Here is an early look at the full version of a guest column running in Sunday's Chapel Hill News.  Please tell us if you support the half-cent sales tax for mass transit at editor@newsobserver.com or below (with your name if you'd like your comments published in the newspaper.). Thanks.

By Bejamin Haven and James Carnahan

Orange County has a clear and urgent need for the additional transit services that would be funded by the half-cent sales tax now under consideration by the County Commissioners for a fall referendum.
Whether you live in town or a rural area, we all have an obligation to create a sustainable legacy for those who will come after us – to curtail our carbon footprint, establish a resilient economy and make Orange County affordable to a diverse population.  Public transit is an indispensible tool for achieving these goals.

The Piedmont is still growing at an extraordinary pace; the Triangle Region alone is expected to add more than one million people over the next 20 years [U.S. Census].  By 2030, an additional 40,000 people are projected to make their home in Orange County [NC Office of State Budget, Planning, and Management].  This growth will tax our transportation infrastructure, contributing to longer traffic delays and more carbon emissions.  Already, the Triangle wastes 12.7 million gallons of fuel annually due to congestion [Texas Transportation Institute].   We can’t continue to rely on fossil fuels and sprawl-oriented development patterns, and our current transportation system is inadequate for the population boom that we face.  It’s time to invest in a real transit plan to meet our current and future needs.  

The added half-cent sales tax would specifically fund public transportation.  The Federal Government will not kick in matching funds to get transit projects off the ground unless Orange County can prove that it is capable of raising capital to finance part of these ventures.  In other words, we will not see transit improvements, including bus service expansion, a light rail line from UNC Hospitals to Downtown Durham, or a Hillsborough Intercity rail station, unless we get this  tax referendum on the ballot and passed by a simple voting majority.

Durham is already on board, putting a similar referendum on the ballot and voting to fund transit last year.  However, they can’t do it alone, and a potential light rail line connecting Orange County to Durham depends on us sharing in the cost.  It’s time for Orange County, too, to invest in transit to support the future health of our community.

As the Wake County commissioners move toward a vote in May or June on whether to put a transit tax on the November ballot, Knightdale Republican Joe Bryan could turn out to be the swing vote.

Bryan says Wake voters have the right to decide whether to levy a half-cent local sales tax to pay for transit investments, but he hasn’t figured out whether 2012 should be the year for them to vote on it.

By all appearances, he is agonizing over his decision. ... [MORE]

Transit planners are nailing down details, including the locations of four Raleigh train stops, for a $655 million plan to run rush-hour commuter trains between Duke in West Durham and Garner. (See today's Road Worrier with reader comments).

You can read tons of details on the buses-commuter trains-light rail plans for Wake, Durham and Orange counties at the ourtransitfuture.com website.  It took some searching but I finally found the July 2011 Alternatives Analysis reports on this page.  (Note: When you see mention of the "Durham-Wake" corridor, that's the commuter trains.  There are separate light-rail studies for the "Durham-Orange" and "Wake" lines.)

The Wake County commissioners face a big vote in May (probably after the primary election) on whether to approve an ambitious plan for more buses, new commuter trains and new light rail trains in that chronological order. And whether to let voters decide in November ... [MORE].

Light-rail lovers may be disappointed, but fiscal realists seem more likely to approve of a simple decision by Wake County Manager David Cooke to separate the region's ambitious bus-and-train plan into two packages: "core transit" and "extended transit" (see today's Road Worrier column, with reader discussion).

Wake commissioners had a good chat about this at a meeting in Raleigh Monday. Tonight in Chapel Hill, the Orange County commissioners will follow suit. Both counties are considering whether to hold a half-cent sales tax referendum in November 2012, like the one approved by Durham voters last week.

Wake can afford to promise voters that a proposed half-cent sales tax would make possible a big "core transit" package, Cooke said. Bus service would nearly double in five years, and Wake and Durham could get new rush-hour commuter trains rolling within eight years.

Light rail? Not so much. ... [MORE]

The Chamber of Commerce is taking a big role in promoting the half-cent transit sales tax that Durham County voters will decide on Nov. 8.

"We have been very, very busy in the ranks and files," Chamber CEO Casey Steinbacher (at right) said this morning in a meeting of City Council and County Board of County Commissioners members.

