CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A Raleigh-based retail industry group is urging North Carolina transportation officials to remove a proposal to help fund grocery store development in west Charlotte from a community investment in neighborhoods that would be impacted by the controversial I-77 South toll lane project.
The North Carolina Retail Merchants Association (NCRMA) sent a letter on Friday to Transportation Secretary Daniel Johnson, criticizing a proposal that could direct up to $300 million toward community projects associated with the toll lane expansion project.
The group’s main concern focuses on a provision in Johnson’s July 28 proposal to “work with community partners to identify opportunities to help close the funding gap” to address the food desert in Charlotte’s West Side.
“A very dangerous precedent for government to come in and compete with private businesses,” NCRMA President Andy Ellen said…