For Transit Relief, Congested Atlanta Ponders a Penny Tax

[alp227]

Commuters battling traffic in the Bay Area or New York might protest, but Atlanta-area traffic seems to be uniquely awful.

For more than a decade, Atlanta has been among the fastest-growing regions in the country, but the road and rail system in a state that ranks 49th in per capita transportation spending just could not keep up.

Hourlong commutes are common, and more than 80 percent of commuters drive alone. Only 5 percent make use of the region’s limited train and bus systems, according to research by the Brookings Institution.

This month, Atlanta-area voters are being asked to approve an ambitious fix that would raise $8.5 billion by adding a penny to the sales tax for 10 years.

(...)

Hundreds of companies — including Coca-Cola, the Weather Channel and the Cook’s Warehouse, a local kitchen shop — have pledged support, saying the region’s transportation hurts business and arguing that the new projects would create jobs. Public transit and bicycling advocates like the proposal because 52 percent of the money would be dedicated to public transit.

(...)

Other opponents include some members of the N.A.A.C.P., who argue that too few of the projects would help poor, largely black parts of the region, and the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club, which says the project list puts too much emphasis on roads.

The Georgia Tea Party Patriots have been battling the proposal, calling it “the largest single tax increase in Georgia history” and contending it is full of special-interest projects and based on faulty assumptions about how traffic can best be fixed.

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/us/atlanta-area-residents-to-vote-on-tax-for-transportation.html?pagewanted=all

Both the NAACP and state Tea Party chapters oppose this tax? Strange bedfellows right there. (Remember 2 years back the spat after the NAACP issued a report about racist elements of the Tea Party, but the Tea Party over-reacted and mis-interpreted the study as a sweeping smear of the TP?)

[greymattermom]

1. The work is mostly north of the perimeter

Especially at Ashford-Dunwoody and 285. This will help MARTA, but it's in the part of town affectionately known as the "great white north".

[wilt the stilt]

2. I live close to 285 and Dunwoody.

I am 5 miles outside the Perimeter. There is no way in hell I am voting for this. We are moving in 2-3 years. we hate it here. I couldn't give a rat's ass what happens to this shithole.

Here is why i hate this place. My son and daughter both go to UGA. As anyone knows it is tough to get in there. My son is in a frat. and they have 1 black member. The UGA crowd call their frat Delta Nig.

My son's best friend is black. He will not take him to fraternity row where they hang confederate flags and nooses.
My daughter sorority had one black person apply. she was really nice and she had the lowest scores of anyone applying.

[alp227]

3. Wait, is it still the 19th century over there? Confederate flags? Seriously?

What is up with subliminal bigotry on the rise among younger generations who did not see the Civil Rights Movement first hand? There's this mentality "I have a black friend, so racism is over" or "Barack Obama is president, racism is over" among the young folk and thus they always do the "la la la la I can't hear you" whenever they hear the very idea of white privilege or that some things like Confederate Flags have racist historical context.

Comedian Elon James White has said: "We act like 7-year-olds any time race is involved."

[Stuckinthebush]

4. It happens at many of the large, southern state universities

...and it is twisted.

I don't know why UGA and THe University of Alabama allow the greek system to have so much power. They should revoke the charters, confiscate the mansions (yes, mansions), and encourage students to find positive, social clubs to join. I was a fraternity member. Once a year or so we would raise money for a "cause". THe rest of the time we would drink, party, and cause trouble.

As for Atlanta, I agree, it is an insane place. I don't blame you for wanting to get out of there. It is way too big. Such a shame because the Atlanta of my childhood was rather cool. It grew too fast with little planning and is now just a sea of concrete and relatively unattractive buildings. I will say that I still enjoy Buckhead, VA Highlands, Decatur...but you just can't afford property there anymore.

Good luck.

[wilt the stilt]

5. I have been here 30 years

and my parents moved here in '73 so i also remember it when it was a 2 lane road into downtown and I worked at the atlanta hilton. When the Hyatt Regency was the tallest building downtown. We used to ride bicycles from Bike south out to West Jones Bridge park where i live now and all I could think is "Where the hell is this place".. Now it's close in. I have just never fit in here even though i i think Decatur and 5 points are OK. remember when decatur was a shit hole and you could buy a house for pittance.

[Stuckinthebush]

6. Yeah, I remember that!

Lived in Decatur in the 70s. Now, you can't get a house for less than half a million!