Sunday issue: Transportation sales-tax project list
The AJC Editorial Board writes: The $6.14 billion in regional road and transit projects, while sorely needed, are far from bold. And the one exception, the Beltline, may be ill-advised. Is this really the best metro Atlanta can do?
We would have rather seen the Beltline funding — or at least most of it — go toward a project that would efficiently transport more people longer distances between homes and job centers.
Bob Ross, co-founder of the Fayette County Issues Tea Party, writes that the transit money would have been spent better elsewhere.
But Bucky Johnson, Norcross mayor and chairman of the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable, believes that an historic moment could have a lasting impact.
What do you think about the project list?
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31 comments Add your comment
seabeau
October 24th, 2011
7:06 am
We are facing another dry winter,our lake levels continue to drop, Alanta does not need additional growth she needs to properly manage the existing infrastructure she now has. Alanta needs additional water containment structures. Not new highways!!
Frank
October 23rd, 2011
6:38 pm
There are well over a hundred special interest exemptions that apply to retail sales in Georgia.
These exemptions are examples of state sponsored economic discrimination. How can Georgia’s sales tax system that favors one merchant and his customers over another merchant and his customers be anything other than “state sponsored economic discrimination”?
—–ABOLISH ALL EXEMPTIONS AND LOWER THE SALES TAX RATE ACCORDINGLY—–
Then come back and ask me to consider voting to increase the rate for transportation.
Will the last Democrat in Georgia please turn off the lights?.....
October 23rd, 2011
4:27 pm
Ga Values
October 23rd, 2011
6:59 am
“How much will MARTA waste on mismanagement & corruption? Will Mayor Reed split the kick backs from the WASTE/belt line with the Jackson family or keep it all for himself? The TSPLOSH simply has too much waste for me.”
VERY valid concerns given the history of mismanagement & corruption in Atlanta city government and within the management structure of MARTA and especially with the City of Atlanta seeming to be the catbird seat in guiding this thing.
Though there are actively ongoing discussions by the state to overhaul transit agency that we currently know as MARTA into more of a regional agency that serves more of the five-county core of the metro area by the end of the decade.
After years of blatant neglect, ignorance and no leadership, it appears that the state has finally been embarrassed into taking more of an active role in transportation planning and management in the Atlanta Region.
Toby
October 23rd, 2011
1:47 pm
The infrastructure of the US at large is lacking & it should get more public funding.
Angus
October 23rd, 2011
12:39 pm
I’m not sure Atlantans can be convinced to vote yes and pay 1% for TSPLOST and 1% for MARTA.
I am sure that if the Beltline were removed from the list, the COA will overwhelmingly vote no.
A reader
October 23rd, 2011
11:33 am
I will vote NO to TSPLOST for one simple reason: The Beltline. The Beltline takes 10% of the budget. It is NOT a regional project, it is a very local project. And its primary purpose is economic growth, not transit.
Ga Values
October 23rd, 2011
6:59 am
How much will MARTA waste on mismanagement & corruption? Will Mayor Reed split the kick backs from the WASTE/belt line with the Jackson family or keep it all for himself? The TSPLOSH simply has too much waste for me.
Bryan -- MARTA supporter
October 23rd, 2011
6:48 am
@ RustyHinges October 22nd, 2011 12:52 pm
Most people prefer rail transit over bus transit, especially local bus transit. Tourist and folks that normally wouldn’t ride transit will ride such things as a streetcar and subways. This will prompt more people to walk in our city and will also promote business development and economic development as a whole. More people out means more people spending and more jobs. That will make for a vibrant Atlanta.
Will the last Democrat in Georgia please turn off the lights?.....
October 22nd, 2011
8:39 pm
RustyHinges
October 22nd, 2011
12:52 pm
WILL THE LAST DEMOCRAT
October 22nd, 2011
7:15 am
“You lose all credibility with the remark that the Peachtree Streetcar is “another very important investment in the city’s future.” What do you think MARTA buses are for? The Streetcar project is a perfect example of wasting taxpayer money.”
The Peachtree Streetcar is a very important investment in the City of Atlanta’s future because it will inspire a level of street level investment present in major world cities that does not currently exist in Atlanta which aspires to be one of the world’s great cities.
If a city like Atlanta wants to be a great world city then it must have an active streetlife with lots of activity going on in its urban neighborhoods and lots of on-street social interaction, the kind that is seen in cities like New York, San Francisco, Paris, London, etc.
I have objections with the way that an initiative like the streetcar is being funded with tax dollars as I think that it could probably be better funded with bonds paid back over a period of 20-40 years like I think that all rail implementations, upgrades and expansions could be.
This TSPLOST is FAR from perfect, but I guess I’ll take what I can get, seeing as this region and state has gotten virtually nothing in the past 20 or so years since the “Freeing the Freeways” project.
IMHO, this TSPLOST tries to be too many things with quality-of-life investments like the Beltline and the Streetcar and maybe slightly off-target investments like light rail extensions in Cobb and Gwinnett mixed in with road investments and the recent commuter rail investments that are purely long-overdue investments in transportation infrastructure that keep people moving.
But make no mistake, the Beltline and the Peachtree Streetcar are important investments in the city’s future quality-of-life and vibrancy even if those investments could be better made and this TSPLOST could and should be more focused on helping improve mobility in the here-and-now.
RCL
October 22nd, 2011
5:05 pm
The HEART of the Metropolitan Area is Atlanta. A vital Central City is important to the Region as a whole. The Beltline and the Peachtree Stret Car are mass transit for moving people around in a congested City.
The traffic conjestion is one of the most negative factors and had caused surrounding Cities to obtain jobs, while the Atlanta Region has stagnated and has produced very few jobs. Lets learn from our European friends, vital cities attract capital, and jobs.
Its time for a reeducation of the public in a positive way about mass transit and economic development. The State of Georgia is doing well with International Offices, it needs to do better with local public education about what makes our Primary Economic and Urban Center work and become vital.