With all its flaws, regional T-SPLOST still needed
The Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club released its assessment of the proposed regional transportation sales tax this week. It was harsh, damning and unfortunately all too accurate.
In brief, the report explains:
– The $7.2 billion metro Atlanta project list is weighted too heavily to highway construction, with too little investment in transit. Furthermore, the state has provided no mechanism for maintaining and operating transit assets once the 10-year special sales tax expires.
– State leaders have refused to give the metro region control of its transit future, yet still balk at providing that leadership themselves. Without a governing mechanism, a regional system is a pipedream. And commuter rail, one of the most promising options available to both ease congestion and reorient development patterns, is ignored in the plan.
– MARTA is treated with disdain and contempt, when it should be embraced as the core of a regional transit system. As the report notes, “MARTA is the sole target of an egregious provision that forbids any T-SPLOST revenues from being spent on MARTA’s operations, the agency’s most pressing financial need. No other transportation provider is singled out in such a manner.”
Most of the indictment is correct; I agree with it. And yet, when the time comes in July, I plan to vote in favor of the proposal anyway. Why?
Well, because politics is the art of the possible.
The harsh truth is that it is impossible to correct a lot of the problems identified by the Sierra Club, at least in an acceptable time frame. They are part of a larger, more fundamental debate that has still to be won. Consider the funding imbalance between transit and highways. Even if voters reject the T-SPLOST in July, and even if some other transportation-funding mechanism is created to replace it, the notion that transit would be given greater prominence in a new plan is fantasy.
While public attitudes toward transit are changing in the metro region, we’re probably still a decade away from a political climate in which transit can be funded at the levels that the Sierra Club would find acceptable.
I don’t think we can wait those 10 years. It’s time to take what we can now, and build upon it.
It’s also important to think through what’s possible and not possible should voters reject the July ballot question. In its analysis, the Sierra Club argues that “lower-than-expected support for the T-SPLOST in Fulton and DeKalb — where proponents are counting on their strongest support — would send a message to state and regional leaders that continued political gamesmanship on MARTA and related issues will not be tolerated.”
That’s one potential outcome of a July defeat, but it assumes a level of analysis by state leaders that history says is unlikely. In addition, I just don’t think that those with the power to make such decisions under the Gold Dome are all that concerned about what pro-MARTA voters in Fulton and DeKalb will or will not tolerate.
More likely, state legislators will draw the conclusion that is easiest on themselves. They’ll note that voters rejected a tax increase for transportation and rejected investment in regional transit, and they’ll use that as an excuse for several more years of dithering.
Again, I don’t think we can wait.
So what is possible? Well, some of the problems identified in the club’s analysis can still be addressed and resolved. Gov. Nathan Deal and House Speaker David Ralston understand that some form of regional transit governance will be essential if the sales tax is approved, even if they don’t yet know how to build enough political support to create it. The system is unworkable without it; necessity will force its creation.
Admittedly, things shouldn’t be so difficult. The evidence is overwhelming that metro Atlanta’s transportation infrastructure, its governance and the vision behind it have become outdated. But changing that course will require changing minds and ideas, and that’s going to be a slow, lurching process.
In the meantime, an opportunity for progress should be embraced rather than rejected.
– Jay Bookman
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648 comments Add your comment
They BOTH suck
May 2nd, 2012
6:26 pm
“Memo to big gubmint nanny staters: move to Europe.”
Since you appear to not like the anything the President has done or said, you feel free to move as well…………….
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
May 2nd, 2012
6:26 pm
sniff, snifff………..anyone smell that? it must be a no good Bama in the house…….ah yes, i think i did smell Doom stinking up the place. hiya doom!
Doom, i don’t think i’ve ever read a truly NON fiction autobiography. autos are done by the person and people sometimes just don’t see themselves as objectively as others do, case in point, YOU.
I was talking about Obama’s BIOGRAPHY. I gave you the link, you could’ve clicked on it and read it for yourself, but as usual, you’d rather attack the messenger.
how very, BAMA of you………
LSU #1 — Bama and LSU should’ve SHARED that crown since they both had the same record.
OH and one more thing, Saban is a girl…….
