Transit
Last week, the Meadowmont Community Association (our homeowners' association) sent out a letter (a paper letter, via actual mail!) with the nominal purpose of informing residents of upcoming hearings before Town Council on the routing of the proposed light rail line. (For details on the issue, see my first blog post and my followup.) It omitted some important details however, so I wrote a response and emailed it around to some of my neighbors. I've posted it on my new single-issue website http://meadowmontlightrail.com, and I'm reprinting it below. I hope everyone has a great 2012. — Geoffrey F. Green
Hope some folks will join me in observing the Orange Commissioners' work session on transit, Thursday, 7 PM, at the Southern Human Services Center on Homestead Road.
The title of the agenda item: Triangle Regional Transit Program – Orange County Bus and
Rail Investment Plan; Alternatives Analysis and the Locally Preferred Alternative. There are two attachments. The first was compiled by County staff and is interesting, in many ways.
Ruby (with Izzy) were the bulk of the citizens in the room for the Commissioners' discussion of transit last last month. Because Izzy declared that he had other priorities, Ruby left me to let the Commissioners know that the grassroots organization was out there waiting for a signal from the Commissioners to get going on a transit referendum. It will most likely happen in the November 2012 election
Back in June, you may recall that I wrote a blog post (and a commentary on WCHL) about that month's planned decision by Chapel Hill Town Council on the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for Triangle Transit's proposed light-rail line connecting Durham and Chapel Hill. To recap briefly, the two choices are (a) running the light-rail line through a transit corridor reserved when Town Council approved Meadowmont in 1995, with a station right in front of the Harris Teeter on Meadowmont Lane; or (b) running the light rail line down the south side of NC-54 with a stop in the proposed Hillmont development (formerly known as Woodmont) just east of Barbee Chapel. For various reasons, the decision was delayed, but it's coming up again.
An article in the Chapel Hill News on Sunday gave me pause on the candidates for the Chapel Hill town council. When asked to speak on town spending, all resorted immediately to either vague plans for reductions or, astonishingly, proposals to charge for transit, which is by far the most effective service Chapel Hill offers.
Instead of deciding which items to cut, the candidates for the council should commit to a pro-growth agenda. Rezone the entire downtown core as TC-3-C, and consider removing the height cap for downtown. Allow people to build along the planned light rail corridor to Durham. Expedite the review process so every proposal doesn't get dragged down in years of bickering.
NOTE: This is NOT a public hearing or a forum, nor is it a meeting, but public comments will be received. It is one-on-one with staff, Monday 8/29, 4-7 pm, CH Municipal Bldg. Attendees will get a chance to see DETAILS of the Durham-Orange Rail Transit Plan. Durham County residents (including 2,071 voters in the Town of Chapel Hill who live in Durham County) vote November 8 on a 1/2% sales tax to fund rail and bus transit expansion. Orange County has not yet set a vote.
http://www.dchcmpo.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=85&Itemid=35
The DCHC MPO has released the rail transit Alternatives Analysis for public comment. See Web page for report copies and opportunities for providing comments, and for a recent addendum (August 2011) to the report.
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