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Speaker 1: What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to

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this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon

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to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you

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hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right

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to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so

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much for your support. I'd like to welcome to the program,

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Eric Rowell and Robert Dawkins. We're going to be discussing

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the Mecklenberg County referendum on the transit tax increase. Voters

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are being asked to approve a one cent increase on

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the sales tax to pay for a transit system plan

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expansion along with road related projects. The vote is on

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November fourth, and it's estimated to generate somewhere between I

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don't know twenty twenty five billion dollars over thirty years,

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with funds allocated supposedly for forty percent for road related projects,

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forty percent for rail, and the remaining twenty percent for

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buses and microtransit stuff. It would also create a new

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twenty seven member Transit Authority to oversee the whole system.

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Speaker 2: So.

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Speaker 1: Eric Rawell is a native North Carolinian. He's lived in

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Meckelberg County since twenty ten. Licensed the attorney, and he

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lives in Huntersville and runs the Huntersville Politics group on

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the Facebook. Eric welcome, Thanks Pete. And Robert Dawkins is

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the political director for Action n C. Robert welcome, Hey,

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how are you. I'm good? So tell us first, what

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is Action and C.

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Speaker 2: Sure? So, Action and C. We've been here representing load

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of moderate income neighborhoods in Charlotte for the past fifteen years,

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so you know, we work on issues like affordable housing,

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upward mobility, economic impact of policy, owned load of moderate

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income people, and normally we support tax increases, but on

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this one we.

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Speaker 1: Finally found a tax increase that you don't want. Okay,

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So Eric, you are more on the right side of

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the political spectrum. I'm assuming I think that's fair.

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Speaker 3: Me and Robert were coming together as a bootleg or

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Baptist coalition, if you will, and you know Robert was

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really active on Twitter, and so I've been following this

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issue from the right and as a Hunter's a resident

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for a long time now, and this, you know, this

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all started bubbling back up in late twenty three, and

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then last year they started back with the quote unquote

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informational meetings that cats were held. And of course, you know,

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we now got the referendum from the state. And I

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saw Action and See tweeting feverishly about this a few

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weeks ago, and clearly it was coming from a place,

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a different side, so to speak. But I reached out

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to Action and See and was able to connect with Robert,

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and you know, me and him hit it all right

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away because we both see how bad this is. And

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we've really been able to put together kind of a

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disparate coalition of current and former electeds, grassroots folks, just

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you know, folks like myself who or let's say, interested

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residents or citizens, but we see how bad this is.

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The Libertarians are involved, right, the Republicans, Democrats were all

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opposed to this for different reasons, but we all want

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to see a better plan put in place, and this

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is not the right plan.

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Speaker 1: So the folks on the other side that are in

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support of the plan, the Carolina Association for Passenger Trains,

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they've got a print out here. Well, I have their

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print outs called support the Tax Amend the Plan, which

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I thought was an interesting way to address the criticisms

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raised by Action and see also the Charlotte Regional Business

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Alliance Sustain Charlotte is also on board with this. So

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you've got a lot of the local institutions, local government officials,

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a lot of business leaders, boosters and stuff. So they're

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all in support of all of this, and they're dumping

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I think what two or three million dollars three million,

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three million towards a pr campaign. We're going to probably

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see a bunch of advertising and stuff. So you guys

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are probably a master war chest of similar value, at

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least unless Roberts holding.

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Speaker 2: Back from I've got a copier and I got a

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brand new pair of Adidas to go knock on doors

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and nasty extent of it.

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Speaker 1: Well, I will say, were either of you here in

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two thousand when the arena referendum went down? Yeah, so

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that I mean that, But that was that that referendum

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was held in June. It was a standalone question, but

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it was a similar dynamic. You had a lot of

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the boosters that were in favor of it pushing for it,

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and then you had ground swell of voters who were

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like no for all these different reasons.

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Speaker 2: I can't remember the name of the city councilwoman now,

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Lyn Wheeler, Lynn Wheeler, and she got voted out over it,

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well after we voted down the reference, they did it anyway,

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And then she got voted out because a guy.

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Speaker 1: Named Paul or yeah all ike, who was like a

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retired mit professor or something, and he just on the

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very last day of signing up to run for office,

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he saw she wasn't being challenged in the GOP primary,

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so he just threw his name in there and he

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ended up beating her and she finished fourth. Right, Yeah,

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so there are political repercussions to this. I mean that

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was a different time, though, you know, twenty five years

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in the city leadership looks a lot different. So do

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you have any kind of are there any kind of

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I don't know, optimistic signs that you're seeing from local

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elected officials that would indicate that they're wary of this plan.

