AJC: Mass transit improvements key to Braves stadium success (Atlanta: 2014, house)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Here's a link to a page with some details about where the future high-capacity transit line and stations are proposed to go (though keep in mind that these plans were drawn up many years before the Braves announced that they were moving to Cumberland):
Transit Station Planning

Thanks, B2R.

So much for the argument that the north side doesn't want more transit options.

[PKCorey]

5 years later and no new plans.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Thanks, B2R.

So much for the argument that the north side doesn't want more transit options.

That's an excellent point, arjay.

The Northside (particularly Northside business and real estate interests) desperately wants more transit options and has been willing to even go so far as to seriously threaten to have the state take control of MARTA on their behalf to get the increased transit options that they so intensely desire to have.

Notice that the high-capacity transit plans displayed in the above link were drawn up by the traditionally road-obsessed Georgia Department of Transportation....That's how serious the need and how intense the desire is for a high-capacity transit link across the Top End of the I-285 Perimeter....That's because I-285 is the only cross-regional link between Interstates 75 NW and 85 NE for several miles in each direction.

Originally Posted by PKCorey

5 years later and no new plans.

5 years later and no new funds.

...And what little existing funding there is for the road network is almost totally depleted.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

The Northside (particularly Northside business and real estate interests) desperately wants more transit options and has been willing to even go so far as to seriously threaten to have the state take control of MARTA on their behalf to get the increased transit options that they so intensely desire to have.

So, how do they expect the state to do this exactly? Plus, any state "takeover" of MARTA would also require them assuming MARTA's existing debt as well, which is probably not a small number.

[MattCW]

I also doubt that any "takeover" of MARTA is nearly as benign as you claim, B2R. Any "takeover" by traditionally hardcore Republican interests is likely intended at privatizing, and thus dismantling the system.

[arjay57]

Why would privatization require dismantling the system?

In any event, if MARTA wants more money from the state of Georgia the state is obviously going to need control over how the money is spent.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Why would privatization require dismantling the system?

It wouldn't "require" it, rather dismantling would be the effect of it.

In any event, if MARTA wants more money from the state of Georgia the state is obviously going to need control over how the money is spent.

They have as much control already as any other state over any other transit agency.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by MattCW

I also doubt that any "takeover" of MARTA is nearly as benign as you claim, B2R. Any "takeover" by traditionally hardcore Republican interests is likely intended at privatizing, and thus dismantling the system.

That's a valid point as Matt is correct on at least one account....Just before Keith Parker became MARTA's CEO, the intention of state lawmakers (who were being pushed by the wealthy and powerful Northside business and real estate interests who fund their campaigns and expenses) was to takeover MARTA and privatize it using MARTA's then-dismal finances as the impetus to do so.

Now whether those plans involved dismantling the MARTA system as we know it, I don't know. I just know that the Northsiders wanted to use the state to takeover and privatize MARTA as a means of getting high-capacity transit lines (rail and bus) extended into and through the Northern suburbs.

I also know that under the Northsiders' plan to have the state takeover and privatize MARTA, expanding transit to and through selected areas on the Northside would have been the overwhelmingly dominant priority (if not the only priority) potentially at the expense of the much less-affluent and much less-politically powerful Southside.

With interests in each Northside radial freeway corridor (Cobb and the I-75/I-575 NW corridor; North Fulton and the GA 400 N corridor; Gwinnett and the I-85/I-985/GA 316 NE corridor) basically wanting some kind of control over the transit operations in their respective corridors, a dismantling of the MARTA system as we know it certainly would have been a distinct possibility if the state would have taken control of and privatized the system as it was planning to do before Parker's arrival at MARTA.

And even with Parker's impressive performance as CEO at MARTA, there is still talk within state government of the state wanting to make a power play for control of MARTA on behalf of the powerful Northside business and real estate interests who desperately want to see transit expanded up the I-75 NW, GA 400 N and I-85 NE corridors much sooner rather than later.

Just earlier this month in December 2014 during a state legislative orientation gathering and transportation summit in Athens, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle (the early odds-on favorite and leading candidate for governor in 2018) alluded to the possibility of a state-led reorganization of MARTA that would be similar to the way that Grady Hospital was reorganized a few years back.

