Vote No on July 31 - Stop Taxing the Middle Class/Poor Unjustly (Atlanta: schools, taxes)

[mattee01]

Originally Posted by cittic10

I'm in Gwinnett

Well...that should tell anybody who comes here exactly what they need to know about why your statements might not exactly be reliable.

[cittic10]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Typical selfish thoughts, "If it doesn't positively help me then I do not want it." What about caring for your fellow man or helping the whole metro area?

I realize that may sound selfish but I assure, I am not being selfish.

Some police department in Paulding county may be strapped for cash and need money to continue providing services. But it's not fair to make me, a Gwinnetian pay taxes to keep Paulding afloat. By your logic, me not wanting to pay additional taxes for some other county's services is being selfish.

I would be much more receptive to a plan that I saw real benefit in and I do not see any benefit, not only for my county, but for the metro area as a whole. It seems like if there are small problem areas they can be addressed with funding from other means. Taxing people unfairly is not the way to go about it.

Originally Posted by mattee01

Well...that should tell anybody who comes here exactly what they need to know about why your statements might not exactly be reliable.

Huh? Welcome to the Atlanta forum. I see that you're in Anderson, SC. I guess you don't know what we're discussing or what this transportation tax is about. How would you feel if you were charged more tax in Anderson to tear up the roads down here in atlanta? For the good of your neighbors to the south? Huh? How 'bout it?

[Lady's Man]

Originally Posted by cittic10

I realize that may sound selfish but I assure, I am not being selfish.

Some police department in Paulding county may be strapped for cash and need money to continue providing services. But it's not fair to make me, a Gwinnetian pay taxes to keep Paulding afloat. By your logic, me not wanting to pay additional taxes for some other county's services is being selfish.

I would be much more receptive to a plan that I saw real benefit in and I do not see any benefit, not only for my county, but for the metro area as a whole. It seems like if there are small problem areas they can be addressed with funding from other means. Taxing people unfairly is not the way to go about it.



Huh? Welcome to the Atlanta forum. I see that you're in Anderson, SC. I guess you don't know what we're discussing or what this transportation tax is about. How would you feel if you were charged more tax in Anderson to tear up the roads down here in atlanta? For the good of your neighbors to the south? Huh? How 'bout it?

I don't think that is a good analogy. This is a regional project, not a county project. Everyone in the region will get some sort of benefit, whether directly or indirectly.

[arjay57]

No offense intended, but I am getting a little weary of hearing about the poor. How about the so-called "comfortable" middle class?

The rich have it knocked, the poor get all kinds of benefits, but I feel like those of us in the middle are getting squeezed, with no real relief in sight.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

It will fail. Voters want to send a message to politicians that are as accustomed to breaking promises as they are to breathing. 400? Hello?

Different setup. Unlike the 400 toll fiasco, this referendum, if passed, would have to be renewed by the voters ten years from now.

But yeah, I think it's probably going to fail. There are some legitimate concerns with the transit routes, but many more simply hate mass transit.

[Lady's Man]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Different setup. Unlike the 400 toll fiasco, this referendum, if passed, would have to be renewed by the voters ten years from now.

But yeah, I think it's probably going to fail. There are some legitimate concerns with the transit routes, but many more simply hate mass transit.

No I'm pretty sure they just hate government. Any form of collectivism between us signifies the end of the world. Oh well. Perhaps GM and Toyota will pay for our roads? After all, we're keeping them in business.

[Caleb Longstreet]

As hard as this is to stomach, I don't see any way out of it. We have roughly 5 million residents crawling through traffic now....do we wait until we have 6 million and disrupt then? Personally I would like to see Marta rail blown up on steroids like the major leagues but, that alone won't do it. You need more aggregation points for that to work. The congestion is worse on the north side with the south side catching up. Geographically speaking, it will be harder to clogthe further you go out due to increased land mass but I am sure the commissioners/developers/builders/crooks will give it a good go....look at it like gwinett 2.0. With patches and bugs galore.....sigh..

Just don't let the city of Atlanta dictate too much or kaseemingly la greed will upgrade his navigators to what? Range rovers? No matter, it will be something more expensive than the 62k he blew on each of those gems...still seething angry about those choices....should have opted for a Prius and led by example or at the very least, simple 40k expeditions......don't give those guys a checkbook....it will be messed up in days with no hope of reconciliation.

And THIS time, put the FULL accounting of where every penny goes, on the web, for ALL to see and when the kickback scandals come, and they will come, we will know whom to hook up and save the public exercise.

We need improvements.we are willing to pay for them. Asking that they be done in an open, sunshine manner with full accountability is not an unreasonable request or unduly burdensome? There are plenty of laid off CFO's qualified to count the rubles. So be it.

