State to MARTA: Your wants can wait
An array of advocates who wanted new or more money from the state, groups ranging from the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce to MARTA’s managers to hospital representatives, are pitching fits because the General Assembly adjourned Friday without acting on their wish lists.
Chamber representatives, supporters of the State Senate version of a proposed one-cent statewide sales tax for transportation, react angrily. They want a regional sales tax in Metro Atlanta. The House wants a statewide sales tax on the premise that a regional sales tax option only benefits Metro Atlanta.
MARTA management, meanwhile, insists that Gov. Sonny Perdue has to call legislators back into session to deal with its financial problems — or else. MARTA collects a one-cent sales tax in Fulton and DeKalb. But when the sales tax was authorized, legislators imposed a requirement that half could go for operations, but half had to go for expansion and for capital improvements. The reasoning was simple. Legislators knew that the MARTA board, its union and management, had no fiscal discipline whatsoever and, over time, every dime of the sales tax would be directed to operating expenses.
It was a wise decision by legislators. Now, however, MARTA insists that it has to have more. And a more effective Atlanta-DeKalb delegation might have negotiated something that would have given MARTA 5-20 percentage points more for specified periods of time, starting with two years. Distractions like the resolution to put the House on record as supporting Barack Obama’s vision for America wasted time that could have been used to negotiate MARTA’s deal.
Hospital advocates are upset that the legislature raised "only" $23 million to expand the network of trauma care hospitals. The $23 million comes from a new tax on speeders. Advocates wanted $80 million, a sum they could have gotten had the Senate passed a bill to eliminate the "birthday tax" on personal vehicles and replace it with a registration fee of up to $1,500 when vehicles are purchased.
I didn’t find this session particularly disappointing. It was consumed, as all are, with too much frivolous legislation. But it’s too their credit that they passed a reasonable budget without a tax increase (except for that on "super-speeders") in a difficult year with declining tax collections. The sales tax can be put on the ballot next year if that’s what Georgians want. MARTA would like to make its problems the state’s responsibility, but it’s absurd to think that any governor would call a special session for that purpose. And hospitals seeking more will have to make do on $23 million in new money until the General Assembly reconvenes.
That’s my assessment of this session. What’s yours?
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141 comments Add your comment
Curious Observer
April 8th, 2009
8:34 am
I must reluctantly agree with Wooten this time. Already, MARTA’s fare structure is insufficient to cover operating costs. The authority has in effect been subsidizing users, even beyond the sales tax revenue. Permitting the MARTA board to dip into the capital fund only postpones the inevitable–within two years the capital fund will be gone and MARTA will be back to its deficit.
I don’t agree that the shortfall is a short-term problem caused by the recession. It is a permanent situation that can be remediated only by raising fares. MARTA users must recognize that there’s no free lunch. If they are going to enjoy the benefit of seven-day service, they are going to have to pay for it. As a Fulton County resident who has paid that sales tax all these years, I expect better management decisions from the MARTA board.
Chris Broe
April 8th, 2009
8:40 am
It’s a victory for all Georgians when the Generally Assembled does nothing. It’s only when they try to help us and actually pass legislation that we get in trouble, despite their hard work and self sacrifice (have you tried the cafeteria food there? Whoa! I never knew Shepherd’s Pie like that was possible) I think all future Generally Simple Assembleton’s should pass nothing ad hominem and e pluris unim.
Or else we’re finished. (Kaput even).
findog
April 8th, 2009
9:46 am
Dear Jim,
Only one quibble, “The sales tax can be put on the ballot next year if that’s what Georgians want.” Our state leaders do not do what Georgians want, unless you are talking minority special interests, like say Georgia Power and the Blue Laws Today, Blur Laws Tomorrow, Blue Laws Forever no beer on Sunday except where minor league baseball is played crowd. They are like President Obama picking groups to be winners in the current economic turmoil without regard for what the majority of citizens would like to see happen. And to tie them tighter to the new president – the only reason they didn’t have to raise taxes is that stimulus package the GOP has salvaged. Good thing Barry isn’t into throwing out the baby with the bath water or the state Republican Party would be crying like a wet diapered…
Mac
April 8th, 2009
9:54 am
MARTA needs to jack the fares. If my business doesn’t charge enough to operate, I can’t go to the Legislature, or the county commission, even, and ask for more money.
That Shepard’s Pie is made from pasture patties. Hope you brushed and flossed.
So, off topic a little bit … on Monday I entertained the crowd over at the dating blog with the tale of my 10-year marriage, which features nine years with no sex. By the end, the conclusion was that I had to be gay. If that’s what it takes to get laid, maybe I’ll think about it in another nine years.
Daedalus
April 8th, 2009
10:08 am
Let’s see. Here’s the right-wing logic. Declining sales tax revenues at the state and local level government level is an unfortunate situation that has nothing to do with the officials that run those governments. But declining sales tax revenues at MARTA are clearly the fault of mismanagement and have no relation to the declining economy. Nice double-standard.