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Speaker 2: So what I've seen now is in hindsight. So first

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city council had to approve a proposal to go to

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the General Assembly, right, so everybody on city council except

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for Taric Bakar.

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Speaker 1: He voted for it.

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Speaker 2: Now since we have been able to raise some problems

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and people are sitting back and looking at some of it.

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Last week was when City Council was going to pass

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their MoU the understanding piece for.

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Speaker 4: The Authority Memorandum of Understanding Yes, And out of that

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vote we had council Woman Brown, console Woman Johnson, and counsel.

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Speaker 2: Woman Mayfield all vote against it for different reasons. And

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we also saw Councilman Graham list a whole bunch of

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issues that he saw as concerning him even though he

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was going to vote for it. So it's starting to grow.

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The bad thing is was the lack of transparency from

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the beginning, if so so. Back when we first saw

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this brewing back in like December, a lot of groups

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and now just I said Action in Sea started putting

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together questions that we had. The response that we were

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getting was, look, you know, we've got to take what

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the Journal Assembly will give us. We don't want to

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raise any saying because then it won't get read into

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being able to be read in. After this read then

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we can work on it. So we kept raising issues. Well, Robert,

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we're going to have Senator.

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Speaker 1: I forgot what is her name, Vicky Sawyer. Senator Sawyers,

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he's in charge of the transportation.

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Speaker 2: Senator Sawyer is going to come up with the bill

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and a lot of the things are going to be

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addressed in it. And it addressed buses, but it didn't

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address the authority of problems that we had there, didn't

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address the regressiveness of the tax. We started complaining there,

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and then it was like, well, don't worry, we'll fix

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it in committee. We we know Representative Coatlain was going

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to come out with her own.

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Speaker 1: Bill on the House side.

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Speaker 2: It came out it lacked the twenty percent commitment for buses,

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and everything else was pretty much the same except for

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adding and studying the Silver line. Once we saw the

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study in the silver line, we said, old, on a minute.

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Speaker 1: Some one that's going to run out to the airport

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in about a mile.

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Speaker 2: The airport and then go east Charlotte. So once they

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were studying it, we were like, well, wait a minute.

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Studying it, you were telling us we were going to

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get the east, We're going to get this east west line.

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And they're like, oh, don't worry, it's all formalody. So

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finally we get to the bills being converged and put together, compiled.

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Speaker 3: What's the word concurred in committee?

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Speaker 1: Ye committeefence commit.

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Speaker 2: When it was getting ready to come out, the twenties

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percent buses had disappeared. So we ourself action and seeing

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all of us started calling Trish, cop Hotham and Representative

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do fighting to get the buses back in the city

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was doing no lobbying. The city's whole point was we

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will take whatever the General Assembly gives you.

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Speaker 1: Which I can understand from a political perspective, because the

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General Assembly, Republican led, they're not very interested all the

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time in hearing what the Democrat led city council.

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Speaker 2: Right, I give you that, but don't come back and

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tell me at the end that you're representing me as

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strong as you can. And all I'm going to do

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is take what I can get. If that's the case,

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get out of our way and just let us deal

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with the General Assembly. Just give us a blank piece

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of paper and we'll go up there and negotiate it

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and come back. That's been our issue here the whole time.

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The politicians in Charlotte now negotiate out a fear of

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the General Assembly more than they do on our path,

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to the point that it almost becomes an excuse not

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to even move forward on stuff. Hey, can we get

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five dollars for the parts? Oh no, the General Assembly

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won't let us do it. Can we get mayonnaise served

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in the cafeteria? Oh no, no, no, that Dylan rule

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won't let us have it.

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Speaker 1: I don't think it's that I know, Dylan. I don't

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know if a mayo in the cafeteria. But your point

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is taken. I understand you got it's a mother may

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I state kind of a deal, all right? You hear

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me talk a lot about incentives, right, Well, let's talk

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about incentive trips, the kind that companies offer employees to

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fire them up and reward their teams. If you own

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a business or you work somewhere that offers these incentive trips,

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first off, good for you, but also there is a

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custom app that's a game changer for these trips. It's

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called Incentive trip Kit. Private group messaging, shared photos, you're itinerary,

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travel details, all built into a single, easy to use app.

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There's even a traveler locator, so Carl from Accounting doesn't

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get left behind. The best part about incentive tripkit. It's

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totally private, no email captures, no sign ups, no cringe ads.

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It's simple, clean and secure, and when the trip is over,

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incentive Tripkit turns those highlights into a professional storytelling video.

