Metro legislators need kick in the pants
The Legislature has skipped town like some fly-by-night contractor with your money in his pocket. It didn’t matter that the job was half-finished, that they left an absolute mess.
They don’t care.
They don’t care that they left MARTA facing a serious financial crisis, that they once again left metro Atlanta without resources to deal with its ever-worsening traffic problem. They just don’t care.
Eight years ago, five years ago or maybe even as late as 2008, that conclusion might have seemed a bit harsh. But after watching our leaders once again do nothing to address such serious problems, no other explanation is plausible. They don’t care.
Oh, being “leaders,” they do care about some things. They care about the petty power struggles by which they define whether they personally won or lost. And yes, many from other parts of the state care about how much milk they can squeeze from the cash cow called metro Atlanta —- according to a recent study by Georgia State University, metro Atlanta is already being squeezed so hard it gets just 72.5 cents in services for each tax dollar it generates.
Unfortunately, too many in the Legislature have forgotten the first rule of farming: If you don’t feed the cow, the cow won’t feed you. And the cow is starving.
For decades, Georgia has had one of the country’s lowest gasoline taxes. Are state leaders even contemplating raising that tax to help Atlanta meet its needs?
Nope.
The state constitution requires that gas-tax revenue be used only on roads and bridges, which means metro Atlanta is barred from using those funds to build the transit it needs to handle growth. Have state leaders even talked about trying to change that?
No.
MARTA is the only major transit system in the country that doesn’t get a dime from state government for operations. Is there any hope of MARTA tapping general tax funds, as legislators already do to fund rural road projects?
No again.
Then there’s the regional transportation tax championed by metro business and political leaders. Would state leaders at least let metro residents vote on whether to tax themselves for transportation?
Once again, no.
Or how about commuter rail? It’s been promised for years, and $87 million in federal money reserved for that purpose still sits untouched and may soon disappear. A year ago, even Gov. Sonny Perdue pledged strong support for rail. Has that translated into any action of any sort?
You know the answer: No.
The worst involves MARTA. It has tens of millions of dollars of its own money in a capital account that it can’t legally tap. With its revenue from sales tax collections plummeting, the agency will have to cut operations severely unless that law is changed. Did legislators deign to make even that minor fix, a fix that would cost the state nothing? No.
This is unacceptable. The General Assembly ought to be hauled back to Atlanta in a special session and asked to do its job. But that will happen only if metro residents insist on action from the officials they elect to represent them.
So let’s call some of them by name:
> Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the governor wannabe: Does he expect to get votes and campaign money from metro Atlanta? Call him up and ask him at 404-656-5030.
> Earl Ehrhart of Cobb County, chairman of the House Rules Committee: Is he going to fight for his metro Atlanta constituents stuck in traffic, or is he pugnacious only in pursuit of his own personal political power? Call 404-656-5141 and ask him.
> How about Gov. Sonny Perdue, for whom transportation represents a last chance at a legacy: Will he take a leadership role, or will he be happy to just go fish? Find out at 404-656-1776.
> House Speaker pro tem Mark Burkhalter of Johns Creek: Call him at 404-656-5072 and ask him if doing nothing is really OK.
> And House Speaker Glenn Richardson of Paulding County, who blocked a regional sales tax vote and cavalierly ignored the pleas of MARTA: In 2008, he spoke with such apparent sincerity about the frustration of being stuck in traffic, unable to reach his son’s Little League game. What’s Mr. Speaker going to do? Ask him at 404-656-5020.
> Or Jan Jones of Alpharetta, the House majority whip. Her office number is 404-656-5024. Is traffic not an issue for the people of Alpharetta?
> Is it an issue in Dacula, represented by Donna Sheldon, vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee, at 404-656-5025? How about in Snellville, home of Don Balfour, chairman of the Senate Rules Committee at 404-656-0095?
These are influential metro legislators, people in the majority party who exercise real power.
If you’re mad, tell them about it. Because it seems to me the people of the metro area face three basic choices:
> They can do nothing, and continue to sit in traffic each day and fume.
> They can demand and get corrective action from the people they have elected.
