Facing $30 million budget deficit, Cobb County commission gives direction to decrease library, transit funding (Atlanta: theatre, public school)

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I doubt anybody in Cobb county would notice if the transit budget was cut.

But there's really nothing worse you can do for a community than to cut libraries and parks. Those are things that the big earning tax base covets, and if you alienate them, then you've got huge issues. No wealthy person wants to live in an area with struggling libraries or crummy parks.

I'm sure the people who make up the 2.8 Million trips annually on Cobb Linc buses would notice.

Originally Posted by primaltech

CCT is the absolute worst. It was the "throw them a bone" solution back when it was founded in 1989 when the county was all full grown and in need of transit. If it hadn't have been created (and if the also-weak and underfunded GRTA had not been created a decade later), and Cobb had no public transit at all, then the public fury to join MARTA (and get actually good transit) would have escalated to a boil, and we'd have MARTA. Instead of the barely-existent non-comprehensive non-rapid bus-only transit non-solution that we have now.

MARTA should have been the only option in the first place.

Help us fight for this in the Transit 4 Cobb Campaign. We're slowly ramping up efforts and will need help from residents to push forward bringing MARTA to the county.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

Help us fight for this in the Transit 4 Cobb Campaign. We're slowly ramping up efforts and will need help from residents to push forward bringing MARTA to the county.

I signed up and you have my 100% support. You know that.

Thanks for your efforts, but Cobb leadership are the ones with the power. We can't vote on any kind of referendum unless someone lets us.

And a big fat good luck getting progressive Democratic leaders at the helm in Cobb County.

[glovenyc]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

I'm sure the people who make up the 2.8 Million trips annually on Cobb Linc buses would notice.




Help us fight for this in the Transit 4 Cobb Campaign. We're slowly ramping up efforts and will need help from residents to push forward bringing MARTA to the county.

Thanks...just signed up

[jero23]

Oh so, this is what happens when you decide to divert county funds towards a boondoogle of a baseball stadium. Oh well!

[whodean]

The Cobb general fund pays $6.4mil per year for Sintrust park related expenses, so it's only 1/5 of the supposed budget shortfall (and the county realizes much more than $6.4mil positive impact from STP).

Boyce wants to raise taxes, this is his way of attempting to bend public will for his taxes.

[JOinGA]

Originally Posted by whodean

The Cobb general fund pays $6.4mil per year for Sintrust park related expenses, so it's only 1/5 of the supposed budget shortfall (and the county realizes much more than $6.4mil positive impact from STP).

Boyce wants to raise taxes, this is his way of attempting to bend public will for his taxes.

The school district is doing the same thing. They want to get rid of the senior property tax exemption and they are going to squeeze teacher pay for political leverage.

[HayateWind]

I'd want to know what the leaders of Cobb County think the future is. Not just transportation-wise (There's a pretty big statement all along I-75 now) but for their schools and cities and business. What are their priorities? And if one of them is turning Cumberland into the district they want it to be, why not embrace urbanism? Look at Tyson's Corner in DC and how the Silver Line is changing the face of the neighborhood.

[Tarzanman]

Originally Posted by HayateWind

I'd want to know what the leaders of Cobb County think the future is. Not just transportation-wise (There's a pretty big statement all along I-75 now) but for their schools and cities and business. What are their priorities? And if one of them is turning Cumberland into the district they want it to be, why not embrace urbanism? Look at Tyson's Corner in DC and how the Silver Line is changing the face of the neighborhood.

Apples and oranges. Median household income in Tyson's corner, VA is over $100,000/yr. It is $64,000 in Cobb county. I used to live in Fairfax County (as a kid), and I can personally attest to the fact that the area is nowhere near as regressive nor poorly educated as Cobb County. Also, Fairfax Co. is 40% more densely populated with a lower unemployment rate.

It would take much more than a transit initiative to replicate these conditions in Cobb county.

[Need4Camaro]

Facing $30 million budget deficit, Cobb County commission gives direction to decrease library, transit funding

Wait.. Cobb County has transit?

[whodean]

Originally Posted by Tarzanman

poorly educated as Cobb County

Buddy, if you believe Cobb is poorly educated you must really look down your nose at the rest of Atlana and the entire state of Georgia.