The Atlanta mass transit system has the unfortunate distinction of being the only major mass transit system in the country with no state funding. It is currently funded via sales tax in the three metro counties with service. Tomorrow (tue 3/19) there's a referendum to bring in another major county (Gwinnett) to expand service dramatically.

Traffic in Atlanta is famously terrible, and major businesses have cited a lack of transit as a negative for the area. Expansion of transit in Atlanta has been notoriously fraught with racial politics, and tomorrow's referendum is not looking good.

https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na...318-story.html

I read this and say no State Funding? What about Federal Funding? Here in our city in Canada the funding is split between all three levels of government. Plus our province has a carbon tax that helps fund green . I just cant fathom a city paying for this themselves

The days of local government expecting federal handouts should be gone and over with. Why should someone in Oregon (for example) see their tax money going to fund a five-mile project that is nearly three thousand miles away and for which the Oregon taxpayer derives precisely zero benefit from?

Public transportation such as MARTA seems to be proposing funds itself through bonds and the nominal sales tax increase that impacts those in the affected area. The problem that tends to come into play is that the planners promise the world but all too often fail to deliver. We saw this in Austin where CapMetro screwed up light rail by shutting it down far too early when it could have done a good job of getting the drunks home after their night of partying downtown.

I have no idea about the efficiency and effectiveness of current MARTA operations...don't live there and have no plans to move to the Atlanta area. However, off-cycle elections are something that rarely works well if there is opposition to bond or other fiscal measures. Turnouts are often in the single-digit range and those that turnout are the ones most likely to be opposed to paying for something they won't use. Where the expense is justifiable, the entity pushing the measure gets it on a ballot for a cycle with good expected turnout...

Thing is, Gwinnett already has a local transit authority. It sucks, but instead of improving it internally, there is now this proposal to outsource public transportation to an outside authority (marta), with its own jurisdiction (they have their own police force, eg) and a setup designed for a dense, municipal environment (whereas Gwinnett is much more open and spaced out, the largest county by area in the state).

The proponents of the plan are selling it as a major traffic relief program, but that's a load of ****. There's no light rail, other than a connection that will only/mostly serve north Fulton County (paid for by Gwinnett). They want to sell a bunch of MARTA buses to Gwinnett, which will only increase traffic and driving delays because people with cars aren't going to start taking a bus instead.

Federal funding usually comes attached with strings, and frequently states, particularly in the South, don't like them.

OP cherry-picked quotes citing racial animus.

The article actually describes swaths of POC who oppose the measure.


Also,
consider this logic for just a moment.

There is no logic when it comes to the prospect of abandoning one’s single-occupancy vehicle.

Much easier for Gwinnett to improve as part of greater Atlanta since most of its transit issues revolve around commuting in and out of Atlanta anyway.

Even the light rail is more likely to be expanded under an unified public transport system.

lol, werewolf simply will not stand for someone accusing suburban redneck Boomers of being racist.

Quite a gotcha example you cited there. A black person who supports the idea is not what you think it is.

I would be happy to pay twice the proposed sales tax increase to have some rail connecting the various county municipalities, the county courthouse, and the county sports arenas, with bus service in each of the surrounding areas. What I don't want is bus service slowing down the already congested main thoroughfares.

If MARTA wants a cut, maybe they can split the costs of connecting their existing endpoint stations to the contemplated GCT ones.

Atlanta's roadways are ****, and its parking is obscene. Gwinnett does not have those problems because it is not as dense.

I don't understand why a 1% tax can only pay for infrastructure if it is under MARTA authority.

that was not an example, it was a separate point (thus the "also", not an "eg")

the examples are:

lol at that first quote above: "a black."

The opposition to expanding MARTA in to the suburbs has always been very much about racism. Cobb County has opposed it forever because they somehow think "black thugs" will hop on trains and commit crimes in lily white neighborhoods.

https://www.atlantamagazine.com/grea...ransportation/

It's not just MARTA, either. The highway system was designed to **** with black communities.

sorry bud, but it wasn't "a black.", it was "a black, 50-something"

when listing adjectives, you are supposed to put commas in between them



Consider: I have listed multiple reasons to oppose this particular proposal, all of which are completely race neutral, and some of which have been echo'ed by POC, yet still you are so sure that it is actually about race anyway.

Not sure where this came from, but it's nowhere close to the largest.


This logic seems sound to me. While it may not work for your particular circumstances, it will for many. Every person on the train or bus is one fewer car on the road. That would easily be worth the few hundred bucks a year in sales tax for me.

wow yeah, I was way wrong there, sorry

apparently also wrong on density (I thought Fulton > Gwinnett)

The problem is that EVERYONE uses this logic. Everyone thinks someone else is going to get out of their car and onto transit, and so nothing changes as long as cities don’t do anything to reduce demand for car-based commuting.

The lack of public transport makes getting around for people who can't drive nearly impossible. My epilepsy, which prohibits me from driving, would make living in most of America completely unrealistic. I was restricted to using Uber to get around Atlanta when I went there on a short vacation. Wasn't horrible for a vacation but is ridiculous for a living. It really threw a wrench in my trip to have to deal with that.

Any boost in public transport is beneficial to the community as a whole.

I would love it if MARTA was up here in Cobb County. I stay up in my little suburban bubble mainly because it's such a pain in the ass to drive into Atlanta. I feel fortunate I don't have to drive into the city for work. Being able to drive a few minutes to a train station and chill out for a commute or for a night out would be nice.

On rare occasions, I've driven to Sandy Springs to take MARTA into the city for a big sporting event or something. It was crowded as hell when near the arena/stadium, but still better than dealing with traffic and parking for major events.

As to the racism reasons for MARTA not being in the northern suburbs, pretty much every honest assessment/recounting of Atlanta history will tell you it was a MAJOR factor. Nowadays, people put forth other arguments like cost, which aren't necessarily invalid, but the racism factor still exists and it was very significant back when MARTA started.

This happens in every metro area in the US except I guess wherever notawerewolf's pack lived. I remember in the DC suburbs there was huge pushback at expanding the metro farther into the suburbs because people were afraid it would allow black people to take the metro in and steal your TV. Anyway the whole point of living in a white flight suburb is that privileged whites don't have to live near people of color.

Literally every white person I have ever talked to from Atlanta has informed me MARTA stands for Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta. Lol the south, always.

the vote failed, 54% against

https://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/lo...254ec809d.html


yup



and before everyone gets all "racist!" about it, note that former Gov. Nathan Deal and current County Sheriff Butch Conway (who proudly endorses ICE detainers and has consulted with Trump on the same) & District Attorney Danny Porter (all Republicans) backed the plan

opposing the plan was the recently elected Solicitor General Brian Whiteside (Democrat)