WCNC Charlotte, this is Flashpo.
Thanks for joining us here on Flashpoint.
I'm Ben Thompson. This morning,
an exclusive interview with
the mayor of Charlotte,
VI Lyles. In just the past few months,
city leadership coming under exe
scrutiny for its handling of ong
issues with Charlotte's transportation
agency. Between bus driver shortages,
minor derailments and big
plans for transit growth,
CATS has struggled to get its footing.
Now the mayor says
the agency is looking to begin a new chapter.
Joining us now is Charlotte Mayor VI Lyles.
Mayor, thanks for coming back
on Flashpoint. Nice to have you.
Good to be here, Ben. All
right, so let's talk about cats first.
I feel like that's sort of
the the big sort of gorilla in
the room at this point there.
There's been a slow drip of bads
from cats over the last few mon.
The interim CEO even suggested a
while back there might be more issues
that would likely come to light.
As the leader of our city,
do you think you're going to tel
taxpayers at this point that tht
we have now turned a corner,
that the slow drips of bad newsm
cats at this point have stopped?
Thanks for asking that question.
Because I think transit is one
of the major issues for us in
our community because we provide
services to people to get to wo.
And you know what that means?
They can pay their rents, they ,
they can get to around the city,
you know, be able to shop and all of that.
So it's really important.
And what I would say is that wee
working through a system of chae
and we are working in One Direc,
which is 1 to ensure that we hae
maintenance on our equipment,
to ensure that our facilities ae
safe for people to be able to ride on.
So I believe that we are headed
in the right direction.
We continue.
To focus on how do we build
the best system for our people,
but also how do we maintain that
system so that it's something
that's a foundation for us to
grow in our mobility efforts.
You feel safe right in
the blue line right now.
You know, that is that's
kind of a loaded question.
Then I would feel very safe bece
people are riding it every day.
When we look at what NCDOT
sent as information for us to
change and what we've done,
we've immediately addressed those issues.
So I would say that the question really is,
are we maintaining the
system for safe operations?
Yes, we are.
There's risk if I get in my car,
much less on a bus or a rail li.
But what I would say is that wee
moving in the direction to takee
corrections immediately workingn
those initiatives that we have o
do to ensure that kind of safety
statement that we have to have.
Last week during the City Council meeting
you said that the MTC Commissio,
which you also had, did not votn
an outside investigation from C,
despite the Commission voting to do so.
I just want to clear up because I think
there was some confusion out th.
Do you want to see an outside independent
investigation or do you think this can
be a a government run investiga?
I think that we the I want to 1st clarify
that we did say that we wanted to have
an outside investigation and my intent
was to say and perhaps not very clearly
and that's sometimes what happens when
you're mayor that you I meant ty
that when the MTC request that it had to
go through the Charlotte City Council,
Ed Ricks has been phenomenally engaged.
This effort to make sure that we
have the right questions asked,
we get the answers that the
MTC has requested.
And so I believe that what I hoe
that we would see is that we wod
have first the authorizing agens
that work with us that's NCDOT
safety office as well as the Fel
Transportation Administration.
When a plane crashes,
the Federal Transportation
Administration's there,
when we have an issue in our bu,
they will be there as well.
Has has this whole sort of scen,
has it changed your view on howe
city should go about its $13 bin
transit plan going into the fut?
It certainly has given me pause to think
about how do we ensure what we have works?
I've always been a person in government
when I worked here as well as being mayor.
Now is that we have to first make sure that
the services that we provide are adequately.
Addressed and funded and that
they are delivering the services
that our residents want.
So what I would say to you is,
yes, there's a pause here,
but it's a pause that I believe
once we do the investment,
we should continue.
There's no way in the world that we can
can have a bus system that just serves the
amount of people that we're serving now.
When we grow the size of Greenso
in the next 5 to 10 years,
our residents are going to
increase and we have to plan.
Ahead for what we're doing,
there's a pause in that planning
right now and I think you've seen it.
We've delayed the idea that we
would do the search for the CEO.
We are putting a pause,
but continuing to look at our mobility
plan and what's required of tha.
So we can't,
I like to say that we have to do
both and we have to make sure
first our investment in what we
have is being maintained,
but we also have to plan for the future.
That's why we have a planning division
as well as a maintenance divisi.
To to that point, I want to bear
down on that a little bit more n
the fact that that originally yu
all were hoping to ask the Genel
Assembly for that once it's sales tax
because they have to sign off o.
As you know. And I think you all
have indicated that that's not
likely going to happen this yea,
which was the plan.
So what is the fair timeline you see going
forward for this mobility project now?
I think the timeline is when we get it right.
When we have agreement among our region,
when we finish the Connect Beyod
study and work, when we be devea
governance system that actually works,
it's not so convoluted that we have people
that are unionized with a contrr
administering what we provide funding for.
I believe that we have some opportunities
here to adjust to what a system
should look like in the long ru.
Given the fact that Republicans
now have a supermajority in both
the State House and Senate,
what concessions do you think
the city will be willing to make
to get this thing passed?
I mean, even before they had
the supermajority that the
House Speaker indicated that he
wasn't on board with the plan,
What does compromise look like in your mind?
You know, I think compromise
isn't about what's in my mind.
It's actually about how the regn
is going to develop and work.
So compromise to me is not the .
What I see is collaboration.
Collaboration is the word that
we need so that every mayor in
our surrounding communities,
whether it be from Concord or
Kannapolis or or Cramerton,
all of those have to come in
and say we buy into this for the
people that live in our region.
Speaking of that supermajority,
I'm going to ask you a slightly
off topic conversation,
but I want to get your sense because it's
it's really incensed a lot of Democrats.
Tricia Cotham, Switch parties,
you know the family well, I ass.
What was just your initial
reaction as a Democrat? Well,
as a Democrat, of course,
it's pretty tough to lose the ability
to look at the commitments thate
made during an election and to k
that those might be in question.
So I think that that's still a question.
I believe that it must have been
very difficult for Miss Tricia
Cotham to make that decision.
So I think that's going to be what happens
next when these votes come up that she
is said to her community that they support,
that supported her,
that they were going,
she was going to take.
I think that's going to be when
we really see whether or not
there's been a major impact,
our conversation with the mayor
continues coming up, why she's
not committing yet to running fr
mayor in the upcoming election.