The transportation sales tax as part of a United Nations plot
If you’ve been shopping for a sizable reason to vote against metro Atlanta’s transportation sales tax next month, but have been unable to find one that’s XXL or larger, try this on:
The tax and the people behind it are part of a United Nations plot called Agenda 21.
Laugh if you like. The topic is now center stage in Cobb County, as part of the debate over the penny sales tax, and the contest for chairman of the county commission as well.
Those who aren’t hardcore GOP will need a bit of background. Agenda 21 is also known as the “Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,” and was adopted in 1992 at a conference in Brazil.
In most languages, the report is a vacuous U.N. document that declares the need for a “sustainable” world environment. But to a certain segment of those who speak Republican, it is a secret declaration of war.
At the state GOP convention in Columbus last month, delegates overwhelmingly condemned Agenda 21 as an attempt to “outlaw private property and redistribute wealth.”
At a debate in Paulding County two weeks ago, state Sen. Bill Heath, R-Bremen, criticized Republican challenger Bill Carruth for labeling Agenda 21 a mere “conspiracy theory.”
“It’s not a conspiracy. This is the real McCoy,” said Heath, in dead earnest. “Their vision is to essentially conquer the world through limiting everything we do, incrementally taking our liberties away from us.”
Revolution through rezoning and land-use restrictions, in other words. In these circles, “sustainability” is no longer a friendly word.
Which brings us back to Cobb County and the contest for county commission chairman. Republican incumbent Tim Lee, one of those who helped create the project list for the transportation sales tax, has three challengers.
The most prominent is former commission chairman Bill Byrne, who has taken aim at Lee and the Atlanta Regional Commission, the planning agency that attempts to coordinate growth in the 10-county metro area. The agency also did much of the behind-the-scenes footwork on the transportation sales tax.
In an interview, Byrne all but declared the ARC to be an agent of the United Nations and its plan to erase suburbia.
“The T-SPLOST is an ARC-driven agenda. It is not a Georgia [Department of Transportation] or General Assembly-driven agenda,” said Byrne, a 2002 GOP candidate for governor.
The ARC has designated the U.S. 41/I-75 corridor as a future path for high density, high-rise growth, Byrne pointed out. “That’s Agenda 21 101.”
Another example: As commission chairman, Byrne was an advocate for constructing four-foot wide sidewalks along county roads for use by pedestrians and joggers.
The county is now constructing an eight-foot wide multi-use trail along Dallas Highway in west Cobb. “That’s Agenda 21,” Byrne said. “Bicycles and pedestrian traffic as an alternative form of transportation to the automobile.”
According to the former commission chairman, the architects of the Agenda 21 blueprint in metro Atlanta are Tad Leithead, the current chairman of the ARC and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, whose city would benefit from increased centralization.
Byrne also singled out Sam Olens, the former Cobb County commission chairman who is now attorney general, as an Agenda 21 activist – for his alleged advocacy of a regional government.
At this point, we lack enough evidence to summon Leithead, Reed or Olens, and demand to know whether they are now, or ever have been, card-carrying participants in a U.N. cabal.
And some conservatives might wonder whether a United Nations famous for its bloated bureaucracy and incompetence can also be the force behind a cunning, 20-year plot aimed at world domination of this nation’s zoning boards.
But strip away talk of the United Nations and what you have is an argument for preserving the sovereignty of metro Atlanta’s many, many local governments. I was the moderator at a Tuesday forum hosted by the Cobb County Republican Women’s club, which featured Lee, Byrne and two other candidates – financial consultant Michael Boyce and retired businessman Tim Savage.
Is regional cooperation and coordination good for Cobb? I asked.
“Regional cooperation is essential, but is not mandatory,” said Byrne. “When you take an approach of regionalism, or regional government, you lose the concept of local control.”
Lee delved into metaphor. “I have a home, which I take care of. It’s my responsibility. But being part of a neighborhood, it’s important to me that my neighborhood thrives as well. It’s my responsibility as a citizen to not only take care of my place first, Cobb County, but it’s also my responsibility to see that the region is succeeding as well.”
