Former U.S. transportation secretary: I'm a "yes" vote on transportation sales tax
Why it matters: As the U.S. Transportation Secretary from 2013 to 2017, Foxx has been to all 50 states and seen a "a lot of transit systems."
"I've not seen a perfect one, but I have seen some good things," he told attendees during the July 1 Sarah Stevenson Tuesday Forum in Charlotte.
The forum, held since the '70s, is a place where the local African-American community discusses pertinent issues.
Zoom out: As the forum was taking place, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein took out his pen in Raleigh and signed a bill into law that will empower Mecklenburg County to hold a referendum for a 1-cent sales tax increase for transportation investments. If passed, the tax would generate $19.4 billion over 30 years.
What he's saying: Foxx, whose signature transportation project as mayor was the Gold Line streetcar, acknowledged there are parts of House Bill 948, known as the P.A.V.E. Act, that are challenging — "One of them being how prescriptive it is about what needs to be spent on what."
The bill requires that 60% of the money be spent on transit and 40% of the funds go to road projects, which could include sidewalks and bike lanes.
Former Charlotte mayor pro tem Braxton Winston said he knows the region needs transit, but compared the bill to giving someone dying of thirst a gallon of milk: "It might bring some relief, but it ain't really what you need."
Yes, but: Former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt, who chaired the task force that was the driving force behind the sales tax, asked, "What happens if we don't pass this?" Commissioner Leigh Altman said the county would be back to "square zero."
Zoom in: Much of the discussion Tuesday focused on avoiding past mistakes, both of Charlotte and other cities. Attendees questioned why the Black community did not benefit from the Blue Line, and discussed how to ensure affordable housing is built and preserved along new rail corridors.
Still, most of the room cheered when Rep. Aisha Dew announced that Stein had signed Mecklenburg County's bill.
"I know we have a lot to discuss, but it's a good moment to celebrate," she said.
The tone shifted to how to get voters, especially Black voters, to support the tax and how they would make the most of the opportunity.
Foxx said leaders should think now about who they want to appoint to the 27-member transit authority that would make the big future decisions about how the transit system is built out.
You can make it an equitable system, but that's up to us. Pass the referendum. But don't relax. Don't set it and forget it. It's day to day, line to line, stop to stop, driver to driver, brick by brick ... By the way, if we do this well, guess what? We've exercised the muscles that allow us to practice democracy well, more broadly, to show the country that some place can actually figure out how people can live together in a region. So I just think it's an opportunity for this region to demonstrate some things to this country that this country needs to see.
— Foxx
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