And you wonder why voters rejected the T-SPLOST
If you want to see a microcosm of the reason metro Atlanta voters didn’t trust our transportation planners enough to approve the $7.2 billion T-SPLOST tax, I recommend this news from the AJC:
The state Transportation Board is poised to declare the Downtown Connector a gateway to the state, and to help fund a makeover to pretty up some of the high-profile bridges that pass over it.
The first two are the Peachtree Street bridges that pass over the Connector and back, in Downtown and Midtown.
“This lets the traveling public know the city of Atlanta is the capital city,” said DOT board president Johnny Floyd. “We want to showcase it and make sure it looks good.”
The makeover, according to the Midtown Alliance, will include colored under-lighting for night time and the words “Peachtree Street” in lights, as well as sculptured fences and sidewalks on the surface level over the I-85/I-75 interchange.
The Department of Transportation’s board approved the expense on Thursday. DOT will put $1.7 million toward the $5 million project for two bridges. Three other bridges would follow later, said DOT board member Sam Wellborn.
Yes, this must be the best way to spend $5 million in transportation funding (the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District is to contribute some of the money). Just think how pretty Peachtree Street will look as motorists are stuck in traffic on or underneath it!
Now, before you say, “It’s only $5 million. How much traffic relief could we get for that kind of money?” — I have numbers.
The T-SPLOST list included mostly projects that cost millions, if not tens or hundreds of millions, of dollars. But it also included some less expensive projects, particularly in the city of Atlanta.
In fact, there were 14 Atlanta projects that each cost less than $1 million. For $5 million, we could complete the nine cheapest of these — including some projects in the Downtown/Midtown vicinity: improvements along 10th Street, 14th Street, Edgewood Avenue, North Avenue and others, with almost $275,000 to spare. Or we could see some other combination of projects adding up to $5 million.
Admittedly, I didn’t spend a lot of time examining these smaller-scale projects leading up to the July 31 referendum. I don’t know how much congestion relief we’d get from them. But if they made the cut to be on the list, they almost certainly would be more worthwhile than putting some street names in fancy lights on interstate overpasses.
Ah, but what about this line from the AJC story?
The DOT money comes from signs near highway exits that advertise businesses at upcoming rest stops. That money is dedicated to making “gateways” to the state attractive.
Shouldn’t that stipulation preclude the money from being spent on traffic improvements rather than sprucing up our roads? I dunno; ask me again after the state has stopped diverting other fee revenues from the purposes prescribed by the laws creating them.
In any case, I can think of few ways to make a state “gateway” more “attractive” than ensuring motorists can exit the Downtown Connector and actually get to where they’re going. That strikes me as a relevant and better use of the money.
A big part of the public distrust regarding the T-SPLOST was the idea that the state is already spending money as wisely as possible. This is one more episode that makes the skeptics say, “Told you so!”
– By Kyle Wingfield
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265 comments Add your comment
Hillbilly D
November 17th, 2012
2:41 pm
T-SPLOST failed because there were more ag’in than for it. Simple as that.
CC
November 17th, 2012
2:47 pm
Hillbilly D:
I like your style!
MarkV
November 17th, 2012
2:51 pm
Dusty @2:41 pm
“So now we get to the nitty gritty. President Obama should be able to keep raising the debt because President Bush went to war protecting our country.”
No, Dusty, you are making things up. I did not say anything about President Obama. Neither have I said anything about intel, etc. I merely pointed out that YOU expressed your approval of that war. That war cost money. That money has to be paid back, just like any other loan. So I am asking you if you agree to paying that money back by raising taxes.
Also, that “failing stimulus” exists only in your imagination, or in claims of people you believe. That is your problem.
Dusty
November 17th, 2012
2:53 pm
CC
You explained it very well. Thank you.
Bryan -- MARTA Supporter
November 17th, 2012
2:58 pm
I think this is a great idea. Every city needs to have a “gateway” entrance. I think once all of the scheduled bridges are done it will really help the image of the Connector.
