On Monday, former Charlotte, North Carolina Mayor Pat McCrory was back in Tampa, his third time in Hillsborough County in the past year as he advises supporters of the one-cent sales tax referendum for transit how to get the item passed this November.
McCrory was unsuccessful in his bid to become governor of North Carolina in 2008, but there are strong indications that he'll try it again in 2012 as the Republican nominee. Funny, personable and seemingly flexible when it comes to running things, CL sat down at the headquarters of the Tampa Bay Partnership offices off of Westshore Boulevard to ask McCrory about Charlotte's winning strategy, how it's doing now, and what folks who support the measure need to be doing right now, less than five months before voters will decide on the measure. Here are excerpts from out interview:
CL: Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higgenbotham has talked about cost overruns in Charlotte, estimated to be 100%. True or false?
PM: Not quite 100% but we had some cost overruns during the major steel increase in prices that China..just a completely different environment right in the middle of our construction is right when steel prices went up 60-80% and there's no doubt that had a huge impact on our budget, and made us delay our budget, some of which cost us valuable time and money. But in the long run, it's been a very good investment.
CL: What do you say about critics who say "transportation projects never pay for themselves?"
PM: Every transportation system is subsidized, including the roads. Including roads going through the city, including roads going through your neighborhood. Every transportation system is subsidized, whether it be through a property tax, sales tax, gas tax, or a combination of many. So, that is not unique to mass transportation. It's true with all forms of transportation. But it's one of those community needs in which everybody helps pay for the transportation because frankly everyone benefits whether they ride it or not.
Yeah, most people think roads are free. Because they don't see the bills. But frankly, there are both capital cost bills that are being paid by your taxes, both state and local and there are ongoing operating bills that you're paying to fill the potholes, to pay the police, that pay the cleanup, so all forms of transportation do cost money and they don't pay for themselves. But they do help your economy and get people to and from work, and that's what it's all about right now is jobs.
MP: Let me ask you about connections to an airport. That's not part of the light rail proposal. We've heard you say I believe that a rail system shouldn't go directly to an airport, is that correct?
PM: Every city's different. I mean every city's development goes in different directions. In our city, we do not have enough density at this point between our downtown and our airport, and therefore it's in 5th place regarding the routes that we select. I hope it will go to the airport at sometime in the next 50 years. But at this point in time we picked high priority lines even though an airport was my first choice as mayor, but I listened to the experts had to say and the experts told me that in Charlotte that would not be the best line to implement. But every city is different. ..
This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2010.