Secret details of Sonny Perdue’s transportation plan?
Friends have slipped us what we’re told are two documents that show where Gov. Sonny Perdue may be headed on his yet-to-be unveiled transportation plan.
It’s not exactly clear how fresh the pages are, but this first one would indicate:
– That Perdue has his eye on a statewide 2012 vote for regional sales taxes to coincide with that year’s presidential primary;
– Projects in all regions would have to be approved by the Department of Transportation’s director of planning, a position appointed by the governor;
– Any sales tax approved by 12 possible regions would have an eight-year sunset;
– And, as posted earlier this evening, the governor intends to back a three-year suspension of the 50-50 restriction on MARTA spending.
– That we’re not to talk about tax increases. The topic is “transportation resource legislation.”
Take a look:
This second document is a time-line of the approval process. Above it are hand-written notes — we know not to whom they belong — that indicate a formal campaign is being contemplated, complete with at least two rounds of polling:
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45 comments Add your comment
Scott
February 10th, 2010
8:39 pm
Guess this is his “Sonny Do” list. This reeks of Nanny State our dear governor so detests (yeah right). Director of Planning…another name for the governor deciding which projects get funded with the ceremonial public input. Give me a break! Does he think we are all that stupid? MARTA is going to be slashing service THIS YEAR governor MORON. Its about time for a change in our leadership in GA…and a major one at that. These guys know that after the 2010 census that the Atlanta metro is going to be wielding a lot more power under the gold dome and they are doing their damned best to do what they can to counter it
Kevin
February 10th, 2010
8:47 pm
You are that stupid, you elected him twice; where is your rebel flag?…..Too Bad….is not the African-Americans you have to worry about……clowns!
Roy is a Crook
February 10th, 2010
9:50 pm
NO REGIONAL TAX. People in Cobb are not going to pay taxes to fund MARTA, ever.
Smar-T-Pantz
February 10th, 2010
9:51 pm
Sonny? For President??! I would volunteer to serve up a nation-wide helping of the Georgia Red Clay on Sonny to help his opponent. Why this state re-elected his sorry tail is beyond me. He has been an abysmal failure at leadership and he betrayed fiscal conservatism in his FIRST term. Now, he wants to RAISE transportation TAXES on us. Hmph, sounds like a tax and spend Dem to me.
Go away, Sonny. And please take your LOSER protege Karen Handel with you.
WAW
February 10th, 2010
10:31 pm
Smar-T, Roy Barnes is the best Republican Governor this state ever had. Too bad the Republican Party doesn’t know it’s sorry tail from a rebel flag.
tiger woods
February 10th, 2010
10:48 pm
So we have to wait for 2 years before each area can vote for themselves? Then it takes a year or so to collect the money and 5 years to do the roadway projects so we are looking at improvements happening in 2019! That is progress. What are we supposed to do in the mean time? I guess we can help the Son man figure out how he can pay back all of these large loans he has taken out with no or little collateral. What ever happened to Republican Party being for a smaller government? Why can’t we call a special election state wide and do this vote thing now instead of punting it down the road. I say this as I am ashamed that I voted for you-Sonny you are already disliked by the majority of people in the state, why worry now about what your legacy might be known for-I guess you are worried about “raising taxes” for transportation. Be a man and do something now instead of studying further, taking more trips to Spain to see how other people do things, and pushing the problem further out for someone else to figure out. The State needs help now-not 2 years from now. Here is an idea-pretend that you work for someone and have to drive back and forth to work and see what it like for us that have to sit in traffic on a regular basis. If you or any of your lackeys had to deal with this it would have been taken care of long ago. Please tell me what you have accomplished in your time in office? Seriously! Hey reporter guy instead of telling us about the what ifs that might happen why dont you starting grilling the people in charge on why no one has made any progress on this issue is how many years. Can you print a list of things that have been accomplished during his time in office-water issue-no progress, transportaion-no progress. Can some die-hard Sonny fan/Republican remind all of us what we have gotten for the salary Sonny has been collecting for the past several years? Sorry that this all turned into a rant but the whole lack of leadership thing is really pretty sad and frustrates me.
