Veto of $40 million a disaster — or simply a shame?
June 1, 2007 at 1:12 pm by Scott Henry in NewsEarly this week, Gov. Perdue used his veto pen to erase a $40 million state grant to the Peachtree corridor project — the proposal to overhaul Atlanta’s signature street into a world-class thoroughfare with streetcars.
While Councilwoman Clair Muller, chairwoman of Atlanta City Council’s Transportation Committee, is “disappointed” by this particular episode of Sonny Did, she says it’s not a crippling setback for the project.
For starters, she explains, the city hasn’t yet settled on exactly what kind of public transit it needs for the corridor, which would stretch from the Buckhead malls through downtown and south to Fort McPherson. Streetcars were favored by the mayor’s Peachtree Corridor Task Force, but Muller says the city hasn’t yet committed to that recommendation and may still consider “rubber-wheeled trolleys” — less expensive than streetcars, but more appealing than MARTA buses.
The city also hasn’t figured out exactly what kind of funding mechanism to use for the project — perhaps a special tax district — Muller notes. Until such decisions get finalized, Muller says, state grants amount to seed money and may be a bit premature.
Undeterred by the governor’s veto, Mayor Franklin named a new “Peachtree Corridor Partnership” charged with figuring out the details of the corridor project, which is estimated to cost $1 billion.
Send to a friend:
Leave a Reply