There are very few demographics that the Georgia GOP cares less about than Fulton/DeKalb transit riders (i.e., gays, immigrants, blacks and non-christians). However to lay the blame for the failure of this bill on the Fulton/DeKalb delegates is, as usual with Wooten, devoid of any factual basis. Rep. Jill Chambers (R. Atlanta) has chaired the House Sub-Committee on transit and has been very effective in trimming fat from MARTA. SB 120 cleared the GOP controlled Senate and the GOP controlled House transportation committee — the latter on March 30 — Speaker Richardson had 4 full days to bring it to a floor vote. (I know its hard Jim, but you can get these facts from the Georgia legislature’s own website.) When confronted with the facts, moderate Republicans in the Senate and the House members on the subcommittee decided that MARTA deserved the bill. However Speaker Richardson simply decided to not give the bill a chance. Wooten’s absurd claim that it was the Obama resolution that kept the MARTA bill from coming to a floor vote is his usual partisan fact twisting. For some reason, the State GOP has decided its in their interest to see MARTA fail — and if all the House has to do to ensure that is to do nothing — well that’s their stock in trade.
I don’t think the MARTA board should ask the Governor for a special session — after all he may not be willing to sign the bill even if it were passed by the House. He is certainly no friend of transit and, as a true red-state Republican, he cares for the transit riders in Fulton/DeKalb even less. Instead, the MARTA board of directors should accept the reality that the Georgia GOP wants MARTA to fail. The Board should drop the scalpel and get out the cleaver and start cutting those routes and those days of service where it can save the most operating costs. Say good-bye to the Braves shuttle, extra trains for sporting events and concerts downtown and weekend bus and train service. MARTA will end up being a Monday thru Friday transit service. If you work a second shift or weekends, you will be out of luck. Maybe you should take up fishing. I hear the state has millions of tax subsidies for that.
Well. Enjoy your car, because you will be spending more and more time in it — courtesy of the Georgia GOP,
Marshall
April 8th, 2009
10:13 am
Mac, how do the roads and highways you drive on perform in terms of pulling a profit or being run like a business? Aside from 400, the roads and highways generate exactly zero dollars in this state, yet we shovel billions of dollars from the state treasury into them every single year. Maybe we should impose a toll on every single road in the entire state to make sure that the roads turn a profit and see how that flies.
However, the state of Georgia doesn’t give a dime of money to the system while at the same time insisting on telling the system how it can spend its money. The residents of Fulton and Dekalb (by their own choice) are the ones footing the bill. So why is that the state insists that it should have any say? If you want a say, then you should pony up.
Mac
April 8th, 2009
10:17 am
Marshall, other transit systems charge a lot more for a ride, because they are trying to cover their costs with fares. MARTA needs to charge more to cover their costs, rather than subsidizing riders with artificially low fares. MARTA, as far as I know, does not operate roads and highways.
Mac
April 8th, 2009
10:21 am
In fact, it was reported the other day that in one city (Philadelphia, I think) it costs $6 for a ride on the public transit train to the airport. Here’s it’s less than $2. Six bucks is still a heckuva lot cheaper than driving or taking a taxi.
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
10:29 am
After the Repubs destroy MARTA, it appears they are going to set their sights on Hartsfield. It is always argued that the “…city of Atlanta does not manage the facility as efficiently as it should.”
Big Bucks GOP
April 8th, 2009
10:31 am
my favorite drink changes hands from the French to Italians.
Campari, it seems, has a developed a taste for Wild Turkey, given that
the Italian liquor company agreed to buy the bourbon brand from French
rival Pernod Ricard for $575 million.
Big Bucks GOP
April 8th, 2009
10:33 am
Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd C. Blankfein called for new
standards for how Wall Street executives are paid and said the economic
crisis had been “deeply humbling” for financial firms.
JIm's a Cherry Picker
April 8th, 2009
10:36 am
Jim,
Marta wants the state to help because the state is imposing it’s will upon Marta via legal channels. Why else would the state pass a law to regulate how much Marta can spend?
The citizens of Dekalb and Fulton pay into this system for the same reason that the citizens of Cobb and Gwinette pay for roads. It’s a resource that benefits the entire community. Do residents of Cobb reuquest rebates if they work from home and don’t drive too much?
This is all an abject failure by Sunni and the Legislature. The day when Marta shuts down because of this failure will be the day that the entire nation realizes what a joke our Governor and Legislature are.
Marta may need to raise fares, but the State needs to get out of it’s business.
JLK
April 8th, 2009
10:41 am
MARTA is the only metropolitan transit system of its kind in the United States that receives NO state funding. Thanks MAC at 10:13 for pointing out that our Republican-run State is calling the shots for something they do not support. WHAAA??? Pony up or shut up, indeed! Thousands of metro residents still prefer transit to our traffic jams, despite the system’s under-funded performance. But then, with so many Georgians determined to keep us at the top of the list of back-azz-ward states, rational solutions are likely still years away.
booger
April 8th, 2009
10:54 am
Marshall,
Fulton and Dekalb residents are not the only ones paying for MARTA. Anyone who buys anything in Fulton and Dekalb pays a sales tax, a portion of which goes to MARTA.
As to the ongoing argument about transportation dollars in metro Atlanta vs. the rest of the state most AJC articles have pictured the rest of the state as welfare queens sucking Atlanta dry. You would think there was no commerce outside the Metro area.
I would like for you to explain to my parents who have lived on a dirt road in rural georgia for the last 30 years how they are getting more than their share.
Big Bucks GOP
April 8th, 2009
11:14 am
The Securities and Exchange Commission will meet on Wednesday to
consider restrictions on short selling, a type of investing blamed by
some lawmakers and executives for exacerbating the financial crisis and
driving down share prices.
