South Mecklenburg Alliance for Responsible Taxpayers

02/15/2017

We need less regulation and more common sense. Small businesses should not be hindered by government.

It was easy to make fun of our neighbor to the south a few years back when state government employees began answering the phones with the phrase, “It’s a great day in South Carolina. How can I help you?”

04/18/2016

WE TOLD YOU SO!!

Today's Observer was a jaw dropper. We're talking about
the latest CMS piece not the ongoing HB2 hysteria. CMS could not have a better mouthpiece than the Observer's Education Editor.

As we noted in another piece on this page, the political class is all about using our values against us with the help of the media we might add. Well, you can now add bait and switch tactics and demonization to the list. CMS now says we can't say Nieghborhood schools and CMS will not use the word in its list of principles. The reasons are? It has historically signaled opposition to desegregation. And it will cause parents to think their children will go to the closest school which isn't necessarily true. We guess all the parents wearing Neighborhood Schools tee shirts and the neighborhood schools grass roots group need to take them off and deorganize.

Bottom line SMART says again that without a cross-county permanent organization that keeps a thumb on the political class, Mecklenburg taxpayers will continue to be used and manipulated. We are just five days away from the Political Leadership School at Raintree Country Club. All concerned CMS parents need to attend. It will be worth every minute. Go to https://www.faclevents.org/charlotte-nc-1-day-23apr2016 and sign up. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Tweet Where & When Raintree Country Club8600 Raintree LaneCharlotte, NC 28277 **Click above to view map** Starts on: Apr 23, 2016 09:00 AM Our MissionOur goal is to help our fellow citizens understand how the political process works in America.When you understand how the political process works, you…

04/14/2016

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, LOOK OUT SOUTH CHARLOTTE CMS PARENTS CMS IS AT IT AGAIN -- GET THE NEEDED TOOLS -- ATTEND THE NORTH CAROLINA POLITICAL LEADERSHIP SCHOOL ON APRIL 23rd! (https://www.faclevents.org/charlotte-nc-1-day-23apr2016)

One of the key things taught at the school is how the political class uses taxpayers and voters values against them and then teaches strategies to counter that effort. Last night's School Board meeting was a perfect example. Surprise the opponent with something last minute that appears to give them what they want by using the draft document approach. Neighborhood schools anyone? Moreover wait until the last minute to bring up the topic. Try 9:30 PM when parents and teachers attending have to get home to get ready for school the next day. Then use the draft document to make all the speakers comments irrelevant. Finally, let the press carry the water for you when they report on the proceedings the next day.

The answer is to get the tools and organize for the long haul. There is still room at the school. Every grassroots CMS parents group ought to have at least two people attend the Leadership School. The battle has just begun and will only be won with organization and continued opposition. As an aside, SMART hopes the Mayor of Matthews was not taken in by the maneuver. That said sign up and learn with the rest of us on the 23rd of April. Go to:

https://www.faclevents.org/charlotte-nc-1-day-23apr2016

04/08/2016

Check out the article about SMART hosting a Political Leadership School, in the South Charlotte Weekly.

South Mecklenburg Alliance for Responsible Taxpayers (SMART), a nonpartisan group formed in 2011 out of a frustration with Charlotte and Mecklenburg County’s reliance on south Charlotte to fund center city interests, will mobilize their efforts with a one-day political leadership school taught by th…

03/24/2016

State intervenes to stop Charlotte craziness..more to come?

North Carolina legislators decided to rein in local governments by approving a bill Wednesday that prevents cities and counties from passing their own anti-discrimination rules.

02/23/2016

In spite of public outcry, opposition of the Governor and pleas from Franklin Graham, Charlotte City Council pursues social engineering.

North Carolina's largest city passed a law Monday allowing transgender people to choose public bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity, which the governor had called a threat to public safety and warned that the General Assembly may step in.

02/17/2016

WOW! WOW! WOW! What a night it was! Carmel Baptist Church was rocking!

Smart advocates showed up last night at Carmel Baptist Church
to show their support for parents in South Mecklenburg rightly concerned about potential moves by the current CMS School system and Board. We got there early and figured there might be a hundred or so for the meeting. Instead there were over 1000 who showed up.(Make that a thousand families as one of the parents had to stay home with the kids.

Frankly SMART has never seen a group this large. Shows that we care about our kids. The Charlotte Observer had a good piece on its blog today that says it all here is the link! http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/your-schools-blog/article60843187.html.

SMART is currently supporting the anti-toll group OPEN OUR LANE. And, just like them we ask the two groups represented at last night's meeting CMS FAMILIES UNITED FOR NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOLS and CMS FAMILIES FOR CLOSE TO HOME SCHOOL AND MAGNET EXPANSION one question! What can SMART do to help.!!! SMART feels the pain exhibited last night deeply. Again South Charlotte is at risk as the uptown interests may again use and abuse Families in South Charlotte. Name the place for a meeting and we will be there!

