AJC Atlanta Forward: "No new taxes for roads"

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by bu2

TSPLOST was just badly done. There was no leadership. It was abdication of leadership. There was no plan. It was really backwards. They figured out how they could raise money and then everybody tried to grab their piece of the pie. I expected to vote yes, but those promoting it convinced me to switch my vote to no.

This time, they are at least talking about needs in general terms before talking about revenue increases, rather than talking about money and then figuring out how to spend it.

This is a common opinion, but the real problem is the populace doesn't follow what is going on in regional planning.

Most all of the projects were on a list of well planned regional projects needed by 2040 in the Atlanta area.

The problem is a single 10-year sales tax can not be a single silver bullet for what is covered in a 30 year-plan. It also has to be projects scattered throughout the area, since it is a regional tax.

If you considered that the tax was renewed 2 times and a few other smaller funding sources were found, it would have actually substantially helped build a well planned regional system.

So I amount this to be a flaw in communication, people not paying attention to other planning, and people expecting too much out of too small/too short of a single tax. However, the projects are on region's larger transportation plan using the best coordinated regional data we have available.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

This is a common opinion, but the real problem is the populace doesn't follow what is going on in regional planning.

Most all of the projects were on a list of well planned regional projects needed by 2040 in the Atlanta area.

The problem is a single 10-year sales tax can not be a single silver bullet for what is covered in a 30 year-plan. It also has to be projects scattered throughout the area, since it is a regional tax.

If you considered that the tax was renewed 2 times and a few other smaller funding sources were found, it would have actually substantially helped build a well planned regional system.

So I amount this to be a flaw in communication, people not paying attention to other planning, and people expecting too much out of too small/too short of a single tax. However, the projects are on region's larger transportation plan using the best coordinated regional data we have available.

I saw a number of projects pop up that didn't exist even in planning or get totally changed during the negotiations. One of the worst examples (and I don't remember if it got cut or made the final list) was the HRT to Turner Field. That came out of nowhere. The Beltline project was totally changed into downtown streetcars just before the project selection started when it had been a circular route in planning. And prioritization was based on 5 politicians. You had Reed and DeKalb commissioners (and maybe others) throwing temper tantrums and threatening to shut down everything if they didn't get their way. These were not insignificant changes-these were billions of $. It was not a communication failure, although the politicians may claim that.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by bu2

I saw a number of projects pop up that didn't exist even in planning or get totally changed during the negotiations. One of the worst examples (and I don't remember if it got cut or made the final list) was the HRT to Turner Field. That came out of nowhere. The Beltline project was totally changed into downtown streetcars just before the project selection started when it had been a circular route in planning. And prioritization was based on 5 politicians. You had Reed and DeKalb commissioners (and maybe others) throwing temper tantrums and threatening to shut down everything if they didn't get their way. These were not insignificant changes-these were billions of $. It was not a communication failure, although the politicians may claim that.

But this is exactly that communication/public knowledge problem I have been referring to.

Beltline planning is not regional planning. They plan their TAD and projects within the city of Atlanta, but they are also a piece of planning within the city and the region.

Regional planning didn't change. The city had already planned the streetcar system. Concept3 and the ARC had already taken both approaches into consideration.

The only thing TSPLOST did was take a portion of the Atlanta streetcar and a portion of the Betline and put them on the same line-item. Regionally, both approaches were in the regional plans. To be honest they need to be merged as they are the same type of technology, even if the Beltline is mostly grade-separated.

There was also nothing on the list to Turner Field, so I guess that did some out of nowhere....