Atlanta’s Kasim Reed: ‘I want to be a two-term mayor’ (Savannah: tax, train)

[tonygeorgia]

Atlanta

Q: Why did you push so hard for President Obama on the campaign trail?

A: The president and the administration stood by Atlanta and stood by Georgia. There’s the deepening of the [Savannah] port. The city of Atlanta has received more than $200 million in federal support. We’ve hired 50 new police officers through federal support, 75 new firefighters through federal support. … We negotiated the longest water and sewer consent decree extension in America, 13 years. Because of that, I won’t have to raise water and sewer rates. So when you ask why it was so important to help this president, it’s really because he had helped Atlanta repeatedly for the entire three years I’ve been here.
I do believe our state and the city of Atlanta are well-positioned. I think we’ll have a very good four years with this president.

Q: What will be some of your main requests of the federal government?

A: My long-term efforts are going to be around, I would like to see additional funding for the Atlanta Beltline’s rail component, so we can do more of that without burdening taxpayers. I think the Atlanta Beltline remains a transformational project.Also — this is only my thinking — but the only thing Atlanta lacks is access to water. It would be my dream to have high-speed rail that would allow you to get off work at 5 and be in Savannah by 6:15. We’ve got the fastest-growing port on the Eastern Seaboard, the dominant airport. I’m hopeful we could secure federal support for that. I think having high-speed rail would change the game for us.I think it will change the entire economy. I believe there’s going to be funding for that. I don’t think there would be a large amount of grant money, with a check being written to the state. But you will get money at very low interest rates, maybe with infrastructure banks.

[ARaider08]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

Atlanta
It would be my dream to have high-speed rail that would allow you to get off work at 5 and be in Savannah by 6:15.

Why can't America have nice things? I'd much rather this than an absurd amount of investment in consumer products...

[ATLTJL]

It would be nice, but it's a pretty tough sell to try to create something that a handful of people would use on Friday afternoon and then again on Sunday maybe once or twice a year.

I think the model that someone else posted was a train that would go to Savannah but take 2.5 or 3 hours or something like that. What Reed must be talking about is a train that goes 200 miles per hour and makes no stops.

He should resign as mayor of Atlanta and run for mayor of Fantasyland.

[tonygeorgia]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

It would be nice, but it's a pretty tough sell to try to create something that a handful of people would use on Friday afternoon and then again on Sunday maybe once or twice a year.

I think the model that someone else posted was a train that would go to Savannah but take 2.5 or 3 hours or something like that. What Reed must be talking about is a train that goes 200 miles per hour and makes no stops.

He should resign as mayor of Atlanta and run for mayor of Fantasyland.

People said the same thing when he said he was going to hire 750 officers. Dont forget about him growing the cities reserves from $7.4 million two years ago to $94.4 million today.

[AcidSnake]

If America had a tax rate like it was between 1950 to 1979, we could easily build that train to Savannah and then some. After all, America & Georgia saw the creation of The Eisenhower Interstate System, MARTA, the Space Program and all those other unnamed glorious transportation goodies that came out of that era.

But then some dumb friggin' bubbas up north and down south just had to be fooled by a small late 1970s recession, spooked by the oil/energy crisis, and provoked by the lingering anger of the Civil Rights movement into voting all of that away.

And now our infrastructure is crumbling apart. And even worse, no one has the guts to dream big anymore.

God condemn America's southern strategy politics.

It has brought nothing but absolute bullcrap.

[Mirabella]

Maybe the water Atlanta needs access to is for drinking.

[noah]

Exactly. Most underestimate this because fiscal issues aren't sexy but just like the federal deficit is a huge issue this is such a huge accomplishment it is hard to grasp.

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

People said the same thing when he said he was going to hire 750 officers. Dont forget about him growing the cities reserves from $7.4 million two years ago to $94.4 million today.

[westau]

His answer to the first questions was basically because he gave us a bunch of money. Answer to questions 2, give me more money.

[GeorgiaLakeSearch]

Originally Posted by AcidSnake

If America had a tax rate like it was between 1950 to 1979, we could easily build that train to Savannah and then some. After all, America & Georgia saw the creation of The Eisenhower Interstate System, MARTA, the Space Program and all those other unnamed glorious transportation goodies that came out of that era.

But then some dumb friggin' bubbas up north and down south just had to be fooled by a small late 1970s recession, spooked by the oil/energy crisis, and provoked by the lingering anger of the Civil Rights movement into voting all of that away.

And now our infrastructure is crumbling apart. And even worse, no one has the guts to dream big anymore.

God condemn America's southern strategy politics.

It has brought nothing but absolute bullcrap.

See if you still have a job if we went back to that tax system.

[GeorgiaLakeSearch]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

People said the same thing when he said he was going to hire 750 officers. Dont forget about him growing the cities reserves from $7.4 million two years ago to $94.4 million today.

I agree Mayor Reed gets things done. I will be glad to vote for him again. And if he ever runs for federal government I will gladly vote for him.