CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Federal transit officials say they will look into complaints by eastside residents that the county is discriminating against lower-income neighborhoods by offering them busways instead of light rail, the Charlotte Observer reported.
The Eastside Neighborhood Council told the Federal Transit Administration’s regional office last week that it’s wrong that communities with more lower-income residents and minorities would get busways while trains are proposed for what they say are wealthier areas.
The civil rights officer in the Federal Transit Administration’s Atlanta office will assess the complaints, said regional FTA official Alex McNeil. McNeil couldn’t be reached Tuesday, but he said in an e-mail to the eastside council he had received many complaints from Charlotte residents and “we consider this a serious matter.”
Jim Roberts, head of the Eastside Neighborhood Council, says he is encouraged by the FTA’s response.
“We expect the FTA to come in and look at the plan for inequities or (U.S. Rep.) Robin Hayes to step in and do something,” said Roberts, whose group represents seven eastside neighborhoods.
Hayes, who sits on the House transportation committee, has said he wants light rail on Independence. Approval by Congress and the FTA is crucial. CATS will apply for about $1 billion in federal transit money to help build the proposed $2.9 billion system over the next 23 years.
The Metropolitan Transit Commission meets tonight to discuss the proposed transit plan, which calls for trains to run from uptown to Mooresville, south Charlotte and University City. Busways are planned to the airport and Matthews.
The transit commission is scheduled to vote Nov. 20.
Ron Tober, chief executive officer of the Charlotte Area Transit System, says he welcomes any FTA inquiry. “I do not see any basis for those charges. There is no pattern of discrimination, but we do have people who prefer trains. We would welcome FTA if they decide to come here. We’d pass their review.”
Tober says each of the five transit corridors would run through pockets of lower-income neighborhoods.
“We have rail in some areas that are predominately low income and bus rapid transit in areas that are low income,” he said.
An analysis of 2000 census data by The Observer of residents living within two miles of the proposed transit lines does show the Wilkinson Boulevard route has the lowest household income, $32,572 annually. But it found Independence Boulevard has the highest, at $46,824. Independence runs through high, middle and lower-income areas in its 13-mile stretch between uptown and Matthews. Both are proposed for busways.
“In the eastside, we already have the highest number of transit riders and some of the most congested streets. In the west, they have the highest number of transit dependent riders,” Roberts said.
His group wants to see rail in all five corridors, even if the 23-year construction schedule has to be extended a few years to make the plan affordable.
Tober says CATS cannot afford rail in all five.
Meanwhile, several other groups have joined the fight for light rail. The Monroe City Council and Union Board of County Commissioners have called for light rail on Independence.
And a new coalition of east and westside community groups, We the People, has organized to push for light rail.
“I don’t think what is going on is right,” said Teddi Daniels, a westside resident and one of its founders. “We have all paid the same (transit) tax since 1998 and now they are proposing an investment in communities that is inequitable.”
“It is an affront to be treated as second-class citizens,” she said.