The Redress Movement opposes the transit plan and tax passed by the Metropolitan Transit Commission and the North Carolina General Assembly. Our opposition is based on the fact that the tax burden of the one cent sales tax will disproportionately fall on lower income communities, while the transit investments are likely to further gentrification and segregation. 

Sales tax increases are regressive by nature and cost lower-income households a far greater share of their income than higher-income households. The data suggests this would be a $132/year - $240/year tax increase for lower- and middle-income households across Mecklenburg County.¹ This regressive tax focuses transit investments on roads and light rail, which doesn’t help the majority of low-income transit users, who are bus riders. In fact, the most efficient way to expand fast, reliable transit service is bus rapid transit (BRT) lines and they are explicitly excluded in the plan. The meager investments that are dedicated to bus improvements will also be eaten away by the rising costs of micro transit, which is essentially a publicly funded rideshare service that disproportionately serves suburban areas.

Of the rail investments, the ones that the General Assembly has prioritized will likely reinforce segregation patterns. That includes a commuter rail Red Line to the wealthy, majority-white northern suburbs that must be built first. Out of ten stops, that line will serve only two majority-Black neighborhoods in Charlotte, and conspicuously skips other majority-Black areas in North Charlotte between Derita and Uptown.²

The rail investments also prioritize an east-west Silver Line light rail that largely serves well-resourced areas or areas where the rail investments are likely to intensify gentrification and displacement. The only stops on the planned line that would serve neighborhoods facing disinvestment are the three stops closest to the airport. Notably, the General Assembly cut a number of stops in East Charlotte from the plan that would have served disinvested neighborhoods that are majority-people of color near Sharon Amity and Idlewild Roads.

Instead, the new Silver Line serves many areas that are already facing gentrification pressures and the new transit investment will likely exacerbate them. Neighborhoods just west of Uptown, like Westover Hills, Wilmore, and Ashley Park are most likely to be impacted. As an example, Wilmore has seen an increase in the share of white population from 16% to 45% between the last two censuses, as well as a simultaneous decrease in the share of Black population from 78% to 40%.³ This has occurred alongside a dramatic rise in incomes and home values.⁴ Adding a light rail stop will only increase property values and worsen displacement. Additional areas with planned Silver Line stops that are at risk for Black displacement include the 1st Ward, Optimist Park, and parts of Grier Heights, Echo Hills, and Commonwealth Park. 

Our concerns are only bolstered by the evidence of gentrification and displacement that correspond with the opening of the Blue Line, a similar light rail line, in 2007. We should have learned these lessons already after watching rapid neighborhood changes just north and south of Uptown, like the areas off the Parkwood station, NoDa, Wilmore, Brookhill, and Southside Park. In the census tract that encompasses the Parkwood station and the part of NoDa closest to the Blue Line stop, the white share of the population increased by 25 percentage points to 63% between 2010-2020.⁵ In the same decade, the Black share of the population decreased by 32 percentage points to just 18%, while incomes and home values skyrocketed.⁶

We know from past experience that while gentrification may temporarily look like integration, if left unchecked, it ultimately results in the displacement of people of color and an exclusive, majority-white neighborhood.

A transit plan that redresses the harms of segregation would include a progressive tax structure that doesn’t overburden low income communities and a focus on improving bus service. When light rail is planned for neighborhoods at risk of gentrification, local governments should make significant affordable housing investments before the planned rail infrastructure to ensure lower income residents and residents of color can afford to stay and enjoy the new amenities. This current plan falls far short of the equitable investments Charlotteans deserve and we urge the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, and ultimately voters, to reject it. 

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Endnotes

¹Mary Ramsey, “Will Mecklenburg transportation tax increase food prices? How proposal affects you,” The Charlotte Observer, July 21, 2025, www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article310872775.html#campaignName=charlotte_politics_newsletter&linkType=nmeintro.

²“Red Line Commuter Rail,” CATS, 2025, https://www.charlottenc.gov/CATS/Plans-Projects/Red-Line. 

³2010 and 2020 U.S. Census data.

⁴Displaced by Design Interactive Map, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 2025, https://ncrc.org/gd/.

⁵2010 and 2020 U.S. Census data.

⁶Displaced by Design Interactive Map, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 2025, https://ncrc.org/gd/.