But get busy. Don't give us this bs that it will take decades. We built the Alaskan highway in wwII in 18 months....certainly we can build a few hundred miles of Atlanta 500 track and rail in what...3 or 4 yrs? Use inmates, god knows they can give back...start with trash and all the Shiite I run over on the highways, daily, (last week it was brooms...and a few medium size pets...no joke) and work them up to boulders quickly....making big rocks into little rocks....give em some sheet music and start humming....

And don't bloat up the staff with a bunch of pension seeking, lazy as the day is long civil servants either. If I go down and talk to one more DMV like employee Im taking hostages and taking shots at all of them. And, ill make THEM wait in line for no apparent reason as i sort them out......Lee Harvey Oswald won't have squat on me.

We are not to be toyed with. For the first time in civil servant history, accomplish great...well at least mediocre things on time, and UNDER budget. Give them a tape to watch sensitizing them as to who, exactly, is paying for this boondoggle AND how to treat said constituents when they come calling. No buddy system this time. May the most QUALIFIED get the job....novel.

Adieu,

We are not to be toyed with

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

...Unlike the 400 toll fiasco.....

What was the 400 toll fiasco?

As I mentioned in my post above, the State Transportation Board agreed to take the tolls off as originally planned, but was lobbied by many in the community (including me) to extend them at least until the highway was finished. That meant at minimum finishing the 400/85 interchange, which had been only half built and is responsible for huge delays from Buckhead to Midtown. That is underway now and is predicted to come in ahead of schedule and under budget.

In addition, SRTA has been able to use the tolls for a number of other GA 400 upgrades. All of which are on time and/or under budget.

See this link:GA 400 | Programs & Projects | State Road and Tollway Authority

[Lady's Man]

Originally Posted by Caleb Longstreet

As hard as this is to stomach, I don't see any way out of it. We have roughly 5 million residents crawling through traffic now....do we wait until we have 6 million and disrupt then? Personally I would like to see Marta rail blown up on steroids like the major leagues but, that alone won't do it. You need more aggregation points for that to work. The congestion is worse on the north side with the south side catching up. Geographically speaking, it will be harder to clogthe further you go out due to increased land mass but I am sure the commissioners/developers/builders/crooks will give it a good go....look at it like gwinett 2.0. With patches and bugs galore.....sigh..

Just don't let the city of Atlanta dictate too much or kaseemingly la greed will upgrade his navigators to what? Range rovers? No matter, it will be something more expensive than the 62k he blew on each of those gems...still seething angry about those choices....should have opted for a Prius and led by example or at the very least, simple 40k expeditions......don't give those guys a checkbook....it will be messed up in days with no hope of reconciliation.

And THIS time, put the FULL accounting of where every penny goes, on the web, for ALL to see and when the kickback scandals come, and they will come, we will know whom to hook up and save the public exercise.

We need improvements.we are willing to pay for them. Asking that they be done in an open, sunshine manner with full accountability is not an unreasonable request or unduly burdensome? There are plenty of laid off CFO's qualified to count the rubles. So be it.

But get busy. Don't give us this bs that it will take decades. We built the Alaskan highway in wwII in 18 months....certainly we can build a few hundred miles of Atlanta 500 track and rail in what...3 or 4 yrs? Use inmates, god knows they can give back...start with trash and all the Shiite I run over on the highways, daily, (last week it was brooms...and a few medium size pets...no joke) and work them up to boulders quickly....making big rocks into little rocks....give em some sheet music and start humming....

And don't bloat up the staff with a bunch of pension seeking, lazy as the day is long civil servants either. If I go down and talk to one more DMV like employee Im taking hostages and taking shots at all of them. And, ill make THEM wait in line for no apparent reason as i sort them out......Lee Harvey Oswald won't have squat on me.

We are not to be toyed with. For the first time in civil servant history, accomplish great...well at least mediocre things on time, and UNDER budget. Give them a tape to watch sensitizing them as to who, exactly, is paying for this boondoggle AND how to treat said constituents when they come calling. No buddy system this time. May the most QUALIFIED get the job....novel.

Adieu,

We are not to be toyed with

the states are already accountable for every penny. here is ga's website: Open.Georgia.gov I bet that site gets 5 hits a year. No body reads it. People will just continue to stick to their talking points and ignore the actual facts.

[shivtim]

Definite YES vote from me. As has been mentioned here many times before, the NO voters have yet to propose any solution. The tea partiers don't want any solution because they don't want any taxes or government period. The Sierra club and others that are voting NO because there isn't enough transit have no sound plan for how we would actually build any transit whatsoever (Come on Sierra Club, raise the gas tax? You've been trying to do that for two decades. Good luck getting past our republican governor and veto-proof republican majority house/senate).

So what it comes down to is that the T-Splost is not perfect, but it will provide a huge benefit in terms of traffic relief, expanded transit and connectivity, jobs, and boosting Atlanta's competitiveness. Our do-nothing statewide politicians took years to even give us this chance. Why would anyone expect we can vote NO and think something better will come along?