TarHeelBred bleeds TarHeelBlue
February 10th, 2010
11:13 pm
“Why this state re-elected his sorry tail [Sonny Perdue] is beyond me?”
Did you see the guy that he beat for re-election in 2006? Sonny sure as hell ain’t been nothing to brag about, but the other guy looked like he was anything but gubernatorial material. Let’s not forget that the reason why Gov. “Do-Nothing” got elected in the first place was because Barnes had made enemies with everybody from flaggers to well-heeled Golden Crescent voters in the path of the proposed Northern Arc to even teachers, law enforcement and seemingly everybody everywhere in between.
With that being said, Sonny has been amazingly busy as of late, much busier than his usual “Missing-In-Action” except to “Go Fishing” vegetative state. For a change, I can say that there’s something from Sonny to like. I like the provision to vote by region and sunset any voter-approved tax after eight years, it’s clearly not the answer to the problem, but it is a definite place to start addressing the problem.
However, I’m not necessarily that crazy with the provision that all sales tax-funded projects within each region have to be approved by the governor-appointed Department of Transportation Director of Planning. Although I think that it is an arrangement that could work under the right conditions where all parties involved would be cooperative in the process. Could possibly work much better than what we have now.
Your New Low-Flow Toilet Salesman
February 10th, 2010
11:21 pm
Tarheel- The guy has 10 months left in office. Too little, too late.
BPJ
February 10th, 2010
11:24 pm
Please pay attention, “royisacrook”: the regional sales tax for transportation is for roads and transit, including commuter rail and buses. MARTA has its own sales tax (and is just asking to be able to use it w/out the dated 50/50 capital/operating restriction). Although it would be a good thing if Cobb and Gwinnett contributed to MARTA, since so many of its residents ride it.
Without the transport sales tax, the DOT will have next to NOTHING to do necessary projects over the next decade. The federal stimulus made up for the lack of state DOT money this year (see story in today’s AJC), but that’s it. Either we start this sales tax, or gridlock just gets worse.
TarHeelBred bleeds TarHeelBlue
February 10th, 2010
11:33 pm
Low-Flow Toilet Salesman:
Agreed, WAY too little, WAY too late.
Scott
February 11th, 2010
12:14 am
And how about all those Repub’s in DC who are voting against their constituents on a regular basis:
This will shock you
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#35322522
Smar-T-Pantz
February 11th, 2010
1:05 am
Reps in DC aren’t the only ones pulling the cash and trash trick. Take a look at your county commission meetings. If you see a resolution to accept grant funds, you need to ask if they are funds from the stimulus. Republican county leaders whined loudly about not wanting “government money with government strings”. Then, they take as much as they can get and try to hide the source from which is comes. Call them out!
Piso Mojado
February 11th, 2010
1:12 am
After all of these years in power, it’s about time these conservative yahoos formulated a transportation plan. Republican governance in GA has been a disaster.
Note to conservative bloggers who still don’t understand how government works. Things cost money. Most governments’ only source of income comes from taxes. If you want the government to improve anything under these economic conditions (thanks, GWB), the improvement money has to come from somewhere. That somewhere would be tax payers.
TarHeelBred bleeds TarHeelBlue
February 11th, 2010
2:21 am
Tiger Woods: Under more normal circumstances, a two-year wait to 2012 wouldn’t be that long of a wait, but as most Metro Atlantans know, circumstances are ANYTHING but normal. The best and probably only way to move up action to at least just start to fund the construction, operation and maintenance of transportation improvements at this point would be through the utilization of user fees in the form of higher fares and tolls on any new train line or major new roadway.
I’m not crazy about the idea of raising taxes, but I’ll go along with it because Metro Atlanta and North Georgia need to pursue a transportation strategy that includes “The Works” to help deal with congestion and transportation investment. By “The Works” I mean that Georgia and most notably North Georgia and especially Metro Atlanta need to invest and construct every possible mode of transportation imaginable to facilitate the continued movement of people and goods in a way that’s as unimpeded as possible. Metro Atlanta and North Georgia need additional road and transit access in the form of a much-improved mass transit system that includes commuter-rail, light-rail, cable-cars, improved bus service, HOT lanes on freeways and new toll roads where needed.
