Reed: 'I don't believe there's the will' to build a Downtown transportation terminal in the next four years (Atlanta: neighborhoods, live)

[Atlwarrior]

I agree you lives in a fools world if you expected the State of Georgia became Pro Atlanta Transit project overnight.

[AcidSnake]

Mayor Reed is right on the marker. America has been cursed with neoliberal/supply-side insanity for the last 30 something years since the end of the Reagan era.

In this environment the money is simply not there to dream big.

It's all in the hands of the billionaires and other assorted CEOs and executives...who have been able to creatively come up with ways to trick everyday Joe-the-Plumber Americans out of undermining their own worth in the labor market.

Can't wait for the day that common Americans wake up to this bizarro nightmare and take back their country from the crony capitalists.

Then it wouldn't be so hard to come up with the will(and money) to build major public works projects for the common good.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

He's seeing clearly. There is no HSR coming in the foreseeable future. There is no regional rail. Only one Amtrak line. To build it now would truly be a "Field of Dreams" kind of a project.

Exactly. Its really an idiotic project until it has some transit going there.

[AnsleyPark]

It's not lame at all. It's economic reality.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

They did the MOST tax for water and sewer, now they need to do the same thing for all the other infrastructure.

I will probably vote for the bond issue but I'm not sure how much difference it will make. The city has a backlog of $1 billion in overdue maintenance and the bond issue will likely be around $200-250 million. So we won't be able to do much more than scratch the surface.

[bhammaster]

I wonder how many people mad even live ITP.

[alco89]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I will probably vote for the bond issue but I'm not sure how much difference it will make. The city has a backlog of $1 billion in overdue maintenance and the bond issue will likely be around $200-250 million. So we won't be able to do much more than scratch the surface.

Is it really $1 billion?

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I will probably vote for the bond issue but I'm not sure how much difference it will make. The city has a backlog of $1 billion in overdue maintenance and the bond issue will likely be around $200-250 million. So we won't be able to do much more than scratch the surface.

Well since it isn't a single project, but projects on a small scale all over town, I would use a pay as you go approach and not make bonds. Then all of the money goes straight to infrastructure and not debt service.

This analysis is slightly imperfect.

The 1% LOST tax in Fulton gives Atlanta (city) 42.87%. I'm going to make an assumption this is how much the city generates, which may not be true. In the 2014 budget they are expecting $102.9 million for the year, which is a slight increase over the following year to capture estimate growth.

Each year revenue should grow, but so will construction costs.

Needless to say for estimation purposes it is about $100m/year, so a 10 year- 1% sales tax should come pretty close to fixing the backlog, so long as the city can keep up its general budget and keep the list from growing.

There is potential long-term savings if this puts them on doing basic repair/maintenance before problems get worse and become more expensive.

The disadvantage is it is a pretty heavy sales tax load on the city. It would have the largest sales tax rate in the state. The advantage is everyone who spends money in Atlanta will be helping pay for the basic infrastructure they use to access the city.

Now at this point whether or not to go this route or do a bone issue, I think should be based on... if we fix all of the problems now at once, will there be cost savings later?

That answer depends on the repair cost of a single project in its current condition compared to how many years out that project would get funded. In other words if it will likely take 6 years for project X to get funded, will the conditions deteriorate so much it will cost 40% more to repair?

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by bhammaster

I wonder how many people mad even live ITP.

Well this is going to cause an uproar.

I geeked out on the last census data and used the populations of zip code. Most zip codes use The Perimeter as a border, but there are still many small inconsistencies

5-Digit USPS ZIP Code Boundary Map of Atlanta, Georgia :: MapTechnica

Using the data from the 2010 census

743,554 live ITP.

Judging from the small inconsistencies that number should be a smidgen higher, but probably easily within 30,000 (being liberal).

I always thought it would be closer to 1 million :/ There is a huge amount of dead space ITP in the southeast.

[GeorgiaLakeSearch]

Originally Posted by stillinthesouth

"Everything I'm working on right now I base upon a schedule that ends in the next four years."

What a lame statement. I'm less impressed with this mayor every day.

Why because Mayor Reed isn't full of crap like most politicians?