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So think about it. When you launch next year's incentive

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trip campaign, that video becomes your greatest motivator. Talk about

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a return on investment. Right, you got to check out

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incentive trip Kit for your business. Visit incentive tripkit dot

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com because great trips deserve even better returns. All Right

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in studio with me is Eric Rowell and Robert Dawkins.

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We're talking about the Mecklenburg County transit tax vote that's

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coming up in November. In the last segment we were

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talking about the creation of this authority. It's got twenty

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seven seats according to the legislation that was passed. So

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who wants to take first stab at why this is not,

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in your opinion, a good idea as constructed? Well, so, Pete.

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Speaker 3: One of the many problems that you know, me as

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a resident of Huntersville, has had with this bill is

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the way it's outlined is one member appointed by the

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governing body that has the larger second largest population, Right,

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and they go through this list and then the third

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largest population in the county. But each of those towns

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outside of Charlotte, we all get one.

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Speaker 1: So one of their six cities, six towns outside of

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Charlotte in Mecklenburg County each get one, right, each.

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Speaker 3: Get the same. So so Huntersville, where I reside, gets

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the same apportionment as Davidson or Pineville, with much less

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in the way of town owned roads and obviously much

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smaller population. And clearly they're going to contribute smaller amounts

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to the sales tax as well. So that's one of

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the ways I look at this is we're going to

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be stuck now in another authority with Charlotte that's going

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to have veto proof majority almost right from the get go,

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with twelve of the twenty seven members, and then you

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add the city.

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Speaker 1: Let's break that down. The city of Charlotte gets twelve votes.

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Each of the towns or cities get get one, so

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that's a total of six. Then you also have six

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votes for the county Commission, that's correct, and then the

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rest go to the legislature and the governor.

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Speaker 3: On one member appointed by the governor, that's right. So

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that's the corporation, right, and then and that's right, two

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members appointed by the General Assembly, one upon the recommendation

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of the President pro tem of the Senate, and one

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upon the recommendation of the Speaker of the House.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so what each of the bodies gets a vote,

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the House gets a vote, or the governor gets a

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member of the governor. Right, So there's three from them, right,

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and then is there any other I've lost track? I

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ran out of fense.

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Speaker 2: So you've got so you have those those three from

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the legislature, one for the governor, one for the speaker

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at a house, one for the mayor pro tem. You've

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got out of Charlotte's twelve. Three of those come off

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that Charlotte doesn't decide on. Two of those are decided

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on by the Charlott Regional Business Association. So two of

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the twelve for Charlotte c RBA picks, one of the

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ones from Charlotte Foundation for the Carolinas picks. Also, both

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the city and the county have to appoint one small

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business person. The city, excuse me, the county has to

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appoint one person.

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Speaker 1: How we used to live in the etoj etj Yah. Yeah,

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et So all of.

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Speaker 2: Those spots come off. Who doesn't have a direct tie

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is the seventy percent of the people that ride the

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bus on a regular There's nobody that's an active rider.

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And when we say active rider, we don't mean just hey,

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I'm a doctor that lives up in Hunter's Wool and

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I ride the bus. We mean what we call a

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captive rider. I ride the bus out of necessity. I

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make thirty percent AMI or under and this is my

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only form of.

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Speaker 1: So you want a seat designated for a user of

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the transit system out of necessity? Out of necessity And

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so we were talking during the break, so is there

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is how would you get that person on the board.

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Speaker 2: So I think that there's different ways that the city

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in the county because both of them have to appoint one,

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which they're calling a rider. Because here's the whole point.

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Speaker 1: So they do have to appoint a writer. Yeah, here's yes.

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Speaker 2: So the legislature did not define a spot, so all

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they could do is on a local level with another

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memorandum of understanding, say we think this is important enough

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that we will all agree that we will put a rider.

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But they can't redefine what's required by the general Assembly.

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So they can't forcibly go and say we want them

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to be a captive rider, and for us that's problematic.

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Speaker 3: Let me, did you want to add anything, Eric on Well,

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the other thing too is this is going to be,

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you know, as if in case anyone had any doubt,

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purely a political appointee, because the legislation makes very clear

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these members can be appointed at will. So if the

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authority is not happy with the remember, the authority can

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then remove that member. So if you decide to vote

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against the best interests of Charlotte, for example, the authority

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is going to be able to remove you for calls

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or without calls.

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Speaker 1: Right, So let's talk a little bit about your skepticism. Eric.

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As a North mech resident, you came here in twenty ten.

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So the plan the two thousand, that the Blue Line

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was already under construction, right, All of that original fight

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from the early two thousands was over and done. But

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I'm old enough to remember when that plan was for

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a much longer blue line, and there was supposed to

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be some other trains involved, and none of that ever

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got built, right, So you're worried about what broken promises.