> They can pack up the moving vans and go someplace where leaders actually care about doing their job.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Guides
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
123 comments Add your comment
DB, Gwinnettian
April 9th, 2009
7:39 am
While this was a fine smackdown, I got to this…
MARTA is the only major transit system in the country that doesn’t get a dime from state government for operations. Is there any hope of MARTA tapping general tax funds, as legislators already do to fund rural road projects?
Since there’s no way any of the fools currently elected would lift a finger to change this, I don’t see the point of asking them nicely. I’ll just continue supporting opposition candidates and working to get these jerks booted. It’s gonna take awhile.
you see
April 9th, 2009
7:43 am
Glenn Richardson was not worried about missing his kid’s game, he was upset about not making it to his mistress’s place.
I Report/ You Whine
April 9th, 2009
7:48 am
Geez, summon the Piano Wire Posse again, eh Bookman?-
Legislature, we’ve got your number By Jay Bookman The Atlanta Urinal-Constitution Thursday, April 09, 2009, So let’s call some of them by name: Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, the governor wannabe: Does he expect to get votes and campaign money from metro Atlanta? Call him up and ask him at 404-XXX-XXXX.
OK, now guess why he wants to burn their houses to the ground, check it out, they refuse to raise taxes.
For Marta.
Mob rules in the banana republic.
Taxpayer
April 9th, 2009
7:48 am
This is like watching a re-run, Jay. It’s just more of the same from these conservatives (Republicans), year after year after year. The sad part is that our tax dollars are used to pay these pathetic politicians. If I were Ms. Franklin, for example, I think I would start each new Congressional session off with closed roads, detours, one-lane traffic, burst water mains and sewer lines, etc., to the Gold Dome and one dilapidated bus to make the run from some run down parking lot to the Capitol. Of course, that’s just for openers. Ms. Franklin and others just need to learn how to play the game in a manner that will get some needed attention. In other words, treat them like the uneducated children that they are. Explain to them what “family values” really means, etc. Meanwhile, the rest of us just need to keep voting against the idiots.
ByteMe
April 9th, 2009
7:52 am
THANK YOU, Jay. The business community needs to do a public smackdown as well on the legislature. Legislators fear the NRA and Sadie Fields and we get guns and religion crap; they don’t fear the business community in Atlanta, so we get stuck in traffic and have our tax money siphoned off to other parts of the state. That needs to change.
Henry 208th
April 9th, 2009
7:53 am
you see,
The GA legislators rode into town with their Bibles in one hand and their tallyw@ckers in the other.
Joe Matarotz
April 9th, 2009
7:57 am
Vote against every incumbent.
Do not vote for anyone who is running unopposed.
Repeat at every election.
Urge everyone you know to do the same thing.
It does not matter if the slimeball is a Democrap or a Republicant. It does not matter if they are male or female. When they know the job is only temporary, and not a lifelong entitlement (see Ted Kennedy), then maybe we’ll actually get some positive results from the clowns in office.
I Report/ You Whine
April 9th, 2009
8:13 am
Check this out if you really want to know the difference between the United States and the world of savages the Obozo apologizes to-
The ship had been bound for Mombasa, Kenya, carrying a cargo of emergency food when it came within 300 miles of Somalia’s coastline.
Unreal, carrying food to another Islamic hell hole, Americans risking their lives, spending their treasure, caring for the world in only ways that we have always done.
And we’re the bad guys.
It sure would be nice if this $#@% Obozo would shut his mealy little mouth.
Joey
April 9th, 2009
8:15 am
Jay; I am glad that you wrote this article. In my view it is mostly accurate. But what the article says about you is more important.
At long last your Rightous Anger allowed you to name the names of offending politicians. Was it just a coincidence that this occurred at a time when you could post the names of Republicans and Republicans only. No. Not hardly.
Once again your lack of integrity and your directional ethics comes to the forefront.
jt
April 9th, 2009
8:16 am
Call me selfish, I just can’t get as mad as Jay when my taxes don’t increase. There is absolutely nothing that my legislatures could do, with more my money,to improve my family’s life. If the power to tax was comepletly up to Jay, how much would he tax us?
catlady
April 9th, 2009
8:18 am
Mr. Bookman: Is every one of the people you mentioned white? Do you think they frame it as an “us” vs “them” debate? (Of course, you can define “us” and “them” by race or SES or home location)
Joey
April 9th, 2009
8:24 am
MARTA has an operational history of about 30 years. At least 3/5ths of that history shows the MARTA Board as dis-functional or mal-functional or non-functional. There is little evidence that MARTA would spend those dollars wisely if they were given them. To the contrary, they would almost certainly not.
