Will you support the one cent tax for transportation? (Atlanta: taxes, prices)

[Caleb Longstreet]

Originally Posted by society619

Yes or No??

Why or Why Not??

Sure, just so long as the majority of the money goes to actually fixing something and not become a jobs for votes program....sure.......kind of like a charity.....the more that goes to the cause, the better the charity. Hard to imagine a Public Works department becoming "efficient" but, I'm sure with some proper oversight you could gain maybe 80-85% utilization out of the money acquired?

Sound fair?

[mike7586]

Originally Posted by ceverett2000

I will vote no. While I think that many of the proposed projects are interesting and exciting, I will vote no to additional sales tax. I am more worried about Atlanta being competitive for commerce. A 9% sales tax is a big disincentive to commerce, especially when there are nearby locales with lower taxes.
Now, if they removed one of the other 1 cent taxes, I would vote yes.

Another issue that I have with these incremental sales tax is that they never generate the revenue projected, because revenues projections assume that people do not respond to incentives by altering their behavior. In reality, with a 9% sales tax, consumers will do all they can to avoid it, and avoid it they will by deferring large purchases to other locations or the internet.

Let's hope that if these projects are truly worthwhile, they can be prioritized and voted on by the local city and state governments on a case by case basis.

A bigger disincentive to commerce is our traffic congestion and lack of infrastructure spending over the last decade. Lower taxes does not automatically mean more jobs and Georgia has some of the lowest taxes in the country to begin with.

I can think of many places in the US with very low taxes but the people and jobs are not flocking there. It's more than just taxes - it's quality of life, location, good schools, amenities (shopping, dining, things to do, etc), infrastructure (including mass transit).

I'm most likely going to vote yes... but I need to see the final list first.

[Esteban5]

Raise taxes 10% when CRCT scores improve legitimately.

[bu2]

@Adric
I agree that the first priorities need to be all the TSM projects-traffic light synchonization (Atlanta seems to try to hamper traffic flow), more and longer left turn lanes, limitations on turns and accident clearing projects (I believe the program is called HERO-clearing freeway accidents quickly is the single most cost effective transportation project there is by far). Next is improving the arterial road system. I read one transportation expert say Atlanta had the 2nd worst arterial system among the top 20 metro areas. Having been in almost all of them I can't imagine who is worse. Maybe Seattle since they have Puget Sound and the Mountains limiting them.

So far I'm seeing most of the interest in money going to "economic development" projects that do little or nothing for the present and may hamper our options in the future by draining needed funds (read Beltline light rail).

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by Adric

P.S. Little known fact is that each new lane you add to a freeway or road becomes less effective than the last. I.E. - If you have one lane, adding a second will do wonders for traffic, a third will help considerably, a fourth will help, a fifth will help but not a lot, a sixth will hardly help, so on and so forth. I think each new lane loses something like 15-20% of it's effectiveness due to merging traffic.

Actually the problem is that as you add more lanes you encourage more lane changing. Traffic would flow better if people didn't switch lanes.

[ecuresident]

Im switching my vote to maybe, most likely no after reading a lot of people's responses and driving downtown today. I agree I would in no way support it if it goes towards more roads. They are repaving parts of 85 today when there is no real need to while people are falling into potholes on the city streets.

[Febtober]

If it goes towards public/alternative transit, then absolutely yes. I don't even live in Georgia anymore and I'd still pay it if it meant Atlanta had a better/more competitive transportation infrastructure if/when I move back.

That being said, I'm not interested in funding anything that is just going to encourage more cars on the road.

[jadar]

Interesting views on this from all.. I think the final list will disappoint when you read into the deeper parts. The transit system could be good if Marta not involved.They can waste more money than anyone,purely a job program mentality there. If light rail (managed by a regional operation ) is in place along with "pass through" or limited access lanes for traversing the city I would definitely consider otherwise I will not support.

[noah]

Good point. They are constantly repaving the interstates while the city streets are in total disrepair. I assume its because of federal funding for interstates.

Originally Posted by ecuresident

Im switching my vote to maybe, most likely no after reading a lot of people's responses and driving downtown today. I agree I would in no way support it if it goes towards more roads. They are repaving parts of 85 today when there is no real need to while people are falling into potholes on the city streets.

[mike7586]

Originally Posted by ecuresident

Im switching my vote to maybe, most likely no after reading a lot of people's responses and driving downtown today. I agree I would in no way support it if it goes towards more roads. They are repaving parts of 85 today when there is no real need to while people are falling into potholes on the city streets.

Are you serious? That section of 85/75 south of downtown needs to be repaved and hasn't been in over 10 years. The asphalt was not in good shape.

And the reason why the interstates are repaved are because they are the responsibility of the state. City streets are the responsibility of the city of Atlanta which is why there are potholes everywhere... as we all know the city doesn't have the money, or so the say, to repave most of the streets.

I really wish people would educate themselves before making any kind of vote.