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Speaker 3: Yet again, this is this to me is a North

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Mech resident is just another bait and switch. And you

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know what I've kind of been saying is, look, you

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know they I've tried to break it down real simply.

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They lied to us in ninety eight. They're lying to

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us again now and this is going to be another

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bait and switch where they're dangling the care of the

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red line to get the vote of the North Mech

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residence when there's no guarantee that red line's ever going

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to get built. And that's despite the promises of the

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lobbyist and politicians that are pushing for this tax. So yeah,

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I moved here, and I'm a North Carolina resident, but

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moved to Mecklenburg in twenty ten, so I was in

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Charlotte for the first three years, moved up to Huntersville

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in twenty thirteen, and I've been hearing about the red

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line ever since. But of course you've really not seen

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any progress until Norfolk Southern had a catastrophe where that's

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a lot of people speculate that that's kind of what

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led to them saying we got to raise some revenue,

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We've got to pay off what happened on the massive

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disaster they had up in outside of Cleveland.

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Speaker 1: Is that the East Palestine.

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Speaker 3: So you had that and all of a sudden Norfolk

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Southern comes to the table. But they keep their easement right,

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they can continue to run freight on this line. So

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I'm looking this as to me, I'm not a proponent

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of the Red Line because I don't think there are

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any there's no ridership estimate at all.

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Speaker 1: Okay, you've got no call. Well, there was one from

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years ago. That's correct, original plan.

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Speaker 3: That's right, and I think the last one that came

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out with somewhere in twenty eleven or twenty twelve. So

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obviously well, pre COVID ridership numbers have plummeted on transit

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across the country. Charlotte's not recovered. I think we're somewhere

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at sixty five or seventy percent pre COVID pre levels

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and we're probably unlikely to ever recover. So you're looking

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at you want to talk about writers of necessity versus

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luxury writers. People in North Mech and David's and Cornelius

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and Huntersville, where our average median income is far greater

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than Charlotte, and those people will ride the Red Line

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to to you know, go seek a concert, right, this

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is a it'll be a fun outing for the family. Meanwhile,

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we're gonna have a red line that's gonna run. It's

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only going to run every thirty minutes during the day, right,

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Weekends will be every sixty minutes. So most people in Huntersville.

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I live on the west side, you know, and I

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thankfully work in Huntersville, But why would I ever use

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the red line? Drive two or three miles over to it,

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wait for it, hopefully I can't, you know, catch it

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on time, take you know, thirty to forty five minutes

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to even get to Charlotte, and then I have to

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figure out, well, now that I'm there, how am I

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getting around?

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Speaker 1: Right?

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Speaker 3: So yeah, a lot of issues with the red Line.

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But the biggest thing is it's just, you know, we

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don't trust that it's ever going to happen.

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Speaker 1: So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's,

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and before he died, my mom and my dad took

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care of him as he got worse. Forty years ago,

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there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers

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and family. But things are different today because of the

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work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of

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Western Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome people with

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huge hearts. I've been a supporter for twenty five years.

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This cause means a lot to me. I participate in

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the annual walk to end Alzheimer's and I'm leading a

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Charlotte team again this year, and it's called once again

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Pete's Pack. You can sign up and you can join

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the team and walk with us. It's on October eighteenth,

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that truest field. Sign up at alz dot org slash

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Walk and then you could search for my team name

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Pete's Pack. There's also a link at the petepod dot com.

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There's also a link in the description of this podcast. Also,

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I'll be am seeing the Gastonia Walk on October eleventh then,

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so you can make a team and join that one too,

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or make a donation and help me hit my goal

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of five thousand dollars. If you do, I really appreciate it.

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There are a bunch of other walks all over the Carolinas.

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You can go to alz dot org slash walk for

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all the dates and locations. We're closer than ever to

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stopping Alzheimer's. Can you help us get there. Will you

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walk with me for a different future, for families, for

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more time for treatments. This is why we walk. Eric

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Rowel and Robert Dawkins are in studio with me. They

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are opposed to the Mecklenburg County trans attacks increase. Eric,

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I want to touch base with you now on the

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contract language that's in the legislation regarding what's called force masure.

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So you're an attorney, tell us what is the force masure?