And that’s as clear a line in the debate over metro Atlanta’s transportation sales tax that we’re likely to see.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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80 comments Add your comment
Road Scholar
June 21st, 2012
9:29 am
So according to the naysayers:
we have no congestion
we have no air quality problems
we do not need growth
all politicians are crooked (even the ones they voted for)
all free enterprise, capitalistic road builders are crooks ( does that mean they are for regulation?)
the list of projects is a conspiracy by ARC (the legislature nor GDOT had anything to with preparing/approving the list let alone on delivering the projects)(Uh ARC is the regional transportation planning group dictated by federal law)
all transit is bad
because the SR 400 tolls were extended to pay for additional projects along SR 400, we need to not allow any add’l funding for transportation- anytime- anywhere
GDOT has all the funding it needs even though their budget is way down, they are not meeting the present maintenance needs
Atlanta is still listed as a top 10 city for congestion and it’s costs
We do not need any regional planning, heck we don’t need any planning at all-Let’s put a strip club next to their church!
I could go on, but the naysayers are blind to our needs. And paranoid, at best.
william henry talbot walker
June 21st, 2012
9:34 am
@road
A partial list from ethics.ga.gov:
Identifiable group of public
officers
Category
Date
Amount
Bill, resolution,
rule, ordinance, or
Description On Behalf Of regulation pending
$62.15
ENTERTAINMENT
04/13/2012
David Ralston Braves game N/A
Speaker, Georgia House
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
*
$62.15
ENTERTAINMENT
04/13/2012
Dusty Hightower Braves game N/A
State Representative
* BROCK CLAY GPA
$-62.15
ENTERTAINMENT
04/13/2012
Dusty Hightower Braves game N/A
State Representative
* BROCK CLAY GPA
$62.15
ENTERTAINMENT
04/13/2012
Dusty Hightower Braves game N/A
State Representative
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
*
$62.15
ENTERTAINMENT
04/13/2012
Matt Ramsey Braves Game N/A
State Representative
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
*
I hereby swear or affirm that I have examined this report which is a complete, true, and accurate
representation of my activites as lobbyist for the period covered by this report.
Verification:
Electronically Submitted by JAMES SETH MILLICAN on 4/30/2012 12:33:11PM
This report has been AMENDED by the above Lobbyist on 5/1/2012 2:19:17PM.
2012 — STATE — April 1 – April 30
JAMES SETH
$92.02
MEALS
01/06/2010
dinner potential
transportation
legislation
Senator Doug Stoner
State Senator
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
*
$-92.02
MEALS
01/06/2010
dinner potential
transportation
legislation
Senator Doug Stoner
State Senator
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
*
$-92.02
MEALS
01/06/2010
Dinner potential
transportation
legislation
Senator Tim Golden
State Senator
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
*
$92.02
MEALS
01/06/2010
Dinner potential
transportation
legislation
Senator Tim Golden
State Senator
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
$287.50
MEALS
03/22/2012
share of lunch for
entire Senate
Georgia State Senate C.W. MATTHEWS N/A
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
$458.14
MEALS
03/26/2012
Lunch for entire
Senate Republican
Caucus.
Senate Republican N/A
Caucus
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
$202.70
MEALS
03/27/2012
Lunch for entire
Senate
Georgia State Senate C.W. MATTHEWS N/A
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
$85.35
MEALS
11/16/2010
Senator John Douglas Dinner and drinks N/A
State Senator
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
*
$16.00
MEALS
11/16/2010
Senator John Douglas Pre-dinner drinks N/A
State Senator
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
*
$105.47
MEALS
12/13/2010
Drinks for reception
with Senate
Democratic Caucus.
Senate Democratic N/A
Caucus
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
240.68
MEALS
02/09/2010
Breakfast for Senate
GOP Caucus,
approx. 40 people
attending
State Senate GOP N/A
Caucus
C.W. MATTHEWS
CONTRACTING CO., INC.
RexDogma
June 21st, 2012
9:36 am
This whole theory is absurd. It’s hard to believe that some elected officials defend their belief in this. What an embarassment to the legislature!!!