That being said, the State should either take over MARTA or give MARTA access to the money to spend as they see fit.
jt
April 9th, 2009
8:24 am
I mean, how much more would a family in Valdosta have to pay in order to keep Mr. Bookman from sitting in traffic or waiting to long for a bus?
Night Train
April 9th, 2009
8:29 am
Like the Democrats did not control Georgia for the last 150 years?
Who was in charge when MARTA was conceived? Democrats!
Who was in charge when the rules for operating MARTA were created? Democrats!
Yet, again, it is the Republicans fault for all the bad decisions that were made during the years and years that the Democrats were in charge.
When will the libs ‘man-up’ and take some responsibility for their bad decisions? What? What was that? Did I hear something about pigs flying? Yep, that’s about right, never.
jt
April 9th, 2009
8:31 am
Anywhere where the legislatures are predominantly lawyers, the results are the same.
Paul
April 9th, 2009
8:32 am
I saw a piece on ‘typical’ Atlanta traffic a while back. LA and Dallas can’t hold a candle to you. You have my sincerest sympathies (LA and Dallas continue to have mine, too – LA’s ‘built out’ on roadways – there’s your future).
But on to some unsolicited advice (this is a blog, after all…)
[[MARTA is the only major transit system in the country that doesn’t get a dime from state government for operations.]]
But I’m sure the city and state gets more than a few federal dollars. Enough that to pull them back would cripple the state (cripple? is it healthy, now?). Possibly the good citizens of Atlanta could send a delegation to Mr. “I’ll fire anybody” Geithner and say ‘you know how you fired that guy at GM, do you think you could….”
Paul
April 9th, 2009
8:33 am
Gets? The city and state ‘gets’?!!?
I need more coffee. Sorry for grating on your ears.
Kanye East
April 9th, 2009
8:39 am
Sonny Purdue does not like black people.
DB, Gwinnettian
April 9th, 2009
8:40 am
Piano wire? Whiner, so far it’s been your side doing all the killing.
Redneck Convert
April 9th, 2009
8:44 am
Well, you might of knowed Bookman would start carping about our godly Republicans down at the statehouse.
He knows good and well they don’t have time in just 40 days to take up everything. And he didn’t say nothing about the good things they done. Like letting us adopt embryos. Me and the missus was talking last night about taking one in. We could put it on top of the TV to keep it nice and warm. Thing is, we don’t know how much one of them eats. We wouldn’t want to go to alot of cost to keep one, what with what us and little Sonny Zell George and old Ace eat already.
Anyhow, I don’t give a hoot if the Atlanta people have to walk till their legs are wore down to little nubs. It ain’t my job to get them around town to their homo bars and the night clubs and other stuff they do down there. If they want to go somewhere they can just take a cab.
That’s my opinion and it’s very true. Have a good day everybody.
ByteMe
April 9th, 2009
8:45 am
Paul, I just checked over the 09 budget for MARTA. They get state/federal grants, but those are for the capital budget side, not operational side. The operational side — the side that comes almost entirely from sales tax and per-ride sales… the side that’s in trouble — receives no outside revenue from state/fed.
http://www.itsmarta.com/about/financial/index.htm
Paul
April 9th, 2009
8:51 am
ByteMe
I was just looking for a way to help you get rid of those politicians. The politicians run the state; the state’s in trouble; the politicians presided over it; the state receives federal money; the feds fire the local politicians as a condition of continuing to receive fed money.
Didn’t Georgia go for McCain? I just might work…
Nothing else has worked so far -
fed up
April 9th, 2009
8:52 am
I don’t think Jay’s telling the whole story here folks do a little research of your own before jumping on his bandwagon.
DW
April 9th, 2009
8:54 am
Jay – While I agree with you 100% that the Legislature as a whole failed to deliver on much needed transportation reform and funding, your carpet bomb approach to blame is misinformed (or just arrogantly ignorant of the facts).
