Prevent Lowcountry Transit From Being Taken Hostage by I-526 Referendum

Charleston, SC - Join us in resisting the plan to hold Charleston Public Transit hostage to the unpopular I526 November road referendum.

July 30, 2024

CHATS Meeting, July 29, 2024

On Monday we attended the CHATs meeting, which coordinates (rubber stamps) road and transportation planning in the Lowcountry. Its membership consists of elected representatives from local municipal and county governments.  Transit, pedestrian and cycle planning now gets regular lip service at these meetings, but now is always about asphalt. Buses, sidewalks and bike lanes are the future. 

We were told by Howard Chapman, a member of Mt. Pleasant Town Council and former CARTA Chairman, that the County Council has set up the November referendum so its failure would trigger a shut down of the CARTA and LINK public transit systems. Almost all revenue from this referendum will go to fund construction of the unpopular I526 extension.

We spoke during the public comment period to inform the elected officials present that this was cruel and unfair to an electorate that voted eight years ago and has paid seven years of taxes to build better transit we haven’t seen. Now the alleged hostage plan forces people who have to rely on limited and unreliable transit services to pay taxes for decades to build a road most of them will never see just to keep CARTA and LINK buses running. 

Not one of the over 25 officials present corrected us or indicated transit services hadn’t been placed in jeopardy to forced support of more roads. 

Battery electric Proterra Bus on Meeting St.

In 2016 our organization delivered the margin of victory in the half penny sales tax referendum in order to secure 600 million dollars in funding for the future of transit in Charleston County for the next 20+ years. County council passed a resolution reserving those funds for the Lowcountry Rapid Transit System and supporting CARTA and LINK. The County Council has not kept that commitment in good faith. The LCRT keeps slipping further into the future. CARTA continues to be starved for funds. A change in operating companies hasn’t resolved the reliability and safety problems. Charleston County Council calls it the “Pay, Go Plan.” Transit riders pay, car drivers go. 

We've been demanding that further major road projects in Charleston stop holding back progress on the Lowcountry Rapid Transit System. The Lowocuntry can't pave its way out of traffic congestion. Downtown Charleston, most of N. Charleston and most of Mt. Pleasant simply have nowhere to put more lanes or roads without bulldozing existing neighborhoods and businesses on an unimaginable scale. Read our flyer on why work on 526 should wait until the LCRT is running. 

Obviously we should have been far more careful in our dealings with the County Council in 2016. Other groups pulled their support for the 2016 referendum. Every other community which voted to build a bus rapid transit system that year now has one running. Our is now planned to be shorter, slower and less capable. It is still at least five years into the future.

 

Here is how you can help protect transit:

Image right, sharing strategies with other Transit Advocacy Groups regarding the referendum on Zoom

• Help us plan how to reach Republican and Independent Local officials in the two week. We've made progress with local Democratic leaders already, but more work is needed there as well. Email you input to William Hamilton at wjhamilton29464@gmail.com

• Help us get out the word to your fellow transit riders, friends and neighbors. Download our printable one page flyer

• Stand with us at Charleston County Council on Tuesday, Aug. 13 at 6:30 pm to demand that Public Transit continue to be funded with proceeds from the 2016 referendum funds as decided by Charleston County voters eight years ago. Place August 13 at CHS County Council on your calendar and sign up. 

• Help us get candidates for public office to ride the bus with us this election season. It’s a powerful way to show them the reality of local transit. 

Input and More Information

As always, we are happy to talk anytime. Contact William Hamilton at (843) 870-5299 or wjhamilton29464@gmail.com