Big Bucks GOP
April 8th, 2009
11:17 am
As talk continues to circulate about the likelihood of a General Motors
bankruptcy, Southeastern Asset Management, one of G.M.’s significant
bondholders, has shed the bulk of its holdings, according to a
regulatory filing.
Daedalus
April 8th, 2009
11:17 am
Hey Booger — you can find information about tax imbalances between metro and non-metro counties at this GSU study:
http://aysps.gsu.edu/frc/files/Rpt_188FIN.pdf
http://aysps.gsu.edu/frc/files/Brief_188.pdf
Here’s a blurb from the summary:
The Metro10 area of Atlanta is home to approximately 43 percent
of the state’s population and generated 53 percent of
Georgia’s total state adjusted gross taxable income. The
Metro10 area contributed an estimated 51 percent of total
Georgia state revenue. However, the Metro10 area received
an estimated 37 percent of state general fund expenditures.
The story is similar for the Metro28 area. It comprised
approximately 54 percent of the state’s population and
generated 64 percent of Georgia’s total state adjusted gross
taxable income. The Metro28 area contributed an estimated
61 percent of total Georgia state revenue but received 47
percent of state general fund expenditures.
If your parents’ dirt road isn’t paved — its not for want of the Georgia Assembly siphoning off tax dollars from metro Atlanta. Maybe you should ask your local county government what they’ve done with the tax revenue they’ve taken in from metro Atlanta.
We in metro Atlanta are paying more than our fair share and getting less and less in return. Quit blaming us for the choices your local county government makes.
Road Scholar
April 8th, 2009
11:18 am
Marshall: Your quote-”Aside from 400, the roads and highways generate exactly zero dollars in this state…” is not totally true. How did you get your food, how did it get to the store, where did your clothes come from, and how was your house made? Interstate trade pays for the roads.Salaries paid to workers using the roads pay for them. How else would the items mentioned above get to your use? While they are not directly producing revenue, it allows for commerce to expand.
Jim, isn’t time for you to leave yet? Your “let them eat cake” mentality is what is wrong with this country.
Big Bucks GOP
April 8th, 2009
11:20 am
Asserting that Ireland must restore international confidence in its
debt-laden economy, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced an
emergency budget plan Tuesday that included creation of a so-called bad
bank to buy problem loans from Irish lenders, along with higher taxes
and lower government spending to try to bring the deficit in line.
Big Bucks GOP
April 8th, 2009
11:22 am
More potential bidders have expressed interest in buying the securities
trading business of Bernard L. Madoff, after one would-be buyer offered
$15 million for the unit, a lawyer for the trustee liquidating the
assets said Tuesday.
Peter
April 8th, 2009
11:24 am
Jim……If Sonny thinks $25 Million is OK for a Fish Farm in HIS county, then $25 Million for MARTA is OK as well…….Thousands of citizens use MARTA………
Who really cares about a fish farm ?
I live a little over a mile from MARTA, and walking to the station, and using the system is wonderful for Games, downtown events, and especially great for getting to the airport.
Sonny has his Priorities misplaced…….PORK is the FISH Farm, Not MARTA !
But her you already stated in MANY of your writings…..you are OK with Pork spending !
Canetus Poontang
April 8th, 2009
11:28 am
Wooten never seems concerned about lavishing taxpayer subsidies on the road network in Georgia. In fact, Woot often calls for expensive expansion of the road system.
Pinhead wingnuts call for Marta to “pay its own way”. If you people had to pay the true cost of driving _ without the roadway subsidies – you’d be crying a different tune.
jm
April 8th, 2009
11:28 am
Jim, you’re an idiot. There are too many fallacies in your statements to begin to respond. But I will try. The money is MARTA’s, not the state’s. It didn’t come from the state, never has, apparently never will. On that principle, they should be able to decide what to do with it.
Second, the legislature shot down the bill that would NOT have taken state money. It would have been an additional tax on people who want to pay for now roads. Like us metro-Atlanta folks who are tired of sitting in traffic and whose businesses have problems because of the traffic.
In Georgia, the roads don’t pay for themselves, so if anything is subsidized in this state, it is not MARTA, it is the road system. Because the gas tax is too low. If they shut down MARTA, I suggest we shut down all the roads too as we clearly can’t afford them either.
Damn redneck idiot.
Big Bucks GOP
April 8th, 2009
11:46 am
How much does a MARTA driver make? Several years ago the AJC published a list of drivers making over $100,000 per year.
professional skeptic
April 8th, 2009
11:55 am
“Salaries paid to workers using the roads pay for them.”
Road Scholar, in a sense I agree with your logic, but you have to remember too, that most people who take MARTA are wage earners and salaried individuals getting to and from work. You would therefore have to apply the same logic to MARTA. (Likewise, in this recession especially, I’m sure there are plenty of unemployed people getting around on both MARTA and in cars.)
Neither MARTA nor our roads are self-sustaining via user fees. Both are tax subsidized.
d
April 8th, 2009
11:57 am
My only problem with the capital improvements requirement is the fact that since it had nothing better to do with it, they installed those $1Million toilets at Five Points (which have since been removed). No one at MARTA was asking for anything other than hey, we have $65 Million sitting here that isn’t being used, let us use that. How was that a selfish request on the part of MARTA?
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
12:07 pm
Big Bucks GOP, is that true? If so, heads need to roll.
