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
MarkV
November 18th, 2012
10:50 pm
Well, Dusty is trying hard to be sarcastic, and it still tastes as sour grapes.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
November 18th, 2012
11:55 pm
Pretty lights and signs for connector bridges would be about as good a way to spend money as a variable speed control system for I-285. I am in favor of spending for infrastructure but I gotta admit whatever these people are drinking/smoking when they come up with these ideas, I wish they would share with the rest of us.
bluecoat
November 19th, 2012
12:56 am
Palin for pres. 2016
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
November 19th, 2012
7:36 am
Hostess Union Clings to Hope
By RACHEL FEINTZEIG and MIKE SPECTOR
Associated Press
The union that brought the 85-year-old baker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread to its knees is holding out hope that a buyer will salvage chunks of the company and send the union’s members back to work, even as Hostess Brands Inc. gears up for a fire sale.
————————-
What? I thought those losers were proud of what they had done? I guess they decided getting paid to do one-third the work of a non-union employee wasn’t such a bad deal after all.
JDW
November 19th, 2012
7:57 am
@bl;uecoat…”Palin for pres. 2016″
President of what…the local PTA.
CC
November 19th, 2012
8:13 am
Bill Maher and the progressive faithful called Palin a “slut”, but Sandra Fluke who wanted free birth control pills is the poster girl for the democrats? Go figure . . .
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
November 19th, 2012
8:19 am
You would think a grown woman attending the pricey Georgetown law school could afford her own birth control. That’s what the Democrat entitlement mentality will do to a parasitic slut.
the red herring
November 19th, 2012
8:45 am
a recent article (i believe it was WSJ) listed the state of ga. as having the most corrupt state govt.—still just be grateful that the TSPLOST didn’t pass in ya’lls area—it did in mine—prices will be going up at my business and all the others due to this. i’d be happy if they would just fix the potholes around where i live rather than dreaming up multi-million dollar plans to tax us more.
CC
November 19th, 2012
8:52 am
“S&P 500 Has Lost $806 Billion Since Obama’s Re-election”
http://www.newsmax.com/#ixzz2CfzmFnQU
I wonder what in the world caused this?
MarkV
November 19th, 2012
8:56 am
By comparing Thailand (63 million), Myanmar (50 million) and Cambodia (13 million) to Grenada (104 thousand), Andorra (84 thousand) and Liechtenstein (36 thousand), Dusty has made a point for those criticizing the quality of public education in the US.
iggy
November 19th, 2012
9:02 am
The USA should make use of child labor in these most recently visited Obama Satellite countries.
Keep American products affordable.
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
9:03 am
…a parasitic slut.
Gawd help me, but I do love you, Lil BB!
You are a non-Republican’s wet dream come true!
You just got your nasty neocon ass kicked, from sea to shining sea, 13 days ago for puking up malicious lies like that one.
And you’re begging for more!
Woo Hoo!
No worries, we will be glad to accommodate you hateful fools and liars…
Del
November 19th, 2012
9:12 am
If you’ve ever traveled to Greece you know it’s a beautiful country. If you haven’t traveled there don’t worry because Greece will soon be coming to you. Calls for free stuff like the calls we here from the likes of Sandra Fluke will bring Greece to America.
Darwin
November 19th, 2012
9:13 am
OK Kyle. Since the business community was all for T-SPLOST, I guess they can’t be trusted either. Or, the political party they align with.
Del
November 19th, 2012
9:13 am
Oops, hear from the likes of Sandra Fluke.
CC
November 19th, 2012
9:29 am
LBB:
“That’s what the Democrat entitlement mentality will do to a parasitic slut.”
Careful! You’re talking about JamVet’s “dream girl”! He wants to show her his Chevy Volt!
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
9:54 am
Calls for free stuff like the calls we here from the likes of Sandra Fluke…
The ex-Marines I know are not inveterate liars. And they are at least capable of learning from their mistakes.
But what the hell, apparently some cannot, nor can they learn the consequences of being childish Limbaugh-led louts.
Keep up the good work in your War on Women, cretins! Given the results of two weeks ago, it is working out fantastically for you. And the nation!
Better luck in 2024…
kevin
November 19th, 2012
9:58 am
Citizens are very easy to deceived by those who want to take advanage of them. Projects they have for what they think is necessary and not really been investigated just thrown out into wind hope we all jump on it as being something to make traffic better. Why lie to people in the first place? TSPLOST was a big joke from the beginning and they are knew it. Now, the Falcon Stadium was all part of that money but we were not told. Watch and wait, something else is already coming. If they can’t tell the truth, then they got to resign. Bottom line.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
November 19th, 2012
10:00 am
It isn’t a “War on Women”, it’s a war on sloth, envy, greed, and ignorance. Tell us why a working family should have to pay for Sandra Fluke’s birth control.
And I call her a slut because it’s so much fun watching the receptacles go nuts over it! Thanks for playing.
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
10:06 am
Tell us why a working family should have to pay for Sandra Fluke’s birth control.
Better yet, tell us why you too are an inveterate liar. And why you make up infantile stories like this.
Then tell us why you just got annihilated all around the country two weeks ago.
