A $30-Million Technical Error
What federal officials are calling a “technical error” could potentially slam the brakes on the city’s plan to extend the Lynx Blue Line to UNC-Charlotte.
Local officials had applied for $40 million in federal money to fund the final piece of an engineering/design study required for the $1-billion light-rail extension project. Last week a U.S. Senate subcommittee told local officials that Charlotte would receive $33.7 million of the requested $40 million.
Turns out, maybe not so much. City officials are now being told that Charlotte will receive $3.7 million, Mayor Anthony Foxx said Monday night.
“Somebody moved our *!%#ing decimal point and now we’re out $30 million,” Foxx lamented. OK, not really.
“What happened between then and now, apparently, is that there has been an amendment that’s been offered in one of the sub-committees, probably the same one, to reduce the overall spending on transportation, which is then backing down into the spending on certain projects,” Foxx said. “We’re being told now that that $33.7 (million) was actually a technical error and that it was actually $3.7 (million), which is going to create a lot of problems for that project.”
Gee, you think?
Meanwhile, the city council steamrolled ahead Monday night with spending $37 million to build 1.5 miles worth of a streetcar line, whistling past the graveyard of an obviously broken and ultimately unsustainable transit plan.
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=2747