For example, GRTA needs to be expanded to include statewide commuter-rail, regional light rail, express bus and a takeover of the current MARTA heavy-rail lines as well as a takeover of only the busiest current MARTA bus lines with the heaviest ridership. A local bus service that served only Fulton and DeKalb Counties, a scaled-down “successor” to MARTA, if you will, would remain in operation of routes with low-to-moderate ridership and funded with the existing sales in those two core counties that could be expanded to Clayton to keep local bus service operating there. Local bus services in outer core urban, suburban and exurban counties could, like those in Cobb and Gwinnett could continue to remain in operation of their local bus routes with low-to-moderate ridership while GRTA would operate the bus routes with high ridership and a regional impact.
The current system of existing High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) carpool lanes on area freeways needs to be discontinued and the HOV lanes converted to regular traffic lanes for use by single-occupancy vehicles. In their place should be a newly constructed system of High Occupancy Toll (HOT) express lanes that would be elevated over and above the center of the freeway. The HOT express carpool lanes should be on a separate roadway that is elevated over the center of existing freeways and should have at least two full-time 24-hour lanes in each direction.
Some busier sections of freeway should have at least three HOT express carpool lanes in each direction. Otherwise 24-hour HOT lanes should be added to all sections of GA 400, I-85, I-75 and I-20 that span the metro area as well as to the entire circumference of the I-285 Perimeter. Express commuter buses would use the HOT lanes that ran over and above the center of GA 400 with service north out of Atlanta and up to Dahlonega since there is no existing rail right-of-way that parallels the GA 400 North corridor.
Commuter-rail and light-rail should be added to existing rail rights-of-way that parallel the I-20, I-75 and I-85 corridors out of all directions from the city. Light-rail lines running out from the city could originate from a multimodal terminal at Five Points and could terminate in surrounding closer-in cities like Acworth, Canton, Dallas, Gainesville, Athens (Brain Train), Conyers, McDonough, Griffin, Newnan and Villa Rica.
Cable car lines should run thru densely populated corridors and be a guide for future high-density transit-friendly development on surface streets like Buford Highway, Peachtree St/Peachtree Rd/Blvd and Roswell Rd. Light-rail, heavy-rail and multimodal stations like the proposed future Union Station-type Five Points regional rail hub will also be a guide for future development built to human scale. The proposed light-rail line on I-285 could parallel the HOT across the Top-End Perimeter from the Cumberland Mall area through the Perimeter Center area and even on to the Doraville area to hook into the existing MARTA line and a future light-rail line.
Commuter-rail lines could originate from the same multimodal station at Five Points and run outwards from the city to terminate in nearby southeastern cities like Cleveland, TN (by way of Dalton and Chattanooga), Murphy, NC (by way of Jasper, Ellijay, Blairsville, etc), Greenville-Spartanburg, SC (by way of Toccoa and Clemson, SC), Anderson, SC (by way of Athens), Aiken, SC (by way of Covington, Madison and Augusta), Valdosta (by way of Macon and Warner Robins), Columbus, Montgomery, AL (by way of Auburn, AL, LaGrange and Newnan) and Anniston, AL. High-speed rail could also run from Atlanta in some of those same corridors towards Charlotte, Birmingham, Nashville and Knoxville via Chattanooga, Savannah and Orlando/Tampa.
New toll roads should be built to connect Atlanta to the all of Georgia. Toll roads should be built to connect Rome with Atlanta via GA 20 to I-75, Athens to Atlanta via GA 316 and via US 78 around Snellville to connect to I-85 (via the already proposed Ronald Reagan Parkway tolled extension in Gwinnett) and in addition to the proposed extension of Sugarloaf Parkway around the eastside of Lawrenceville thru the Mall of Georgia area in the right-of-way of the now-defunct Northern Arc/Outer Perimeter. South Fulton Parkway should also be converted into a toll road to connect I-85/285 and the Airport Area with Carrollton and I-20 in the area of the Alabama State Line.
