Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wonk / Guv'ment / Transit Regional transit governance bill submitted to governor
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 1:21 PM
State lawmakers yesterday submitted legislation to Gov. Nathan Deal that would overhaul the way metro Atlanta's bus and rail systems are operated. The language of the proposed bill, which the governor is holding until he can gather enough signatures, is included as part of a state commission's report about transit governance (PDF). (Kudos to the Saporta Report's David Pendered for posting a copy.)
According to the legislation, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, or GRTA, would oversee all transit operations in the state except for MARTA. The legislation would also allow the lieutenant governor and House Speaker to make some appointments to the GRTA board. Currently, the governor picks all members.
In addition, A 35-member "transit governance" council would be created under GRTA to provide "direct policy-making and oversight of [GRTA's] transit governance." Members of that council would consist of, according to the report, a majority of local elected officials including 13 county commission chairmen and 13 mayors. The mayor of Atlanta would have a guaranteed seat on the council. The council would also be allowed to "proceed with contracts, applications, and legal agreements within its purview."
We're still poring over the legislation. Let us know if anything stands out.
Comments (6)
Showing 1-6 of 6
So we'll have only GRTA and MARTA. Guess which one will be showered with state funds and which one will get nothing except non-stop micromanaging by people who live nowhere near the service area.
like
dislikeMARTA does a great job with the little resources it receives and the ZERO resources it receives from the state. They should cede control of GRTA and CCT over to MARTA. MARTA could run all transit, including the Beltline.
It should be ONE agency for the entire state - or at least a mechanism that makes sure taxes pulled from the entire state PROPORTIONATELY apply to population/traffic loads. There are more cars and people for sports, entertainment, culture, hospitals, colleges, commerce - than most parts of the state see in a year (or many years).
Between Atlanta, Athens, Macon, Columbus, & Savannah none seem to have a proportionately funded transit budgets - and nothing close to regional highspeed transit. It is delaying the progress of the state as a whole. Traffic is choking the streets and diminishing the quality of life. People spend hours they could be with their families - sitting in cars or waiting for buses on already strapped system routes. Employers loose productivity when employees get in stressed from traffic, and leave earlier to avoid it. And those that move further out to escape the traffic - still spend hours commuting 5 days a week.
When you visit New York: Do you bemoan having to get a rental car to get around and sit through traffic...or do you hop on transit and get to wherever you need to like the locals? When you go to California, you can take BART, CalTrain, etc.
Atlanta...New York began this in the 19TH CENTURY. California in the 20th and still growing. And sadly, Charlotte, Seattle, Boston, D.C., Chicago or any major city in the country has eclipsed Atlanta's mass transit in maybe only 30 years. Not because they're special...but because they INVESTED in transit. Invest in MARTA. We are in the 21st century with a transit philosophy that is more akin to horse drawn buggies than it is about common sense mass transit.
The problem Rands is that there are quite a few people in Georgia who don't want to be in the 20th century, much less the 21st. They'd be quite happy to lose the economic engine that is Atlanta just for the opportunity to watch it burn.
Instead of 1% we can do a 10% uber regressive transportation sales tax and it still won't build enough roads and get transit to enough places to eliminate congestion.
I don't see creating a new transit agency as any major breakthrough. I do see downsides so am initially pleased (though admittedly ignorant as to the details) that MARTA is not controlled by the state.
But really its all deck chairs on the titanic. Until the metro region comes to grips with the need to place the next million people to come to Atlanta in places, neighborhoods or developments that use our transportation infrastructure efficiently its all a lost cause.
Providing more supply without addressing demand is a foolish chase - reminds me of my cat on catnip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QhXiJwd9Ec GRTA was formed to try to address both things, unfortunately that never happened and now we are apparently off in another direction.
Reason #231 why spending more dollars on transportation and creating more government agencies created by the state is doomed to failure:
http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-government…
Senate Majority Leader Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, compares the plan to socialism and communism, saying its "extreme environmentalism, social engineering and global political control" is a threat to the American way of life. SR 730 was referred to committee.
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