Agenda - 05-02-2017 - 8-a - Minutes

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20 1 County of funds for all other services. He said the solution will be to raise people's taxes. He 2 said he will raise funds to support people who run against those Commissioners who vote for 3 this plan. He encouraged the BOCC to support a more effective plan. 4 Lisa Kaylie said she agreed with the comments made by Desiree Goldman, and she is 5 against light rail. She said she also agreed with Bonnie Hauser, and said her main concern is 6 the costs. She said $3.3 billion will be spent, and most residents will still be stuck in their cars 7 lacking affordable transportation. 8 Keagan Sacripanti is a grad student at UNC, and said he is in support of the light rail. 9 Jamezetta Bedford said she sent the Board an article from the Journal of Accountancy 10 yesterday, called The Importance of Killing Projects. She said it is important that government 11 pays attention to exit strategies, and when too much is too much. She said Davenport referred 12 to the importance of exit points throughout their presentation a few weeks ago. She said if the 13 Board moves forward with the LRT, it must start thinking of exit strategies based on a dollar 14 maximum for cost overruns, not a percent. She said as a Certified Public Accountant she 15 believes the County can no longer afford the current plan for light rail. She said UNC Hospitals 16 are a very important resource to this state, and the state needs to fund options to get their 17 employees to and from work there. She suggested waiting four years to see if the Democrats 18 can take back the house and the federal government, thus leading to increased state funding. 19 She said, in the mean time, to use the sales tax to acquire land and develop transit that benefits 20 all of Orange County. 21 22 Chair Dorosin said to take a 3-minute break at 9:55 p.m. The meeting resumed at 9:59 23 p.m. 24 25 James Bondurant said he is a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, and he is in support of light 26 rail. 27 David King said he is representing a group, convened six months ago by GoTriangle, 28 called The Funding and Community Collaborative. He said this group was made up of both the 29 public and private sector, representing medicine, the universities, businesses, etc. He gave a 30 letter to the Board from the private sector members of the group, expressing complete support 31 for the LRT. He said this group met on April 7th, and made a commitment to raise $100 million 32 for light rail project from the private sector, if the project gets into the engineering phase. He 33 said he hopes this commitment inspires confidence. He said since the vote in 2012, nothing 34 has really happened to change the equation of funding for the 15-501 corridor. He said these 35 projects take a long time to complete, and he commended the BOCC for its stamina. 36 Linda Haac said she was a proponent of light rail 33 years ago, but finds that this route 37 fails to serve most of Orange County. She has seen data as a member of the Carrboro 38 transportation board, and public transportation may slow the amount of cars, but it will not stop 39 them. She said the plan does mainly benefit the UNC Medical Center, Duke, etc. She said the 40 main concern is the fiduciary responsibilities of the BOCC as the elected body of Orange 41 County. She said the business plan from GoTriangle makes her question them as a partner. 42 David Carpenter said he is against light rail, and the debt that will be incurred. He said 43 to imagine what could be accomplished by investing $3.3 billion into other elements of the 44 County. 45 Heather Brutz reviewed the following email: 46 Public transportation has always been important in my life. When I was a child living in 47 Cleveland, OH, my mom and I were supported by my father's minimum wage income. The cars 48 we owned were unreliable and I often had to take the bus with my mom to do errands. I started 49 working when I was 14 and only applied to jobs that I could walk, bike, or take the bus to. 50 Access to transit was literally the difference between employment and unemployment for me.