Over the north door of St. Paul's Cathedral in London is written in Latin: "If you would see his monument look around," referring to the great architectural work of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723)

If you're looking for a monument to the misguided political leadership of Charlotte , then go to the intersection of Tyvola Road and Paul Buck Boulevard, Sunday morning and watch as the perfectly fine 465,000 square-foot Charlotte Coliseum is imploded in 10 seconds by 550 pounds of explosives. This exercise in waste of taxpayer assets is brought to you by the elected officials and bureaucrats who run the City of Charlotte.

The Tyvola Coliseum and surrounding acreage were originally created in the late 1980's with $86 million, principle and interest of taxpayer funds. The property was sold in recent years by the City to an Atlanta developer for approximately $25 million. As a condition of the sale, the City made the buyer promise not to use the Coliseum as an arena; and that is why it is being demolished.

In a 2001 referendum ~ 57 percent of over 100,000 Charlotte Voters, rejected building a new arena uptown. They seemed happy with the existing one on Tyvola. Despite the vote, City leadership went ahead anyway and built an arena now operating uptown at 333 E. Trade Street. This project cost the taxpayers over $430 million, in principle and interest. The chief beneficiaries were the owners of the Charlotte Bobcats Basketball Team and the National Basketball Association. The uptown building has several thousand fewer seats than the Tyvola Coliseum does and the available parking, ingress and egress are far inferior to what was available at Tyvola.

This same Charlotte political leadership, which has brought about the demolition of the Tyvola Coliseum, is now carping that the taxpayers should not repeal, by referendum this November, the half-cent transit sales tax. But this tax is only part of the financing for a scheduled multi-billion dollar, multi-corridor mass transit plan, including a light rail system, which according to many transportation experts is doomed to failure.

Though S.C.A.T will have more to say about the referendum in the coming months, remember this: You cannot trust the political leaders of Charlotte to make sound judgments about spending your tax dollars. The Charlotte area has many needs, including funds for schools and resources to reduce our high rate of violent crime.

If the transit sales tax is not repealed, you can count on City leaders spending every dime and much more, on an extravagant system, which will have little, if any impact on traffic congestion and pollution. Just think of the waste in evidence this Sunday, as the cloud of dust goes up on Tyvola Road.

SCAT- SENSIBLE CHARLOTTE AREA TRANSPORTATION
Contacts: Co-Chairmen
Don Reid ~ 704-523-8851 or 828-664-0475 Reidassociates@bellsouth.net
Jim Puckett ~ 704-363-1379 JHpucket@bellsouth.net
Tom Ashcraft, Advisor

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