Thulsa Doom
May 2nd, 2012
6:31 pm
Come on Jay,
You can do better than that. There are indeed some examples of market failure such as the mega large public works projects like the Hoover Dam, the Panama Canal, interstate highway system, etc. where govt can and should have a proper role because private companies can’t or won’t. But these examples are few. Doesn’t mean we should up and become a dang welfare state though now does it? GEEZ.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
May 2nd, 2012
6:31 pm
The Hoover Dam is something all conservatives celebrate, like the interstate highway system, our ports, etc
Yes – I did notice how you guys celebrate others achievements then try to hijack the credit whenever you can. Case in point, the vanquishing of OBL – and how all of sudden Mittens is FOR it….
Jay
May 2nd, 2012
6:34 pm
Bull, Sink and Doom. Absolute Bull.
Today’s conservatives oppose almost every government program, every government expenditure (other than defense), every investment that requires private money to be taxed and spent for public benefit.
JamVet
May 2nd, 2012
6:34 pm
…but most likely you’d be afraid of all of the people who don’t look like you.
Nice burn…
And poor old 71 and Scout, would have nightmares for years!
Jay
May 2nd, 2012
6:37 pm
kayaker, you almost never make a factual argument, and that latest doesn’t break your string. You’re just making stuff up.
First you claim that CBO is not to be trusted, then in the next breath you cite a CBO report and badly misinterpret and twist it into something not even close to the truth. You long ago forfeited any credibility with your affinity for lies and distortions.
F. Sinkwich
May 2nd, 2012
6:37 pm
“Since you appear to not like the anything the President has done or said, you feel free to move as well…………….”
I don’t know about “anything,” I mean he let the SEALS kill OBL.
But I’m not moving. I love America.
We have a euro-socialist really screwing things up now, but Americans are resilient.
We got through Carter.
They BOTH suck
May 2nd, 2012
6:38 pm
Pogo
See you next time…….. Thanks for playing
peace
They BOTH suck
May 2nd, 2012
6:39 pm
“But I’m not moving. I love America.”
Cool……. quit crying about others leaving just because they have a different point of view than you do
Thulsa Doom
May 2nd, 2012
6:40 pm
“people sometimes just don’t see themselves as objectively as others do, case in point, YOU”
THASS FUNNY!
“LSU #1 — Bama and LSU should’ve SHARED that crown since they both had the same record.”
The AP and the coaches/ESPN polls both seem to disagree with ya there Debbie. Seems to be a fact that Bama finished no. 1 in both. That would be numero uno in espanol. I might believe you though if the crystal trophy ends up spending half the year in Baton Rouge. Let me know when it gets transferred down there say July 1st for LSU’s half year split of the trophy.
“OH and one more thing, Saban is a girl…….”
You were funny before but now you just getting outta hand. Thou shalt not speak ill will of King Saban.- God’s 12th commandment.
His 11th commandment was that thou shalt not run the football on the crimson tide defense. And LSU obeyed that commandment in the bcs title game. Not that they had a choice in the matter.
Bow down Debbie. Bow down to the Tide!
JamVet
May 2nd, 2012
6:41 pm
Poor Frank, even when he attempts to come up with something, it blows up in his face, like a………………………… busted dam.
And he never fails to get unintentional laughter:
“We got through Carter.”
Coming from the guy who voted for geeDub twice…
They BOTH suck
May 2nd, 2012
6:43 pm
Kayaker
This would be a great time to cite Macon’s high school graduation rate……..
Seems to fit in with a good percentage of your posts…….
Go to the well one more time and see what you get
F. Sinkwich
May 2nd, 2012
6:44 pm
“Today’s conservatives oppose almost every government program, every government expenditure (other than defense), every investment that requires private money to be taxed and spent for public benefit.”
Your argument would be stronger, Jay, if you were more specific.
Do you mean the turtle tunnels in Florida?
Solyndra?
Paying losers to buy a POS Volt?
Useless bullet trains?
Caulking?
Talk about the “broad brush.”
F. Sinkwich
May 2nd, 2012
6:49 pm
“Coming from the guy who voted for geeDub twice…”
Coming from a guy who voted for Captain Eco-Weenie and Lt. Band-Aid Purple Heart.
And who claims Occutards are nuns.
