State Bill Filed to Request Gwinnett MARTA Vote

[primaltech]

I swear to God, all MARTA would have to do to get Gwinnett and Cobb to join, is PRESENT AN OFFER to their populace. Just a small website or a large .PDF document to share on social media, with rough estimate figures and maps and renderings. You give us 1% sales tax, we can give you all this- and it could be multiple different options and configurations of service. Option 1A, 1B for commuter rail, 2A 2B for LRT, 3A 3B for BRT. With all of those options having very robust local and express bus service included. 1/2 penny for high capacity, 1/2 penny for buses, just like Clayton's deal. The people are so ready to look at the options and consider it. Cobb and Gwinnett are very diverse, in terms of race, income, politics, everything. It's not the 90's anymore. And the traffic in these counties is ridiculous, and only getting worse.

[skbl17]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I swear to God, all MARTA would have to do to get Gwinnett and Cobb to join, is PRESENT AN OFFER to their populace. Just a small website or a large .PDF document to share on social media, with rough estimate figures and maps and renderings. You give us 1% sales tax, we can give you all this- and it could be multiple different options and configurations of service. Option 1A, 1B for commuter rail, 2A 2B for LRT, 3A 3B for BRT. With all of those options having very robust local and express bus service included. 1/2 penny for high capacity, 1/2 penny for buses, just like Clayton's deal. The people are so ready to look at the options and consider it. Cobb and Gwinnett are very diverse, in terms of race, income, politics, everything. It's not the 90's anymore. And the traffic in these counties is ridiculous, and only getting worse.

Oh, the voters may want this, but do the county commissions want this? Remember, only the county commissions can call MARTA referendums. Are voters going to vote out commissioners based on their MARTA stance?

In Gwinnett, chairwoman Charlotte Nash has said that MARTA won't even be considered until there's a "consensus", whatever that means. For now, Gwinnett's taking the same approach to transit that it's recently taken with limited-access roads (Sugarloaf Pkwy., Ronald Reagan Pkwy.), see how much it would cost to build it all themselves instead of talking to MARTA.

In Cobb, Tim Lee's even more abrasive (I still remember the "purpose is not to move people into Cobb by rail from Atlanta" thing, and he's still pushing his non-MARTA Cobb Pkwy BRT project), but he's probably going to be kicked out of office next month. However, it's not like Tim Lee's being thrown out because people want MARTA or care enough to want a new MARTA vote. That's not to mention that even if Tim Lee leaves, there's no guarantee that the rest of the commission will suddenly become open to MARTA.

With Keith Parker preferring to focus on improvements in the current MARTA service area, I'm not seeing any movement on Cobb and Gwinnett joining MARTA until 2020 at the earliest.

- skbl17

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by skbl17

Oh, the voters may want this, but do the county commissions want this? Remember, only the county commissions can call MARTA referendums. Are voters going to vote out commissioners based on their MARTA stance?

In Gwinnett, chairwoman Charlotte Nash has said that MARTA won't even be considered until there's a "consensus", whatever that means. For now, Gwinnett's taking the same approach to transit that it's recently taken with limited-access roads (Sugarloaf Pkwy., Ronald Reagan Pkwy.), see how much it would cost to build it all themselves instead of talking to MARTA.

In Cobb, Tim Lee's even more abrasive (I still remember the "purpose is not to move people into Cobb by rail from Atlanta" thing, and he's still pushing his non-MARTA Cobb Pkwy BRT project), but he's probably going to be kicked out of office next month. However, it's not like Tim Lee's being thrown out because people want MARTA or care enough to want a new MARTA vote. That's not to mention that even if Tim Lee leaves, there's no guarantee that the rest of the commission will suddenly become open to MARTA.

With Keith Parker preferring to focus on improvements in the current MARTA service area, I'm not seeing any movement on Cobb and Gwinnett joining MARTA until 2020 at the earliest.

- skbl17

All of that is exactly why I'm suggesting what I'm suggesting. First MARTA needs to start the process, by building interest and excitement about it, from the ground up. Because, the populace is ultimately going to make the decision- not the county commissioners. They're going to apply pressure to get a vote on it, and they're going to vote for or against it, when that vote does come. If the public overwhelmingly wants MARTA, but the commission refuses to allow the vote, especially if there's an organization effort there, the public will replace those people with leaders that will allow the vote. We saw all that in Clayton: the ground level excitement building, and the organization and involvement that pro-transit people in Clayton used to get the county leaders eventually on board.