From the article titled "Nathan Deal hedges on gas tax hike; Casey Cagle says ‘we cannot avoid the issue of transit’" on the Political Insider blog in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on December 9, 2014:

But when it came to subliminal signals, Cagle went further. Specifically, the Republican lieutenant governor invoked the phrases “MARTA” and “transit.”...

...The lieutenant governor pointed to Cobb and Forsyth counties, whose voters recently voted to extend (in Cobb) a sales tax or (in Forsyth) approved a bond referendum aimed at transportation fixes. He spoke of establishing an infrastructure bank to pay for big ticket fixes. But then Cagle said this:

“But I will tell you, too, we cannot avoid the issue of transit as well. I believe very strongly that we have an infrastructure that exists with MARTA that can be capitalized on. But in the same way that we saw with Grady [Memorial Hospital], Grady did not have a sustainable financial model. And it needed to be reorganized and reconstituted in a way that created an opportunity….”

Nathan Deal hedges on gas tax hike; Casey Cagle says

Lt. Governor Casey Cagle's comments signify that a state-led takeover and/or reorganization of MARTA still seems to be very much on the table despite Keith Parker's excellent performance in getting the agency on a positive financial and operational footing....Which is a major reason why Parker's work in getting the agency on a good financial and operational footing is so critically important....Because getting MARTA on a good financial and operational footing will give less-politically powerful Southside political and social interests (particularly those who live south of the I-20 in Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties) much more political leverage when the Northsiders attempt to takeover control of the agency by way of the state government that Northsiders totally dominate.

Southsiders will particularly have much more leverage during the seemingly imminent takeover attempt by the powerful Northsiders than if the agency had been in the same dismal financial and operational position it was before Parker's arrival. The addition of Clayton County to MARTA also gives Southsiders even more political leverage than they would have had before Clayton's membership into MARTA.

Originally Posted by Gulch

So, how do they expect the state to do this exactly? Plus, any state "takeover" of MARTA would also require them assuming MARTA's existing debt as well, which is probably not a small number.

A good example of the way that the state would takeover MARTA and assume MARTA's debt can be found in what the state just recently did in privatizing student housing at state-funded public universities.

In privatizing student housing at state-funded public universities, the state got the private company taking over operations to agree to assume all debt that the state had accumulated up to this point in constructing, operating and maintaining student housing. The state also got the private company to agree to pay the costs of building more student housing where needed at public universities.....One can probably infer that the state would have arranged the same kind of deal with private interests if the state would have taken over and privatized MARTA as it was planning to do before Keith Parker's reign as CEO.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Just earlier this month in December 2014 during a state legislative orientation gathering and transportation summit in Athens, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle (the early odds-on favorite and leading candidate for governor in 2018) alluded to the possibility of a state-led reorganization of MARTA that would be similar to the way that Grady Hospital was reorganized a few years back.

I would love to see that happen. Regional transit should be run at the state rather than the county level. Presently MARTA is unable to even fully serve Fulton and DeKalb.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

I also know that under the Northsiders' plan to have the state takeover and privatize MARTA, expanding transit to and through selected areas on the Northside would have been the overwhelmingly dominant priority (if not the only priority) potentially at the expense of the much less-affluent and much less-politically powerful Southside.

With interests in each Northside radial freeway corridor (Cobb and the I-75/I-575 NW corridor; North Fulton and the GA 400 N corridor; Gwinnett and the I-85/I-985/GA 316 NE corridor) basically wanting some kind of control over the transit operations in their respective corridors, a dismantling of the MARTA system as we know it certainly would have been a distinct possibility if the state would have taken control of and privatized the system as it was planning to do before Parker's arrival at MARTA.

And even with Parker's impressive performance as CEO at MARTA, there is still talk within state government of the state wanting to make a power play for control of MARTA on behalf of the powerful Northside business and real estate interests who desperately want to see transit expanded up the I-75 NW, GA 400 N and I-85 NE corridors much sooner rather than later.

The problem (if one is supportive of this horrible idea) is that the political fallout of the state coming in an swooping MARTA out of the control of Fulton/DeKalb would be enormous, especially if "Northside interests" were too chickensh*t to not push for Gwinnett and Cobb referendums that would (if approved) allow suburban expansion, especially if the endgame was privatizing the system. Then again, it would be another example of our state government taking a big steaming dump on Atlanta.