This time Anthony Foxx and Richard Vinroot sending a letter out in favor of the idea to selected community letters — and selected members of city council and the county commission. The UPoR quote from the letter says it all:
“The current climate of volatility at the state and federal level makes it more critical than ever for us to be as coordinated and cohesive as possible with your resources.”
The irony here is that in their attempt to create more “coordinated and cohesive” local government, Foxx and Vinroot explicitly chose to adopt methods that are divisive and alienating. Among the problems that opponents of consolidation have is that they don’t trust a unified Charlotte/Mecklenburg government structure to care about anything but Charlotte in general and the needs and wants of Uptown in particular. Foxx and Vinroot’s approach to overcome some opposition is simply to call upon the traditional Uptown power structure to make something happen as has often happened in the past. Now that will really help overcome apprehension to consolidation… especially as the letter hasn’t sent to most elected officials who are against consolidation. Bill James called the letter “sneaky”, which is a fair description.
02
2012 At 11:10 am, Logic Connection Said:
Any thoughts from someone with more history in Charlotte than myself as to why Vinroot would involve himself with this effort?
02
2012 At 12:02 pm, Michael Lowrey Said:
LC,
Remember that the idea of merging city and county government is a very old idea here — dates back to the 1970s in fact and has had very seriously considered twice. And back in the date, there was a lot more overlap in the services the city and county provided.
Of course, back in the day, you were also much more likely to have people from certain select neighborhoods serving at large on city council or the county commission. Support — or not — for the idea of consolidation was very hit or miss and not necessarily a partisan issue.
Vinroot is probably for it now because he’s probably always been for it. (I don’t recall if he or McCrory was mayor when the idea last came up, but the take away IIRC was if the mayor had a vote, it would have again come before voters).
SMART/south Charlotte not feeling like they’re getting their fair share is a new extra wrinkle to the issue.
02
2012 At 12:10 pm, Logic Connection Said:
The last time this issue came before city council or county commission was 1996, correct? Even this latest effort by Foxx only passed 6-5 with three Dems joining Cooksey and Dulin so it’s still a bipartisan issue it would seem.
02
2012 At 6:39 pm, Michael Lowrey Said:
It’s still a bipartisan issue, but I’d argue the odds of an elected Republican being in favor has gone done since then.