Take action: Here’s your chance to make a difference in the Charlotte region’s transportation future!

We need your voice again! Sign up to speak to your county commissioners on Tuesday, September 17.

This coming Tuesday, September 17, the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners will vote on a resolution supporting the draft legislation for a new one-cent countywide sales tax that would provide the funding needed to make it significantly easier and safer to walk, bike, and ride transit. 

It appears that several county commissioners may not support a resolution, even though Charlotte, Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, and Pineville have already passed similar resolutions in support of this legislation in the last few weeks.

We have been waiting for the funding needed to significantly expand our transportation choices for years. Now is a critical time to voice your support for the sales tax so vital transportation projects can become a reality. 

If our elected officials don’t support these now, we risk perpetuating current inequities that force residents and visitors to rely almost exclusively on cars to move around our region or an inefficient and inconvenient public transit system.

We encourage you to speak at the meeting on September 17 and share in your own words why transportation investment is important to you. Sign up to speak here. 

Here are a few tips for filling out the speaker registration form:

1. Select “no” for the question “Will you speak as part of a group?”
2. Select “Specific Agenda Item” for the Public Appearance question
3. Put “Transportation Sales Tax” in the Public Appearance or Agenda Item box
4. Please note that you will have three minutes to speak 
5. Have more questions or want help crafting your statement? Reach out to our advocacy manager Hope Wright at hope.wright@sustaincharlotte.org. 

Below are a few key points that you can include in a message to your county commissioners, and we encourage you to share your own reasons.

A transportation sales tax will provide us with the resources to:

• Lower inequities by improving access to jobs, grocery stores, medical appointments, and more for those who do not or cannot drive a car
• Help address the climate crisis by removing cars from the road, our largest source of climate pollution
• Reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries by building streets that are safe for all 
• Provide equitable and affordable transportation choices so more people can walk, bike, and ride public transit to their daily destinations
• Reduce time spent sitting in traffic by providing more efficient ways of getting around
• Improve our health by reducing air pollution

Can’t make it to the meeting? Send an email to your county commissioners instead! Simply copy and paste the email addresses below and let them know why you support transportation funding.

• george.dunlap@mecknc.gov
• mark.jerrell@mecknc.gov
• leigh.altman@mecknc.gov
• pat.cotham@mecknc.gov
• arthur.griffin@mecknc.gov
• elaine.powell@mecknc.gov
• vilma.leake@mecknc.gov
• laura.meier@mecknc.gov
• susan.rodriguez-mcdowell@mecknc.gov