Or don’t. (Playing stupid to perfection suits you guys to a tee.)
Either way, LOL at you nasty neocons…
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
November 19th, 2012
10:07 am
Didn’t think so.
Del
November 19th, 2012
10:13 am
I’m a former Marine the only ex-Marines are those who were dishonorably discharged. However even those ex-Marines dishonorably discharged are still a cut above those who dishonorably disparage traditional America and who allow themselves to be led by the nose through disinformation along with misinformation fed to them by such communist propaganda machines like media matters, the daily Kos, the huffington post or move-on-dot org. The left can savor their short lived victory for now but as the ax begins to falls on our economic house of cards they’ll be scurrying like rats in a sewer their party of irresponsibility created.
Hey, Remember That T-SPLOST Thing? — Peach Pundit
November 19th, 2012
10:14 am
[...] · 0 comments TweetWhile many of us are trying to forget the November election, Kyle Wingfield has the audacity to remind us of the failure that was T-SPLOST. Why bring up this unpleasantness? Because the state DOT is going to spend $5 Million of [...]
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
10:20 am
Lil BB, I remember reading your posts under your previous names (before being banned next door) and thinking, “Certainly this guy is NOT representative of Georgia Republicans! Certainly, they are not this myopic and out of touch with reality and decency! And certainly they are not all this self-destructive!”
But after years of very close observation, i am willing to do what no neocon ever does.
Admit that I was wrong.
As far as I can tell, the only hope is that your children and family members find you as repulsive as the rest of us and go the other direction.
Only then will the GOP stand a chance of not being annihilated in more upcoming elections.
But wither way, the USA wins! And Rush Limbaugh loves those of you incapable of thinking for yourselves.)
(And no, he who willfully and stupidly lies about decent American women, you are an ex-marine…)
CC
November 19th, 2012
10:21 am
Del@10:13 am:
Great post, and every word of it so very true!
Hey, Remember That T-SPLOST Thing?
November 19th, 2012
10:22 am
[...] many of us are trying to forget the November election, Kyle Wingfield has the audacity to remind us of the failure that was T-SPLOST. Why bring up this unpleasantness? Because the state DOT is going to spend $5 Million of [...]
Del
November 19th, 2012
10:26 am
CC, thanks…the ranting bolshevik is always trying to spread hard-left pollution on Kyles blog as well. Nothing new.
Dusty
November 19th, 2012
10:37 am
Dear MarkV
I appreciate your concern for my education (which is extensive). Perhaps your concern should be centered on your intolerance of anyone who does not share your impenetrable political opinion.
My last post concerned the importance of said countries to the USA. The importance of Thailand, Cambodia and Myamar seems as little as that of the smallest countries in the world Andorra, Grenada and Liechtenstein.The was the point you wished to ignore.
Tthe president could spend another week visiting countries of little importance. You would still avoid speaking of the president’s unimportant travel and avoid that subject entirely. While Gaza burns and rocket bombs, Israel fights back, Europe’s finances wobble and the USA is debt ridden, the president had rather do some traveling. You, in the meantime, try to demean anyone who mention the ineffectiveness of the president.
Continue your hero worshiip. I will continue to consider the dilemmas that face this country. But not the president. Seems he had rather travel.
Stars and Stripes
November 19th, 2012
10:38 am
cc
You served when and in which branch?
JamVet
November 19th, 2012
10:52 am
Poor, ex-marine. Still stuck on McCarthy stupid.
And the crybaby Alan West says hello from the private sector!
Stars and Stripes
November 19th, 2012
10:53 am
“You, in the meantime, try to demean anyone who mention the ineffectiveness of the president. ”
And you demean all others who do not follow your political views.
Next
» Hey, Remember That T-SPLOST Thing? Marvin Arrington Jr.
November 19th, 2012
11:05 am
[...] many of us are trying to forget the November election, Kyle Wingfield has the audacity to remind us of the failure that was T-SPLOST. Why bring up this unpleasantness? Because the state DOT is going to spend $5 Million of [...]
Dusty
November 19th, 2012
11:48 am
Stars and Stripes, Just Saying or Say What…whatever ID you are using today @10:53
I disagree with Mark V just like he disagrees with me. Nothing new there. Sometimes he says “liar”. Sometimes I say “demean”. So it goes…zzzzz.
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
November 19th, 2012
12:18 pm
JamVet certainly has put his ignorance of our Marines on display.
Trying to score points with the democrat military-loathers…sad.
Glenn Beck
November 19th, 2012
12:43 pm
LLB
Tell is about your service………….. in the Cub Scouts.
MarkV
November 19th, 2012
12:56 pm
Dusty @ 10:37 am
“My last post concerned the importance of said countries to the USA. The importance of Thailand, Cambodia and Myamar seems as little as that of the smallest countries in the world Andorra, Grenada and Liechtenstein.The was the point you wished to ignore. “
That was the point I did not ignore, and which again puts Dusty’s education into question.