Mudfoot
June 21st, 2012
9:43 am
Whoa! You can’t be serious! Consolidate DOTacross the lines of our counties and countless burgs? NONSENSE! That may possibly result in the area timing it’s stop lights REGION WIDE for maximum efficiency and minimum traffic! (something most of the rest of the country has been doing for decades) I mean, yeah we recently got $1 million from the Feds to do exactly that but we all know we ain’t gonna do it! We LOVE traffic and do our utmost to promote and increase it here, right down to training our kids to drive like distracted zombies fearful of every other vehicle on the road yet still unattentive to them, just like we do. We have our law enforcement concentrate on revenue instead of safety and as a result traffic is enhanced and excaserbated. Heck, even the lights within the burgs promote as much traffic as possible AND THAT’S THE WAY WE LIKE IT. We’ll never be able to bilk another million out of the Fed if we actually address and correct these problems! We won’t be able to get the local rubes to vote for more taxes if we ease traffic! Status Quo Forever! Traffic is good! This area does not have the synapse activity to address the problem anyway and it’s a cash cow that’s producin!
jaystar404
June 21st, 2012
9:52 am
Not to accuse someone of being a flip-flop but wasnt Bill Byrne on the ARC Board when he was the former chairman? And I bet that the Cobb County I-75 corridor was designated a high density corridor while he was chairman.
And the statement about bike paths- Wasnt the Silver Comet Trail planned and built while he was chairman?
GET REAL
June 21st, 2012
9:57 am
Only in America can many of our elected officials be certified nutjobs. A UN conspiracy? Oh, PAH-LEEZE !!! UN officials can barely find their way around their New York City headquarters, but Bill Byrne and others like him believe (or want us to believe) that they’ll mess with a second-rate, suburban Atlanta county. And the ARC is part of this conspiracy? This is what you get when you vote Republican (unless you were stupid enough to vote for Cynthia McKinney).
Seeking Truth
June 21st, 2012
10:10 am
You may think that the United Nations has nothing to do with the development plans of Cobb County but you would be wrong. Page 185 of the Cobb County 2030 Comprehensive Plan seeks to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development policies and the goals of regionalism (otherwise known as Agenda 21). See:
http://comdev.cobbcountyga.gov/documents/CommunityAgendaApproved_3.22.11.pdf . Calling something a conspiracy theory or tin foil hat is a method to stifle debate about a serious issue. Please research to learn the truth about Agenda 21. Here’s a 15 minute primer on Agenda 21.
Seeking Truth
June 21st, 2012
10:11 am
Link to Agenda 21 primer for public officials: http://youtu.be/fFIcZkEzc8I
Pollux
June 21st, 2012
10:33 am
As Cobb County Commission Chairman, Bill Byrne would regularly attend ARC Board meetings dressed in pointy toed cowboy boots and wearing belt buckles the size of which would make Jerry Glanville blush. He was small in stature and intellect then and I see that nothing has changed.
Proud Voter
June 21st, 2012
10:49 am
Why are goals for regionalism bad? Why shouldn’t we want to enhance and take advantage of what we have in our regions? Why wouldn’t we want to individualize our regions in order to attract others for living and working? Why wouldn’t we want to make long range plans for roads and bridges? Why is it wrong to be proactive rather than reactive? Making plans does not make any region a victim of communisim. Good grief! Think outside the box!
Georgian
June 21st, 2012
10:50 am
Really? Geez. GOP needs to get a grip on reality…
pickrpockets
June 21st, 2012
11:13 am
Did members of the GOP drink some kind of long acting acid laced koolaid?” CRAZIES!! How about random drug testing for all elected officials starters. If they can enact laws requiring it for welfare recipients surely THEY won’t mind being tested. Or maybe they could just go back to using common sense…nah – too easy. OBAMA 2012 YES!!
Rider Inman
June 21st, 2012
11:13 am
Seeking Truth,
Maybe you should do a little more seeking and see that the United Nations Sustainable Development policies are just guidlines/planning principles that help areas move to a more sustainable, healthy living environment that promotes more transportation options while reducing sprawl. No freedoms will be taken…actually, people will have more freedom once they realize there’s more to life than spending 2+ hours a day alone in a car. Oh, the horror…
Jesus X. Christ
June 21st, 2012
11:40 am
Driving Sucks. Cars suck. You suck.