Out through other parts of the state, toll roads should be built to connect Columbus with Macon and Macon with Augusta. A new toll road should also be built to connect Savannah with Toccoa via Augusta.
All transportation improvements should be financed, built and maintained with the use of user fees set at a rate adequate enough to build, operate and maintain the new mode or facility of travel. Taxes can be apart of the equation but tax increases aren’t always politically palatable and be hard to sell at times, especially in a political and social climate like the one we have today. Transportation modes may not always be “self-supporting”, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t make every possible effort to try as much as we can to make them self-supporting thru user fees just so that we can help the much-needed infrastructure to get built and operating as soon as possible.
Hoping4Rail
February 11th, 2010
3:44 am
Jim,
One of the largest sticking points that jump out at me in this proposal is the eight-year the sunset clause. I’m afraid that eight years does us nothing. For us to be able to even apply for Federal Matching funds for any transit project, we must be able to demonstrate a commitment to provide operational funding. Eight years would be comparable to applying for a car loan with a babysitting job. It is my understanding that the Federal Transit Administration typically looks for a twenty-five to thirty-year guarantee on a funding initiative before they step in to help. If we are talking about setting up these regions to go it alone, then we’re talking much more than a 1% sales tax.
I fully understand that there are many out there that want nothing to do with this at all. But, if the Governor really wants to make progress with transit to, then give us something that will work. A transit sales tax with an eight-year sunset is a waste of tax revenue because it won’t buy us anything. I’m afraid Jim That the Governor wants to throw this hollow-bone out there to try to appease us and to try to pull the rug over us all, just so that he can say at the last minute that he finally proposed something to address our transportation and congestion problems, all the while knowing full well that this proposal is non workable. Either that, or his office and all his staff truly have no concept of what is actually required for us to do what has to be done.
I know that the no-Sayers will nag and complain that we want everything, but the truth is that we don’t like government waste either. We want it to work, and work well. Half-measures have ruled the day for decades and is what has lead us to where we are. This proposal, with an eight-year sunset is a non-proposal, and therefore, it is more of the same.
Hoping4Rail
February 11th, 2010
5:23 am
Tarheel,
Having been born in NC, and raised just outside Charlotte, I agree with the majority, of what you list out in your letter. I would like to caution you on a few items however:
Running commuter rail along freeways and interstates: It is true that doing so can cut down on right of way cost since some of the right of way currently held by GADOT can be shared for this use. However, modeling and case studies have shown that the addition of commuter rail can be quite disruptive to auto traffic on the freeways. This is mainly the case when stations are located at the interchanges. This can be mitigated by placing stations at overpass locations which are not served by interchanges. However, I might suggest that the freeways ROWs instead be shared with high speed rail corridors, since the freeways were laid out with higher speeds in mind. This is often done with new high-speed rail service in Europe. Since there would be no stations along this route, the enlargement of required ROW that always occurs in the station areas to facilitate parking, bus maneuvering, pedestrian service, and the station itself would not be necessary. I do not suggest that you should never run local or regional rail adjacent to freeways; just be smart about it. One of the great advantages to running commuter rail alongside the existing rail corridors is that that it creates new corridors for moving people where now only freight passes.
