Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Transit Atlanta streetcar public hearings are sure to be spectacular!
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 2:13 PM
- Georgia Transit Connector
After a short presentation about the streetcar, officials will solicit the public's input about the east-west and north-south routes' potential "environmental impacts." That's a fairly broad term that could include anything from historic sites to endangered species. They'll later submit those comments to federal transportation officials. The hearings are part of the environmental assessment process and required before the city can tap any funding from Washington, D.C.
Still haven't read the project's 354-page draft environmental assessment? What are you waiting for?!? (It's actually quite interesting.) You can download it, in all its 28mb glory, at this link.
The first meeting is tomorrow night in Midtown. The second and final meeting is on Auburn Avenue. Full details are after the jump. Other ways to comment on the project can be found right hee-yah.
Public Hearing 1:
December 9, 2010
5:00 PM — 7:00 PM
Redeemer Lutheran Church
731 Peachtree Street NE
Rudisill Hall
Atlanta, GA 30308
Public Hearing 2:
December 13, 2010
5:00 PM — 7:00 PM
Auburn Avenue Research Library
101 Auburn Avenue NE
4th Floor Auditorium
Atlanta, GA 30303
Comments (18)
Showing 1-18 of 18
One thing you won't hear there is how we are trillions in the hole, yet still spending like drunken sailors to retrofit cities to the end of the nineteenth century.
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oydave, this is your chance to make your opinion heard. attend the meeting and report back.
42 million, just build a couple less F22's. I'm excited I'm thinking i may see something happen in Atlanta that I was starting to think I would never see in my lifetime! A transit investment! (not counting a regular bus on a road).
I should tell Keith Olberman about this, If Obama wasn't pres we'd be getting more money for another highway in Gwinnett - or the northern arc.....oooops sorry about that Oy
I say bring it on. If the money is already set aside, let's get our fair share. I just hope that if/when another $42 million becomes available they think about building a SECOND trolley line and starting to create some form of mass transit infrastructure downtown. The last thing we need is only 1 trolley line that really doesn't help the citizens of the ATL get anywhere.
The money isn't "set aside." The money doesn't exist. We are borrowing ourselves into oblivion for feel-good projects of dubious worth. There should be no transit spending by Washington until we're in the black.
It's a done deal, so my opinion at the meeting is not needed. The meeting is for details of the lunacy, not whether or not to be looney.
A few less F-22s is my desire as well. The need for this type of weapon is greatly diminished in the assymetrical warfare of today, at least until we are surpassed by China. Thank you so much Dick Nixon.
His daughter and David Eisenhower were on Colbert last night, seemed like very charming people. He had a cool picture of them in the White House with Dick and Eisenhower when they were 8 or something.
I think a single F-22 runs about $90 million...so we would only need to chop one in half to fund the streetcar.
One thing worth mentioning is that the project is presently slated for approx. $70 million. You can figure out the math before what are sure to be good sized over runs. I can think of many things the city can spend its piece of the funding on.
Saying this is one less F-22 or we better take the money simply because the Feds are doling it out, is akin to me using a coupon to retrofit my car engine to steam because I have a 60% off coupon.
As far as job creation and economic impact, at least all the supplemental environmental, traffic and other studies will keep the lawyers and document preparers busy.
And for those saying this is a step in the right direction of for the Beltline, I'll wager that they haven't dealt with Federal and local bureaucracy enough to realize the effect this will have on other transportation related projects and their subsequent funding.
As a Beavis and Butthead aside Figure 0-1: Build Alternative, (page 6 of .pdf), is truly classic...no homo.
Oh Vox, Streetcars in numerous other U.S. cities have proven to have a positive economic impact and increased tax revenues via higher property values and increased economic activity. I provided numerous links before so won't do it again just google street car san diego, seattle portland etc. etc.
Yes I know you had links also such as the author who thinks Smart Growth is a bad idea.
I like the east/west streetcar, but I think the north/south one is ridiculous. It would duplicate MARTA's train service downtown and hurt ridership. If you wanna streetcar, then run it north up Peachtree from Arts Center station.
@Voxpopuli
"One thing worth mentioning is that the project is presently slated for approx. $70 million. You can figure out the math before what are sure to be good sized over runs."
A contingency ( I believe 20 percent) is already factored into that figure.
"As far as job creation and economic impact, at least all the supplemental environmental, traffic and other studies will keep the lawyers and document preparers busy. "
All the required studies have already been completed. Thats what made this project "shovel ready".
To Chris Koch -
The original plan for the street car was just that:
A Midtown to Buckhead connector.
Ta Da!
Just what we did not get
Thank you, Kwanza Hall...
So there is not a bus that runs along these same lines? Because the people that will not take the bus are the same ones that will not take the trolly.
A street car attracts more riders than a regular bus - part of the reason being visibility.
A street car leads to real estate and development investments in part due to the higher ridership, in part because of the perception and in part because its a more permanent investment thus justifying a 30 year investment ( a bus line could and has been changed or canceled so one will not build transit oriented buildings or start transit oriented businesses )
I work directly on the planned route. I have never taken a bus in the City of Atlanta. I will ride the street car. To lunch.
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