MarkV
November 19th, 2012
1:13 pm
Dusty @ 10:37 am
“My last post concerned the importance of said countries to the USA. The importance of Thailand, Cambodia and Myamar seems as little as that of the smallest countries in the world Andorra, Grenada and Liechtenstein.The was the point you wished to ignore. “
Here are some 2011 US export/import numbers for the countries Dusty compared, in $ millions:
Thailand 10,899.5/24,830.0; Cambodia 185.6/ 2,712.4
Grenada 81.8/ 6.7; Andorra5.2/ 0.6 Lichtenstein 62.3/ 250.5
Furthermore, there is the geopolitical difference between those groups of countries, which is equally substantial. As for Myanmar, it is important to help the democratic reforms happening there, rather than ignore the country.
MarkV
November 19th, 2012
1:13 pm
Dusty @ 10:37 am
“My last post concerned the importance of said countries to the USA. The importance of Thailand, Cambodia and Myamar seems as little as that of the smallest countries in the world Andorra, Grenada and Liechtenstein.The was the point you wished to ignore. “
Here are some 2011 US export/import numbers for the countries Dusty compared, in $ millions:
Thailand 10,899.5/24,830.0; Cambodia 185.6/ 2,712.4
Grenada 81.8/ 6.7; Andorra5.2/ 0.6 Lichtenstein 62.3/ 250.5
Furthermore, there is the geopolitical difference between those groups of countries, which is equally substantial. As for Myanmar, it is important to help the democratic reforms happening there, rather than ignore the country.
MarkV
November 19th, 2012
1:14 pm
Sorry about the accidental double post
CC
November 19th, 2012
1:32 pm
“And the crybaby Alan West says hello from the private sector!”
You could never fill his shoes, nor would he even allow you to shine them!
CC
November 19th, 2012
1:33 pm
. . . and that’s “Colonel West” to you . . .
Lil' Barry Bailout - OBAMAPHONE!!!
November 19th, 2012
1:41 pm
Glenn Beck: LLB…Tell is about your service
———-
Same as your Idiot Messiah.
One need not have served in the military to have great respect for them.
Why do you, JamVet and your ilk hate the military?
CC
November 19th, 2012
1:45 pm
Glenn Beck:
Why don’t YOU tell us about your service?
Dusty
November 19th, 2012
1:55 pm
MarkV
Please judge your own education instead of mine. Your evaluation is prejudiced. political.and uninformed.
No matter how you like to support the president’s every move, the importance of trade with any country besides China is of less importance than issues in the USA. You can support other countries from home but it is not as much fun as traveling, bowing & scraping, and letting someone else handle mammoth problems at home. .
MarkV
November 19th, 2012
1:56 pm
Dusty,
I do not “try to demean anyone who mentions the ineffectiveness of the president. “ Also, I do not have “intolerance of anyone who does not share” my “impenetrable political opinion.” Also, I have a rather high tolerance for people trying to demean me.
I do have intolerance for statements that demean the elected president of this country on the basis of ignorance, false accusations and lies. You recent sarcastic comment about countries fell into the first category and you just dug yourself deeper when you tried to defend it instead of admitting your error. What is truly demeaning, and it is more to the writer than to the President, is to call President’s official visits “some travelling.”
I could have mentioned other factors, such as that foreign travel like that is arranged long before it happens, the events in Israel and Gaza happened very recently, and all that the President can do about them can be done from the board of Air Force One. As for Europe’s finances and US debt, I seriously doubt that the few days of President’s travel will make any difference.
If I wanted to characterize your post @ 9:23 pm by one word, “petty” comes to mind. I am sure you could do better.
Glenn Beck
November 19th, 2012
2:00 pm
CC
US Army: 87 to 93
And you tough guy?
Like LLB I guess…………… Maybe a year in the Cub Scouts? LBB couldn’t even hack that.
Glenn Beck
November 19th, 2012
2:03 pm
“Why do you, JamVet and your ilk hate the military?”
LLB was cut as an armchair qb. He could not even do that.
Chairborne Rangers was too tough for him.
LLB thinks putting a made in China US Flag magnet on his car means he is a patriot.
Weak mind, body and soul you are LLB.
Dusty
November 19th, 2012
3:20 pm
Mark V
You have epitomized your own characteristics. Rude, blind and conceited.
You refuse to see any fault with the president as he goes into his second term with a failing first term behind him. You give the impression that everything is fine. Imagine!!
You perform like a trained seal who jumps for Democrats and I can’t understand it. Do you ever read the news?
Reflect on my education all you want. I fear for your mind when I read your comments.. .
MarkV
November 19th, 2012
3:41 pm
Dusty,
Your post might have a smidgen of persuasiveness if you have bothered to support it with any evidence. But that is what you never do.
I was rude? Where?
“You refuse to see any fault with the president …”
How do you know that? Are you a mind reader?
“perform like a trained seal who jumps for Democrats?”
Again, where do you get these brilliant pieces of knowledge? “
”I can’t understand it.”
Now, this is where I agree. Not understanding definitely seems your forte.
“Do you ever read the news? “
Probably more than you do, considering your posts.
“Reflect on my education all you want.”
Oh, I have no desire to do that. I have seen the results.
Kyle Wingfield
November 19th, 2012
4:08 pm
All right, Dusty and MarkV. I think that’s enough fighting between you two.