Four at Town Board meeting praise mayor
Mayor Chuck Travis
July 21. By Dave Vieser. At the Cornelius Board of Commissioners meeting this week, a quartet of speakers came out to support Mayor Chuck Travis.
Travis has come under intense fire recently from both residents and commissioners for the way he has handled discussions regarding the toll lanes on I-77. He has been censured 5-0 by the board, and asked to resign as well.
“I don’t know all the varied conversations that have been held regarding the toll lanes,” said Michelle Hoverson, who moved from Huntersville to the Antiquity section three years ago. “There are people who I admire greatly that say the toll lanes are best for our community and our real estate values, while others say it’s not. Meanwhile, Mayor Travis has done many wonderful things for our community so I would encourage you to not relegate his tenure to one issue. Take into account the whole of his impact.” Hoverson is a pastor at Grace Covenant Church.
Tracy Gallagher from Cornelius voiced similar sentiments. “I came to the last meeting and was appalled by the treatment of Chuck. I understand the frustration with the interstate but this problem goes back long before his term as Mayor. It goes back to decisions made years ago when officials failed to make sure our infrastructure would be in place for our continued growth.”
Resident Janet Spain directed her comments at the commissioners. “Does anyone in this room tonight think for one minute that Raleigh and the DOT will drop a huge bag of money into our laps? For all the noise and trouble caused over this project, we would be at the very bottom of their list. Shame on you for asking for our Mayor’s resignation.”
The Mayor did not respond to any of the comments initially, but as the meeting was about to move on to the next calendar item, he addressed those who spoke:
“Thank you all for your support this evening. I know there’s been a great outpouring of support to my wife Janice and myself, and I appreciate you being here this evening. We’re going to do great things for this town.”
The next town board meeting where public comments is Monday August 1.
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The interstate construction issue is perhaps the most important issue to affect the lives and livelihoods of 100,000 local citizens, and Travis is on the wrong side of decency and humanity and ethics to take the position he has.
Michelle Hoverson, you need to learn about these toll lanes and the contract itself and make up your own mind versus listening to others tell you they are “good” or “bad.” These toll lanes are inherently economically discriminatory, and as a pastor, I would think that you would not support such discrimination to any of your flock. Hopefully you will do some of your own investigation. As for Travis, one terribly bad decision on his part, can and will offset numerous lesser decisions which may have been positive. Support of these toll lanes, of which he is also compensated for as a Board member of the State Turnpike Authority, is his cross to bear. He is a Judas to this community.
Tracy Gallagher, pawning off responsibility for this terrible toll lane contract onto past officials is no excuse. Travis is not obligated to pick up the baton and continue the run…..but he does. And he does so very willingly, even though he knows the vast majority of people he is supposed to represent, are not served by them, and are in fact locked into decades of future congestion by them. Travis is adding insult to injury by continuing to support this obviously corrupt and dysfunctional contract. Lucky for him that he can easily pay the tolls since he is a multi-millionaire. Its seems in his case, personal wealth has blinded him from the needs of average citizens.
Janet Spain, you exhibit a deep void of understanding of the reasons we have been neglected and the consequences of this toll lane contract. The state most certainly does have the money to improve I-77 without tolls. Getting them to do so is another story, but you have to understand why funds are being withheld and you have to be willing to fight for them….because they are yours and ours to have! Having I-77 widened is not a special privilege we seek, its a right that we demand. A right that we have paid for and continue to pay for. We are being bullied by Raleigh and our resources are bing manipulated for profits by outsiders and Travis has chosen to stand behind the bullies. Apparently you do as well.
I will bet that none of you who spoke on behalf of Travis, have ever sat down and discussed this issue with the leaders who are opposed to the contract, or read any of the vast amount of data online and in print which supports canceling the project. This is biggest most contentious issue we’ve ever seen around here……and it brings the most destructive consequences one could imagine from such a contract. For the three of you take the position that you have shows only sheer ignorance or, selfishness and I encourage you all to educate yourselves about what is going on here and then let Travis suffer for his own deceit.