North Carolina has always been leader in transportation innovations. Our natural resources in tar led to our state providing infrastructure of roads and bridges across the country. Our Outer Banks saw the first in flight innovation. Our state had significant input on our rail system. Today as we examine how our state recovers from a bad economy and record unemployment rates, going back to our roots is the solution to many of these problems.  

The state of North Carolina in the past two years has received over 2 billion dollars from the Federal Government to invest in transportation and green jobs in our economy. We just received 540 million dollars to invest in transportation “light rail” projects.  These two grants are not mutually exclusive, and it is critical as when we talk about the future of our state that we talk about providing sustainable solutions to our economy.

If I am your representative I will fight to make sure that 30% of these jobs go to underrepresented workers, that the access to mass transit serves the people that need it the most, and that we do this in an environmental sustainable way. That is the blueprint for a stronger North Carolina and if elected it’s what I will fight for.

Transportation Jobs and Access

Transportation infrastructure can create thousands of Jobs. In our declining jobs market and our record unemployment this should be the number one focus. The truth is that the money has already been invested in the state, the commitment has been made. It depends on if your Representative is going to fight for it. Our representative for the better part of a year has been fighting for Video Poker, and it is a known fact that any proposed solution that does not have jobs in the center of it, is a false solution. There are many things wrong with Video Poker legislation, but the fact that it does not provide an answer to people who don’t have jobs, is the biggest problem.

Many people who rely on public transportation are limited to what they can do based on their access and availability to public transportation. For example my friend that lives in Pleasant Garden, that receives an offer for  a job in Greensboro working in a plant, has no ability to get to work, therefore he cannot even apply for this job. There are a lot of unemployed people out there, and I believe if they had access to jobs, in all of our region, Greensboro, High Point, Pleasant Garden, and even Winston-Salem. There are thousands more who cannot access medical facilities and schools due to lack of transportation. We need to look at Transportation Equity as a Social Justice issue because it goes to the very heart of equal opportunity and equal access. Providing more access directly correlates to having more opportunity.

Join us in our fight – Sign the petition to make sure that our legislators takes into account providing Jobs and Access in appropriating Transportation Projects.  Click here to sign the petition. 

Transportation Platform

1) Increased Access to Transportation-Related Jobs

• Require that 30% of work hours on large transportation-related projects be reserved for low-income people, ex-offenders, women, homeless people, and minorities.
• Double the state highway dollars used for the recruitment, training, and retention of underrepresented workers in highway construction projects to a mandatory 1%, including transit and rail projects.
• Ensure quality job training opportunities by maximizing the use of registered apprentices on all transportation and transit projects.
• Require Community Workforce agreements to maximize the use of union labor.
• Require contracts for Minority Owned Businesses

2) Increased Funding for Mass Transit

• Provide transportation options for all by increasing support for mass transit.
• Currently the state spends about 80% of Transportation Dollars for highways and about 20%  on mass transit. We want to see this trend change dramatically.
• Allow public transit agencies to use part of their mass transit funding for operating expenses.

3) Increase Community Control over Transportation Planning and Funding

• Ensure that Metropolitan Planning Organizations and state Departments of Transportation, which make all local transportation/transit planning decisions and impact spending, are representative, responsive, and accountable to the public, and that they select projects with a goal of reaching equitable outcomes.

4) Require Smart AND Equitable Growth

Statel mass transit projects must be sustainable and address the needs of the poor, the working class, the middle class, and people of color by providing:

• Affordable and accessible mass transit that serves diverse communities;
• Affordable housing, particularly in "transit villages" – communities built around transportation hubs;
• Development that minimalizes demolition and relocation; and
• Development that connects with and improves existing mass transit.