What I would really like though is to use that money to put tolls entering from outside of I-285 on the northern parts of I-75 and I-85. That money could be used strictly for MARTA. Now when you leave the city you wouldn’t have to pay anything, only when you are coming in. Since the OTPers hate ATL so much let them stay where they are and when they come for the ITP jobs and entertainment they will pay to support our transit here, since they are too dumb to join.
MarkV
November 17th, 2012
3:14 pm
CC @2:37 pm
“I think that it was in March of this year when Obama passed Bush in indebting the U. S. In other words, Obama had added more to the national debt in three years and three months than Bush did in eight years!”
Which ignores a few “minor” facts. Such as the financial and economic crisis that President Obama inherited and had to deal with. The conservatives pretend that it did not cost anything. Also, conservatives ignore that the wasr started under President Bush continued and cost additional money.
Dusty
November 17th, 2012
3:28 pm
MarkV
I WISH that I could “make up ” the national debt .Alas, it is real.
Raising taxes will not pay off our debt. That is a dream already discounted.
President Obama is NOT decreasing the debt. He adds to it every day and wants a higher debt ceiling.
Cuts and economic measures are the only way to decrease expenditures and lower the debt. The President is doing neither and Democrats in the Senate are blocking any moves in Congress. The war in Afghanistan may end in the next few years. Ask the president about that. He’s been in office four years now.
I will try to wipe the “stimulus” out of my imagination just as you have.. . But it is kiinda hard with so many people complaining about it. How in the world do you stay so blind to the issues confronting this country? You seem totally oblivious.
You dont say
November 17th, 2012
3:34 pm
The stimulus
The same one that Ryan complained about while requesting funds?
The same one that ex Governor Perdue denounced while at the same time writing DC begging for more than was allotted GA?
The same one that TX Governor Perry denounced but used to balanced the TX state budget?
The same one that many Republican Congressman and Senators cried about but took money for their states and districts?
Like them, do you hypocrisy much? Doubt you even know these facts. Try google.
Forsyth County Mom
November 17th, 2012
3:34 pm
My mother-in-law used to tell me that two wrongs don’t make it right.
Maybe not, but two “Wrights” make an airplane!
You dont say
November 17th, 2012
3:39 pm
Dusty
Why have Republicans quietly backed away from the their no “earmarks” pledge and are back to bizz as usual?
Oh my bad, guess Fox and your favorite pundits forgot to mention that fact, so you wouldn’t know
CC
November 17th, 2012
4:09 pm
MarkV@3:14 pm:
“Such as the financial and economic crisis that President Obama inherited and had to deal with.”
– interpretation — It’s all George Bush’s fault!
The reality is that you may place the blame for the economic crisis where it rightfully belongs, squarely on the heads of democrats. Do the names Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd ring any bells? Can you say “Fannie Mae” and “Freddie Mac”? Sure, you can!
“Also, conservatives ignore that the wars started under President Bush continued and cost additional money.”
“Yet, Obama gave speech after speech promising that ending the war in Iraq would be his first act in office: “I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank.” What candidate Obama explained in corporate media interviews was a little different. He said repeatedly that he would begin a withdrawal his first month in office, pull out one to two brigades per month and be done in 16 months. That did not happen. On Afghanistan, Obama’s withdrawal promises have been made and broken during his presidency.”
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2012/4480
Do we also “blame Bush” for your president’s lies? Don’t speak of Obama bearing the burden of the cost of continuing the wars started under President Bush. Obama failed YOU on his promise to end them.
iggy
November 17th, 2012
4:36 pm
“My mother-in-law used to tell me that two wrongs don’t make it right.”
Two wrongs dont make a right but three lefts will.
You dont say
November 17th, 2012
4:37 pm
cc
Obama is the President of the United States. If you are a citizen, he is your President, just as Bush was the President of the citizens who cried and demeaned him.
As for the crying, you are doing a dandy job of that.
Hillbilly D
November 17th, 2012
4:43 pm
Maybe not, but two “Wrights” make an airplane!
And Orville was flying the plane in the first fatal crash. Lt. Thomas E Selfridge, who had volunteered to be a passenger, was killed in the crash. Selfridge was also part of an organization that was in direct competition with the Wrights. There’s several lessons that could be taken away from that.