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Speaker 3: Right, Pete. So when I saw the draft legislation that

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came out, I think maybe in November December started circulating,

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that was one of the things that I keyed in

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on right away because again, to me, this is just

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another bait and switch. But what we've been hearing from

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the PROTAC side is no, no, the red line has

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to be done this time, right, Fifty percent of the

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red line has to be done before we can divert

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these funds to any other project, any other rail project,

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because as you know, it's a forty forty twenty split, right,

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So forty percent are going to roads, forty percent to transit,

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and then twenty percent to buses.

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Speaker 1: And I would also just point out that the forty

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percent for quote, roads is also sidewalks, bus or bike lanes.

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Speaker 3: Okay, it is not just dedicated to roads. But so

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there is a section in the legislation right that that

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to me as an attorney, I read this and it

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gave me immediate pause because what it says is it

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is that the authority shall complete at least fifty percent

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of the red line as evidenced by a scope of

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work schedule created and submitted by the GC, the general contractor.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 3: So this is not fifty percent of construction. We're not

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talking about stations being built, shovels in the dirt. This

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is fifty percent of a quote unquote scope of.

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Speaker 1: Work, which is just basically an outline of what they

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intend to do, timeline that sort of thing.

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Speaker 3: Right, So, to me, there's no guarantee that any actual

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work ever gets done. This could be a lot of planning,

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a lot of consulting work, a lot of design work

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that gets done. But then, if you have to you

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read further, and it does have what I would consider

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standard force masure language. But what it says is when

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it talks about fifty percent has to be completed absent

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the existence or occurrence of force measure events that delay

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completion of the red line or make completion of the

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red line inpracticable. Right, So to me, that's the key

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word impracticable.

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Speaker 1: What does that mean? Right? It could mean.

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Speaker 3: Anything because it is not defined anywhere in this legislation.

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So as an attorney, right, you read words, you look

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at for the meaning that's in the bill. So that

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to me immediately jumped out as the authority could find

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almost anything as an excuse to say, hey, the red

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line is no longer impracticable. Does that mean well, we

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didn't get any federal funds?

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Speaker 2: Right?

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Speaker 3: You've heard the Alliance folks run around touting six million.

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My own town of Huntersville has put out a Facebook

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post they refuse to correct where they have said we're

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going to generate twenty five billion in funds from this,

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which is not the correct number. That is the nineteen

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plus six that a lot of the Alliance folks have

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been putting out there. We're going to get six million

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in federal funds. There's no basis for that. So what

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happens when we don't get those funds? Does that now

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say well, the revenue is not there, maybe we need

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to divert this to the other line.

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Speaker 1: It's no longer practicable. So we're going to divert away

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from the red line project and funded in silverlaw.

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Speaker 3: And that's the problem is it's always who decides, right,

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So you've got the language, but then you have to ask, well,

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who decides, and that's the authority, And we know the

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authority is obviously weighted in favor of Charlotte in the county.

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Speaker 1: So okay, So that's that's a problem. The scope of

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work is not to find you're not satisfied with the language.

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What of the argument that and I have it here

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U Carolina Association for Passenger Trains They say, support the

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tax amend the plan.

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Speaker 3: So we've heard this. I think it was Nancy Pelosi.

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It sounds like it sounds like some Nancy Pelos. You

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got to pass the bill before you know what's in it.

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Speaker 2: Right.

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Speaker 1: The idea is we're not going to get this shot

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again with the legislature because it's a Republican controlled legislature.

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They're not going to go along with light rail plans

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and projects or commuter rail plans and projects. So just

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do this now and we'll fix it after.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Charlotte's history is so bad that there's no way

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that I would be voting and hoping that the legislature

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that you're saying is so bad it's dealing with Charlotte

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that they wouldn't give you power. They're going to just

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automatically let you appeal it and amend it before you've

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even shown them that there's a problem, and you to

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show them a problem over time.

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Speaker 1: Well, if they could move money like the street car.

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I've railed against the street car ever since it was

474
00:23:52,279 --> 00:23:54,960
a leap frogged over it project project. It has never

475
00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,720
been a good project. And so like, maybe there's an

476
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:01,640
opportunity to move money around they and take it away

477
00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,079
from the street car and send it to the red liners.

478
00:24:04,279 --> 00:24:06,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the easiest thing to do is to wait

479
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:09,559
in one, hopefully this time getting more public input in

480
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:13,720
community input during the lobbying process before you take it

481
00:24:13,759 --> 00:24:14,640
to the legislature.

482
00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,160
Speaker 1: Didn't they hold a bunch of meetings and the hearings

483
00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:17,720
and all this stuff.

484
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:19,279
Speaker 2: I think out of all of it, they had eighteen

485
00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:23,839
hundred people out of one point two million people take

486
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:26,720
part in it. And you get the same people always

487
00:24:26,799 --> 00:24:29,039
that can show up to be.

