Gwinnett Chairwoman Charlotte Nash accused of violating state ethics rules, advocating for MARTA vote passage (schools, income)

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Gulch

So, when will they align?

That’s a good question for which there seems to be no clear answer at this time.

Gwinnett County’s government just seemed to change over from Republican control to complete Democratic control during the 2020 election cycle (I think that Democrats now control all five seats on the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners after the 2020 elections?).

... So the Gwinnett BoC seemingly probably may likely be noticeably more amenable to approving a tax referendum for transit expansion (potentially even future Gwinnett membership into MARTA?) if the actual logistical need ever really truly arises in the future if commuting to work in other parts of the metro area on a widespread scale ever becomes a thing again in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, pandemic and economic crisis.

But for the indefinite and foreseeable future, transit expansion understandably is not the same pressing issue that it might have been before this world-changing global pandemic.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by PKCorey

The stars did not align at all this time.

.

I have prepared that this ballot measure was likely defeated.

...however... I just want to point out there is a 1,749 difference in the vote tally and there are still 6,326 ballots not counted and they are from ballots trending more liberal.

[PKCorey]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

I have prepared that this ballot measure was likely defeated.

...however... I just want to point out there is a 1,749 difference in the vote tally and there are still 6,326 ballots not counted and they are from ballots trending more liberal.

Yeah, I am hoping that last bump pushed it over.

Looking at Reddit and Nextdoor, many voted no because the rail did not go further up in Gwinnett besides the tax increase argument.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by PKCorey

Yeah, I am hoping that last bump pushed it over.

Looking at Reddit and Nextdoor, many voted no because the rail did not go further up in Gwinnett besides the tax increase argument.

So they let perfect become the enemy of good. Do they not realize how huge an impact and benefit it would be even if HRT were extended just to say Pleasantdale Rd @ I-85? I know that's not any kind of plan, but even that simple little shift would put an HRT station right in the commute path of thousands of people. And this plan took it quite a bit further up.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Do they not realize how huge an impact and benefit it would be even if HRT were extended just to say Pleasantdale Rd @ I-85?

And that's actually in DeKalb County, in MARTA's legal service area. Just barely within it.

It's a ridiculous notion, but, assuming no passed referendum, I wonder if it would be possible for Gwinnett to work out some kind of deal with MARTA, to fund the construction (and the O&M and whatever's necessary) of one new station on the Gold line, within DeKalb, either at that location you point out at Pleasantdale @ 85, or at the much easier and surely cheaper location at Oakcliff Rd @ New Peachtree Rd/Buford Hwy.

Which would be special built from the ground up entirely to be the transit hub and destination for Gwinnett commuters, express bus and local bus drop off wise, and park & ride wise. And Uber and everything.

I mean, Pleasantdale is like a mile or less away from where they plan to build the Gwinnett hub in this plan.

Or with the cheaper option of extending it in a short straight line to Oakcliff just inside the county line, they could build some kind of special road connection to it directly from ramps off I-85 somehow (maybe even one from 141 too), and any of that kind of road infrastructure stuff which they are allowed to build sans vote.

Point being, the best part of this plan is the new MARTA station, so just build the new MARTA station anyway, in DeKalb County. There's a couple of miles of room for that line to expand by one stop.

Surely there would be ways to figure out the funding and how that would work.

[PKCorey]

Down to 1093 at this point. Still leaning towards NO.

[Born 2 Roll]

Gwinnett County Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash had to juggle two factors when preparing her final county budget proposal...

...On Tuesday morning, Nash presented her final budget proposal to county leaders, including current commissioners as well as the three new commissioners — including a new chairwoman — who will take office in January.

Gwinnett Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash's final budget proposal is built with flexibility for successors (Gwinnett Daily Post)

[PKCorey]

The new year will be interesting with the new members.

[AcidSnake]

All great points. Nothing more for me to add on this issue anymore.

You said it all.

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

It’s not just that the stars for this transit expansion referendum did not align for it to have a better shot at being successful.

It’s that the world has completely changed since the push to expand transit in Gwinnett began.

The pandemic has so many people working from home for an extended and indefinite period of time that the continued viability of much of the commercial real estate market as a whole seems in serious question and maybe in an existential crisis.

Many commercial landlords are facing completely uncertain futures as many companies have shifted much (if not most) of their office operations to work-from-home via online and virtual connections and appear to be dramatically cutting back their future need for office space.

Meanwhile, the pandemic appears to be bringing an accelerated demise to many bricks-and-mortar retail outlets (and associated businesses like movie theaters) that were already struggling significantly before the crisis started.

With economic and logistical conditions so dramatically changed, seemingly indefinitely for the foreseeable future, transit expansion in an outlying area like Gwinnett just does not seem to be the have the urgent need and be the pressing issue that it might have been before.

Paying for increased and expanded transit is a tough sell during a pandemic and economic crisis when commuter traffic has fallen sharply from recent previous levels and figures to remain sharply reduced for the foreseeable as remote work on an increased widespread scale looks like it is a trend that may be here to stay.

[bfarley30]

I agree the pandemic took its toll on the vote since more people are working from home and traffic is not the issue it was. The sad part is that this pandemic will eventually be over and things will return to some form of normality that will have people back out and traffic back up.

And Gwinnett will be in the same place -- lacking real transit and people complaining about traffic. No vision by those that voted no.