Gwinnett votes "No" on MARTA vote... (Atlanta, Lawrenceville: home, earthquake)

[atlantamoi]

Originally Posted by masonbarge

Without public transportation to the city's centers and other parts of the metro region, Gwinnett will suffer economically, given the price of gas and traffic congestion. We are already starting to see the effect on real estate prices.

I've mentioned before that I'd love to live in Suwanee, but won't put any serious thought into it without a train line from Gwinnett to downtown. I don't know what it's going to take to get people to wake up.

[ellisescara]

There's still the bus transit line in Gwinnett--will MARTA be better than the bus?

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by atlantamoi

I've mentioned before that I'd love to live in Suwanee, but won't put any serious thought into it without a train line from Gwinnett to downtown. I don't know what it's going to take to get people to wake up.

It'll take another 20,000 or so people who want to live in Suwanee and work downtown, who are willing to pay higher taxes to fund the construction of the train line. Sounds like you better get moving to find the other 19,999 people to join your club

[wxjay]

Originally Posted by ellisescara

There's still the bus transit line in Gwinnett--will MARTA be better than the bus?

A rail line would be more efficient, more on-time, and able to carry many more passengers than the bus lines that service down I-85 in Gwinnett.

[atlantamoi]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

It'll take another 20,000 or so people who want to live in Suwanee and work downtown, who are willing to pay higher taxes to fund the construction of the train line. Sounds like you better get moving to find the other 19,999 people to join your club

Seems to me there's already an overload coming down from that direction.

[Georgia]

Originally Posted by wxjay

So all the Gwinnett license plates we see at the Doraville station are anomalies? Or the miles of backup on I-85 at I-285 from and to Gwinnett are all of those Gwinnett people driving to their jobs in Gwinnett? Hmm, seems like they are really taking the long way to get to work.

While MARTA (or any other form of rail by whomever) cannot eliminate congestion, it provides options for people. I guarantee you that any rail system set up in Gwinnett would exceed ridership expectations in its first year.

No, but did I not say the majority of Gwinnett folks do not work in Atlanta?
I did not say nobody from Gwinnett
Heck, for poops and giggles lets say 10% of Gwinnett wants to take the train. Does Doraville have 80,000 cars parked in the lot from Gwinnett? I doubt it.
What you will probably find is the majority of those cars live in Duluth to Norcross and the surrounding areas, not the outlying areas of Gwinnett like Buford, Sugar Hill, Dacula, and North Lawrenceville.

What you would find is if the beaucrats would wise up and just move forward with the much lower cost Brain Train vs. the multi-billion dollar taxation constipation build out of the current MARTA into Gwinnett Place to Buford 985, you would find a large decrease in 316 traffic and 85.

Another thing you will probably find is, outside of the Duluth residences that are in Doraville, you will come to know that the majority is from the gridlock on 316.

But we all know that with the 2006 Brain Train plan, the Atlanta machine will not be fed the way they want.

Right now Gwinnett is the bad guy. Oh' those backward thinking non-progressive folk to the north. Don't worry, within the next few years with the current influx from DeKalb and points north, the old evil Red County will turn Blue soon enough (this was reflected with the vote also) thus we to can join DeKalb and Fulton status as the state high tax holder while maintaining borderline government bankruptcy.

I can hardly wait until the wrath of Cobb and Cherokee county hits when the machine now focuses sites on them. Now that will be interesting.
Yo Bob and Greg. Get ready.

sitting in recliner with beer and popcorn

[Georgia]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

I will agree with an earlier post that the name "MARTA" has a certain stigma to it, and while I'm a huge transit supporter, trust me, after having lived in Atlanta since '84 I can tell you that MARTA isn't exactly run by the brightest pegs on the board. Since I've lived here I think they've had no less than 3 CEOs who were investigated for mishandling money, to one CEO who was arrested for doing it in the airport bathroom with people (geez), to other employees being investigated or dismissed for other things.

This and along with current deficits, the folks in Gwinnett were supposed to say yes? Nah don't think so.
You do have a good point about the stigma and the reality of MARTA operations. Each large city has a bad stigma. And MARTA with the Atlanta center carries a big one. But no matter where, I doubt any beaucrat of any ilk will agree to "share" power on anything since anymore that is all any of of elected officials want.

[Frankie117]

Well lets face the facts...people are very materialistic when it comes to things like this. Gwinnett voters will not vote for something that does not directly affect them. Obviously a MARTA extension can't provide for everyone, so not everyone will necessarily want to spend as much money on it.

I'm Republican, and I fully support MARTA's expansion, as well as mass transit and rail networks as a whole.... As long as its privatized. Political parties should not have an affect the decision, yet it clearly does. When it comes to issues like this, party should not be of concern...

[Georgia]

Originally Posted by atlantamoi

I've mentioned before that I'd love to live in Suwanee, but won't put any serious thought into it without a train line from Gwinnett to downtown. I don't know what it's going to take to get people to wake up.

Suwanee is not the issue Moi, as I stated on post above, the vast majority of traffic on 85 comes from 316 heading in from W. Lawrenceville at Exit 106, then you break until you hit Beaver Ruin Duluth, then Jimmy Carter Norcross.

And as I stated much earlier. Even with MARTA you will find the gridlock. One cannot have 800,000 folks packed in a small county, growing at 30,000 per year, with the "majority" working in the area of DeKalb and Duluth and not have the gridlock.
And heck even if they build the train, where are all those 80,000+ @ 10% going to park? Also, they still have to get to the station. So we place a station in Jimmy Carter, Gwinnett Center, Buford 985. Then you have all the folks trying to get to the parking lots, driving to the lots, hence gridlock.

Until we can control the massive out of control growth, we cannot control the traffic.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

It'll take another 20,000 or so people who want to live in Suwanee and work downtown, who are willing to pay higher taxes to fund the construction of the train line. Sounds like you better get moving to find the other 19,999 people to join your club

It will take gas prices going up to $8.00/gallon before anyone even considers taking steps towards a better transit system. Meanwhile, the ones who would support it will be outnumbered because the ones who can afford gas right now , or who will tolerate higher gas prices think "whether or not the transit comes out here doesn't concern me". It will when you're late for work because traffic is at a standstill for half an hour.