In debate over Red Line stops, historically Black neighborhoods worry about being excluded

CHARLOTTE — A new map was released with proposed stops for Charlotte’s future commuter rail line, and there’s a nearly six-mile gap between Uptown Charlotte and the next station. People in historically Black neighborhoods along the tracks are hoping it’s not too late to change that.

Channel 9’s Hunter Sáenz spoke with neighbors after city leaders voted against adding a Red Line stop at the corner of Craighead Road and North Graham Street. The surrounding neighborhoods want a stop there, and they say without one, they’ll be left behind.

Train tracks near Craighead and N. Graham streets

If you go to the area right at Craighead and Graham, you’re surrounded by industrial businesses. But less than a mile away, you’re in Derita Park; go a mile more and you enter Hidden Valley.

“There’s hundreds of people who live there,” said Monifa Drayton, who lives in Charlotte’s North End.

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Drayton says people are worried after the Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority subcommittee voted not to build the stop.

“[Neighbors are] paying into a system where they will have to watch the train pass by them, and I think that is incredibly inequitable,” Drayton said.

The subcommittee voted to approve 11 stops on Wednesday, adding one at Camp North End. But it doesn’t include a stop just south of Interstate 85.

Subcommittee votes to approve CATS Red Line stops

The Charlotte Area Transit System says only 10 people live within a half-mile of where a Craighead stop would go, likely meaning lower ridership from the area.

And some on the committee worried that adding a stop would hurt the project’s rating when it comes to receiving federal funding.

“I think at this moment, to be fiscally responsible, I think we have to move forward without Craighead, unfortunately,” said Dana Stoogenke, the vice-chair of the MPTA’s Planning & Capital Project Delivery subcommittee.

Like the Blue Line, some believe that having a stop in this area could bring business, housing, jobs, and more.

Not everyone agrees with that.

“I believe that what this area needs can be achieved through separate land-use and economic development solutions very tailored to what this area needs that a station at this juncture does not provide,” said committee chair Alysia Steadman.

But Drayton says a message is being sent and received.

“They are not as valuable as those residents who are in the Huntersville, the Cornelius area,” Drayton said.

The debate isn’t over, as this was just a subcommittee vote. The full board will likely have the final vote on the Red Line stops in August, so neighbors believe there is still time to fight for a stop.