Anyway, I live in Chicago and I can tell you that the CTA is great for this city. Atlanta is a lot like Los Angeles where everything is so spread out. Marta is constantly in trouble do to idiots running the show. I say shut the trains down completely but keep the bus line open. Tax payers are sick and tired of paying for such a failure.
Peter
April 8th, 2009
12:19 pm
Hey Communist………”Anyway, I live in Chicago and I can tell you that the CTA is great for this city.”
Why the heck are you here anyway…….
You live in Chicago, and talk as if Atlanta means anything to you ? Your Opinion is worth what for why ?
catlady
April 8th, 2009
12:43 pm
I agree that MARTA should have higher fares. The mess that Atlanta will be if Friday service is discontinued will be great. Try to hurt the least number of people–trim service on Saturday and end it on Sunday if there is a funding problem. I know people need it on the weekend also but where can you do the least harm?
Does the legislature think only THOSe people ride MARTA?
As someone who lives far, far from Atlanta I am not sure the state should subsidize MARTA. The state does next to nothing for transportation in my county (you should see the roads if you doubt it). Other than 515, built for the express (haha) purpose of the wealthy Atlantans getting to their weekend cabins, we don’t seem to get enough from the state to keep the loggin’ trucks from wearing chunks out of the roads.
I am glad MARTA is there. I know it is a blessing for many. It should balance its own books, however, and not expect a handout. I think the years of fat paychecks for some MARTA employees is about over.
Road Scholar
April 8th, 2009
12:46 pm
Prof Skeptic: Agreed, my point is that the roads produce indirect revenue, like transit.
JM: I agree with your two main thoughts about Wooten and the gas tax being too low. Why do we need a SW sales tax increase? If so, raise the money only on gas (fuel tax) It is then a user fee. You use it, you pay it! Too simple, heh!
JLK
April 8th, 2009
12:47 pm
Commie Comrade, I was also wondering why you should give a flip about our transit system. Not only does your opinion about what should close or continue operating NOT count, but please mind your own darned business, you opinionated, meddling buttinsky!
luangtom
April 8th, 2009
12:54 pm
Hey, let’s take a lesson from the one and only Barack Hussein Obama and demand that if MARTA gets the money it wants that the folks responsible for putting them in this pickle are made to step-down and be replaced by fiscally frugal people that can run the system within its budget. This ploy got the CEO of GM to step-down why can’t it work with MARTA? And, will one day without MARTA, or two half-days, each weekend really bust the Metro area?
MoJohnson
April 8th, 2009
1:01 pm
Jackie and JLK,
You two should get together so you’re IQ can seem, well, human. I’ve never read any post by either of you that contained anything but rhetoric and bad rhetoric at that.
Yes, get together you two of like and limited mind. Spawn if you must or can being as inbred idiots usually cannot. Your offspring will be a credit to the local homeless shelter.
@@
April 8th, 2009
1:12 pm
My assessment?
Distractions like the resolution to put the House on record as supporting Barack Obama’s vision for America wasted time that could have been used to negotiate MARTA’s deal.
It’s Obama’s fault.
Four Scored
April 8th, 2009
1:14 pm
I can’t speak for the train, but MARTA bus transit is a joke north of I-285. Nobody uses it. Next time you are up that way, especially around Roswell and Alpharetta, take a peek inside one. Look at how many passengers are on one. At any time. Even rush hour. You will not see a full bus. You will not even see a HALF full bus. EVER. Yet somehow to the libtards on the left, this transit system is still worthy of our tax dollars to “support” those areas.
The brilliance of MARTA management and their supporter minions think it is wonderful that it will be two decades (that’s 20 years for you Obama voters) before the train rail is extended into north Fulton another 9 miles or so, or somewhere around Windward. Disney World built the entire monorail system, all 15 miles of it, in less than two years. But Disney is a private venture and they don’t have time or INVESTOR money to waste. Is MARTA and its minions a government-like run entity or what? Idiotic planning, incompetent management, bureaucratic lethargy, and a force feed mass transit down our gullets after taking from our wallets when we don’t even USE it. Now, $500 goes to the first libtard to call these comments RACIST. You know who you are……….
Now, another quick comment about incompetence. Let’s see how the O-Team handles the hijacking of a US-flagged ship. First time that’s happened post 9/11, isn’t it? Interesting. Are the Wonderland Leaders going to have talks with these Somali savages, or are they going to show a pair and board that ship and waste the excrement that took it over? We shall see. We already know the CBC has to talked to Castro now and wants us to open relations with him again. Please tell me this is just going to be a bad dream for the next four years while all these Washington clowns turn this nation upside down.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21008.html
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
1:17 pm
Peter, I’m from Atlanta. And no, I could care less if you like my opinion or not. Shove off, troglodyte.
JLK, why would you care what I write? I was not speaking to you in the first place. And by the way, how does my opinion not matter or count? You don’t run this site so you and Peter should elope to Vermont. Moron
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
1:19 pm
JLK, do you work for the AJC? If not please shut the hell up and mind your own business. I can comment on any blog I want. I’m sorry your mom dropped you on your head as a kid but then again, if I had to listen to your crap I’d probably drop you down a flight of steps.
Billy Carter
April 8th, 2009
1:21 pm
JLK and Peter, you two are a couple of monkeys. Try my beer and lighten up.
Four Scored
April 8th, 2009
1:22 pm
MARTA is funded by a 1% sales tax in its service area along with a small amount of federal money. To me, that sounds like money coming out of our pockets.
