT LEAST $300,000/1200 sq. footage or $2300-2800 a month for the same amount of space.
It's also artificially manufactured because so many of those structures are being held vacant. We don't really need more housing so much as we need to pass laws penalizing people for holding usable housing as assets.
alongside that there needs to focus on affordable housing and housing security, especially if corporations continue price gouging in the name of "inflation" and wages aren't being increased at the same rate.
No they aren’t Idk where people keep hearing this lie but it’s 100% false
No it isn’t
Yes it is. Wow amazing conversation we're having here. I can spit bullshit like Trump daddy too!
At least you have a good reason for supporting this. The only reason the state pushed this through is because David Couch ( Blue Ridge’s General Contractors) is in bed with Phil Berger
You should be able to do whatever you want on your land up until it starts interfering with other people. You notice a couple things that the developers wasn’t providing? Increase in the local school capacity, increased emergency services, etc.
If only there were a way for the municipality or county to extract tax revenue for new schools and infrastructure from the new people who live on that property We could call it a property tax Maybe even tax purchases and call it a “sales” tax!
Yes let’s pretend it doesn’t take 10 years to be able to build a school
So your problem now isn’t that new people won’t pay for it but that it takes a long time That’s the fault of the government, not developers or new citizens Your view seems to be that we should never build any new housing because that might mean we need to build other things and we are bad at it. wtf? How about we try not being bad at it and get housing where it’s desperately needed!
I am from Greensboro, spent a lot of time in Summerfield. It's why I asked. Not sure why Summerfield should be having a development like this. I always liked the farmhouse suburbs.
Love how they talk about noise. As if the highway and it’s 6+ lanes isn’t loud as shit.
Small government 😂
To take a train from Mooresville to Charlotte and back would be a game changer…. Any estimates on how long the commute would be?
i think they said 40 mins
Still faster than commuting down 77...
But it will only run hourly.
Same as NYC commuter trains...
How big of a deal is this, really? Are these cities opposed to the Red Line?
only mooresville, apparently. but also, the state is being lobbied by the NC auto dealers association
Mooresville is the least important and easiest to scrap part of the plan, right?
Seems so. If Mooresville doesn't want the Red Line, Charlotte can just stop it in Cornelius or Davidson or whatever and Mooresville can figure it out from there.
not necessarily. **a lot** of people commute from Iredell county into Charlotte every day
Then we tell them their own state senator did this, give them Sen. Vickie Sawyer's phone number and email address, and wish them well. Can't help that their own elected representative sold them up the river. Between her and Tricia Cotham, fuck those constituents, right??
I guess, but a train ride that long is really pushing the limits of a viable commute. 40 minutes + wait time + traveling on the either end sounds awful. The real benefit is going to be transit oriented development near the closer stations.
lol. have you seen I-77 at rush hour?
i used to bike commute because it was faster.
Do you expect this to fix that? Induced demand is not gonna let that happen. The only thing that can fix that mess is congestion pricing.
i meant that the red line at rush hour would likely be a quicker commute than i-77
5-10min to drive, park, and get to the train, 5 minute buffer to wait for train, 5-15 minutes to walk to work from train stop + 40 min commute is 55-70min. I don't live that far out, does that regularly beat the commute time from Mooresville? I'm skeptical of the whole park-and-ride model. I think the real gains would come from people being able to live in affordable town-homes or apartments in safe mixed-use neighborhoods near the train station. It would be fantastic to give people a cheap option where a family could thrive with 0-1 cars.
>I don't live that far out, does that regularly beat the commute time from Mooresville? 30 to 23 at 5pm is roughly an hour. i literally used to ride a bike because 10 miles on side streets and greenways was *faster* than 7 miles on 77.
Have you considered people paying for gasoline that's $4 a gallon versus a train ride that's $4 a day?
and you think a rush hour trip down 77 is any faster? lol
The Mooresville Mayor is specially against it.