The blame from this past session’s failures rest with the House leadership, and to a lesser extent Gov. Perdue. Anyone who followed the session and did so without a preconceived bias knows the Senate leadership sought compromise on a statewide plan for transportation funding. They tried, and tried again, adjusting the funding formulas to a point where the Senate proposals looked a great deal like the House version. In a last ditch attempt, with the clock winding quickly down to sine die, the Senate offered up a transportation bill that passed both houses last year, HB 1035, that used the regional approach. Still, no go from House leadership. The House also stalled legislation to fix MARTA’s funding formula. They killed it for political/power purposes too.
If you want to blame Cagle and the Senate for the failure to pass transportation funding in 2008, go right ahead – they deserve it. But, if you’re talking about this past session, then point the finger at the House, Glenn Richardson and others in their leadership team.
The bicameral legislative process requires legislation garner the approval of BOTH bodies. Fortunately for you, editorial writing requires no such cooperation.
ByteMe
April 9th, 2009
8:56 am
Paul: The only thing that will work to change this state is the ability for people to be able to create constitutional amendments instead of having all laws controlled and dictated by the state legislature.
But I return to my previous meme: for this topic, the best bet is a very pissed off business community in Atlanta that puts the fear of God into legislators that are outside of Atlanta by working to overthrow the ones who are happy to screw Atlanta. The people aren’t organized on this one, so it’s going to need to be the business community who steps up.
BDAtlanta
April 9th, 2009
8:56 am
OFF TOPIC:
Here is a great description of the difference between liberals and conservatives regarding our willingness to question our leaders and hold them accountable:
The fact that Keith Olbermann, an intense Obama supporter, spent the first ten minutes of his show attacking Obama for replicating (and, in this instance, actually surpassing) some of the worst Bush/Cheney abuses of executive power and secrecy claims reflects just how extreme is the conduct of the Obama DOJ here. Just as revealingly, the top recommended Kos diary today (voted by the compulsively pro-Obama Kos readership) is one devoted to attacking Obama for his embrace of Bush/Cheney secrecy and immunity doctrines.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/08/criticism/
Want to know why we libs don’t like you Conservatives having any form of power? It’s this kind of thinking:
“If you’re not with us, you’re against us”
“If you don’t support the war, you don’t support the troops”
You can easily add more to this list. Conservatives got no stomach for questioning their supported leaders which is why they always get bad ones to run for office.
Corporal
April 9th, 2009
8:59 am
Obama will probably “bow” to the Ayatollah just like he did to that depostic Saudi “potentate”. How embarrassing.
say what?
April 9th, 2009
9:00 am
Apparently Jay thinks that the state legislature runs the city of Atlanta and that the rest of the state is ruining it (of course he probably said the same thing about rural Georgia when they finally managed to put a Republican in the governor’s mansion a few years back).
Let’s not forget just how incompetent the city council and the mayor are (what have they done in the last few years that has been a good use of tax money in the city?)
Also, has anyone stopped to consider just how inefficient a system MARTA actually is? The only good use it has is to go to the airport or maybe the Georgia Dome, otherwise it doesn’t make enough stops at the right places to work as well as other mass transit systems. Maybe other states are more willing to fund mass transit systems in their large cities that actually take people where they need to go (i.e. New York City, Chicago, etc.) Plus, MARTA costs nearly $40 million PER MILE while other light rail systems considered by city planners costs around $1 million per mile or less. Have we forgotten that light rail has been proposed all over the city as a way to supplement MARTA and better reach areas like Cobb and Gwinnett? Those federal dollars can’t be used for it as long as the city keeps throwing a fit about things like the beltline (and how it will (gasp!) hurt minority neighborhoods through regentrification or spur new development where people can actually use the transit that they want.
And there is no good reason to go raising the taxes on ANYONE in the state while we are robbed blind by the federal government. An additional tax on gas would do nothing except take more hard-earned money away from people who need it and throw it away on some government “research in transit solution”. Maybe when we decide to stop supporting the government leeches in first the state and the country, we can better allocate our tax dollars to more useful things without having to increase any tax rates. That would be the last thing we need to do, and even though the state legislature is not perfect, they can at least recognize that for the most part.