JLK
April 8th, 2009
1:26 pm
“You two should get together so you’re IQ can seem, well, human.” Hahaha! I’ll bet YOU’RE third grade English teacher is proud of you.
“Spawn if you must or can being as inbred idiots usually cannot.” Wow. I’m humbled by your superior intellect. Thanks!
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
1:30 pm
@CommunistAJC
Still in the business of making statements that you can not support?
@MoJohnson
You do not like the statements I make and you try to say my IQ is not sufficient to be human. Seems curious when you say that you read what I say. Either my IQ is adequate enough to make statements that catch your attention, or, you are speaking out of rear anatomy. Which one is it?
As for your spewing pejoratives, it would appear to me the one that you use to characterize me as an idiot is well below the level that your extensive vocabulary has. Please, try to use something that is more profound.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
1:30 pm
JLK aka monkey butt boy, not only have you NOT written anything intelligent but you constantly degrade other bloggers. You’re about as relevant as the congressional black racist caucus. You have the IQ of a carrot and your family is ashamed of you. Do you have fun blogging from your mom’s trailer in south Georgia?
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
1:32 pm
Jackie, what statement did I make that I could not support? I guess they didn’t teach you common sense at Morris Brown aka Bankrupt Black College of Southwest Atlanta, huh? Maybe you should call up your uncle Jesse Jackson and ask him to use the money he scammed from “evil white people” to pay for you new education.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
1:34 pm
Jackie, from what I’ve read of your “comments”, you have the IQ of a donkey. People only respond to your rhetoric because we need to put you in your place.
Siggie Freud
April 8th, 2009
1:36 pm
CommunistAJC: Lithium is your friend. Please pull the bottle out of the trash and get reacquainted.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
1:39 pm
Siggie Freud aka Jackie aka JLK aka Peter, whichever split personality you are claiming to be now, no one cares about your feeble attempt at a put down. Do me a favor and head back to your mom’s basement.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
1:43 pm
Jim Wooten, you know what I love? I love the fact that 4 bloggers are attacking me. And for what? I didn’t provoke them and yet they attacked me first.
List of bloggers who attacked me first: Peter, JLK, Siggie Freud and Jackie.
Now, is this a coincidence that 4 bloggers feel the need to attack me when I was talking to Jim and Big Bucks GOP? Kind of strange if you ask me.
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
1:46 pm
@CommunistAJC
Nothing you say can not be supported, “brown eyes.” If you would pay attention, common sense is nothing that is taught, it is an innate skill, SLOW MOTION!
As for Jesse Jackson, YOU wish that you had someone in your sordid family tree that had the skill and intelligence of that man. YOU CERTAINLY DO NOT!
As for college, it appears that you never got close to one except to participate in a cranial evaluation study to compare your brain capacity with that of the Neanderthal. Is that why you walk around bumping into things you don’t recognize?
Whether people respond to my comments is of no consequence. I do post information that is FACTUAL, a function unbeknown to you!
I say to you again maggot, if my IQ is that of a donkey, how do they measure the IQ of WHALE GRAVY, WHALE GRAVY?
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
1:54 pm
Jackie, Jesse Jackson is a moron. He has no formal education other than race baiting. Oh, and Jackie, I finished at Duke, honey. You know, Duke, that racist school where your race baiting uncle Al tried to sue for racism but got shot down when the DA was disbarred for falsely prosecuting some “white boys.”
Jackie, how’s Macdonalds working out for you?
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
1:56 pm
Jackie, you wrote: Still in the business of making statements that you can not support?
When you write questions like this, please explain WHICH statement you are talking about.
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
2:09 pm
@CommunistAJC
If your formal education is a “Dookey” degree, which campus did you live on?
Secondly, Jesse Jackson and Jesse Jackson, Jr. are both graduates of North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, NC.
You should have known that since you went to school right down the road, SLOW MOTION.
“You know, Duke, that racist school where your race baiting uncle Al tried to sue for racism but got shot down when the DA was disbarred for falsely prosecuting some “white boys.””
Explain your way out of this lie, PLEASE.
Peter
April 8th, 2009
2:12 pm
Poor Communist…..HA HA HA………..
“Jim Wooten, you know what I love? I love the fact that 4 bloggers are attacking me. And for what? I didn’t provoke them and yet they attacked me first.”
HA HA HA……Now you know how Saddam felt Communist…. !
Peter
April 8th, 2009
2:20 pm
Poor Communist…..probably needs to go back to Russia where he came from…….well maybe he is from Cuba ?
He doesn’t care if Atlanta has a Transit System, he’s not even from around here !
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
2:33 pm
Jackie, I lived off campus, comrade.
North Carolina A&T, WOOOOOOOOOOOOW!
And finally, your last retarded question. What lie? The DA who tried to sue those “evil white boys” WAS disbarred. I don’t think you want to argue this one, Beyonce. You lose Jackie Brown.
Peter, are you retarded? I mean, did you escape the short bus because your comments reek of inbred trailer trash.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
2:34 pm
Jackie Brown, here you go!
Former Duke Prosecutor Nifong Disbarred
Durham DA Mike Nifong Indicates He Will Not Appeal
Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has been disbarred after being found guilty of a battery of ethics violations for his handling of the Duke Lacrosse investigation, a North Carolina Bar disciplinary committee announced Saturday evening.
http://abcnews.go.com/thelaw/Story?id=3285862&page=1
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
2:36 pm
Jackie,
Duke ranks in 8th overall nationally. And no, Jackie, I am not talking about basketball.
