Fresh Loaf

The push to make the Peachtree streetcar a reality continued its monthlong PR campaign Wednesday night just blocks from the very thoroughfare it promises to transform. A group of nearly 70 residents, business owners and students gathered around tables in one of AT&T’s mid-rise buildings on West Peachtree Street to not only hear details about the transit project, but lob criticisms as well.

Although most in attendance support the idea — even jokingly begging planners to start laying down track immediately — the biggest hurdle the effort must overcome is the funding strategy project leaders say will cover 75 percent of the $190 million cost.

That strategy — a tax hike on commercial and multifamily residential properties along the streetcar’s route — raises questions about how willing property owners will be to pay for the people mover.

Ray Christman, a former president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, is leading the project and says that after taxes, the owner of a $300,000 condo would really be paying $108-$252 a year, or 30 cents-69 cents a day. He also said project planners would push for an incentive program in which residents along the streetcar route could ride for free.

Streetcar advocates have been priming Atlanta City Council to consider the project early in March. The Council would have to approve that the tax district be drawn along the streetcar route. The General Assembly would have to pass legislation enabling the city to impose a parking tax. Christman says the state has “other issues more pressing” on its agenda at this moment, and the project’s advocates are not lobbying for such a move during the current legislative session.

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Tags: Affordable-Housing, Peachtree-Street-streetcar, transportation.