GaBlue
June 21st, 2012
12:05 pm
A “sustainable world environment??!!!”"
Oh, GRACIOUS me! What a horrible idea! We should burn through our current world environment as quickly as possible! When there’s no more clean water, air, or food to sustain life on this planet, the Cobb Co. Goppers will FINALLY have everything they want: Money, Guns, and the Rapture. Can we step it up, please? Some of those dinosaurs are getting sick in their old age, and they’d really hate to miss the big show.
Patriot
June 21st, 2012
12:32 pm
Roads are socialist, and all government is always theft.
Can we just admit that the tea party are anarchists in drag?
Mild Mannered Moderate
June 21st, 2012
1:05 pm
There is nothing wrong with thinking inside of the box. I work with boxes all day and I feel that people who insult boxes are just insulters. Some of us are producers and produce things for a living and I feel sad for people that insult other people all the time. Just because someone is not as smart as you does not mean that they were dumb.
I am not voting for PLPLOTS because I do not want my taxes to go up and I do not trust the UN. I do not, I admit, understand what the UN has to dow ith PLPLOTS but I do know that I don’t want my tax dollars going to pay for trains that should be run by private corporations.
Mild Mannered Moderate
June 21st, 2012
1:06 pm
@Patriot – I feel sad for you. I know many tea party members that are not gay.
LiberalsLoveNickelback
June 21st, 2012
3:30 pm
As a very conservative person, the ideas expressed in this article are very disappointing.
High density, wide sidewalks, transit all existed before Agenda 21 and before the UN was even formed. Just because there are additional OPTIONS to cars does not mean that this is a plot to align with Agenda 21. Building bike paths or designating areas as high density does not redistribute wealth or damage private property rights. (You can look to Obama and the left for that). Was it Agenda 21 when Downtown and Midtown developed with high densities? Was it agenda 21 when the silver Comet was built? Was it Agenda 21 when Oglethorpe designed Savannah with narrow streets, wide sidewalks, and public parks? Was it Agenda 21 when Atlanta had hundreds of streetcars?
All of the low density and all of the highways you see today are directly related to government and not the free market. Governments had all the big ideas in the 20th century about how land should be developed with low density single family homes and the separation of uses. To top it off, government subsidized the highway system and helped bring down PRIVATELY owned streetcar systems. The FHA recommended certain standards for subdivisions so banks only lended money to developers who’s projects conformed with the standards. Land use, transportation, and urban form went from something that was efficient, allowing walking, biking, and transit (While still accommodating the car) to something horribly inefficient where you have to take a car to get anywhere. People’s options became limited.
Now, planners are trying to correct the problems of the past. In some cases this even means reducing regulations (YAY!) The practices in planning today are more aligned with how development occurred before zoning and before the UN was formed. If anything, it allows more freedom. Instead of only having one option for transportation, you have a multitude of options. Instead of only being able to chose whether to live in a garden apartment or single family house no where near retail, you can choose to live in a neighborhood or in an apartment within walking distance of a grocery store.
Whether or not you are for t-splost is not an issue here. Use other means to make your decisions…Is it appropriate to tax citizens during a recession? Is the appropriation of funds to local governments going to be done in the right way? Will it help Atlanta grow into a better city? The issue here is using a terrible argument to voice your displeasure and scaring people into not voting for it. It also makes conservatives and tea partiers look bad. The projects in the bill have been done many times before-before there was a UN. The purpose for them is to provide better transportation. There arent even regulations against private property in this. The thing that will likely happen is upzoning, so people can have more freedom to increase the build out on their land.
I love conservatives and love the tea party. But this makes me sad.
Long live Andrew Breitbart.
Mild Mannered Moderate
June 21st, 2012
3:37 pm
@LiberalsLoveNickleback – I love what you said. It makes sense to me. But wasn’t Breitbart responsible for that lie about ACORN?
LiberalsLoveNickelback
June 21st, 2012
4:07 pm
@Mild Mannered Moderate – The exposure of ACORN was not a lie, but a series of videos (Where the unedited, full videos and transcripts were offered) of ACORN offices facilitating prostitution rings at many offices across the country. It’s well documented. It wasn’t Breitbart who made the videos, but he broke the story on biggovernment.com ACORN also got caught lying about it as the story broke over a few days.
