Our Legislators Are Afraid of the Speaker and the Governor
Last Saturday I had the opportunity to speak individually with six different legislators at a political gathering, several of whom are in leadership positions in the Georgia General Assembly.
They all expressed dislike of the way the project list for the T-SPLOST was developed and hoped it was voted down. My response was to advocate repeal of HB277 and starting over, first by fixing the real problem: a dysfunctional DOT, and by specifying transportation priorities with congestion relief at the top and by eliminating the movement to regional governance. The universal reaction to fixing the DOT seemed like I was asking them to date a pretty girl who has AIDS.
Their response universally was that they couldn’t go directly against the speaker and the governor. "First, we have to allow the measure to fail, letting the public prove the speaker and the governor were wrong." Then, perhaps they can cobble together some kind of “Plan B.” I have gotten this same response from other legislative “leaders” in visits to the Capitol.
Passage of the T-SPLOST will be a major disaster, but voting it down will still also be a disaster for the state of Georgia. Our legislature should be focused on fixing
the mess that it created before it is a disaster for the state. Proving political points or staying politically “safe” should be secondary.
One of the candidates for Cobb County Commission Chairman wrote the following about the T-SPLOST project selection process:
“(Atlanta Regional Commission) personnel have provided support and advice to Roundtable members. ARC is not covered by ethics laws,” he writes. “ARC has an ethics policy but it evidently is not enforced. The Chairman of ARC (Tad Leithead of east Cobb) is a career real estate investor. Also Chairman of the Cumberland CID, he has labored long and aggressively to get taxpayer funding for a light rail system to connect Cumberland CID to Town Center CID and such a plan has long been part of the ARC agenda. Thus, one of the most expensive projects in the Atlanta Region’s list is based on the self-interest of commercial property owners.”
The T-SPLOST is not in the best interest of the citizens of North Fulton, nor of any other metro Atlanta suburban area. We must vote it down.
Catherine S
9:13 am on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Please read the following summary, from Feb. 15 2012, of a new study detailing the commuting habits of lower income individuals from National Center For Policy Analysis http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21603. It is highly relevant to T-SPLOST and the Fulton County transportation projects issues. You can link to the detailed study via the summary. Mr. Lowry is right, we must vote NO on T-SPLOST.
No Name
3:13 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012
Are you surprised? We have raised several generations of passive Americans who are 1) completely devoid of the true understanding of American history and civics, and 2) lack the spine to address problems once educated. This is not representation, folks. Welcome to Ameritopia.
Mike Kennedy
4:33 pm on Thursday, February 16, 2012
"Eliminating the movement to regional governance"??? Surely you don't think the current funding formula for and governance of MARTA is optimal, do you?
Chris P.
9:36 am on Monday, February 20, 2012
There is definitely something odd about the lack of any coherent message coming out of the legislature. At one point last year they were talking about moving the vote to November so that there would be wider voter participation.
As it stands now, the vote is scheduled for late July when many will be on summer vacation. Turnout will probably be minuscule, allowing for an energetic minority to impose their will on the rest of the state. As No Name pointed out, we get the government we deserve when we don't participate and take the time to understand the issues.
Passivity may be what these guys are counting on. I say vote No. Most of these projects are ill-conceived and don't really solve transportation problems. For example, how about restoring the bus service that was eliminated last year by Cobb County instead of spending hundreds of millions to extend light rail to only the extreme southern portion of the county?