Henry County Wants MARTA (Atlanta, Macon: house, schools, taxes)

[afdinatl]

Originally Posted by demonta4

Which is why I said Express Service. They can have busses that serve major roads and then takes the interstate to a train station. They certainly aren't going to fund an HRT or extensive bus line down there.

All im saying is in the next 15 years that the metro is going to gain close to 3 million people. All those people cant fit ITP and on the northside. HC is looking ahead. They know they can get a good portion of those people that will be moving here. Plus they have plenty of undeveloped land to build on for more tax revenue. The only bad part is HC is far away from most of the jobs ITP. Most people will be like "HC is cool but it is too far from my job in Dunwoody/etc" and HC can counter that by saying "Just take MARTA" People in HC will drive to Downtown/Midtown for work but once you go north from Buckhead on up people generally do not want to drive that far to work from HC. That guy is just doing what anyone with a little common sense should be doing and that is to join our regional transportation network. If people want to think MARTA will not benefit HC then so be it.

[afdinatl]

No disrespect to anyone on here but thinking that HC doesn't need rail service is "country bumpkin" thinking as a Ny'er would say. There are plenty of places outside of DC and NYC that have commuter rail to the city. I'm sure you all would prefer for HC residents to ride a horse to work every morning but we have to think for the future

[cqholt]

This may not become a reality, but it shows MARTA is making good decisions and changing it's reputation. County leaders now see that MARTA is a good steward of public money and transit provides another layer of transportation and economic development.

[GA5mom]

OMG, ride a horse to work, that made me LOL. I think people from Henry would drive to Clayton to hop on a train to the northside, but they would not want it running to the county. Much of the county is rural and undeveloped (one of the many things I love about it is its wide open spaces). It think MARTA's money would be better spent in Clayton and northward or PTC has more people commuting to ATL than HC I would suspect. I just don't think it makes sense here anytime soon. Not saying it would never be needed here, but not for another 20 years. There are GRTA park & ride express bus stops in McDonough, Hampton, and Stockbridge currently that people use. If the DOT doesn't even think we need 4 free lanes of interstate, why would we need MARTA? I would prefer the interstate be made more adequate before anything else.

[afdinatl]

Does anyone on here know what "preparing for the future" means?

[GA5mom]

Yes, sure. But the traffic crisis and the much larger population on the north side should be addressed first. Can MARTA spread in every direction all at once? I'm not opposed to preparing for the future of course, and maybe MARTA should/could be part of that, but I do think it is important the roads in HC & 75 are given attention first. If it was part of ATL to Macon rail, that would have a better chance of success IMO. However, HC leadership is super slow to act, so I would imagine any sort of action would be painfully long and drawn out. Commissioner Holmes alone will not bring MARTA here. (PS-I do like what he's done for north Henry, not knocking him. He is a good advocate for that area.)

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by GA5mom

Yes, sure. But the traffic crisis and the much larger population on the north side should be addressed first. Can MARTA spread in every direction all at once? I'm not opposed to preparing for the future of course, and maybe MARTA should/could be part of that, but I do think it is important the roads in HC & 75 are given attention first. If it was part of ATL to Macon rail, that would have a better chance of success IMO. However, HC leadership is super slow to act, so I would imagine any sort of action would be painfully long and drawn out. Commissioner Holmes alone will not bring MARTA here. (PS-I do like what he's done for north Henry, not knocking him. He is a good advocate for that area.)

Well, I mean, is there a particular reason why it couldn't? Given adequate funding, MARTA could theoretically go about finishing all of it's studies and engineering work, and begin construction as soon as that was done on all its planned expansions, all at the same time.

Notice how Clayton rail isn't ever mentioned as part of the $8 Bil. expansion efforts. That's because it already has a funding source, and can continue study and design work without interfering with the other plans.

Henry would be very similar, in that they would probably do a similar deal since Clayton has set the precedent.

Of course, as others have pointed out, Henry Co. won't draw quite the same amount of revenue, which will limit how its build out might take place. The real question then, would be, if the state would be ready to offer funding to help NS increase freight capacity, while negotiating commuter / inter-city rail, how willing the Feds would be to backing MARTA's & the State's funds, and how much can be saved by using the facilities planned to be built for Clayton.

All of this is in the future, though, and as you point out, it probably won't happen for a while. It WOULD be nice, however, if this could be negotiated right after Clayton Co. is, to keep momentum with NS on accepting transit onto their land. It would streamline things if we could just go from one construction project laying rail to the next.

[arjay57]

If Henry is ready to strap on an additional 1% tax I say let them do it.

It does seem like counties that are joining MARTA 50 years after the fact should make some kind of one time catch up payment. I realize a lot of their residents have probably been paying into MARTA already but there's bound to be a gap from what they would have owed if they'd joined at the beginning.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by arjay57

If Henry is ready to strap on an additional 1% tax I say let them do it.

It does seem like counties that are joining MARTA 50 years after the fact should make some kind of one time catch up payment. I realize a lot of their residents have probably been paying into MARTA already but there's bound to be a gap from what they would have owed if they'd joined at the beginning.

That's the fastest way to discourage them from joining.

[thedudewiththeplan]

Actually GA5mom, PTC would be the last place to ever approve Marta. Very anti-transit population and govt. Not that long ago they even voted down shuttle buses for the elderly and disabled.