Bringing the entire commuter rail service in to serve Five-Points:
Again, I generally agree, but I’m not sure if you realize how many train-sets you are talking about, with all the service you list, and how much real estate you are going to need to be able to get people on and off of the trains every day, all day, and to safely move and preposition the trains; as opposed to how much available real estate is actually available in the railroad gulch. I have had several conversations on other train-related threads where I have brought up the current design for the Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal (MMPT), at Five Points, and how I don’t think that the designers had any clue what they were designing for. In fairness, the design predates the acceptance by ARC of the Concept3 Transit Master Plan as well as the 2009 discussions that occurred among the City of Atlanta, Atlanta Beltline Inc., GDOT, and Amtrak over the disposition of the “Decatur Belt” section of abandoned rail ROW, which resulted in GADOT and Amtrak having to change their proposed rerouting of AMTRAK Crescent Line service to the MMPT. However, even with what was planned at the time, the MMPT track, platform and approach configuration was grossly insufficient. I bring this up because I hear a growing call to go ahead and use the $87,000,000.00 of money GDOT has had in hand for a decade to build the MMPT. Also, you are adding significantly more commuter and intercity rail service than what Concept3 is calling for. I love it. But consider this. Have an MMPT sized and appropriately, and designed so that it can be easily expanded as service is enhanced and expanded, while at the same time, plan for other out-lying multi-modal station at strategic points: One at Lindberg Center, This would serve as collection point for people coming in on commuter lines, mainly from the north and east, and transferring to points north and northwest. The Beltline passes thru here, so does the Brain-Train to Athens, as does the line to Gainesville, Toccoa, and Clemson, SC. Amtrak’s Crescent Line passes thru here, allowing Amtrak to finally retire its obsolete Brookwood Station, and still provide complete connections to existing MARTA without requiring train to maneuver into the city to get to Five Points.
I would also suggest a third multi-modal station at the Airport, perhaps on part of the old Ford Assembly site. This would of course serve the new International Terminal. I have some wild ideas in my head about extending the new exterior airport people mover system to connect, but I won’t go there now… This multi-modal station would be a southeastern collection point, serving commuter rail to Griffen and Macon as well as intercity rail to Savannah. It also assumes that the planned southeast MARTA line is built from College Park MARTA Station.
To do this, we have to allow ourselves to think big. Under the current political conditions, this conversation would hardly get off the ground. This HAS to change. I look forward to the day when we as a state and a country start looking forward to what we can do, and stop listening to those who tell us what we can’t. They are regressive. Otherwise we are better to just turn in our cards and fold.
The Late Maynord Jackson
February 11th, 2010
6:24 am
Big Money in this for the Jackson Machine….
inside gal
February 11th, 2010
6:40 am
Flexibility for MARTA means more payraises for Dr. Scott and her consultant friends from California and New York. Maybe she can remodel her office again and keep flying around the country on the MARTA penny sales tax.
Ask her if she rode the train and bus to the Capital to beg for her payraise.
Outside Looking In
February 11th, 2010
7:28 am
Inside gal, you really have no idea how things work at high levels of power and responsibility do you? Go back to reading your People magazine and filing your nails while playing solitaire in your secretarial cube. Quit being a gossipy know-it-all. Dr. Scott is extremely well respected across the nation and bitter backstabbing people like you only make MARTA’s public relations problems worse, not better.
Chuck
February 11th, 2010
7:39 am
More roads is not the answer, repair the roads we have and make them safer. Light rail is the way to go.
Changing the 50/50 split for MARTA is not the way either unless there are specific exclusions included. The first action would be to give big raises to the already sorry employees and then would come the bonuses rewarding even more sorry services. Bonuses should be forbidden especially any based on retention. Exactly where are these prized employees going to go in this economy? Let them go, I am sure that there are 500 or more qualified peole wating in line for a job.
Hoping4Rail
February 11th, 2010
8:04 am
I’ll have to completely agree with “Outside Looking in” I’ve met Dr. Scott on several occaisions and I have enormous respect for her. She has a passion for her work that is not seen very often. Atlanta is extremely lucky to have her here. She has been offered better, she could very easily move on to a natioanal position, probably in the Obama Administration where her life coul be be easier, she could get better pay, and be more appreciated. I remember that there were rumors flying around here about her being considered to head the FTA. I’m glad that she is still in Atlanta. We do and will continue to need her here.
Winkasdad29
February 11th, 2010
9:02 am
This plan is really, really late, but it’s a start. My concern is that the SRTA (State Road & Tollway Authority) would be “the trustee for revenues and manages disbursement of funds”. I don’t know if they can be trusted. Maybe it’s because I see the word “Road” in their name. Maybe GRTA (Georgia Regional Transportation Authority) should be the trustee. I feel a little paranoid letting an agency with the word “Road” in their name be trusted with disbursing funds for other transportation projects in this state, given Georgia’s love affair with building roads.
