That there was a Republican in Davidson Town Hall might seem remarkable enough, but more intriguing was the cameraman — working for Gov. Bev Perdue’s re-election campaign — shooting footage of the special guest speaker, just in case he should happen to run against her again for governor next time around. Shortly after beginning his chat with the LNTC members, former Charlotte Mayor and former gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory actually introduced the video camera operator, explaining why he was there.
“I get followed by a camera from the other party at many of my functions, but this isn’t a political event,” said McCrory. “I am being videotaped while brainstorming, so I might be seen brainstorming in a political commercial later tonight.”
Indeed, the only politics McCrory discussed were related to how the LNTC and other local and regional transit leaders can go about uncovering any federal pots of discretionary funds to help finance the Red Line Commuter Rail from Charlotte to southern Mooresville. But if he delivered any complete, unedited statement that was attack ad-ready, it came when he made reference to the federal economic stimulus package, which, he noted, appears to not have stimulated much of anything.
“We’re feeling the negative impact of more than a trillion dollars the federal government has spent on the stimulus package,” he said. “The selling point of the stimulus package was infrastructure, but because of politics, only about 20 percent was spent on infrastructure. The concept of shovel-ready projects was a disaster because most projects aren’t shovel ready, and the ones that are, are already budgeted and are mostly paving programs.
“I think it is one of the most critical mistakes we’ve made in the last two years.”
McCrory said he lobbied for stimulus money for the Red Line, “Because, frankly, that was the only shovel-ready (transit) project we had available.”
The former mayor was on hand at the monthly LNTC meeting to provide a different perspective on out-of-the-box thinking to secure federal dollars for the Red Line. He warned that, should the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) and the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) try to go to Washington, they would be competing with plenty of others from similarsize metropolitan areas for dwindling, if not non-existent, dollars.
But that’s when LNTC Executive Director Carroll Gray — who as president of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce led the fundraising charge while McCrory pushed the political effort for regional rail transit — informed McCrory that federal dollars were not in the current funding formula. He told McCrory that the model for the estimated $358 million cost of the Red Line was 25 percent from the state, 25 percent from CATS, and the balance from what can be raised locally by a variety of financing mechanisms such as tax increment financing and special assessment districts, among others.
McCrory was impressed, yet somewhat puzzled, by the approach.
“I think that’s pragmatic, but I don’t think you should give up on federal money,” he said. “I’ve been all around the country and I think some of the (federal matching grant-funded) streetcar projects are going to fall apart. A good conversation with (U.S. Transportation Secretary) Ray LaHood would be whether or not there is some flexibility to include a commuter rail project that is shovel ready in this funding for streetcars that will not all get used.”
The Red Line is 90 percent engineered and, along the corridor, is zoned in all three north Mecklenburg towns for higher density projects that would coincide with a commuter rail corridor. It would run on the existing Norfolk and Southern rail bed, much of the price tag coming in the cost to upgrade the aging heavy freight tracks for higher speed passenger service.
The Red Line would ideally run from just south of the Lowes Home Improvement corporate headquarters in Mount Mourne to the Gateway Station in downtown Charlotte, with as many as 12 other stops along the way at buildout. With that, officials contend, comes the prospect of some significant economic development — both passenger- and freight-related, along the corridor. North Carolina Transportation Secretary Gene Conti has taken personal interest in the Red Line because he sees the potential of what is currently the O-Line freight rail spur as part of a larger network of heavy rail service stretching as far north as I-40 in Statesville, then branching out in all directions from a pivot point just north of downtown Charlotte.
McCrory said if the Red Line were to attract federal attention, its plan must include a fully integrated vision including education, housing, economic development and surface transportation network. He recommended seeking brownfield grants and any other forms of creative funding to help fill in the blanks.
“You’ve got to be ready to move at a moment’s notice, think outside the box and keep trying,” he said. “You being at this table, I can see you are already ahead of your competition. I have visited 15 cities across the nation looking at their plans and you are way ahead of them.”
Way ahead because cross-jurisdictional cooperation, which is lagging but improving in competing markets, is a key factor in winning funding favor. But Gray said he hopes the Red Line has yet another advantage, an old friend who spent considerable time with north Mecklenburg officials as the entire rail transit discussion began in the early 1990s.
“I hope that if you should become governor, transit and transportation will be high on your agenda,” Gray told McCrory.
Aware of the camera at the back of the room, McCrory replied, “I’m not answering that question, but infrastructure and transportation are always going to be a passion of mine.”