Parents who want to protect their neighborhood schools are mobilizing in a big way, with hundreds joining two new groups and turning out for a student assignment session in Matthews Tuesday night.

02/14/2016

Keep Pounding! A lot is happening in South Charlotte!

Normally January and February are months when South
Charlotte either hibernates or heads South for some Florida
sun. So far this year has been quite different and demands a new
approach by all Mecklenburg taxpayers and their grass roots supporters. It is as if the Panther’s slogan, “Keep Pounding” now has becoming the cry of frustrated and fed up South Meck taxpayers. First, there was the “Citizens’ Toll Summit” in mid-January that featured a panel consisting of the South Charlotte leader of the anti-toll group “Open Our Lane”, NCDOT,
And Commissioner Jim Puckett.

While the outcome of the Summit generated some fire and conversation, having attracted the Charlotte Mayor and several County and City Representatives, it did not stop the political class from approving moving forward on toll lanes. BlessTheir hearts, the poor taxpayers lost again.

Then, this past Saturday, the Ballantyne Breakfast Club underwritten by the Donor Class hosted its annual walk around gathering of City, County, and State Officials and agencies. Usually a very low key event that allows the Political
Class to get credit for rubbing elbows with the taxpayers, bless their hearts, this year it was refreshingly different.

As SMART entered the Ballantyne hotel to help hand out leaflets for the anti-toll Groups in the North and South we encountered a huge diverse crowd consisting of real citizens and taxpayers who had decided that they had had enough.

Unlike previous years, the crowd was held outside the ballroom instead of being allowed in immediately. When the doors opened there was a rush into the room. People didn’t go to the NCDOT area. They didn’t Approach the Mayor or the few other officials in attendance in any great numbers. No, they swarmed the CMS area six or seven deep. The issue, Schools and the School Board’s current murmuring about busing and other possible social engineering moves.

Wow, now two issues on the table. Where does the school issue go? there will be a big meeting of concerned parents this coming Tuesday 6:30 Carmel Babtist Church. They are calling themselves, “CMS Families United for Neighborhood Schools” and they already have over 2000 likes for their page. For more go to https://m.facebook.com/Notoreassignment/. And like them.

Finally, SMART asks ---- what will happen when the City passes a transgender non-discrimination ordinance and raises taxes again to name only a couple of other issues?

Here is the bottom line from SMART’s perspective. Grass roots are fine as far as they go. Results and impact, are about continuous support, oversight and accountability. What has to happen from the North of the county to the South of the County is that we need to pull together all these Grass roots groups and form a sustainable Umbrella organization that can help the grass roots get to the political class and their, “bless their hearts” attitude, hold them accountable and face them down as they go from one scheme to another. Our freedom, our kids and wallets demand no less!

If you agree SMART would propose hosting a meeting to create and become part this umbrella organization. Let us know by commenting on this post or emailing us at [email protected]. More to follow!

Consistent with the CMS Mission: to maximize academic achievement by every student in every school.

01/01/2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL SMART ADVOCATES AND SOUTH MECKLENGURG TAXPAYERS FROM YOUR SMART DIRECTORS!!! IMPORTANT NEWS TO SHARE!!

If you think 2015 was an interesting year get ready for 2016. We need everyone involved. SMART enters 2016 firmly behind the Stop I-77 toll lanes in the North and completely linked to the "OPEN OUR LANES" Group in South Charlotte dedicated to stopping the proposed toll lanes on I-485.

To start things off on Thursday 14 January, 6PM at Raintree Country Club, SMART will sponsor a Citizens' Toll Summit featuring our Brothers and Sisters fighting toll Lanes on I-77 in the North, The CRTPO Chair and the founder of Open Our Lanes against I-485 Hot lanes in the South. More details and invitations will follow shortly. So mark your calendars because space is limited!

