MARTA transit plan includes 21 miles of light rail (Atlanta: vs, bill)

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by cqholt

IMO I do not agree with Clifton Corridor or NW BeltLine (which City of Atlanta/ABI does not own and is an active railroad.)

I wish the city would have put a transit tax on the ballot to do the entire beltline and nothing else, and then another tax for the rest of the list. A complete beltline has a ton of potential for tying the system together and it would bring transit to every part if the city.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by autolycus25

I get where he's coming from, but the whole bit about the Clifton Corridor is just based on a mistake of reality. My understanding is that the amount designated for that project in the current More MARTA plans are based on MARTA already assuming federal matching funds. So this whole schtick of "hold a tiny portion of the money until the feds step in" is... well... BS. If CoA's contributions only amount to 20% of what is currently on the project list, the CoA will get 1/5 of the Clifton Corridor even with federal funds. At least that's the way I've interpreted things. Am I wrong?

Even the Technical Analysis anticipates federal matching for a lot of the projects, see page 13-14.
https://www.itsmarta.com/uploadedFil...ary_052918.pdf

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

I wish the city would have put a transit tax on the ballot to do the entire beltline and nothing else, and then another tax for the rest of the list. A complete beltline has a ton of potential for tying the system together and it would bring transit to every part if the city.

A) City of Atlanta does not own the entire the ROW at this time.

[autolycus25]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Even the Technical Analysis anticipates federal matching for a lot of the projects, see page 13-14.
https://www.itsmarta.com/uploadedFil...ary_052918.pdf


A) City of Atlanta does not own the entire the ROW at this time.

Thanks for that reference. So either Gravel is shockingly unaware of the budget assumptions or he's being disingenuous so that his preferred project list sounds/looks better. The Clifton Corridor is an expensive project. Maybe the cost isn't justifiable, but it's not completely honest to suggest that he supports it if only everyone else pays their fair share, as if that's not exactly what is theoretically going to happen (i.e. Feds pay for half of the capital costs, Dekalb pays for their half of the portion in Dekalb, CoA pays for its half of the portion in CoA).

EDIT: Should put the numbers in here. Local Capital: $ 393,000,000; Federal Capital: $ 393,000,000; Total Capital: $ 786,000,000; Local Operations and Maintenance: $ 110,600,000; Total Local: $ 503,600,000. So he's suggesting CoA pay just $100MM? Come on.

[jsvh]

What will be the Emory-in-Atlanta area MARTA tax contribution over the next 30 years? I expect it is much less than $100M. $100M out of this City of Atlanta "More MARTA" seems like the city more than pulling it's share of this regional line.

Basically all the City of Atlanta More MARTA funding should be going to improving service within the city.

I wish there was magicly enough money for the city to somehow fund central trunk transit lines for the entire metro, but money is very finite so the city funds should go to city projects first.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by jsvh

What will be the Emory-in-Atlanta area MARTA tax contribution over the next 30 years? I expect it is much less than $100M. $100M out of this City of Atlanta "More MARTA" seems like the city more than pulling it's share of this regional line.

Basically all the City of Atlanta More MARTA funding should be going to improving service within the city.

I wish there was magicly enough money for the city to somehow fund central trunk transit lines for the entire metro, but money is very finite so the city funds should go to city projects first.

Did anybody ever calculate how much Emory will be paying in to MARTA or the city of Atlanta? I kept hollering abut this but it was like the sound of one hand clapping.

As I understand it the new MARTA tax is expected to generate between 2.5 and 3.5 billion dollars over the next 40 years.

That's around $62-87 million a year. How much of that will come from Emory (with its $5.5 billion annual budget)?

[autolycus25]

Originally Posted by jsvh

What will be the Emory-in-Atlanta area MARTA tax contribution over the next 30 years? I expect it is much less than $100M. $100M out of this City of Atlanta "More MARTA" seems like the city more than pulling it's share of this regional line.

Basically all the City of Atlanta More MARTA funding should be going to improving service within the city.

I wish there was magicly enough money for the city to somehow fund central trunk transit lines for the entire metro, but money is very finite so the city funds should go to city projects first.

The Clifton Corridor is a city project. It will provide residents access to 2 major hospitals and the largest employment center that is not currently connected to transit. How is that not a city project?!

Beyond that, the question about how much Emory is contributing in taxes is a fool's errand. I can ask the same question of every other single project on the list. How much is Armour, which is Gravel's suggested alternative, contributing to the taxes?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by jsvh

What will be the Emory-in-Atlanta area MARTA tax contribution over the next 30 years? I expect it is much less than $100M. $100M out of this City of Atlanta "More MARTA" seems like the city more than pulling it's share of this regional line.

Basically all the City of Atlanta More MARTA funding should be going to improving service within the city.

I wish there was magicly enough money for the city to somehow fund central trunk transit lines for the entire metro, but money is very finite so the city funds should go to city projects first.

News Flash...
Emory/CDC is in the City of Atlanta.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by cqholt

News Flash...
Emory/CDC is in the City of Atlanta.

I am aware they are now. So would be parts of every major rail link in the books out there such as commuter rail to Chattanooga, Athens, and Macon. That does not mean any of those should be high priority for the More MARTA funding. If we can get transit funded in the existing RoWs we already own in the city, like the Beltline and have money left over, great. Lets help our regional partners.

[jsvh]

Also, be aware that even a lot of the Clifton Corridor between Lindberg and Emory is outside the city limits. Basically all of the line between Cheshire Bridge and the CDC is outside the city limits.

Clifton Corridor requires regional partnership & funding. Even for "phase I" between lindberg and Emory. Until that regional partnership & funding is in place other transit projects that already have RoW should be a higher priority.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Even the Technical Analysis anticipates federal matching for a lot of the projects, see page 13-14.
https://www.itsmarta.com/uploadedFil...ary_052918.pdf


A) City of Atlanta does not own the entire the ROW at this time.

Pages 5-8 show how easy it is to play with numbers and change the rankings of the projects. Different prioritization can give totally different results.