CHARLOTTE — Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said last week that jump-starting the stalled transit mobility plan will require a strong push from the local business community.
Lyles made her comments during a joint appearance with George Dunlap, head of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, at the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance’s headquarters in uptown.
“It’s going to take every one of you in this room,” she said, speaking to a roomful of business and civic leaders. “I know that many of you are part of this commute that we do. But, more importantly, what I have been learning is that without the business community in this region, we’re not going to go there. Government can’t do something by itself.”
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She added, “Government can’t go to Raleigh by itself. So, we have to start talking about how do we put together a business governmental partnership strategy that benefits the region for us to take advantage of what I believe is our money that we paid into Washington. We ought to try to get it back.”
Lyles was referring to the federal infrastructure law passed by Congress and the Biden administration in 2021. (Last week, the city received $30 million from the feds to replace part of the bus fleet.) For the past three years, the mayor and CLT Alliance have attempted to build support for a $13.5 billion proposed expansion of light rail, buses, bike and pedestrian paths, and road improvements.
The plan calls for increasing the county sales tax rate by a penny to cover 60% of construction costs. Uncommitted federal money is targeted for the rest of the funding. To raise sales taxes, city and county government need approval from the state legislature to hold a referendum and then would have to gain majority approval from voters.
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