As expected if you have read the Observer recently, next week will see a bunch of toll lane activities. The head of "Open our lanes" has requested our help to put the pressure on. What follows is a letter everyone needs to copy and email to their City and County Reps. Please do that and be there at Raintree on the 14th

To: List below for both City and County members

Subject: Vote No on the costly, unnecessary I-485 toll lanes

City Council Member [County Commissioner],

I’m sure your inboxes have been stuffed with letters asking you to vote against the I-77 toll lanes. I agree with their cause and strongly ask you to vote against the I-77 toll lanes (and ask your CRTPO representative to do the same). But often ignored is another project that I wanted to ask you to vote no on the costly, unnecessary I-485 toll lane project.
I’ll start with a simple question, “What problem does NCDOT believe HOT lanes will solve on I-485 that general purpose lanes cannot solve at a fraction of the cost and a multiple of the traffic capacity?”
And I’ll answer it for you. For $83 million, NCDOT added general purpose lanes from Rea Road to I-77 on I-485 (Phase 1) and what happened, congestion was reduced significantly. Today, the problems on I-485 are limited. The Inner loop experiences nearly no traffic at all. The Outer loop tends to only see congestion during a 2-hour rush hour, with the largest component present where lanes reduce (i.e. between Johnston and Rea Road, reduces to 2 lanes). Further, NCDOT came to City Council in January 2015 and provided a heat map that showed that the only areas they expect to see high capacity in 20 years are in Phase 1. Yet, our current plan, a Phase 2, calls for a $203 million project to add one more lane, a toll lane from I-77 to US-74. Why should we spend $203 million when congestion is very limited and the cost to expand with a general purpose lane would only be $84 million.
I quote that number because the Rea Road to US-74 expansion is around the same distance as Phase 1 so adding a lane there should cost the same $83 million. Adding an additional general purpose lane to Phase 1 should cost only $1 million because, as you may recall from Spring 2015 discussions, asphalt has already been laid for that lane and NCDOT argued not to open it because it would cost $1 million to do so. This would save nearly $120 million! The reason for the excess cost is because of toll lane facilities and 3 direct “fly-overs” (read bridges) that will bring cars from roads like Westinghouse Boulevard directly into the I-485 toll lanes. This additional $120 million cost is expensive, unnecessary and solves no problem! Meanwhile, NCDOT has not conducted a revenue study to determine the amount of revenue they expect from the usage of the toll lanes.
In private conversations, I have heard that the revenue is expected to only pay for toll lane management. So what pays for the extra $120 million of unnecessary cost?!
About that capacity thing. Express lanes intentionally provide only a fraction of the road capacity (typically no more than 10%) in order to ensure speed can be maintained at 45mph. So we spend $120 million of unrecoverable additional funds to get a lane that it is only used by 10% of the overall traffic?! Where is the logic in this decision?
So answering my question, there is not a discernible “problem” to be solved on I-485. And if you want to add capacity for future growth, why not do so for $120 million less with more road capacity by building general purpose lanes?!

Please, vote against the costly, unnecessary I-485 toll lane project.

[Your Name]

EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR YOUR USE

City: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

County: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

11/24/2015

SMART Stands with the North & South on Tolls!

In support of the anti-toll group, Widen I-77, in North Mecklenburg, SMART attended yesterday’s Toll Summit In Cornelius. Two observations - (1) The distain by the Political Class and its bureaucrat handlers and; (2) the absence of anyRepresentatives from the City of Charlotte, the real power behind the toll scam was obvious to all (Charlotte cast the most votes In favor of the Toll road! And, remember silence is their first line of defense)

Sadly, one might say that the North is getting a taste of what South Charlotte has been experiencing for years. Shut up and keep the taxes flowing to our projects — we are the big boys and girls in the neighborhood. Never was the SMART uptown money pit logo more appropriate. But we are digressing.

The issue in the South is no less urgent. The grass roots group, “OPEN OUR LANES,” that opposes Hot Lanes on I-485 has already indirectly been told to shut up and keep the ATM monies flowing. As if they are on a mission the word from the Political Class is that people have no say -- Hot lanes are coming!

Where is Charlotte's Donald Trump? The arrogance on all sides by the political class is striking. No wonder SMART continues to work to achieve the opportunity for South Charlotte to de-annex from the city and form the Town of Providence.

The tipping point is growing, we sense that something like that could happen in the North! Mecklenburg County and the surrounding areas are a region not an uptown Charlotte money pit. The future is in a balanced cooperating region with many towns and areas having a say.

One final point, the Summit in Cornelius was nothing more than an exercise by the political class in that part of Mecklenburg County to save their skins. We spoke to the new mayor of Huntersville who ousted the pro tolls mayor and we have to believe that more political heads will roll in the coming years.

The seating arrangement at the meeting also spoke volumes about the Political Class mentality. A square with all the politicians and bureaucrats seated around it looking at each other. Get this!! Not facing the people they are supposed to serve. The people attending were shunted off to the side. Some SUMMIT!

More to follow. SMART looks forward to possibly hosting the anti-toll groups at a real South Charlotte SUMMIT soon!

11/05/2015

SMART PURPOSE A non-partisan organization dedicated to giving voice to the taxpayers of South Mecklenburg through actions that: (1) Strengthen the area's unique identity. (2) Ensure elected official...