North Fulton Wants 'All Aboard' for MARTA Expansion

[Born 2 Roll]

North Fulton also may not necessarily be the only outlying area that wants 'All Aboard' for MARTA expansion.

On Tuesday at the Georgia Transportation Summit in Athens, Georgia Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, who is the early favorite in the 2018 Gubernatorial Campaign, hinted at some type of state intervention into MARTA in the form of a possible state-led reorganization of MARTA.

From Tuesday's "Political Insider" blog in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

The lieutenant governor pointed to Cobb and Forsyth counties, whose voters recently voted to extend (in Cobb) a sales tax or (in Forsyth) approved a bond referendum aimed at transportation fixes. He spoke of establishing an infrastructure bank to pay for big ticket fixes. But then Cagle said this:

“But I will tell you, too, we cannot avoid the issue of transit as well. I believe very strongly that we have an infrastructure that exists with MARTA that can be capitalized on. But in the same way that we saw with Grady [Memorial Hospital], Grady did not have a sustainable financial model. And it needed to be reorganized and reconstituted in a way that created an opportunity….”

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2014/12...ue-of-transit/

Lt. Governor Cagle's comments illustrate that some type of state intervention into MARTA (whether in the form of a forced state takeover of MARTA at the behest of transit-hungry business interests in North Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett counties, or a more friendly type of large-scale partnering with the agency by the state) is not necessarily as improbable as it may have seemed in the past.

With the 21st Century real estate market and overall business environment increasingly emphasizing access to transit, traditionally transit-averse OTP suburbanites (particularly in North Fulton, Cobb and Gwinnett) suddenly have much more of a close interest in a transit agency like MARTA than they did in years' past when highway access was the geographical factor that drove and dominated the Metro Atlanta real estate market.

The political interests in Fulton and DeKalb counties that have controlled MARTA for the first four-and-a-half decades of the transit agency's existence need to be aware that their political control of MARTA may not be as firm as it may seem to be to many, even with the addition of Clayton County to the transit agency.

[jsvh]

Good thoughts Born 2 Roll, I will be interested in seeing what they propose. The Gov and Lt Gov are being a bit coy so far. I almost read the MARTA comments as that they are reconsidering the funding source, maybe something more than just a sales tax. Of course it is all speculation at this point.

[jero23]

The addition of Clayton County is showing that MARTA is a desirable entity.

[SLIMMACKEY]

Originally Posted by aries4118

Medical Center

OK so thats 3. Thanks

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by jero23

The addition of Clayton County is showing that MARTA is a desirable entity.

I think once Clayton gets enhanced transit service, it'll entice other counties. The proposed bus service is already better than cct and gct.

[arjay57]

Rock on, North Fulton.