Oh, and by the way, North Carolina A&T aka black segregated college is not ranked ANYWHERE in the top 150 schools. Sorry Jackie, but you lose.
Peter
April 8th, 2009
2:47 pm
Communist ?????? What is your issue today, blogging from CHI Town about Atlanta stuff……. you are not relevant at all, well with exception to one thought……..
Maybe Communism is the REAL ideology of the Republican Party !
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
2:47 pm
Peter, if you were capable of reading then you’d have read a previous posting of mine where I informed you that I AM from Atlanta. I lived there for 26 years. Again, go sell your stupidity over on Bookmans blog.
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
2:58 pm
@CommunistAJC
If you lived off campus, how far away did you live from Chapel Hill?
And as far as North Carolina A&T, it is one of the top 5 Engineering Schools on the East Coast, bar none.
Now, what did you major in at Duke? It is very easy for you to go out and find information on the internet. I do not believe they would let you anywhere near the Duke classrooms.
What North Carolina governor was the President of Duke University that was instrumental in saving the school from bankruptcy?
Peter
April 8th, 2009
3:01 pm
Poor Communist……… Believing he is American…………….. believing he understand “Democracy”……..well we know for sure he has felt the sting like SADDAM felt…….
“I didn’t provoke them and yet they attacked me first.”
Know wonder he is so HURT…Gosh that is sad…….. Perhaps instead of being a “Communist”, we should all call you SADDAM, thus showing our compassion for you !
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
3:03 pm
@CommunistAJC
Where does Duke rank in NC University System?
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
3:09 pm
@CommunistAJC
You found the information on the internet regard DA Nifong and not you purport to know what you are talking about. You earlier statement about uncle Al and his suing was far from being factual. DA Nifong had nothing to do with the uncle Al you speak of. DA Nifong was disbared because of his bringing charges against Duke Lacrosse players that he could not substantiate even given the fact that multiple witnesses to the alleged crime indicated that the event did not happen.
Further adds to the fact that you make things up as you go. Pure fabrication and extrapolation.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:11 pm
Jackie, I majored in business. I lived in Durham, NC. You know, WHERE DUKE IS LOCATED. NOT CHAPEL HILL WHERE UNC IS LOCATED.
Jackie, what is with the pointless questions? I got my undergrad from Auburn University. Want to ask me any questions about Auburn, Alabama?
Peter, we’re a republic, not a democracy. Again, it’s you who doesn’t grasp basic US history.
Let me educate you a little: Here goes-
I pledge allegiance, to the flag of the United States of America.
And to the REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS…..
YOU SEE PETER, IT DOESN’T SAY TO THE DEMOCRACY.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:13 pm
Jackie, once again, you fail. One, you did not specifically ask me WHAT to specify in with my statement. Two, your Uncle Al lead protests against the students and Duke University without letting the case play out. Your race baiting uncle is about as relevant as you are Jackie. You’re both old school civil rights hacks who can’t get out of the past and move on.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:15 pm
Jackie at 3:08, Duke ranks 8th nationally and number one in the south. That’s what matters. Sorry, but until you reveal your Alma Mater, you lose.
Canetus Poontang
April 8th, 2009
3:15 pm
Commie Carpetbagger must be retarded, doesn’t even have the wit to be ashamed of going to Auburn.
Pierce Randall
April 8th, 2009
3:15 pm
My assessment is that Wooten’s comments are rarely what we pay for them.
MARTA is neither explicitly seeking neither “new” nor “more” money from the state legislature. That’s explicitly a lie, and stated in bad faith. MARTA is seeking to access the agency’s existing capital reserves.
“Legislators knew that the MARTA board, its union and management, had no fiscal discipline whatsoever and, over time, every dime of the sales tax would be directed to operating expenses.” That’s a completely unfounded and unpremised assertion. How does Wooten know MARTA does a bad job? Does he have a degree in urban mass transit planning, or career experience coordinating it? And does it really matter?
My rights as an Atlantan, as a Georgian, and as a mass transit rider do not hinge on the quality of MARTA’s leadership. And the state legislature has the power to push for a different CEO if it wants–perhaps one who will fight against the union or at least push to lower labor costs. But the buck stops somewhere, and it stops at elected leaders that we vote for. Whatever nonsense Wooten wants to spew on any given day, its WE that employ THEM.
Anyway, Wooten’s completely wrong about MARTA’s unions being a significant issue for the transit agency. Where does this myth, this assertion, come from? MARTA pays around the median wage for its transit staff, which is amazing, really, considering the agency is the 9th-largest transit agency in the country–far larger than the “median” transit agency, which would probably be something the size of Cobb Community Transit. MARTA has one of the lowest cost-per-passenger ratios for a rapid rail transit system in the country, and is routinely voted among the cleanest and safest transit agencies in its size class.
Anyway, MARTA couldn’t direct “every dime” to operations–the agency has to have buses and maintenance. In addition, a significant percentage of its staff is paid out of its capital budget–planners, actually, the people who run the agency, who aren’t too keen on taking large pay cuts and furloughs at their own expense, I’d imagine.