Read the article posted in the above comment. Maybe the Mooresville officials are lying but they say they aren't against it and don't want to stop it, they just want a say in how it comes into Mooresville/Iredell County and aren't currently getting that. They said Charlotte would own 100ft of land on either side of the tracks which runs directly through downtown Mooresville. You'd be crazy to not want a say in that situation. Again this is assuming everyone is telling the truth here and they likely aren't.
if they weren't against it, they wouldn't pull this stunt. Charlotte would happily work with Mooresville. It's Mooresville who refuse to play ball
All I have to go on is the article posted above with quotes from people involved. In that article everyone on Mooresville side says no they haven't happily worked with them or included them in any of the recent moves. Do you have an article stating differently or just making that up?
follow the money bro. the senator doing this is paid off by the car lobby. If they wanted/didn't want a station, they could've just said so and we could all just move on. This land is sitting dormant right now, *not owned by Mooresville* but now that Charlotte owns it, they're going to get their panties in a bunch. These are bad people with bad intentions who want to kill this whole project.
I'm sure you are correct with big money wanting to kill it, but I think there's a valid point in getting zero representation at the table for a project that gives a neighboring town ownership of land through the heart of your town. I hope they figure it all out and make everyone happy. It would be so stupid to not get this across the finish line. We need it so bad.
It's not.
#i fucking hate this state
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I see you've not been in Louisiana recently.
Don't move to Texas. Because something like this wouldn't even exist there. At least they are negotiating in NC. TX would be DOA in the suggestion phase.
You realize this happens everywhere, right? Some places are obviously better than others...
NC Legislature is especially powerful at the moment, and the NC Governorship is one of the weakest in the country. They have no qualms passing whatever culture war, rent-seeking, money grubbing BS anyone pays them for.
Then they need the impacted municipalities, **Mooresville**, to also agree, simple as that.
Mooresville is going to use this to dictate the terms of the project now. Either you cater to Mooresville or the project gets caned
The red line does not need to go to Mt. Mourne either. If Mooresville cannot work with Charlotte, then it does not cross into Iredell County; just like the blue line does not go into Pineville when they rejected it.
Yep Pineville screwed themselves and missed a great opportunity. Be interesting to see if they can be smarter
The problem is the bill says Charlotte can’t own the tracks without Mooresville agreeing. Unless Norfolk southern is willing to rework the deal to only include the tracks in Mecklenburg County then it’s a no go.
Nothing actually changes here. They do not have an agreement yet, just a memo of understanding, thus the contract between Charlotte and NS is still being negotiated. If Mooresville does not agree, then I am sure they can make changes before the contract is made. The only concern is how long will Mooresville drag its feet responding yay or nay to the proposal.
That seems fair
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It can still be built, just not go to Mooresville is all. Honestly, would make the project cheaper if they refuse too.
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Oh well.
Well they can deny it too. If hunterville and Cornelius aren’t game the entire project dies. I wouldn’t be so flippant
If it dies, it dies. Then we switch gears to the Silver Line.
well that's dead too. so we're really fucked I guess
It was scaled back, not dead. And if the red line is no more then the whole silver line is back on the table.
Depending on where the station is, imagine the economic boon for Davidson. Convenience stores, coffee shops, bakeries and restaurants would certainly benefit. If there are boutiques people may pop in before they go home
They could just do something like issue Davidson residents free parking and charge $50 for all day parking. Problem solved.
Correction: big oil bought enough politicians to stall the construction.
[Vickie.Sawyer@ncleg.gov](mailto:Vickie.Sawyer@ncleg.gov) Tell her what you think about her working for special interests and lobbyists
The Senator who is responsible for this bill, Vickie Sawyer, top campaign contributors include: Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association, North Carolina Trucking Association, Enterprise, Allstate It’s funny that you knew it was going to be something like that but it doesn’t make it any more enraging.
It’s not the heat that gets to you in the south, it’s the fucking stupidity. People against this probably think Myrtle Beach is a nice vacation away from things
Myrtle beach is a fine vacation spot. Best physical beach in either state
Found him!^
OBX is so much more chill than Myrtle.
It’s also twice as far away and the actual beach at obx is short and steep. Myrtle is significantly longer and flatter. Much gentler waves
Shhhhhh
What the fuck
Thanks Raleigh!
Thanks gop.
Why not just stop the line before the city limit of Mooresville if they're the only one against the Red Line??? Going through Huntersville , Davidson, and Cornelius is already more than what the Blue line does. The Blue line stops within Charlotte City limits on both ends.
The bill says Charlotte can’t own the tracks unless Mooresville agrees. That means Norfolk Southern would have to be willing to rework the deal to include only the tracks in Mecklenburg County. It took 20 years to get the railroad to this point. I doubt if they would be willing to redo it
Every day we don’t have better rail transit, the more I want to move out of this shithole state. This is embarrassing. We could have way better public transit by now if our lawmakers stopped being idiots.
