In an unposted editorial, N.C Alliance for Transportation Reform president Joe McDonald tells us what he thinks of the Heart of the Triad:
Triad citizens should be enraged. Elected officials must recognize that this plan, if actually implemented, would suck the vitality from the existing metropolitan areas and would eventually mean higher taxes for all. They should kill the HOT Plan and start over with a new approach that would call for enhanced economic development in the inner-city areas of the Triad while preserving as much woodland and farmland as possible in the Heart.
McDonald also asks:
Why is PART, a regional transportation authority, in the middle of all this? What authority does PART have to engage in land-use planning of this nature? What right does PART have to call for the diminishment of the last few remaining green areas on the HOT map?
That’s a very interesting question from a group that lists “development of other modes of transportation, such as mass transit, freight and passenger rail, bus, van, and car pooling, bicycle and pedestrian ways” as one of its goals toward transportation reform in North Carolina.
But here’s the deal with PART. First, someone needs to hold the government money. Second, someone needs to teach whatever entity runs this deal ( if it happens, and I hope it doesn’t) all about taxing authority. PART director Brent McKinney’s gotten pretty good at it, considering the way he’s been running around the Triad convincing local governments to give him such authority.
Stay tuned, there should be more questions tomorrow night when the Guilford County Board of Commissioners holds a public hearing on HOT.