But anyway, by attempting to slime MARTA, Wooten is basically arguing for half of the agency’s money to go to capital projects–in essence, expansion. Why? This, from the guy who still asserts, in thinly-veiled racial code, that rapid transit expansion brings crime? And how does it make any sense for MARTA to expand if it can’t afford to provide service over the area its currently built out to. Really? The agency needs new buses, even though it can’t employ a very sizable fraction of those buses at a given time? Let’s set aside that MARTA is already getting a very hefty capital projects-only boost from the federal stimulus package (sorry, none of this can be used to run service, or keep secure, unionized employees from being laid off–you know, in the middle of a recession): What does Wooten want MARTA to spend its money on, exactly?
Or, alternately, is he arguing–such as any of his unpremised statements could be said to be “arguments” in the first place–that MARTA should just tax citizens of Fulton and Dekalb county, and sit on the money? Spend it ineffectively? Because the MARTA act would have to be amended for them to give it back, too.
No, Wooten wants to demagogue. A very small man. A man of letters–very small numbers of them, in fact, forming very small ideas. It is not conservative to wring one’s hands at the prospect of, to even insist upon, the disintegration of our intitutions. And in this case, it is certainly thinking very wrong.
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
3:25 pm
@CommunistAJC
Duke ranks 8th nationally in what?
Who was the school named after and what is the current nickname of the city that Duke is located?
As a grad of that school, I am sure you return to homecoming functions.
By the way, how does Duke rank in the UNC System?
Peter
April 8th, 2009
3:26 pm
Poor SADDAM…..or Communist……… at least he know part of the Pledge of Allegiance.
I guess he learned that when he got here from his Communist Land……
I do feel for you, and I will do all I can to sympathize, and feel your pain.
God Bless you and all the Communists living in America. Our Great nation is rule by Democracy, and not by a Republic, which may be a way the Communists do things.
I am sure you will get the hang of it very soon.
Do you have one of those Communist tattoos ? The sickle and Hammer ?
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:27 pm
Jackie, since you are too lazy to look it up for yourself I will show you.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/national-search
NUMBER 8 NATIONALLY JACKIE! UNC RANKS IN AT 30.
Oh and Jackie, where did you get your undergrad?
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:28 pm
Peter, please do us all a favor and at least try to earn your GED. You’re embarrassing yourself on a public blog.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:30 pm
Canetus Poontang, by the way, please enlighten this Duke and Auburn grad just where it is you earned your degrees? Thanks
Peter
April 8th, 2009
3:32 pm
Poor Saddam……… Are you felling better ? Did you get your papers ?
What Republic are you from ?
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
3:35 pm
@CommunistAJC
Duke University is a PRIVATE university and IS NOT PART OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY system.
Please check that on the internet. There are 17 schools in the North Carolina State University System; Duke University is not one of them!
More evidence of extrapolation and conflation on your part. What is it that James Brown said? “Talkin’ Loud and Saying Nuthin’.”
Care to go further?
Pierce Randall
April 8th, 2009
3:36 pm
Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot this forum would inevitably disintegrate into off-topic elitism by profoundly non-elites.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:37 pm
Jackie, are you retarded? I never said it was. I said it RANKED 8TH NATIONALLY YOU MORON!
Hey Jokie, again, where did you attend college? Oh yeah, that’s right, you never went.
Care to go any further, troglodyte?
Oh, James Brown was a wife beating hack who only had one hit. And that one hit was against his ex-wife.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:39 pm
Pierce Randall, you may want to read some earlier posts. You will notice this all went downhill as soon as four hacks took their shots at me.
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
3:41 pm
@CommunistAJC
A graduate of one the 17 schools in the North Carolina State University System.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:42 pm
Jackie, I highly doubt that. Especially when you wrote that Duke was in Chapel Hill.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:43 pm
Jackie, are you afraid to really tell us all where you went to college?
fearless fosdick
April 8th, 2009
3:46 pm
jackie .. you do know that COMMIE was banned forever from Bookmans blog due to the fact he can’t control his name calling. Kinda like the chubby kid on the play ground who gets his fat butt kicked everyday because he can’t control his vitriol due to the fact he is short, fat, ugly, and always has a doughnut in his piehole.
Peter
April 8th, 2009
3:48 pm
Poor Communist Saddam……name calling because he cannot use words to describe his real feelings about being Hurt…… It really an be tough for some folks to express themselves in a meaningful manner !
“I didn’t provoke them and yet they attacked me first.” ……. The Battle cry of the Communist.
Wow folks PLEASE …….have pity on the poor guy……..Remember he is not from around here and really doesn’t understand.
Which Communist Republic did you say you were from ?
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:49 pm
fearless fosNOdick, yeah you said it, comrade.
Peter, how did the surgery go to have your penis removed?
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:51 pm
fearless fosNOdick, say hi to comrade Bookman for me. I hear the AJC is about to let another round of people go.
Peter, if you want to have a civilized debate fine. But until you start acting like an adult I’ll keep ridiculing you and lack of an IQ.
TL
April 8th, 2009
3:53 pm
After the Repubs destroy MARTA, it appears they are going to set their sights on Hartsfield. It is always argued that the “…city of Atlanta does not manage the facility as efficiently as it should.”
Hey Jackie@ 10:29AM
The GOP leaders are already trying to take Hartsfield so that they can destroy it too. What kind of leaders would want to destroy their main sources of income? The one and only Georgia legislatures and the Governor. They want Atlanta, Marta, and the airport to fail so they can say say “I told you those people can’t run anything.” They are stuck in the 1940’s 50’s and 60’s God Bless em.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
3:56 pm
TL, the GOP didn’t rename the airport. The congressional Macolm X crowd of the A-T-L did.