Bwaaaaaahahaha!
Jay
May 2nd, 2012
6:50 pm
Let’s end this line of argument quickly and decisively, Sink.
Name me one area, other than defense, in which conservatives believe that we ought to spend more.
Hell, name me an area other than defense in which conservative leaders don’t want to CUT spending.
I’ll wait …..
They BOTH suck
May 2nd, 2012
6:50 pm
“Lt. Band-Aid Purple Heart.”
Please tell us about your service: Branch, unit, yrs served, MOS, citations and medals earned
Thanks
Thulsa Doom
May 2nd, 2012
6:54 pm
Jay,
So do nukes require “INVESTMENT” and public money or loan guarantees? Cause I know a lotta Rs support nuke power.
I don’t see many new projects like dams, highway systems, and canals that still need to be built via govt fiat. Do you? And are you also saying that its bull that Rs oppose all new bridges built at public expense?
Bottom line Jay is that any new expansive projects like dams, canals, maybe nukes that can’t be built with solely private money or private companies ,etc will be built and supported by cons.
As for nonsense like Solyndra do you honestly believe that govt bureaucrats can efficiently allocate investment dollars as well as the private sector or venture capitalists? Anyone who believes that needs to have their head examined. Let their venture capitalists lose their asses on crap like Solyndra.
ANd here is a lesson on “investment”. People who have no stake in the outcome of “investments successs or failure” such as faceless bureaucrats or politicians who are long gone 10 years after the project is deemed a boondoggle, have no incentive and therefore no business making decisions on “investments” when they themselves hold no accountability as to the successs or failure of a project.
Disney produces a 200 million dollar floop in John Carter the movie and their ceo gets fired for it. Do you really think the bozos who come up with crap like Solyndra and other failures such as fannie and freddie ever get fired or brought to account for their failures? Nope. For God’s sake sir we have Eric Holder who after a year still can’t or won’t tell Congress who the hell authorized fast and furious. Where is the accountability?
And speaking even of big public works projects maybe you would like to expound on just how efficiently taxpayer money was spent in the Boston big dig. Do you want to go there?
For whatever bizarre reasons you liberals never seem to get that thing about incentives, accountability, etc.
JamVet
May 2nd, 2012
6:59 pm
Your argument would be stronger, Jay, if you were more specific.
THAT one is going to come back to haunt one of the most unspecific, willfully ignorant posters in the history of this forum.
And you cowardly, troop-hating swiftboater with the yap so big you can put both feet in simultaneously, I voted against Mr. Kerry.
Thulsa Doom
May 2nd, 2012
7:03 pm
“Name me one area, other than defense, in which conservatives believe that we ought to spend more”
I’ll answer that the moment you can justify why a nation with near 16 trillion in debt and a 1.3 trillion dollar proected deficit for this year should be spending or wasting any more tax money that we don’t have.
“Hell, name me an area other than defense in which conservative leaders don’t want to CUT spending”
The first and foremost duty of a govt is to protect its citizens. Now I believe we need to cut defense also and I think the cons will cut it also but are using it as negotiating leverage. In any event they will have to cut defense spending and I believe they will. No 2 ways about it. But all the other waste, garbage, and duplicative social programs are going to have to be cut also.
Jay
May 2nd, 2012
7:05 pm
In other words, Thulsa. you concede the debate just as I said you would.
If the question of whether to build the Hoover Dam came up today, conservatives would say no because we could not afford it and if farmers want to irrigate crops they need to find their own damn water.
End of argument.
Thulsa Doom
May 2nd, 2012
7:05 pm
“Coming from a guy who voted for Captain Eco-Weenie and Lt. Band-Aid Purple Heart”
Holy cow that’s funnier than captain mcbunny pants. Its gotta be Kerry who is lt. band aid purple heart gore who is captain eco weenie.
Thulsa Doom
May 2nd, 2012
7:11 pm
Jay,
I don’t see where I conceded anything. But I don’t hink the Hoover dam would get built today and it wouldn’t be because of the cons Jay. It would be because of your eco nuts suing repeatedly to stop it in the name of environmental concerns. Go ahead and concede that you know this is exactly what would happen if you’re honest. And while we’re at it please enlighten me as to the EPA or the army corps of engineers cutting off water in the klamath basin I believe it was to farmers. Or perhaps it was the san joaquin valley SOmething about a small fish or something. You remember that right Jay? In any event the idea that the Hoover dam could be built today with the eco terrorists suing at every step is laughable. And you darn well know it.