488
00:24:29,319 --> 00:24:32,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, p'd I attended mine in Huntersville, or I think

489
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,680
technically it may have been on the Cornelias side last year.

490
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,440
Half the room is filled with politicians, the other halse

491
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,119
filled with Cats employees who are there to just basically

492
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:42,359
give you the talking points. And it's when I went

493
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,720
up afterwards and confronted the CATS representative, asked a lot

494
00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:50,079
of questions about ridership. This was all, oh, early twenty five, right,

495
00:24:50,079 --> 00:24:52,200
They kept saying, last year, in early twenty five, we're

496
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,279
gonna come out with the cost estimates and the ridership estimates.

497
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,680
So again we're still here. This is past early twenty

498
00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,400
twenty five, and we still don't have any of that

499
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,519
for the Red line, which is one of the reasons

500
00:25:01,519 --> 00:25:04,720
why I just feel like this is a just trust us, right, Well,

501
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,039
we don't neither one of us trust that Charlotte's going

502
00:25:08,039 --> 00:25:09,480
to deliver on these promises.

503
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:11,960
Speaker 1: Well, and if you look at the history, like you

504
00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,839
were saying, Robert, like in the initial construction of the

505
00:25:15,839 --> 00:25:18,519
Blue line, they pegged the cost at one number and

506
00:25:18,559 --> 00:25:20,359
it came in way over. They had to reduce the

507
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:22,519
length of the line, yet there was a lot of problems.

508
00:25:22,599 --> 00:25:27,039
Speaker 2: And then I remember how they were asking specifically the

509
00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:31,000
low income in African American community to help them fight

510
00:25:31,079 --> 00:25:35,039
the repeal, and they went to the churches specific Oh sure,

511
00:25:35,279 --> 00:25:37,880
and they were like, look, if y'all help us keep

512
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:41,039
this from getting repealed, we're going to part of it

513
00:25:41,079 --> 00:25:43,000
was going to be on independence. It was going to

514
00:25:43,039 --> 00:25:45,440
be this ho V lane. They were going to come

515
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:49,319
out with all these anti displacement measures. None of that

516
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:52,319
got done. In fact, they came back in twenty nineteen

517
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:54,839
and said, oh yeah, we didn't do much on displacement.

518
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,960
We're sorry when we're saying who gets hurt from this

519
00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:02,440
the least amongas are the ones that get hurt the

520
00:26:02,559 --> 00:26:05,880
most if we go and charge them this tax and

521
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,079
it fails. So let's not pass it in amend it.

522
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,799
Let's fix Let's come up with something that everybody can

523
00:26:12,839 --> 00:26:15,400
agree upon a better plan and a better point.

524
00:26:15,599 --> 00:26:18,720
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Ticket Slash terms Limited time offer. Eric Rowl and Robert

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00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,559
Dawkins talking about the Mecklelberg County transit tax increase. We

555
00:27:58,599 --> 00:28:02,480
will be voting on a fourth. One of the things

556
00:28:02,519 --> 00:28:04,680
I mentioned did earlier was this idea that like, if

557
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:06,799
we don't do this, it's better to just do it

558
00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,759
now and fix it later because we won't get another

559
00:28:09,839 --> 00:28:14,000
chance this now or never, which is a negotiation strategy, right,

560
00:28:14,079 --> 00:28:15,640
put a deadline on people.

561
00:28:15,880 --> 00:28:18,440
Speaker 3: That's right. It's an ultimatum, right, And this is a

562
00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,200
scare tactic. And I've been trying to encourage people to

563
00:28:21,319 --> 00:28:23,799
reject that. Right, you got to reject the premise. But

564
00:28:23,839 --> 00:28:25,759
also before I forget Pete, thanks so much for having

565
00:28:25,799 --> 00:28:28,079
us on today, because you know we're up against the

566
00:28:28,079 --> 00:28:31,480
behemoth three million dollars in propaganda that they're buying out there.

567
00:28:31,559 --> 00:28:34,640
And so this is important that people understand. We've got

568
00:28:34,839 --> 00:28:37,359
a month and a half really to go. Early voting

569
00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,599
starts pretty soon. So but look, I like what Commissioner

570
00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,039
Susan McDowell said on this. She voted against us at

571
00:28:44,039 --> 00:28:46,720
the county level, putting this on the on the referendum

572
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:48,799
on the ballot, and she said, look, we have to

573
00:28:48,839 --> 00:28:51,440
say no now before we end up paying at tax

574
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:55,480
and perpetuity that does not solve our transportation issues and

575
00:28:55,559 --> 00:28:58,720
merely buy some very expensive band aids. You deserve better,

576
00:28:58,759 --> 00:29:00,960
We all deserve better. And that's the thing. This is

577
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:02,880
not an hour or ever there's I mean, we can

578
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,960
always go back to the legislature and amendous bill, make

579
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:08,440
it better, make it work, and make it solve the

580
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,400
actual problems that we have with transportation and congestion and

581
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:12,920
traffic in this in this county.

