MARTA and public transportation

[kferq]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Um, the state allows MARTA to collect a one percent tax on every dollar spent in Fulton and DeKalb counties. (This special tax applies regardless of whether you live in Fulton or DeKalb). The state also gives MARTA authority to issue bonds and enter into complex financial arrangements. The state also gives MARTA authority to receive billions of dollars in federal transportation funds. The state also gives MARTA the power of eminent domain, which it has exercised to acquire huge tracts of extremely valuable real estate.

How many other agencies are granted that much power by the state?

And if the state of Georgia were to give additional direct grants to MARTA, from whom would the state collect those funds? The residents of Cobb, Forsyth, Muscogee and other counties which don't get any MARTA service and which may not want MARTA in the first place?

Really? That is lame. Every state agency gets the rights and privileges to perform the tasks for which they were created. DOT has all those powers! If there are not other agencies that have such powers it is because they do not need them to function. And we are supposed to be grateful for that?

Every local sales tax is paid by people who buy things in a particular place. People from Alabama spend a lot of money at Lenox Square. I guess we should let them have control over MARTA too!

The only reason that MARTA is required to be a state agency is because the state forbids it to do business otherwise. Because MARTA crosses local government lines, it was required by the legislature to be a state agency. The legislature could have let it be an independent agency. The GA legislature could allow Atlanta, Fulton and Dekalb to give permission to allow MARTA to receive local tax money, issue bonds, receive Federal money, and use eminent domain. The only reason those governments cannot do those things is the State prevents it.

The State government has chosen to keep control of MARTA, chosen not to spend transportation funds on transit, and chosen to be punitive in the way the over site is administered. They could choose differently. There are people who live in the area, pay the tax, use the service who are unhappy that the State keeps control without providing any useful service to the MARTA. They have a legitimate complaint that the State prevents them from running their own affairs.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by MattCW

I don't get and road service from roads way down deep in South Georgia, and I don't want them in the first place. Why should I pay for them?

You shouldn't, in my opinion. I prefer a user-pays system when it comes to transportation.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by kferq

Really? That is lame. Every state agency gets the rights and privileges to perform the tasks for which they were created. DOT has all those powers! If there are not other agencies that have such powers it is because they do not need them to function. And we are supposed to be grateful for that?

How about this idea. For starters, let's say MARTA advocates quit whining about "the state government won't give us more money!"

Instead, they push for MARTA to quit raising fares and cutting service, year after year. They draw the line on MARTA featherbedding its employees and its inefficient internal bureaucracy to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, year after year. They refuse to silently stand by while MARTA sits on incredibly valuable tracts of land it has acquired through eminent domain, year after year.

They push for transparency and provide a cogent explanation of how MARTA has managed to rack up a couple of billion dollars in deferred maintenance that will have to be dealt with before any substantial resources can be devoted to expansion.

They go to other metro counties and elsewhere around the state and make a convincing case that MARTA should get more or different funding. They demonstrate to skeptics that MARTA is in fact a good thing for them.

In short, they (a) get in gear about fixing existing problems and (b) make a positive, compelling factual case for funding. Instead of simply bellyaching that the state needs to give them more money. Year after year.