Wounded Warrior
February 11th, 2010
9:09 am
The best idea Ms. Scott had so far is to paint the Doraville line yellow. The east/west line needs to be black. The line to Gwinnett tan and the white line upto GA 400/North Fulton.
Army Brat
February 11th, 2010
9:11 am
To those who object Marta being able to use 100% of their budget as wthey see fit. I suggest, you run your house w/ 50% of your income on capital expeditures and 50% on operating. Better yet, lets run the state and county governments the same way and see what happens. Dr. Scott will not do something that stupid with a serious issue. Come on..Inside Girl really isn’t inside.
?
February 11th, 2010
9:21 am
Ms Scott is a joke as management. We need to bring back the welfare mother, she wasted less money when she ran MARTA.
The Late Maynord Jackson
February 11th, 2010
9:24 am
Bev Scott is a trusted member of the Jackson Machine. She really knows how to take care of the important folks.
Road Scholar
February 11th, 2010
9:31 am
Winkasdad29; But what would Gena have to do?
Paddy O
February 11th, 2010
9:32 am
Tar Heel: You going to commute from Atlanta to Tennessee? Why not just move your blue butt? In 1996, the state had a commuter rail plan and had received 120 million or so from the feds (thanks to JOhn Lewis). The do nothing but interfere with home rule Repubs did not use the $$$ for 9 years, so the money has gone back to Washington. It would appear Tar Heel is a money spending democrat. You need a commuter rail from Athens to Tallapoosa and from Cherokee County to Griffin, with a spur line up to Rome and also to Gwinnett. The big question was inter-city transit in Atlanta – not a whole lot of cabs & walking going on. At one time they spoke of a Grand Central Station in the Gulch, because the fantastic leadership in Atlanta had torn down an old station.
shirley
February 11th, 2010
9:36 am
It’s about time we had a plan.
Paddy O
February 11th, 2010
9:36 am
You need to understand the Repub requirement that a contract be let only after all funds for the project have been sequested will cause a severe slow down in construction projects being let. This was faux crisis that Sonny and his slut mercenary Gena created at GDoT – so they continue to gather power in the Governor’s office. Most large transportation projects take a minimum of three years to construct, and the money that GDoT receives is DEDICATED, although it appears as thought the smaller government repubs are trying to get control over this. Just as the national repubs failed to live up to their ideals, the Georgia repubs are pulling a gigantic bait & switch. Too bad the democrats in this state are so grossly disorganized.
Paddy O
February 11th, 2010
9:37 am
Shirley – you had a plan in 1996. You have a Georgia Rail Authority, and GRTA, if properly implemented would become the GEORGIA MASS TRANSIT AGENCY. But Repubs are so inept, all they do to address problems is whine, like a stripped gear.
Les
February 11th, 2010
9:40 am
It does not look good for the people with what we have running the state.
professional skeptic
February 11th, 2010
10:00 am
Not good enough, Sonny Take it back to the drawing board. There is no reason to wait another two years for us to act on this. Florida called an emergency legislative session to show they were serious about rail transit development, which is how they ended up with an additional $1.2 billion in funding, while Georgia was thrown a couple of crumbs– a penny tip, if you will, for our sorry lack of effort.
Get it right, Sonny.
Where's the rail?
February 11th, 2010
10:13 am
It strikes me as odd that Sonny would pick the 2012 presidential primary to vote on this. There will be no need for Democrats to go vote in the Presidential primary because Obama won’t have a major primary contender and there won’t be a US Senate seat up for election that year in Georgia. Does he want this to pass in any Regional Commission district other than Atlanta? Wouldn’t seem so. There will have to be a major effort to get people (emphasis on Democrats) to the polls outside of Atlanta.
My other concern is that by breaking the state up into fragmented districts we can almost guarantee that no high speed rail will be built from Atlanta-Macon-Savannah. Even if every transportation district from Atlanta-Macon-Savannah voted to support the 1% sales tax, can you imagine how difficult it would be to negotiate spending funds across all those districts? There are 5 districts that make up a route between Atlanta-Macon-Savannah. Perdue has “claimed” he is in support of high speed rail, yet he has offered up a plan that doesn’t even support its construction. In addition, what do we do after the 8 years of funds? This means that there will be more Federal funding for high speed rail that Georgia misses out on.
