If You Were Atlanta's Mayor? (condos, train, oil)

[vsmoove]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

A "zero tolerance" law would be put into effect for anyone over the age of 14 who commits a crime that involves weapons. Home invasions, mugging, car jacking, etc... if a weapon is used in the crime, that person would get an automatic 25 year sentence with no parole. If they commit a second such crime after getting out, then it would be life in prison with no parole.

Interesting policy... I disagree with it but the state sets the sentence for crimes, not the cities.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by Vampgrrl

Carbon emissions, and/or
U.S. Reliance on oil (foreign oil mostly)
Wear and tear on car

And what do you think this high-speen train is going to run on? If it's diesel, it's contributing to the reliance on oil, and if it's electric, it's likely creating carbon emissions at the electric plant. Not to mention that if it's running only partially full (which it likely would be on most runs), it's not a very efficient use of energy, regardless of the source.

[atlantagreg30127]

I think the answer is gerbils.

Large farms of large wheels filled with running gerbils to power the metro area. Smaller wheels inside cars to power the engines. I see a whole industry around this.

[blackrabbit]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

I'm confused- even at "high speed", you're still talking about a +/- 2 hour train ride, so who exactly is going to be using (and thereby paying for) this train?????

All I know is that Atlanta pretends its a "world class" city yet doesn't have an efficient transport system. If there was a 2 hour train to Savannah then it would in inself open opportunity for the whole corridor. I would love to be able to finish work at 5 hop on a train have a few drinks and be in Savannnah at 7 or 8 for a long weekend or stay onboard another 1 hour and be in St Simons etc. I woud be happy to pay say $100 per person round trip and relax. f I have to drive forget it. Its too dangerous and a PITA all around (only place to eat on the way is crappy waffle houses and Mcdonalds). Leaving on a Friday night you would be lucky to make Savannah or similar in 6 hours with the traffic.

I can tell you as someone who works in an international company that consistantly we cannot get high paid staff to move here or qualilty clients to visit for the same reasons. No culture, nothing worth visiting and no decent infrastructure. Most every other worldwide city we operate in with a similar popluation does way better. If Atlanta aever wants to be taken seriously it has to get some proper infrastructure. A train to a nice historic city like Savannah is a good start. Even if our cost of living went up 10% we would still be by far the cheapest large city to live in and do business in.

We need to go forward not backwards. What happens when gas is 5 or 6 dollars a gallon. To worry short term about who pays for a train is shortsighted but then again unfortunatley this is how our state acts..............

[Motion]

^
Is any politician or city officials in Atlanta proposing what you're proposing?

[cleverhandlename]

I traveled to Atlanta on Martin Luther King Day by chance this year and found that Atlantans, black and white and all in between, are mostly terrible, anxious people that hate to see someone having a good time. The South's New York- ain't y'all proud?

[JPD]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

How much would a pair of train tickets + parking be?

I don't know, but another factor in the bargain is time.

How much value do you place on time that can be spent reading a book, working on a laptop, or taking a nap rather than driving on a freeway?

[blackrabbit]

Originally Posted by Motion

^
Is any politician or city officials in Atlanta proposing what you're proposing?

Sure but as someone else stated we need the "brian train" and beltline first.

One of the big problems in GA is that Sonny Purdue is financed by the concrete industry (seriously). His rival last election was financed by the trucking industry. Both are vested interests in road widening etc. Both get their support from rural georgia although metro Atlanta pays most of the money into state coffers. When the so called regional transport comittee meet generally MARTA and similar interest are not even invited.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by JPD

I don't know, but another factor in the bargain is time.

How much value do you place on time that can be spent reading a book, working on a laptop, or taking a nap rather than driving on a freeway?

Depends on whether I have more time or more money available to me at the moment, and exactly how much time we're talking about.

It's easy to look at it quickly and say "it's a 2-hour train ride vs a 4-hour drive, so I'm saving 2 hours each way". However, if you look at it from the standpoint of having to drive to the train station, sit and wait for the train, sit and wait while the train loads, and then find your way from the train station to your destination at the other end, you're likely not really "saving time" at all door-to-door. You've also got to factor in whether the train schedule is convenient, relative to being able to hop in your car at whatever time/day you'd like.

We drove to Orlando last month rather than flying, but it wasn't to "save money", and it didn't really take any longer either. From our house to our hotel was just under 8 hours, and cost us approximately $200 in gas (roundtrip). The trip was very stress-free- the freeways were virtually empty once you got outside of Atlanta, and we were able to leave when we wanted to.

If we had flown, by the time we drove to the airport, arrived two hours ahead of our flight, took the actual flight, got out baggage, rented a car, and drove to the hotel, we would have spent the better part of 6+ hours (not counting any flight delays, of course). We also would have had to deal with far more stress (ever fly with 2 young kids? lol), and spent over $1,500 for airfare and car rental. We took the money we "saved" and stayed at a far nicer hotel than we would have otherwise, and we were able to arrive and depart on our schedule, not the airline's.

I used to hear the same argument for taking the train into NYC instead of driving- "it's a 40 minute train ride vs over an hour driving". Yeah, but add in driving to the station, parking, waiting for the train, and then running to your office, and your almost 2 hours door-to-door, and if you've got to get there at a time that the trains don't run, you're SOL.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Depends on whether I have more time or more money available to me at the moment, and exactly how much time we're talking about.

It's easy to look at it quickly and say "it's a 2-hour train ride vs a 4-hour drive, so I'm saving 2 hours each way". However, if you look at it from the standpoint of having to drive to the train station, sit and wait for the train, sit and wait while the train loads, and then find your way from the train station to your destination at the other end, you're likely not really "saving time" at all door-to-door.

I didn't say anything about saving time. I'm talking about having the ability to USE the time in ways than you are unable to when you are driving.