582
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:15,720
Speaker 1: One of the things I saw was that the amount

583
00:29:15,759 --> 00:29:20,359
of increase to the average resident in Mecklenberg County would

584
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,599
be more per year than the county and city property

585
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:25,720
tax increases.

586
00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:28,920
Speaker 2: Yes combine, Yes, when you go from seven point twenty

587
00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,680
five percent to eight point twenty five percent. Putting that

588
00:29:31,799 --> 00:29:34,720
all together as a whole, that's a fourteen percent increase

589
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:37,400
what we're looking at. And I think that was it

590
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:39,599
was one of the main stations here that put out

591
00:29:39,599 --> 00:29:42,799
the cost per person per month in year two hundred

592
00:29:42,839 --> 00:29:45,079
and forty bucks a month. To excuse me, two hundred

593
00:29:45,079 --> 00:29:48,359
and forty bucks a year for for average citizen, eleven

594
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,519
bucks a month for load and moderate income people.

595
00:29:51,799 --> 00:29:52,640
Speaker 1: That is huge.

596
00:29:52,799 --> 00:29:54,920
Speaker 2: You can tell me, oh, it's not going to be

597
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,200
on prepared food, but I've got other expenses other than food.

598
00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:00,960
Speaker 1: I've got a clothes. Well, it is on prepared food.

599
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:02,279
It's not on grocery.

600
00:30:02,279 --> 00:30:06,599
Speaker 2: It's it's not on groceries exactly. What is so not

601
00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:08,680
only not only that I still have to I have

602
00:30:08,759 --> 00:30:11,200
to clothe my family, I have to clean my house.

603
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,000
I have to take care of loved ones. So eleven

604
00:30:15,079 --> 00:30:18,400
bucks is still eleven bucks and four people. That's the

605
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:21,240
least among us. The folks that now are are forced

606
00:30:21,279 --> 00:30:25,720
to live in hotels, they're already paying two percent texts

607
00:30:25,799 --> 00:30:29,039
for on a user refee because they're living in a motel.

608
00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:34,920
They don't have a kitchen. So everybody wants to take

609
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:36,960
this and go Oh, but it's not it's only on

610
00:30:38,039 --> 00:30:42,119
prepared food, like it's just candy. It's more than just candy.

611
00:30:42,319 --> 00:30:45,319
If you if you're living in a hotel, it's the

612
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,400
rotesserie chicken that you just paid for your kids to eat.

613
00:30:49,799 --> 00:30:52,839
So folks need to look at that and just to say, well,

614
00:30:52,839 --> 00:30:55,880
it's only eleven bucks, but it's not on necessities. You

615
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,279
don't get to determine to me what my necessity is.

616
00:30:58,400 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 1: Is that eleven bucks a month.

617
00:30:59,599 --> 00:31:01,440
Speaker 2: Eleven off, So you don't get to tell me what

618
00:31:01,519 --> 00:31:02,240
my necessity.

619
00:31:02,319 --> 00:31:02,839
Speaker 1: So it's over.

620
00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:04,880
Speaker 2: It's one hundred and fifty bucks a year. One hundred

621
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:06,960
fifty bucks a year. But here's another point too, when

622
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:08,559
you're telling me one of the main things is going

623
00:31:08,599 --> 00:31:11,440
to help poor people is micro transit, and a majority

624
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:13,599
of these poor people are having to go to crisis

625
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:17,359
assistance just to pay their their food, their regular bill,

626
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,799
and your phone bill if your phone's cut off. How

627
00:31:19,839 --> 00:31:23,599
you're going to use micro transit. It's an app based system,

628
00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:25,920
so when the phone's off, they can't even use the

629
00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:27,359
service you're trying to sell.

630
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 1: Them, which is part of the plan. Also, this concept

631
00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:32,599
of the micro transit, which is essentially uber but government

632
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:34,799
run which government run uber.

633
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,440
Speaker 2: But instead of me being able to say, hey Pete,

634
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,000
take me, is hey Pete take me, and the four

635
00:31:40,039 --> 00:31:43,119
people that called you before me in order of how

636
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:44,920
you called me to my destination.