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1900s/a/firstcrash.htm
MarkV
November 17th, 2012
4:51 pm
Dusty @ 3:28 pm
“Raising taxes will not pay off our debt. That is a dream already discounted. “ “Cuts and economic measures are the only way to decrease expenditures and lower the debt.”
May I ask for the justification of this claim?
“The war in Afghanistan may end in the next few years. Ask the president about that. “
Why?
“I will try to wipe the “stimulus” out of my imagination just as you have..”
Good. For you will be progress. I will keep in mind all the good the stimulus accomplished.
“But it is kiinda hard with so many people complaining about it. “
Perhaps like Rep. Paul Ryan, when he asked for stimulus money for his district, or all the other Republican representatives and senators, who did the same?
You dont say
November 17th, 2012
4:55 pm
http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-gop-needs-times-131006853–election.html
MarkV
November 17th, 2012
4:57 pm
CC @ 4:09 pm
“Such as the financial and economic crisis that President Obama inherited and had to deal with.”
– interpretation — It’s all George Bush’s fault!”
If you insist, I did not say that.
“The reality is that you may place the blame for the economic crisis where it rightfully belongs, squarely on the heads of democrats. Do the names Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd ring any bells? Can you say “Fannie Mae” and “Freddie Mac”? Sure, you can!”
More republican talking points, already denunked.
Also, conservatives ignore that the wars started under President Bush continued and cost additional money.
“Yet, Obama gave speech after speech ….”
Irrelevant to the discussion.
“Do we also “blame Bush” for your president’s lies? Don’t speak of Obama bearing the burden of the cost of continuing the wars started under President Bush. Obama failed YOU on his promise to end them.”
A lie.
CC
November 17th, 2012
5:05 pm
MarkV@3:14 pm:
17
Yes, 17.
17 is the number of times President Bush attempted to get Congress to reign in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. In fact, you can justifiably say that Obama aided greatly in creating the economic problems he “inherited” in 2009.
You can easily find documentation for my statement here by Googling “How many times did President Bush ask Congress to reign in Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae?”
I wrote one lengthy post on this subject to you complete with quotes and cites, but for some reason it did not post. If you really want the truth, you won’t mind using Google.
You dont say
November 17th, 2012
5:12 pm
cc
Bush had a majority Republican Congress until Jan 07.
It was his job to sway some Dems to his side, just as it is Obama’s job today.
Bubble started to show in some areas in 06. Most arms and fancy financing was not done by Fannie and Freddie.
Don’t be so blind and brainwashed to believe that a few of the variables that contributed to the bubble were all the variables.
You dont say
November 17th, 2012
5:13 pm
as for google, you need to utilize it yourself to get the Paul Harvey (rest of the story)
CC
November 17th, 2012
5:13 pm
MarkV@4:57 pm:
“More republican talking points, already denunked.”
If that has been “already denunked”, please provide your source.
““Do we also “blame Bush” for your president’s lies? Don’t speak of Obama bearing the burden of the cost of continuing the wars started under President Bush. Obama failed YOU on his promise to end them.”
“A lie.”
How can you call it a lie when your president has been quoted and videotaped making the statements in question?
Or is it simply that when you choose not to accept the truth, you classify it as “A lie”?
You dont say
November 17th, 2012
5:17 pm
How can you tell a lie, hyperbole or biased bs when cc is posting?
When cc is posting.
MarkV
November 17th, 2012
5:23 pm
CC @ 5:05 pm
CC,
I have neither time nor desire to debate anything with someone, who is incapable of keeping track of what the argument is about, namely you. (I am making an exception for Dusty, who is quite notorious in this, out of shear goodness of heart, but do not extend it to others.).
The point of my response to Dusty regarding the increase in national debt during the Obama administration, which she blamed the President for, was that President Obama had to deal with an enormous financial and economic crisis, which he inherited, and which required huge spending to mitigate. I did not write anything about blame. Therefore, when you wrote your “– interpretation — It’s all George Bush’s fault!,” it was not only beside the point, it was plain stupid. And that continued in your other comments, trying to extend the blame game to all kinds of other people, who are not President Obama, and introducing all kinds of other, irrelevant subjects. I could not care less about your opinion about who was responsible for the recession, except that there are analyses different from yours, but have no intention to rehash that subject.