[fieldm]

If they like sitting on 85 daily then I love it

[tikigod311]

Im just getting to the point that I really don't care what people do outside 285. Im not a suburbs hater, I actually quite like the world OTP, but it's nowhere in the realm of being my problem.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I swear to God, all MARTA would have to do to get Gwinnett and Cobb to join, is PRESENT AN OFFER to their populace. Just a small website or a large .PDF document to share on social media, with rough estimate figures and maps and renderings. You give us 1% sales tax, we can give you all this- and it could be multiple different options and configurations of service. Option 1A, 1B for commuter rail, 2A 2B for LRT, 3A 3B for BRT. With all of those options having very robust local and express bus service included. 1/2 penny for high capacity, 1/2 penny for buses, just like Clayton's deal. The people are so ready to look at the options and consider it. Cobb and Gwinnett are very diverse, in terms of race, income, politics, everything. It's not the 90's anymore. And the traffic in these counties is ridiculous, and only getting worse.

But this assumes that we are dealing with populations who don't have a blind hatred towards any form of transit that doesn't involve a personal motor vehicle.

Originally Posted by skbl17

Oh, the voters may want this, but do the county commissions want this? Remember, only the county commissions can call MARTA referendums. Are voters going to vote out commissioners based on their MARTA stance?

In Gwinnett, chairwoman Charlotte Nash has said that MARTA won't even be considered until there's a "consensus", whatever that means. For now, Gwinnett's taking the same approach to transit that it's recently taken with limited-access roads (Sugarloaf Pkwy., Ronald Reagan Pkwy.), see how much it would cost to build it all themselves instead of talking to MARTA.

In Cobb, Tim Lee's even more abrasive (I still remember the "purpose is not to move people into Cobb by rail from Atlanta" thing, and he's still pushing his non-MARTA Cobb Pkwy BRT project), but he's probably going to be kicked out of office next month. However, it's not like Tim Lee's being thrown out because people want MARTA or care enough to want a new MARTA vote. That's not to mention that even if Tim Lee leaves, there's no guarantee that the rest of the commission will suddenly become open to MARTA.

With Keith Parker preferring to focus on improvements in the current MARTA service area, I'm not seeing any movement on Cobb and Gwinnett joining MARTA until 2020 at the earliest.

- skbl17

It's okay. Let 'em choke on fumes.

Gwinnett will probably join MARTA in or before 2024, and Cobb sometime soon after that.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

But this assumes that we are dealing with populations who don't have a blind hatred towards any form of transit that doesn't involve a personal motor vehicle.

Yes. That would be a totally correct assumption. I live in Cobb and I want very badly for us to join MARTA. I lived in Gwinnett for a long time, and Fulton, and I know tons of people over there in Gwinnett who are for it, and I know some people in Cobb who are.

Yes, there are those people you mention, there are always idiot loudmouths, but they're not a majority by any means. They're just a vocal minority, mainly in the bucket of stupid that is the AJC comments section.

It's your middle of the road people are really the kind of people who are important in this, they are not asking for MARTA but could be open to being swayed. So that's why MARTA needs to be trying to sway them.

I'm just not agreeing with this whole strategy of, we (MARTA) are so scared of being seen as disrespecting the county leaders, that we can't even state how/what joining MARTA would even benefit their county. That's ridiculous. I'm not saying actively go crazy with campaigning, I'm just saying produce a sales pitch, let the people themselves talk about it and share it and debate it. Right now, there's no damn sales pitch.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Yes. That would be a totally correct assumption. I live in Cobb and I want very badly for us to join MARTA. I lived in Gwinnett for a long time, and Fulton, and I know tons of people over there in Gwinnett who are for it, and I know some people in Cobb who are.

Yes, there are those people you mention, there are always idiot loudmouths, but they're not a majority by any means. They're just a vocal minority, mainly in the bucket of stupid that is the AJC comments section.

IDK. You saw how well things worked out in North Fulton--and their residents generally favor transit expansion, as they already pay the existing sales tax.

It's your middle of the road people are really the kind of people who are important in this, they are not asking for MARTA but could be open to being swayed. So that's why MARTA needs to be trying to sway them.

I'm just not agreeing with this whole strategy of, we (MARTA) are so scared of being seen as disrespecting the county leaders, that we can't even state how/what joining MARTA would even benefit their county. That's ridiculous. I'm not saying actively go crazy with campaigning, I'm just saying produce a sales pitch, let the people themselves talk about it and share it and debate it. Right now, there's no damn sales pitch.

I know there are plenty of decent people in Cobb and Gwinnett who want, need, and deserve MARTA. But in addition to the problems I mentioned above, you have this.