637
00:31:45,039 --> 00:31:46,880
Speaker 1: So it's a bus, but only a four seater.

638
00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:49,079
Speaker 2: It's a four seed bus. So I need more four

639
00:31:49,119 --> 00:31:51,279
seed buses because it's not scalable.

640
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:56,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, So Eric, it's just you two in studio.

641
00:31:57,119 --> 00:31:59,799
You guys are fighting the behemoth. As you said, are

642
00:31:59,839 --> 00:32:00,759
you gaining traction?

643
00:32:01,319 --> 00:32:05,160
Speaker 3: I think we are. You've got a growing coalition Democrats, Republicans,

644
00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:08,599
libertarians coming together, current and former elected officials that are

645
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:12,400
publicly stating their opposition to this. The Huntersville candidate's running

646
00:32:12,519 --> 00:32:15,119
right now, we've got you know, Frank Gammon and Jamie Widman.

647
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:18,039
Scott Cornett's even a Democrat, he's come out against this.

648
00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:22,880
Dennis Biladuo running for mayor in Cornelia's very vocal advocate

649
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,119
or opponent of this as well. And you're starting to

650
00:32:25,119 --> 00:32:28,200
see more of that. So I think that's a that's

651
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:31,640
a huge positive sign that we're seeing. And listen, I

652
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:33,920
think to sum it up right, this isn't going to

653
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:36,680
be a transit tax This is a train wreck, is

654
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,440
what this is. And so we need people to get

655
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:41,680
out to spread the word with their friends and neighbors.

656
00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,400
This is a low turnout election, so we can beat

657
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,759
this thing, but you need to make sure your friends

658
00:32:46,799 --> 00:32:49,960
and neighbors understand the implications of this. This is a

659
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,480
permanent tax. It's going to impact the lowest income residents

660
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,599
the most, and it's not going to make Cats any safer.

661
00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:59,480
And I think that's something that obviously has taken a

662
00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:01,799
lot of president Over the past few days, You're seeing

663
00:33:01,839 --> 00:33:05,160
more and more people voice concerns about safety. So why

664
00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,039
are we going to trust Cats with three to four

665
00:33:08,119 --> 00:33:12,240
hundred million dollars a year extra when they haven't demonstrated

666
00:33:12,279 --> 00:33:13,920
that they deserve our trust.

667
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:16,799
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean they've had trains derail on the Blue Line.

668
00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:19,759
They were not replacing the truck system for the wheels.

669
00:33:19,759 --> 00:33:23,160
It's like the ball bearings. It's like, what this is

670
00:33:23,279 --> 00:33:26,400
basic stuff. And so I mean I've been impressed with

671
00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:28,680
the guy in the interim CEO, Brent Cagel, seems to

672
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,680
be doing a better job than the previous one, John Lewis.

673
00:33:32,039 --> 00:33:37,039
But I mean that's lowballs, right, So there is that

674
00:33:37,079 --> 00:33:39,039
all right? Well, thank you very much for coming in.

675
00:33:39,079 --> 00:33:41,759
I do appreciate it and keep us posted as to

676
00:33:41,799 --> 00:33:43,960
how it's how it's going. Did you got y'all have

677
00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:45,599
a website or anything like that.

678
00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:49,079
Speaker 3: No, just just just Facebook Roberts Roberts tweets.

679
00:33:49,079 --> 00:33:53,160
Speaker 2: Really, when we say this is really here's the whole

680
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:55,319
point we were. We would have even had to have

681
00:33:55,359 --> 00:33:58,920
come up with enough people to form an anti referendum

682
00:33:59,079 --> 00:34:02,559
a committee and file reports. Yeah, come up with money

683
00:34:02,559 --> 00:34:05,400
for yard signs. This is the first time you've seen

684
00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:10,639
Democrats and Republicans all together on one thing, and it's

685
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:13,199
not in the best interest of the people and lust

686
00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,960
Without money, we're just trying to fight it word of mouth.

687
00:34:16,039 --> 00:34:18,599
Speaker 1: All right, Well, thank you guys, I appreciate it. News

688
00:34:18,639 --> 00:34:22,599
is Next. All right, that'll do it for this episode.

689
00:34:22,599 --> 00:34:24,679
Thank you so much for listening. I could not do

690
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:26,880
the show without your support and the support of the

691
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:29,960
businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like,

692
00:34:30,079 --> 00:34:32,199
please support them too and tell them you heard it here.

693
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:34,840
You can also become a patron at my Patreon page

694
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:38,519
or go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so

695
00:34:38,599 --> 00:34:44,239
much for listening, and don't break anything. While I'm gone,