F. Sinkwich
May 2nd, 2012
7:13 pm
“Name me one area, other than defense, in which conservatives believe that we ought to spend more.”
Uh, NASA?
Oh, never mind.
O’bozo says their number one objective is muslim outreach.
How that has anything to do with space exploration is beyond me.
F. Sinkwich
May 2nd, 2012
7:14 pm
“And you cowardly, troop-hating swiftboater with the yap so big you can put both feet in simultaneously, I voted against Mr. Kerry.”
BS on you.
Ralph Nader wasn’t running.
F. Sinkwich
May 2nd, 2012
7:15 pm
“Please tell us about your service: Branch, unit, yrs served, MOS, citations and medals earned”
FU.
JamVet
May 2nd, 2012
7:19 pm
Your argument would be stronger, Frank, if you were lucid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader_presidential_campaign,_2004
Maybe you should move to Europe!
Hell, you don’t know a damn (get it?!) thing about what’s going on in this country…
Thulsa Doom
May 2nd, 2012
7:20 pm
http://www.sodahead.com/entertainment/water-was-shut-off-to-california-farms-because-of-endangered-delta-smelt-fish-that-need-this-fresh-w/question-555319/
Here ya go Jay. Libs would definitely find something like this to shut down a Hoover dam if it had to built today.
Speaking of shutting down big projects that produce jobs and revenue who is it that wants to shut down the Keystone pipeline, ANWR,etc. Maybe now you are starting to see just how ridiculous your supposition really is.
F. Sinkwich
May 2nd, 2012
7:22 pm
“If the question of whether to build the Hoover Dam came up today, conservatives would say no because we could not afford it and if farmers want to irrigate crops they need to find their own damn water.”
Nope.
If it got killed, it would have been because of an eco-weenie scraping some rocks in the Colorado River discovering some primordial ooze tying it up the the EPA courts for decades ’cause the he’ll put the slime on the endangered species list.
JamVet
May 2nd, 2012
7:22 pm
getalife, I saw your post earlier, but I just now read where Seau killed himself.
Damn, it always shocks me that people get so desperate that they would do that.
RIP.
F. Sinkwich
May 2nd, 2012
7:23 pm
Voting for Nader is like voting for nobody.
I stand corrected.
Grasshopper
May 2nd, 2012
7:26 pm
Comparing this TSPLOST that will restripe roads and synch traffic lights with building the Hoover Dam?
Really Jay?
An additional tax to take care of routine maintenance issues like intersection improvements and streetlights is the height of governmental inefficiency.
Grasshopper
May 2nd, 2012
7:31 pm
“You bet Grasshopper — why should we build the King Center in the neighborhood where he lived and preached when it should have gone to Midtown? We could build a civil rights theme park and import black people from the south-side to give it a taste of realism. Brilliant
Perhaps if you went to the King Center you and historic district and saw the tourists from all over the world, maybe you’d understand why its an important attraction, but most likely you’d be afraid of all of the people who don’t look like you.”
Your name certainly suits your intelligence level.
Newsflash…the King Center already exists. The conversation was about the boondoggling trolley that will give tourists an oh-so-lovely view of the crackheads and graffiti along the route to said center and that millions are being squandered on to construct. Keep up.
JamVet
May 2nd, 2012
7:31 pm
I stand corrected.
Frank, are you related to Rip Van Winkle?
Or did geedubitis take over your brain?
JamVet
May 2nd, 2012
7:33 pm
Voting for Nader is like voting for nobody.
Your argument would be stronger, Frank, if you were more specific.
F. Sinkwich
May 2nd, 2012
7:38 pm
“Voting for Nader is like voting for nobody.
Your argument would be stronger, Frank, if you were more specific.”
Sure, Jammie.
Nader is a commie.
Americans don’t vote for commies.
Oh, wait.
I stand corrected again.
Bummer.
JamVet
May 2nd, 2012
7:40 pm
Nader is a commie.