Mild Mannered Moderate
June 21st, 2012
4:13 pm
@LiberalsLoveNickleback – So it was someone else that edited the videos that said the lies?
Don’t get me wrong. I hate ACORN…well…hated…they are dead now, but I don’t like lies. The videos lied. A court said so. Its on wikipedia.
Sounds like poor breitbart got suckered by some evil people before he died. Did they have something to do with his death?
MARTA Rida
June 21st, 2012
4:24 pm
C-Tran had lots of ridership since Clayton County is the highest county with no car ownership. Clayton County also voted a non-binding agreement with MARTA. Cobb County needs to get its heads out of its butt and realize its the 21st century and we need alternate commutes for people.
Mild Mannered Moderate
June 21st, 2012
4:29 pm
@MARTA Rida – I am sad for you. Insulting people is bad.
LiberalsLoveNickelback
June 21st, 2012
4:34 pm
@MMM I can’t remember who edited the videos. But they weren’t selectively edited as it cited on wikipedia and in the reports. They were edited for time as most videos are edited to appear on news programs. The full videos and transcripts were offered. the reports said that crimes hadn’t been committed by ACORN members. I guess using government funds to evade taxes and enable prostitution is okay…
It didn’t have to do with breitbart’s death, which is a whole different story and not really related to this article about Agenda 21. If you do your own research on it, there are some really messed up things that happened surrounding his death and his coroner’s arsenic poisoning and resulting death.
Mild Mannered Moderate
June 21st, 2012
4:40 pm
@LiberalsLoveNIckleback – Really? That is very interesting. Do you have a link? Wikipedia can be wrong sometimes but its a good neutral source to find out information to start the conversation. I’d be very interested in hearing about the full videos. I got an email from my uncle who got it from a friend of his who said something like that, but I also got an email from him that said that Barack Obama was a Kenyan….and while I don’t like Obama, I was very upset with Mr. Trump for lying to me when Obama finally produced his long form birth certificate. I think he (Obama) did it to deliberately make me feel foolish for believing my uncle, so once bitten twice shy.
There is some stuff int he talk back in wikipedia about his death but I can’t see any reliable sources yet so I’m waiting on his death. I rule out nothing which is why I am so well informed. It could have been liberals that killed him (Breitbart) or the video people angry that he didn’t show their unedited video.
I’m a bit confused. All I know is that a court said there were lies and that Acorn wasn’t guilty of the stuff in that video. Acorn was evil because it encouraged dead people to vote though. I read that somwhere but can’t remember where. Either Brietbart had to edit the video or the people who gave it to him. If Breitbart edited it it would make sense why the people who gave him the video might have killed him but I have no relaible sources to validate my theory.
Proud Voter
June 21st, 2012
4:53 pm
ACORN doesn’t have a dang thing to do with t-splost. It may have something to do with the idiots who believe Agenda 21 landed with the aliens and are taking over the world. Reality check, please.
GaBlue
June 21st, 2012
4:55 pm
Liberals Love Nickelback,
I object to your blog name, and therefore cannot bring myself to read your posts in full. Nickelback blows.
Mild Mannered Moderate
June 21st, 2012
5:09 pm
This is the way we should all behave.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/boehner-orders-republicans-not-celebrate-supreme-court-strikes-185721677.html
There will be many sad liberals when the supreme court shoots AHA in the head, and conservatives should not make fun of them. Boehner is a good man to say this. Timmy has problems that good insurnace would help, but I know in my heart God will provide. Our freedom is more important than our health.
Jason
June 21st, 2012
8:41 pm
Oh, Boehner ordered it? Well, that settles it. If Tom DeLay was The Hammer, Boehner is The Wet Noodle. No one cares what he says. He has little control over his fellow party members. If they want to dance naked in the streets over something going against Obama, they’ll do it. And Boehner won’t do anything about it except maybe cry. When DeLay wanted something, the party fell into line and looked ready for a military revue. When Boehner gives a “command” the results look like a bunch of cats running from a water hose.