Minutes 04-18-2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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19 of light rail to foster walkable neighborhoods and business districts, while protecting open spaces from sprawl. Light rail will concentrate development along the rail corridor, while preserving the rural buffers that we know and love. Lastly, I support light rail for the health and wellbeing of all Orange County residents. According to a 2013 MIT study, automobile exhaust causes 58,000 premature deaths each year in the United States. Air pollution worsens asthma and cardiovascular disease, and these conditions disproportionately affect rural residents: 10% of rural residents in the Piedmont have asthma, compared with 6.6% of suburban residents. More travel by light rail means fewer vehicles on the road and less pollution in the air, improving health for every resident of Orange County. Commissioners, this month we face a crossroads. We can move forward on a visionary plan that has emerged out of nearly a decade of analysis and public hearings, or we can turn down a billion dollars in federal funding and start from scratch. I urge you to vote yes on Durham Orange Light Rail. Thank you. Harold Gordon said he is a retired registered engineer, with 54 years of experience. He said he received and reviewed two documents last week from GoTriangle. He said the project costs come from utility relocation, hazardous materials identification and removal, etc. He sent questions to GoTriangle, but has yet to receive a response. He said there are a lot of areas in the plan where the dollars are insufficient, and he is worried about start-up costs and safety. He said he is in complete opposition to the LRT project. Commissioner McKee said he would like to request that GoTriangle copy the BOCC on its answers to Mr. Gordon's questions. Molly McConnell said she has lived in Orange County for 47 years, is a public servant, and a child advocate. She said the current transit plan does not serve the whole community, and she does not support light rail. She said there are too many other greater needs in Orange County. Phil Earnhardt said Denver was in the same place as Orange County 20 years ago. He said Denver's plan was analyzed in 2013, and he urged the BOCC to look at this analysis. He said this plan has had huge expansions, and this is likely to continue. He urged the BOCC to see the failures from Denver and Dallas, and noted that facts are stubborn things. He said he cannot see a way for Orange County to avoid similar failures. He advocated that the BOCC stop this project now. Vijay Sivaraman said he is a Carrboro resident, a parent, and a professor at NCCU. For these reasons, he fully supports the Transit plan and believes the County should forward their commitment as well. As an academic, he appreciates data. As a result, he stands behind TTA's data acquisition and reporting, that demonstrates that 58% are minorities, 70% are ages 44 or below and 95% are employed or students within our community, training to soon contribute to our growing economy. The transit plan (yes with Light Rail) has been a constant discussion point for many years and is the closest to implementation as it has ever been. He sees this as something students can use to efficiently take courses between our hallowed Academic institutions; residents can safely attend sporting events and go to work in a regular and dependable manner not depending on whims of car congestion. He said he is a biologist: he said he sees our cities as connected veins of narrow roadways that can barely support the flow rate of our automotive traffic. Increases will likely lead to occlusion that stop access to work and negatively impact our economy and lifestyle. The population growth within Orange and Durham counties are staggering, and this must be supported by systems to move