CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County Commissioner Leigh Altman has mixed emotions about news this week involving potential mass transit plans. Altman also serves on the Metropolitan Transit Commission.
While Altman describes herself as "encouraged" by a tentative agreement announced between CATS and Norfolk Southern to start the Red Line commuter rail between Uptown and Iredell County, she's disappointed at what it could mean for the Silver Line, traveling to east Charlotte and Matthews.
"I have a huge problem with this," Altman said on WCNC Charlotte's Flashpoint. "Also, it is devastating to the residents on the east side and in Matthews, and I am not giving up, I am going to continue to advocate and look for ways to find a solution to the problem."
State leaders have indicated any transit plan to receive their approval would require more focus on roads and less on transit. Faced with that, city leaders are newly focused limiting the Silver Line to Matthews.
"You know, we need mass transit there, too," Altman said. "We need a rail system that goes there also. And so I don't know how we're going to get to the answer."
Altman wouldn't commit to whether she would support the plan in its current form.
This week, plans to cut the proposed Silver Line to the town of Matthews had the mayor, Tom Higdon, angry. During Wednesday's MTC meeting, he said the town was getting "the low end of the deal."
"This been decades of planning and have anticipated this line when it came to building businesses and where they would go," Higdon said.
He said the news means a loss of connection and that small businesses would lose out on millions of dollars in revenue from travelers.
"You wouldn't see it now, but when it would have been finished, you would notice," Higdon said.
Adam Jackson is the owner of Matthews Social House and opened almost a year ago. He saw opportunity in Matthews because of the expansion of transit. But after hearing about the scrapped plans, he was crushed.
"They didn’t put Matthews on the list," Jackson said. "It was going to bring people out. It was a win-win for us."
Higdon said he will continue to push for the Silver Line.
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