Letter to the Editors: Legislators Protected Us; DOT Bureaucrats Fumble
The NC General Assembly gave local citizens a voice in our local transportation needs, specifically including decisions about ferries in coastal counties.
NC Dept. of Transportation launched bureaucrats into ferry counties to threaten us with disingenuous information and tactics. They claim the local RPOs MUST vote on ferry tolls. NOT TRUE. On January 9, 2014, the Chairman of the NC Board of Transportation announced, “In adopting this methodology, …we approved tolling...” Listen to his statement on the1/09/14 meeting video around minute 28:51.
Please attend your local Public Hearing (complete list at end of this email). Contact your County Commissioners and RPO members. We must speak truth to our local Rural Planning Organizations, specifically to the Transportation Advisory Committees. Ferry tolls will NOT raise sufficient funds to purchase a new ferry for any ferry route. EVER. Ferry tolls will cause grief and hardship on local citizens, without raising significant funds to benefit our local citizens.
Your local RPO must NEVER ask request a ferry toll. Why? Here are the reasons:
- Ferry tolls will never raise sufficient money to purchase a new ferry for any route.
- As was shown to the Legislature, very little net proceeds will be raised from tolling the untolled ferry routes.
- It is easy for the NC Board of Transportation in Raleigh to “adopt a methodology” which includes imposes ferry tolls. They do not know the many limited income people who rely on the public ferries to get to work, medical care, and necessities. We do know & care for these people. We must speak for our local citizens.
- Tolls will hurt local citizens in economically depressed areas without providing promised benefits.
- Ferries cannot pay for themselves, and never have, any more than mountain roads have ever paid for themselves or can pay for themselves.
- You will have one & only one method to keep our local ferries toll free. DO NOT BRING IT UP FOR A VOTE.
- NEVER request a ferry toll.
- Once you request a toll, you lose control over the process. FOREVER. Once you cede this power, DOT can raise tolls annually, remove all exemptions, and delete ferry routes without your permission or approval.
- DOT has prepared a list of exemptions. What is granted today can be removed tomorrow. DOT will certainly exempt school buses or emergency vehicles in order to entice your RPO to vote for a toll.
- You have NO GUARANTEE any proposed exemptions will remain.
- You have NO GUARANTEE any proposed levels of minimum & maximum tolls will remain.
Below is the complete listing of the February 2014 DOT Public Hearings. Please attend and encourage other citizens to attend. Come 30 minutes early, register to speak, and express your opposition to ferry tolls. Remember, you are really speaking to persuade your local friends and neighbors on the RPO. Be courteous, respectful, and brief.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions.
Best regards, Henri and Joe McClees
McClees Consulting, Inc.
Post Office Box 430
Oriental, NC 28571
Office (252) 249-1097
Fax (252) 249-3275
Joe’s mobile (252) 671-1585
Henri’s mobile (252) 671-1559
REVISED NC DOT SCHEDULE of Seven (7) Ferry Toll Public Hearings
Tuesday, February 4, 2014, 7-9 pm
Knotts Island Elementary School
413 Woodleigh Road, Knotts Island, NC
Wednesday, February 5, 2014, 7-9 pm
Beaufort County Community College
5337 Highway 264 East, Washington, NC
Thursday, February 6, 2014, 7-9 pm
Pamlico Community College - Delamar Center
5049 Highway 306 South, Grantsboro, NC
Monday, February 10, 2014 4-7 pm
ILA - Southport
211 W. 10th Street, Southport, NC
Tuesday, February 11, 2014 7-9 pm
Crystal Coast Civic Center
3505 Arendell Street, Morehead City, NC
Wednesday, February 12, 2014 7-9 pm
Ocracoke School
120 Schoolhouse Road, Ocracoke, NC
Thursday, February 13, 2014 7-9 pm
Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum
59200 Museum Drive, Hatteras, NC