Midori
April 9th, 2009
9:04 am
Corporal,
was it just as embarrassing when George Bush publicly made out with the Saudi Prince on live tv, and then joined hands with him to take a walk among the texas bluebells?
Paul
April 9th, 2009
9:07 am
BDAtlanta
I’m a bit confused. Is your position conservatives (I’ll play to the stereotypes here) didn’t question the Bush/Cheney DOJ policies so they’re bad? I thought cons supported the policies – so why would they criticize Bush/Cheney on this?!!?
“Liberals” didn’t support Bush/Cheney DOJ on this so of course they wouldn’t support Obama/Biden DOJ on this.
Cons DID question their leaders and hold them accountable – look at immigration.
It seems “Want to know why we libs don’t like you Conservatives having any form of power? It’s this kind of thinking: “If you’re not with us, you’re against us””
could be restated as
“Want to know why we libs don’t like you Conservatives having any form of power? It’s OUR kind of thinking: “If you don’t agree with OUR positions on issues, you’re against us”
No kidding. That’s politics.
Hillbilly Deluxe
April 9th, 2009
9:09 am
Maybe the Metro area should have had some impact fees for MARTA and traffic infrastructure while they were allowing virtually unlimited development.
Paul
April 9th, 2009
9:09 am
Hi Midori!
So, who’s more ‘progressive’ – the guy who kisses and holds hands, or the guy who stands back and bows, keeping his head turned away and his hands way back?
Corporal
April 9th, 2009
9:10 am
HEADLINE/NYT: “OBAMA TO PUSH IMMIGRATION BILL …”
Bush WAS wrong and Obama IS wrong. Just another degree up on the “Frog in the Kettle”.
@@
April 9th, 2009
9:10 am
Damn, jay! You seem to be suffering from “the vapors” today.
If you’re gonna talk about incompetence, please include the City of Atlanta power brokers, the MARTA power brokers, and the powers that broke GRADY?
Just to be fair, mind you.
Eric
April 9th, 2009
9:15 am
Takes two to tango, Mr. Bookman.
MARTA officials are being every bit as petty. Threatening to stop Friday service? Pure foolishness and fear-mongering. They aren’t stopping service on Friday, because they would be cutting off their nose to spite their face. They can scale back operations each day by 1-2 hours and achieve the same savings.
Also, maybe they should think about making some cuts in their bloated administration. How many cubicle dwellers are stealing money down there? How about some sweeping pay cuts? How about an attempt to get their own financial house in order, something that they couldn’t do back when the economy was booming?
Tapping into capital improvement funds is a band-aid that does not address the problem of MARTA mismanagement. Where’s the accountability down there?
say what?
April 9th, 2009
9:15 am
BD Atlanta,
If you’re not with us, then you are against us, pure and simple (funny how the democrats have brought up that line a lot since January; i.e., “we should all come together and support our president” or “why are there people in Washington trying to play politics rather than spend our grandchildren’s inheritance on “economic stimulus”?).
Liberals can’t stand straight talk and common sense logic, which is why they’ll elect anyone who can talk up a good story and shift his opinions with the wind. True, there have been to many RINOs the last few years that have tried to become like democrats, hence why I can understand why you wouldn’t like them (I don’t either). The liberals running for office are very bad, but I guess that once you decide to drink the kool-aid and get all your news from a worm like Olbermann, it’s hard to understand what a bad leader is.
Truth
April 9th, 2009
9:16 am
If it means all the “I love to be controled by daddy government” libs move out of Georgia the , by all means, GO!!!!!
professional skeptic
April 9th, 2009
9:17 am
Thanks, Jay, for keeping the topic of transportation on the front burner. Our elected legislators failed miserably at the job we paid them to do. At the end of a largely do-nothing session, they threw paper and confetti into the air (for other people to clean up), as if they were celebrating some grand accomplishment. The rest of us will celebrate when we finally vote them out of office and replace them with lawmakers who actually give a rats a$$ about the economic well being of our people, our region and our state.
Bosch
April 9th, 2009
9:26 am
I don’t live in Atlanta, no where near it – so my opinion is kind of pointless on this matter.
Now, I could be wrong, so please correct me if that’s the case and I don’t mean to stereotype here, it’s purely observational: but who uses MARTA? A majority of the clientele? Who are they?