Dusty
November 17th, 2012
5:31 pm
MarkV
You owe CC an apology.
\
He did not lie.and explained with quotations.
You avoid the truth at every turn..
Houston, we have a problem.. MarkV is lost in space.
You dont say
November 17th, 2012
5:33 pm
Dusty
Truth like the stimulus that the same Republicans you support had their hands in the stimulus cookie jar, while telling the ignorant that they were against it?
That sort of truth?
You dont say
November 17th, 2012
5:34 pm
Dusty thinks if you put something in quotes it means it is the truth
bwhahahahhhhhhhahahahahahahahhaha
Dusty
November 17th, 2012
5:39 pm
MarkV @ 5:23
Those are “weasel words”. They give you no credit whatsoever..
MarkV
November 17th, 2012
5:54 pm
Dusty @ 5:31 pm
“You owe CC an apology.”
You must be kidding.
@5:39 pm
“Those are “weasel words”. They give you no credit whatsoever.”
I am not looking for credit. I am looking for truth and logic. When you show that what I wrote was wrong or illogical, I will respond.
CC
November 17th, 2012
6:17 pm
MarkV@5:23 pm:
“I have neither time nor desire to debate anything with someone, who is incapable of keeping track of what the argument is about, namely you.”
This is MarkV’s way of saying. “You have bested me. I cannot refute the truth of what you say. It is now time for me to disengage, nurse my wounds and go home.”
CC
November 17th, 2012
6:25 pm
MarkV:
President Barack Obama was a pioneering contributor to the national subprime real estate bubble, and roughly half of the 186 African-American clients in his landmark 1995 mortgage discrimination lawsuit against Citibank have since gone bankrupt or received foreclosure notices…
…Obama has pursued the same top-down mortgage lending policies in the White House.
Obama’s lawsuit was one element of a national “anti-redlining” campaign led by Chicago’s progressive groups, who argued that banks unfairly refused to lend money to people living within so-called “redlines” around African-American communities. The campaign was powered by progressives’ moral claim that their expertise could boost home ownership among the United States’ most disadvantaged minority, African-Americans.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/09/fact-check-obama-had-more-to-do-with-2008-economic-meltdown-than-bush-ever-did/
MarkV
November 17th, 2012
6:25 pm
CC @ 6:17 pm
“This is MarkV’s way of saying. “You have bested me…”
Have you learned this tired, stupid response from Tiberius, or is it vice versa? When you cannot answer the argument, you proclaim that you won. Pathetic.
CC
November 17th, 2012
6:29 pm
MarkV:
President George W. Bush warned the Democratic Congress 17 times in 2008 alone about the systemic consequences of financial turmoil at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and also put forward thoughtful plans to reduce the risk that either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac would encounter such difficulties.
Unfortunately, these warnings went unheeded, as the President’s repeated attempts to reform the supervision of these entities were thwarted by the legislative maneuvering of those who emphatically denied there were problems.
To this day Barack Obama blames Bush for the 2008 economic meltdown.
The truth is, it was Obama not Bush who destroyed the economy.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/09/fact-check-obama-had-more-to-do-with-2008-economic-meltdown-than-bush-ever-did/
MarkV
November 17th, 2012
6:31 pm
CC @ 6:25 pm
CC,
Your fantasies about President Obama as a” pioneering contributor to the national subprime real estate bubble” are of no interest to me. I am getting tired to repeat: not a single point you have made so far disproves the point that when President Obama took office, the economy was in free fall, the country was in deep recession, and one of the results was that the national debt increased way above what might have happened without this crisis.
Bob Loblaw
November 17th, 2012
6:37 pm
This is why people SHOULD have supported T-SPLOST. Instead of giving money to DOT, for putting up decor instead of spending money on transportation solutions, T-SPLOST had a project list and a trust fund.