Don’t get me wrong, I would gladly vote for the referendum as outlined; but this is still inadequate for our state’s transportation vision.
Winkasdad29
February 11th, 2010
10:15 am
Road Scholar: Enlighten me. What does Gena Evans have to do with this issue?
d2
February 11th, 2010
10:23 am
I have to say, this blog has been the most constructive I ‘ve seen lately. There are some interesting proposals-I wish the Gold Dome would read some of these. I have actually enjoyed this–I know something has to be done-and reading all this information I can tell there are some knowledgeable people. I really wish some of these post can be forward to our leaders. I see real solutions not patch up jobs just to appease others like Perdue’s proposals
Paddy O
February 11th, 2010
11:22 am
Winkas: Gena is the Director of the State Roads & Tollways Authority; the agency which would receive & distribute all the funds generated from the 1 cent trans sales tax. I personnally don’t trust her – I think she a Sonny pawn or worse.
Paddy O
February 11th, 2010
11:26 am
The date is odd, but does align with an admiral goal: select an election where there should be alot of participation by our registered voters.
Sherman
February 11th, 2010
12:07 pm
Road Scholar; I am with you on that…hand picked by “ole” Sonny and appointed to direct SRTA without missing a beat upon leaving GDOT.
Is she still on the MARTA board??
Paddy O
February 11th, 2010
12:22 pm
For a while, she served in both positions, and I do not know if her salary was off set or she collected both. I was not aware that she was on the Marta board.
MARTA mulls drastic bus route cuts, prays for legislative action | Fresh Loaf
February 11th, 2010
2:35 pm
[...] officials, however, might be feeling a little chipper this morning. According to documents obtained by Jim Galloway, Gov. Sonny Perdue’s transportation plan would possibly include a three-year suspension on [...]
Guv'ner Sunny Perdue
February 11th, 2010
6:49 pm
If you liked the details of my “Secret Transportation Plan” then check out the details of my “Double-Triple-Secret Transportation Plan”! But, unfortunately, I can’t give you the details because they’re a double-triple secret. Sorry.
Base
February 12th, 2010
6:39 pm
Nothing more than a power grab by Sonny and his henchmen.SRTA should not be in charge of anything.
Insider
February 12th, 2010
9:05 pm
GA has got be the most backward states in the USA. Most people are some concerned with the Governor having some power to build roads in the state, and feel that everyone needs to have input in every project. The United States has 20 – 50 years plans that involve every state in the union, and it appears that one of the plans had high speed rail and the backward state of GA was to be the hub of the south. I knew about the plans for more than 10 years; however, the DOT has not built any rail to connect Atlanta to Athens, or Atlanta to Macon. We have had the money for just as long, but we chose to put money into building roads instead of rail. We will never be able to ease the traffic congestion in Atlanta until we offer rail.
GA is so backwards that we have to have multiple transit systems which does not make sense. If I was Governor, I would force one transit system on the state and divide the cost among all counties. I know some will say I did not state in Atlanta, and I could not have to pay for rail in Atlanta, Athens, Savannah, etc. But I say that the rail system will bring more business to other areas of the state. For example, one of the biggest factors in Macon not being able to get some factories to relocate is we do not have a fast way to Atlanta. By installing a rail system, Macon now becomes Atlanta south. It will be possible to build a major Airport in the Macon area and divert some traffic some Atlanta. For example, we know the Masters happen every year and to get to Augusta form places west of GA, you have to past through Atlanta. A great deal of this traffic can be diverted to Macon, thus easing congestion in Atlanta.
I will conclude by saying that most of Sonny’s proposals will not benefit him, but it will benefit the State even when he is not in office.
Funding Fiasco « MARTA Rocks!
May 11th, 2010
6:32 pm
[...] Jim Galloway had some pretty bad news, though: Projects in all regions would have to be approved by the Department of Transportation’s director of planning, a position appointed by the governor; [...]