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The traditional transit-averse politics of the county and the continued political dominance of anti-transit factions also guarantee that Cobb County absolutely will not be paying for expanded transit availability of any kind with new dedicated sales taxes like neighboring Fulton and DeKalb counties do with MARTA.
Great analysis as always, B2R.
To tell you the truth, I'm not sure how MARTA would fare in Fulton and DeKalb if it came up for a vote again.
When the first referendum was held in 1968, it was soundly rejected by all the metro counties and the city of Atlanta. In the city -- which was larger then than it is now -- the vote was 53,660 (58%) against, with only 38,675 (42%) in favor.
Even in the second vote MARTA barely squeaked by, and it still didn't carry Fulton outside the city limits. I'm not sure Fulton is any more pro-transit than it was in those days.
To tell you the truth, I'm not sure how MARTA would fare in Fulton and DeKalb if it came up for a vote again.
When the first referendum was held in 1968, it was soundly rejected by all the metro counties and the city of Atlanta. In the city -- which was larger then than it is now -- the vote was 53,660 (58%) against, with only 38,675 (42%) in favor.
Even in the second vote MARTA barely squeaked by, and it still didn't carry Fulton outside the city limits. I'm not sure Fulton is any more pro-transit than it was in those days.
That's a good analysis.
Though, with all of the overwhelming economic success that Fulton County has had with the presence of MARTA (overwhelming economic success that has occurred even with the transit agency suffering from various stages of visible substantial decline over the past decade-and-a-half)...
...From the establishment of the direct passenger rail transit connection between the now world-leading Atlanta Airport and major commercial districts in Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead and Perimeter/Dunwoody...
...To hosting the Democratic National Convention in 1988; to winning the bid to host the 1996 Summer Olympics...
...To becoming the permanent single host site of the college football SEC Championship Game in the early 1990's...
...To becoming the semi-permanent host of the college basketball SEC Tournament and the occasional host of the college basketball ACC Tournament...
...To hosting to hosting multiple college basketball Final Fours on a continuing periodic basis...
...To hosting 2 Super Bowls...
...To becoming the semi-permanent host of the forthcoming college football playoff National Semifinal Game and possibly the periodic host of the forthcoming college football playoff National Championship Game...
...We most-certainly know that the Fulton County business community (and the DeKalb business community, particularly in the Perimeter Center/Dunwoody area) is even more pro-transit then they were when the MARTA referendums were held in the mid-late '60's and early '70's.
Also, with new transit-funding paradigms emerging like inflation-indexed distance-based fares, Tax Increment Financing (portions of property taxes from new development along transit lines), real estate transactional funding and private investment, there's really no reason why public officials should have to hold sales tax referendums to ask voters to fund transit in a region that traditionally has been extremely-adverse to the concepts of tax increases, government expansion, publicly-funded transit, and (especially) tax increases to pay for publicly-funded transit.
The population growth dynamics are so robust in the Atlanta metro region that there's plenty of private investment dollars available (to the tune of tens-of-billions of dollars) to upgrade and build-out a regional multimodal transit network of buses and trains as evidenced by the nearly $30 billion in private financing that was offered up by international investors when the Georgia Department of Transportation briefly flirted with the very-unpopular idea of building tolled expressway tunnels under Intown East Atlanta a few years ago.
A comprehensive high-capacity passenger rail-anchored multimodal network could likely be built-out for only a fraction of the $30 billion in private investment the Georgia DOT was basically asking to build-out a network of tolled expressway tunnels under Intown East Atlanta.
Fortunately, new MARTA CEO Keith Parker has stated that the agency is going to start leasing-out its very-valuable real estate holdings for the construction of revenue-generating high-density mixed-use transit-oriented development around its stations, which along with automatically inflation-indexed distance-based fares, is how transit upgrades and expansions will be funded in the future in the Atlanta region.
Fortunately, new MARTA CEO Keith Parker has stated that the agency is going to start leasing-out its very-valuable real estate holdings for the construction of revenue-generating high-density mixed-use transit-oriented development around its stations, which along with automatically inflation-indexed distance-based fares, is how transit upgrades and expansions will be funded in the future in the Atlanta region.
Secrecy helped Cobb County hammer out a deal to lure the Braves from their downtown Atlanta home. That same stealth may have violated Georgia’s Open Meetings Act and, conceivably, cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
At least twice in November, Braves boosters briefed Cobb commissioners privately on plans to help build the ballclub a $672 million stadium, officials who were in the meetings say. Lawyers, department heads, Braves bigwigs, and chamber-of-commerce types attended at various times—but the taxpayers who will foot much of the bill were kept in the dark.
Commissioners’ November 26 approval of the Braves deal came just 18 days after their first top-secret briefing on November 8. Commissioners gathered again privately on November 13—two days after the public announcement of the team’s relocation—to kick around the details, even as some Cobb residents pushed for a closer look at the deal’s fine print and for more time to consider its terms.
Anyone think Cobb was not that bad off before? I think the corner they turned may be on the way down.
Have to disagree with that, at least as it pertains to the immediate area of the Braves development. I have both lived and worked in the Cumberland area for 20 years now and there is more excitement and developer interest than I have seen since the City Market was developed in Smyrna.
Several Buckhead/downtown ATL biz owners that I know are already looking to invest in the Braves development or surrounding areas, and these are businesses that NEVER would have come to Cobb if not for this Braves deal.
Give it a chance. You may not like the mechanisms of how it came to be, but there are some really smart folks working on this and their entire careers and reputations are on the line.
Why would the world be watching Snobb county over a baseball stadium? They don't care. No one cares but Atlantans. They are acting like they got the next Olympics or World Cup going on there.
Have to disagree with that, at least as it pertains to the immediate area of the Braves development. I have both lived and worked in the Cumberland area for 20 years now and there is more excitement and developer interest than I have seen since the City Market was developed in Smyrna.
What is City Market? Do you mean this: http://www.smyrnavinings.com/smyrna-...lage-shopping/ Because developments like that are great IMO. If Cobb could have done another something like that and get this same level of excitement, then they should have gone that way and saved the money.
Quote:
Several Buckhead/downtown ATL biz owners that I know are already looking to invest in the Braves development or surrounding areas, and these are businesses that NEVER would have come to Cobb if not for this Braves deal.
Give it a chance. You may not like the mechanisms of how it came to be, but there are some really smart folks working on this and their entire careers and reputations are on the line.
And yes, I do not agree with the mechanisms that are bringing this about. Besides the Braves, Cobb is paying these commercial developers near the stadium a larger % tax handout than Atlanta is giving the Falcons for their stadium. So, I have no doubt that this will bring about development for Cobb. But there is no way Cobb is going to come close to making their money back on this. Maybe you spend some tax money on a stadium and hope to benefit from near-by commercial development, but since Cobb is giving handouts to the developers too it is clear they will loose big on this. I am sure commish Lee will be cheering this as a win when these tax-payer funded businesses open next to the stadium, but lets give it a real chance and wait till the tax breaks expire after 10 years and see how things are going and what business decide to stick around.
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