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Charlotte candidates for mayor and City Council sharply disagreed Tuesday during debates about plans to build a streetcar line, levy fines against problem landlords and redevelop Eastland Mall.
The candidates spoke to about 100 residents in an east Charlotte church, with incumbents often boasting about city government initiatives to rebuild troubled neighborhoods and challengers calling out failures.
Most of the questions centered on issues vital to east Charlotte, where residents complain about crime, blight and the decline of the Independence Boulevard business strip.
Mayoral candidates Anthony Foxx and John Lassiter, both City Council members, debated financing for the proposed streetcar that would run from Johnson C. Smith through uptown to Eastland Mall.
Recently Foxx and the council's Democratic majority voted to override Mayor Pat McCrory's veto of $4.5 million on an engineering study for the line. Lassiter, a Republican, voted against overriding the veto.
On Tuesday, Foxx said the streetcar line is vital to bringing business and other investment to east Charlotte. He said critics who say the project is too expensive are misguided.
"Building transit always requires some risk," he said, adding that there were financial risks to building light rail along South Boulevard.
Lassiter also supports the street car project, but said he didn't believe in committing money until the city knows how it would pay for the $450 million project.
"I can't see how we could justify" the expense during a recession, he said.
Candidates for City Council offered differing views on a proposed ordinance that would force landlords with crime problems at their properties to meet with police and create a safety plan. Council will vote on the idea Nov. 9.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police had proposed requiring all landlords to register and pay a registration fee. Council rejected that plan and instead will consider an ordinance that would require properties that are in the top 4 percent of police calls to register.
Matthew Ridenhour, a Republican seeking an at-large seat, said he opposed the landlord registration concept because the cost to property owners would likely be "passed down to the renter."
Incumbent at-large council member Susan Burgess said the city should register all landlords. Burgess, a Democrat, noted Raleigh is reforming its landlord registry to include all properties.