Your argument would be stronger, Frank, if you were more specific.
Jay
May 2nd, 2012
7:50 pm
TM, I didn’t trash the National Guard in any way. I did suggest that those who used the National Guard as a way to avoid service — and who had strings pulled on their behalf to get that safe haven — ought to be in a different category than those who volunteered for dangerous duty.
Stripped of the political context, you would no doubt agree with that. But because of the political context, you are forced to try to defend something that you do not really feel comfortable defending, for obvious reasons.
F. Sinkwich
May 2nd, 2012
7:54 pm
“Nader is a commie.
Your argument would be stronger, Frank, if you were more specific.”
You support him, Jammie.
‘Nuff said.
They BOTH suck
May 2nd, 2012
8:05 pm
” ‘Please tell us about your service: Branch, unit, yrs served, MOS, citations and medals earned’
FU.”
Typical response……… I figured since you are quick to judge another person’s military service, you would have a distinguished career to base that comparison
Guess I hit a nerve and thanks for answer even if you didn’t know you answered
Go sell your BS to the gas station attendant………
They BOTH suck
May 2nd, 2012
8:07 pm
Sinkwich
Exhale and take a deep breath…….. you can only puff out your little chest behind that keyboard for so long
But have a great night……
They BOTH suck
May 2nd, 2012
8:11 pm
And as for the “FU”
Yes you are Fd up……………… forget politics…….. just read your own angry, tired, bs that your post each day and you can figure that out
Take care now
JamVet
May 2nd, 2012
8:12 pm
You support him.
Your argument would be stronger, Frank, if you were more specific.
middle of the road
May 3rd, 2012
6:44 am
What is the problem with MARTA? Well, for one thing, they refuse to consider applications for people who own cars but want to use mass transit. For example, there clearly was a market for “Express Buses”, but MARTA would never consider them, focusing solely on bus routes that stop every block and take three hours to go from Roswell to Atlanta. That was not in their transportation philosophy. Or bringing rail to the suburbs. MARTA was never about giving the middle class an option; they were only targeted to the poor. What about MARTA rail service to the Braves stadium. Nope, sorry, doesn’t fit.
bu2
May 3rd, 2012
8:30 am
@Adam
I’ll put some blame on Obama. He took the cost/benefit out of the criteria for funding projects and put heavy emphasis on “economic development” (i.e. Chicago style grease the hands that contribute to your campaign). Scarce Federal transit $ are being used on projects that wouldn’t have passed muster 3 years ago. Many of Atlanta’s projects and those others wouldn’t even be suggested because they don’t do anything of value related to traffic. He’s also encouraged green initiatives that mean Atlanta actually evaluated projects for TSLOST that were deemed good because they SLOWED traffic. That is literally one of the positive points among the evaluation criteria. There are a whole set of criteria who wants us to spend money in order to make driving more difficult.
So Obama isn’t responsible for the clowns at the Atlanta Regional Commission, but he sure encourages their behavior.
Al of Cumming
May 5th, 2012
4:15 pm
I’m another “NO” vote for t splost. Why spend 40% of the funds for 5% of the users? Choo-choo trains will do little to fix our problems. I favor a large transportation fuel tax increase to fund highway improvements so that those who benefit the most from road improvements pay for them. GA can ill afford a huge tax increase for everyone, including those who do not own cars. Under the current economic conditions, we cannot afford a large tax increase that is imposed on everyone that will go on forever, once passed, just like the toll for 400. 400 is paid for, but the toll intended to do so continues.
Al of Cumming
May 5th, 2012
4:25 pm
One help would be to eliminate the middleman, namely, the Federal government and their Department of Transportation. All fuel taxes collected in GA should stay here. Right GA is a net loser when it comes to the difference between what we pay and what comes back to us in Federal transporation taxes. In general, the Federal government skims off around 28 percent of what they collect before returning the money collected to the states. We know better how to spend our money than the bunch of inexperienced hacks in DC.
Eb
May 8th, 2012
1:46 pm
Marta needs to wake up and bring on more security. Myself and others I know have been robbed on the trains and in terminals without any police presence. The only way Marta will gain suburban support is to beef up security. Until then, I’ll spend more money driving my car but be safe.