I say we name it Hartsfield Lowry X King Muhammad Panther Jackson Sharpton Kaufman Airport. That would make Jackie Browneye happy.
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
4:00 pm
@CommunistAJC
WHAT A JOKE YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Duke in Chapel Hill? Any idiot knows that these are two of the most fierce rivals in the country.
DUKE IS IN DURHAM, NC 15 miles from Chapel Hill!!!!!!!!!!
Show me where I said that Duke was in Chapel Hill!
I went to college in Winston-Salem, NC. What school is there that is part of the State University System?
Please check the internet and see if you can find that information.
What is Duke’s school colors and mascot?
professional skeptic
April 8th, 2009
4:00 pm
How did this devolve into a discussion about alma maters? Commie, why did you settle for 8th? On a more serious note, I’ve been to Chicago and rode its rail transit a few times. How does CTA’s funding and governance differ from MARTA’s? I’ve never looked into that.
Thanks, Pierce, once again, for your insightful and rational assessment of MARTA, its financial situation and Georgia transit in general. Wooten needs to check his prejudices and half-truths at the door if he wants us to respect him as a journalist.
Given that Wooten’s successor is a globe trotter, I wonder what his take will be on mass transit in Atlanta, given that most cities worldwide that are Atlanta’s size or larger have thriving public rail systems.
Peter
April 8th, 2009
4:00 pm
Hey Communist / Saddam, I was wondering where you learned all those amazing words…..
Words like……comrade, fosNOdick, But, did, troglodyte, hacks, MORON, Poontang………… along with your wonderful phrases like……shut the hell up, and…..Oh, and Clitoris, Auburn is a good school.
Were these learned here in the US, at one of the Universities you picked out of a hat, or back where you came from……… your original Communist land ?
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
4:02 pm
@CommunistAJC
What is the name of the most famous building of Duke’s campus and which campus is it located on?
professional skeptic
April 8th, 2009
4:03 pm
Grammar alert! Should have been “ridden” not “rode.”
jewcowboy
April 8th, 2009
4:05 pm
Four Scored@1:14,
I agree with you in principle about extending rail. But given the accepted cost to build new heavy rail is $30 million per mile, and just $65 million in the capital improvement fund, your not going to get very far without state or federal help.
In reference to your mention of Disney’s monorail keep in mind, Disney has $100 per day per person ticket sales and its system was built in 1971 with only 14 miles of rail. It also has a 150,000 daily boardings vs. 450,000 for MARTA. Apples to oranges.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
4:06 pm
Peter, figure it out, comrade. Most of it is from morons like you.
Jackie, ok, now I know you are a liar. You asked me how far I lived from Chapel Hill. What does UNC being a rival, have to do with me? I lived near Duke. Make sense, Jokie?
professional skeptic, read my very first post. It explains everything about Chicago and Marta. Maybe you should ask some questions to the five idiots who harass other bloggers.
a former republican
April 8th, 2009
4:09 pm
catlady, i’m from rural south georgia and i know your pain however Marta isn’t asking for your tax money. Its asking to use the money it has as it feels appropriate. The bottom line is every corporation is allowed to create its own budget. The citizens of Fulton and Dekalb should determine if the leaders are inadequate and handle that if that is the case. Please don’t risk the quality of life for citizens because of these perceptions.
Wells
April 8th, 2009
4:09 pm
Atlanta is far to spread out for Marta to be efficient.
I am ashamed CommunistAJC graduated from my alma mater.
jewcowboy
April 8th, 2009
4:11 pm
I also think it would be a good idea to shut down the CTA trains in Chicago, and shift all the funding to building roads there and adding buses. A nice quadruple stacked I90 and 55, and make sure you build a 28 lane Lake Shore Drive.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
4:13 pm
Jackie, which building are you talking about? Duke Chapel or Cameron Stadium?
Peter
April 8th, 2009
4:15 pm
Poor Communist Saddam…….Can’t get his point across very clearly…..thus all the name calling.
Amazing he attempts to represent the fine Graduates, from the fine institutions he mentions in passing on this blog.
So you live in Chicago, and want to comment on Atlanta..we get it, but also realize you are no longer relevant in talking about Atlanta, Marta, or anything having to do with the state of Georgia.
You are just a guy who has been kicked off blogs in your own state, and other places, thus you Blog here in Atlanta . Thank you for the update !
We also Know you feel as Saddam did…….“I didn’t provoke them and yet they attacked me first.”
Gosh……. Just like what Good Old George Bush did to Iraq !
Best of luck to you and your home country !
Jackie
April 8th, 2009
4:17 pm
@CommunistAJC
I do not think there is anything further to say to you about your perceived education record. You don’t even know the city of the university from which you graduated. Further you know NOTHING about the state in which the city is located.
Are you not ashamed to continue posting. Everyone knows that your flatulation is extensive.
I digress, as this discussion should be about MARTA and the effect it has on the city, of which you do not live.
CommunistAJC
April 8th, 2009
4:18 pm
Peter, you’s to funny comrade. My parents live in Atlanta so I guess I can blog anytime I want, comrade. Also, I’ve only been kicked off of one blog and that was nanny Bookmans.