Watch the regions that are about to start building succeed. Meanwhile, Atlanta Region gets the equivalent of Christmas lights year round.
CC
November 17th, 2012
6:37 pm
MarkV:
I’m sure, as usual, you will find fault with my cite on the previous two posts to you. Feel free to use Google to find any other of the MANY sources that will tell you exactly what I have posted.
MarkV@6:25 pm:
“Have you learned this tired, stupid response from Tiberius, or is it vice versa?”
No, but you have given me a deep appreciation of Tiberius’s responses when attempting to educate you. It is a totally impossible task, and leaves the potential educator frustrated finding that your ignorance is so deeply entrenched as to be unmovable.
CC
November 17th, 2012
6:44 pm
MarkV@6:31 pm:
“not a single point you have made so far disproves the point that when President Obama took office, the economy was in free fall, the country was in deep recession, and one of the results was that the national debt increased way above what might have happened without this crisis.”
Obama helped (in a big way) to create a crisis that he then inherited and proceded to make worse by utilizing a failed stimulus to enrich his contributors and supporters, increasing the national debt by a staggering amount in doing so.
By Jove, I believe you’ve got it, MarkV!
MarkV
November 17th, 2012
6:44 pm
CC @ 6:37 pm
More pathetic nonsense, masquerading as a response.
CC
November 17th, 2012
6:47 pm
Dusty@5:31 pm:
Thanks, Dusty!
CC
November 17th, 2012
6:50 pm
MarkV:
“More pathetic nonsense, masquerading as a response.”
That’s OK, MarkV. Both you and I know the truth of this. I don’t believe your inane responses fools many others, either.
MarkV
November 17th, 2012
6:57 pm
CC @ 6:50 pm
Frankly, I could not care less what you believe of what others of your ilk do.
CC
November 17th, 2012
7:15 pm
MarkV:
“Frankly, I could not care less what you believe of what others of your ilk do.”
Is that your Rhett Butler “Swan Song”?
MrLiberty
November 17th, 2012
8:15 pm
I certainly don’t wonder. Government is a failure at EVERYTHING it does. There is absolutely NO reason to give them anymore money or anymore power. The trend should be to slash every penny from their budgets and take away all power so that the people can once again be free.
John
November 17th, 2012
8:27 pm
More money for the “beltline” bandits…. booze, parties, lavish salaries. You are a disgrace Leary. So are all of the SRTA. Get your darn lexus lanes out of our hov lanes that we’ve already paid for!
CC
November 17th, 2012
8:42 pm
MarkV:
“Frankly, I could not care less what you believe of what others of your ilk do”
That makes your presence here senseless, does it not?
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
November 17th, 2012
9:22 pm
Medical giant Stryker cuts 1,170 jobs, citing ObamaCare.
———————
Stryker makes (used to make?) high-tech medical devices in the U.S. and is/was going to be subject to Obozocare’s idiotic and destructive tax on such products.
Great idea, parasite Democrats–let’s tax out of existence an industry that creates high paying technology and manufacturing jobs and push these companies offshore.
rlm
November 17th, 2012
9:56 pm
Gov Deal probably has a friend supplying lights of work. Or it is someone else’s crony. Who is supplying construction and being paid? This will tell you why this is being done.
Dusty
November 17th, 2012
10:37 pm
Well, I was reading some nice poetry and thought you might enjoy a little bit.. This season is too nice to be unhappy… This one is titled ” New Every Morning” by Susan Coolidge
Every morning is a fresh beginning.
Listen my soul to the glad refrain
And, spite of old sorrows
And older sinning,
Troubles forecasted
And possible pain,
Take heart with the day and begin again.
G’nite….
SG
November 18th, 2012
12:12 am
Kyle is an ass clown. No further debate needed
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
November 18th, 2012
7:38 am
Not from low-information folks like SG, anyhoo…
Tiberius - pulling the tail of the left AND right when needed
November 18th, 2012
8:21 am
I’m still trying to figure out who “You don’t say” was in a different blog name.
‘Cause he / she isn’t new to Kyle’s place.