Atlanta Streetcar (Downtown Loop) progress (Boston: tech jobs, move, authority)

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Yep, Atlantans will never ever care about their community.
I'm not moving to New York just to ride trains despite what people who know me may think. The lack of transit and the failure of T-SPLOST is only the tip of the iceberg. Frankly, people are selfish. A lot of Atlanta's problems could have been solved years ago just by cooperation, but instead it was me me me, and today, we have a mess and no willingness to fix it except by a select few who are ridiculed by others. This goes beyond mobility. There's intense and public bigotry, and attitudes that should have died out forty years ago. I'm certainly not going to raise a family in a selfish, bigoted environment such as what we have now. There's a little bit of hope, but not much, and I'd like to return someday, but unless things turn around, I won't.

if it's any consolation, look at this forum. about 90% are open to transit projects and then you have 10% of the people which are very stubborn about the idea. i wouldn't say that the people around here are selfish, but they certainly trust the government a lot less than they do in NYC. despite the shortcomings, i view that as overall a positive thing to have because it makes the government much more accountable for its actions and thus we as a community have more say on what goes on down here. for example, it didn't work out so well with the t-splost, but look at what happened to the novare building on 6th and juniper when people complained— the project was redesigned to include street level activity on all sides. the same thing happened with georgia tech trying to buy the old crum and forster building and ruin it— we rejected the idea because it involved destroying all but the façade of the building.

view this as a contrast to NYC, where the mayor pretty much has free reign to trample on peoples' civil rights as he pleases, intentionally making manhattan more and more exclusive by the year to bring in higher taxes, and then micromanaging peoples' lives by banning soft drinks larger than 16 ounces, trans fat, excessive salt in food, baby formula, etc.

all i'm saying is that yes, you'll find that projects are a lot easier to complete in NYC, but at the same time there are a lot of drawbacks to that as well.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Buses aren't permanent, rails are. It can take almost as much to rip out a rail line as installing it in the first place, whereas a bus route can be discontinued at a whim, and it's still not as efficient as rail service.

I think they just paved over the former Atlanta streetcar rail lines. I remember when they were digging up Hemphill near Georgia Tech for some reason and they were pulling out long steel rails from what was the streetcar line.

If rail service was more efficient, we'd be putting in more rail.

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

Only about 600,000 a year go to one of those major tourist sites. If you capture 50% of those visitors, you are talking about a ridership of less than 1,000 a day. Add in a few lazy college students who will soon realize there is no time savings in this thing and you have a colossal waste of money. Buy 2 nice buses, dress them up as trolleys and I just saved you $89+ million.

Have you seen all the development around Edgewood?Have you seen how all the thugs and drug dealers hanging around that were there just 3 years ago are gone?Funny how those buses that used to run up and down edgewood did not spur any development before.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

haven't you said previously that you would support such an effort if it was labelled as such?

If it offered a good return on investment. This line is a joke and will accomplish nothing. What does it connect? Really. NOTHING.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by afonega1

Have you seen all the development around Edgewood?Have you seen how all the thugs and drug dealers hanging around that were there just 3 years ago are gone?Funny how those buses that used to run up and down edgewood did not spur any development before.

And the rail has spurred development? Oh wait. There is no rail. Hmmm... Maybe government should stop interfering and let the free market work. It does work.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

If it offered a good return on investment. This line is a joke and will accomplish nothing. What does it connect? Really. NOTHING.

Before now, you were just an annoying gadfly, but now you're trolling. Any mentally impaired third grader could look at the rail route and see that it connects two major tourist areas.

[shivtim]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

And the rail has spurred development? Oh wait. There is no rail. Hmmm... Maybe government should stop interfering and let the free market work. It does work.

I agree, the government should stop interfering. No public money for rail projects. Also no money for roads or sidewalks, and no more wasting electricity on silly things like traffic lights and street lights. Let the free market build our transportation system. We'll all be much better off.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by JPD

Before now, you were just an annoying gadfly, but now you're trolling. Any mentally impaired third grader could look at the rail route and see that it connects two major tourist areas.

I've debunked that. One of the "major tourist areas" is anything but major.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by shivtim

I agree, the government should stop interfering. No public money for rail projects. Also no money for roads or sidewalks, and no more wasting electricity on silly things like traffic lights and street lights. Let the free market build our transportation system. We'll all be much better off.

Money for rail projects that solve transportation needs or link areas that need connecting. This is painfully obvious that these areas don't need a $90 million trolley running between the two. The same project could've been completed for less than $5 million using nice stops and bus transit. However, this isn't popular because it isn't cool? I wasn't aware a transportation system needed to be cool. If it is effective it is effective. Surely the flexibility of bus transit beats the permanence of a $90 million, 2 mile streetcar system that doesn't link anything. What happens when ridership is low? Nothing. You are stuck with $90 million in sunk costs. There is no flexibility. There is no turning back. You are stuck with a SLOW ride sharing traffic with cars along a route that doesn't facilitate any substantial movement of people.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

I've debunked that. One of the "major tourist areas" is anything but major.

Not major by Eiffel Tower standards, but major for Atlanta. You've debunked nothing.