City Councilman Mike Woodard said Steinbacher has been spending a lot of her working time on the transit-tax campaign and the Chamber's public policy director, John White, is working on it full time.

Steinbacher spoke in place of campaign chairs Vincent Allison and Susan Ross, who did not attend the meeting. Transit-tax promoters have been raising money, planning strategy and arranged 72 presentations to community organizations, she said.

"We're a very grassroots community," Steinbacher said. "As long as we're able to get in front of those community groups, neighborhood groups with the message, we've got a good shot" at winning voter approval.

Intense campaigning won't start until after the Oct. 11 primary election in Durham's mayor and City Council races, she said.

The proposed sales tax would pay for expanded bus service and a light-rail line from N.C. 54 to downtown Durham.

Online retailer Amazon has fought hard against sales tax laws and pressure from states from California to North Carolina. Now a group of nonprofits is joining states' efforts the Seattle-based company.

What better way to get in the mood for North Carolina's upcoming tax-free weekend than giving away a little spending money?

Leave me a comment sharing your best shopping tips and strategies for the tax holiday and you'll be entered to win a $10 Target gift card.

I'm interested in hearing from all types of savvy shoppers and savers: parents, college kids, singles, empty nesters, retirees, you name it. If you love a bargain, I want to hear from you.

Are you of the every-penny-counts philosophy? Or do you only brave the crowds when you're buying a big-ticket item like a computer?

Do you take advantage of the tax holiday to stock up on a year's worth of underwear and socks? Or do you make a point of staying home and avoiding the whole mess?

I'll pick a winner Tuesday and send the card out ASAP. With any luck, it should arrive in plenty of time for the tax-free weekend sales.

A 25-year plan to beef up bus service and launch rail transit service for Durham County won approval by two regional boards today, clearing the way for a key vote expected next Monday.

The Durham County commissioners are expected to decide Monday whether to schedule a referendum in October on a proposed half-cent increase in the local sales tax. It would generate an estimated $17.3 million a year to pay most of the local share of capital costs for proposed new buses, a light rail line from Chapel Hill to Durham, and a commuter train service from Durham through Research Triangle Park to Cary, Raleigh and Garner. (See June 13 story with details, map and reader comments.) ... [MORE]

Five public information sessions are planned over the next two weeks to outline new financial plans for proposed bus, light rail and commuter rail transit improvements in Orange and Durham counties.

The Durham Chapel Hill Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization will sponsor the meetings to discuss project plans and outline proposals to pay for them with a combination of state and federal funds and revenues from  a proposed half-cent local sales tax.

The meetings will be held:

- June 7, 4-6:30 p.m., Southwest Library, 3605 Shannon Road, Durham.
- June 8, 4-7 p.m., Holton Career and Resource Center Senior Room, 401 N. Driver St., Durham.
- June 14, 4-7 p.m., Town Hall, 405 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Chapel Hill.
- June 15, 3-6 p.m., North Regional Library, 221 Milton Road, Durham.
- June 16, 4-7 p.m., Orange County Library, 137 W. Margaret Lane, Hillsborough.

If county commissioners agree, voters in both counties will be asked to approve the transit sales tax in a referendum this fall or next year.

The draft plans and more details will be posted online.
 

Most Triangle voters are still willing to pay a half-penny sales tax for better bus and rail transit service – but support for the transit tax in Wake County has weakened – according the third yearly poll commissioned by a pro-transit business lobby.

The yes vote was 57 percent for Wake, Durham and Orange counties combined. That’s down from 58 percent in 2010 but still higher than the 53 percent yes vote in 2009.

It probably didn’t hurt, from the standpoint of transit boosters, that gas prices were soaring above $3.50 a gallon as Ohio-based Fallon Research quizzed 904 registered voters between March 6 and March 9.

When the specter of even higher pump prices was raised, 23 percent of poll respondents said $4 gas would make them more likely to favor a transit tax. And 31 percent said the same for – eek! – $5 gas.

The poll was commissioned by the Regional Transportation Alliance, a nonprofit Triangle business group, which lobbies for transit and other transportation improvements. ... [MORE]