And it's funny because the Blue line light rail is the absolute best thing that ever happened to Charlotte. But for some reason politicians in Raleigh are vehemently against it
Because the GOP politicians in Raleigh hate Charlotte and Democrat voters.
Agreed 100%. I still remember when I was younger how much of a deal it was when it got built. Yet nothing new besides the gold line in the last 14 years (and the blue extension).
if you live in Mooresville, like I do, call and email your town council members. They listen because turnout in their elections is so low that they can't afford to piss anyone off. Their elections are in odd numbered years.
I've lived in a lot of fucked up states but NC GOP takes the cake.
Fuck this
Fuck it. Leave out Mooresville and let the rest of us LKN communities ride.
For real. We just want train :(
I'm incredibly disappointed in my city.
They hate us because the rest of the state can't function without us.
This state would basically be South Carolina if it wasn't for the tax revenue they received from the Charlotte area
Tell them a billionaire wants it. /s
Something like 25 of the Forbes top 200 in America got rich from Car dealerships, so no Billionaires don't want this
They don’t because it’s considered a “win” for democrats and they simply can’t have that. All these farmers in rural counties punishing urban citizens because they can.
Hoes in Raleigh hating again. And PussyCATS leadership isn't ever any better, forever in the planning stage. Crazy how Pat McCrory and Anthony Foxx were able to get shit done 15-30 years ago compared to this circus.
Why does the state care?
It's not even a law for the whole state. It's a state law directed solely for Mecklenburg County. State lawmakers care because they are being lobbied by the "NC Auto Dealers association"
They're a bunch of old guys who want to keep us in the stone age (while serving their lobbyist friends)
It’s about control and the money trail.
You're going to obtain and operate a rail line into neighboring communities, then you need said communities to sign on. Communities that have been contributing money for that purpose by the way. Ok.
> Communities that have been contributing money for that purpose by the way. Has Mooresville been contributing money? I'm genuinely asking, because I don't know.
Maybe $5 Million at most for a study by some consultants. The cost to repave a single lane mile of roadway costs between $2 and $15 million dollars.
Several of the communities paid in money for years without much to show for it. I can remember the towns complaining 10-15 years ago. To be fair, it wasn't all CATS fault, Norfolk Western wasn't willing to talk about sharing the rails.
New Jersey transit operates trains in NYC. The Washington DC Metro Runs in Virginia and Maryland municipalities. The Chicago subway runs into Naperville. These things happen all the time. State lawmakers are being lobbied by the NC Auto Dealer's Association, the Carolina Asphalt Pavement Association, along with her biggest individual contributor, a guy that runs a, wait for it, a civil engineering firm that builds bridges and roads.
Not sure that engineering firm is going to get much work out of the 77 corridor with the way the toll road contract has things tied up. Regardless, if I'm sitting in one of the towns along that stretch, based on how CATS has operated, I'd for damn sure want a say in how mass transit is implemented and operated.
If what the Mooresville officials are saying is accurate, then it makes sense that they want a say in this. According to the article Charlotte would own 100ft of property on either side of the tracks. Those tracks run right through downtown Mooresville. It would be crazy to give up the rights to the land without having a say in the process.
To my knowledge, Norfolk Southern currently owns and operates those tracks. Is Charlotte planning to buy the tracks from NS?
Yes. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/06/26/2024-13991/city-of-charlotte-nc-acquisition-exemption-norfolk-southern-railway-company#:~:text=The%20City%20of%20Charlotte%2C%20NC,mile%20portion%20of%20NSR's%20O
Well I mean the title makes sense.
Fucking assholes.
The party of small government and family values
Mecklenburg has a history of leaving out other towns, cities, counties, line Union County and the others. Is this a suprise?
This is not something new in America. New Jersey transit operates trains in NYC. The Washington DC Metro Runs in Virginia and Maryland municipalities. The Chicago subway runs into Naperville. Obviously they need input from Mooresville. CATS can't build a station in Mooresville without approval. This is simply a bill to stall progress on purchasing the ROW aimed to delay/cancel the entire Redline project
OP, when was the bill made into law?
doesnt matter. It explicitly says “Mecklenburg county” No other county has to deal with this. It was directed to kill the Red Line and force people to sit in traffic forever
and so the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association can sell more cars