CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte City Councilman Tariq Bokhari and Republican consultant Larry Shaheen met with a bipartisan group of state lawmakers in Raleigh this week to discuss a regional transit and mobility plan.
"We have to make sure to have buy-in from them in the beginning, not the end," Shaheen said.
The Transformational Mobility Network, or TMN, has been spearheaded by city leaders and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. The plan includes having 110 miles of rapid transit corridors like the light rail, 140 miles of bussing, 115 miles of a greenway system, 75 miles of a bicycle network, and more.
Charlotte City Council proposed a one-cent sales tax to create revenue for the network. A 2022 ballot referendum would need the approval of the North Carolina General Assembly.
"It's very important to them that Charlotte not design this thing and come up with funding structure all on their own," Shaheen said.
Shaheen says a coalition of businesses, regional stakeholders, and state lawmakers should be included during ground-level discussions. City leaders and the Alliance have indicated they embrace a similar approach.
"We can't do this just as Charlotte, it's got to be a regional effort," Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt said, appearing on WCNC last week.
But Shaheen said state lawmakers haven't been consulted, and he said any plan must prioritize a high-speed commuter rail service to north Mecklenburg County over an east-west light-rail "silver line" stretching from Gaston County to Matthews. A recent timeline released by the city indicates the northern "red line" as the priority, although current design work is being done for the silver line.
"The red line was promised to the voters of north Mecklenburg, and they've been paying transit taxes for well over twenty years," Shaheen said.
Without prioritization of the northern rail line, and without more state involvement, Shaheen said the plan is dead on arrival.
"We have to be collaborative," he said.
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