People have never had any incentive to use MARTA except those who have no other option.
Washington D.C.? The Metro? You see people from all types of background on the Metro? Why? Because it’s convenient – it’s a hell of alot more convenient than driving around in D.C.
Make driving less and less convenient.
Get Disney on this – they can fix it – they’ve had the monorails, bus lines, even The People Mover for decades. Bring in some Disney consultants – those people know how to move masses.
BDAtlanta
April 9th, 2009
9:28 am
Paul, that quote I used should have been described as an example.
Is there a doubt in your mind that you conservatives are like lap dogs to your leaders, blindly following them without question?
I’m not going to spell out everything I was getting at in my post. I will treat you like an adult and expect that you can infer the meaning of my post without me needing to draw you a “picture.” Am I wrong here? If I’m not wrong, I know kindergarten kids with better ability of inference and deduction than you appear to have.
By the way, it sounds like you were ok with the politicization of the DOJ? Using the DOJ to advance the agenda of a single party? You are cool with that? Yeah, you’re a true American.
Bosch
April 9th, 2009
9:29 am
OMG!!! I DID IT!!!!! I FINALLY DID IT!!!! I FOUND ALL FIVE!!!!! What a great day.
Corporal
April 9th, 2009
9:30 am
HEADLINE: “Medical Providers Urge Obama to Save ‘Conscience’ Rule …”
“Thirty organizations have banded together, sending a letter to President Obama asking for a meeting before he decides whether or not to repeal the conscience clause regulation.”
Obama likes to “talke” …. will he?
Corporal
April 9th, 2009
9:30 am
Excuse me … “talk”.
Bosch
April 9th, 2009
9:32 am
Oh, and Happy Maundy Thursday all.
Corporal
April 9th, 2009
9:34 am
Bosch:
Thank you. Time to reflect on all of that.
professional skeptic
April 9th, 2009
9:38 am
Bosch: Who uses MARTA? I doo. I’m a well-compensated tax accountant who lives in Atlanta and whose time is too valuable to spend sitting in gridlock traffic. On MARTA I read the newspaper, magazines, answer email… things which are impossible to do when sucking exhaust fumes in bumper to bumper traffic.
Paul
April 9th, 2009
9:39 am
BDAtlanta
I just flat did not understand why you’d use as an example of not having the nerve to question leaders the example of certain Bush/Cheney DOJ practices, when it seemed evident many conservatives agreed with those policies! Maybe that’s not how you intended it, but I’ve reread it several times and still can’t come up with an alternate reading. Possibly that’s why you don’t want to spell it out, hmmmm? The latter part of your post seemed to be a diversion to distract from this point.
As far as the ‘blindly following’, again, I’d refer you to the immigration issue. Or the results of the ‘06 Congressional elections and what many cons said about Reps spending habits.
“Is there a doubt that ‘you’ conservatives’”
What on earth would lead you to say that? Disagreeing with a conservative politician does not make one a liberal; disagreeing with a liberal politician does not make one a conservative.
Sound a bit like “you’re either with us or against us,” doesn’t it?
Oh, and I gotta ask, what’s a “true” American? And who gets to define it?
Bosch,
The Five were revealed midway through the final season….
Bosch
April 9th, 2009
9:40 am
Corporal,
I like Maundy Thursday alot. It makes me think about alot of different things.
Paul
April 9th, 2009
9:42 am
Bosch
And happy Maundy to you, too.
“Maundy.” Always thought that a strange-sounding word. Even if it is olde English. I keep hearing the Mommas and the Papas ,’Maundy, Maundy, so good to me..” Comes from a nonEpiscopalian background early on, I suppose -
Hera
April 9th, 2009
9:42 am
How do you know that about Glen Richardson?
Aside from the Marta issue, the English Only on Driver’s License bill went dead in the Senate 22 vs. 22 because 11 of our Elected Spenders did not vote!! One other was excused. Why did they not vote? I really want to know if they had gone home for the day. I have called a few and left a message but I guess they don’t want to tell me what they were doing on the last day of the General Assembly at 11:00pm when the vote finally came down.
And, if it was a tie, isn’t there a tie breaker guy around?
Vote them all out of office and start over. We can not due any worse than the failures we have elected. Not the CHANGE I wanted.