Comments on: Tussle with Amtrak and GDOT could kill Beltline vision

By: wow gol

wow gol — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 08:11:17 +0000

Fire the designers & hire one from disneyland, they pulled it off

By: rw

rw — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:09:46 +0000

Neither project has a goal anymore except to collect money. No one seems to want to admit that these projects will be bad for the neighborhoods and the park. Beltline was a nice concept for transit. Too bad its now just a joke that will be a money pit for those of us still living in the city in 10 years with no new transit anywhere in site. Kill both projects and do something constructive and quick.

By: Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 02:23:46 +0000

How does AMTRAK plan to get their high spped rail through Halsy Yard? Over it does not work because of MARTA and one can only assume that a tunnel is cost prohibitive. If they can’t answer this question, then what exactly are they doing? Stick w. Option 3

By: patrick

patrick — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:04:16 +0000

hmmm

all good points

The proposed beltine & probably the GDOT would be ion my backyard.

Put the damn heavy rail up in the air higher than the MARTA, like the interstates are. (where there are Beltline & speedrail conflicts)

Fire the designers & hire one from disneyland, they pulled it off

By: Beltline Neighbor

Beltline Neighbor — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:20:56 +0000

Right on the money.
When this first broke, I surmised that money was involved and that GDOT was posturing to get more stimulus money. Amtrak is a pawn in all this — GDOT is just dangling them out there to get more funding. Would they ever follow through after they got the money? My money says no.
And their apparent indifference to the MANY residents who would have high speed rail in their backyards is astounding, not to mention the number of at-grade street crossings such a proposal would involve.
High speed rail is a vital component to a region, and I’m all for having a station serving Downtown. But to do it at the expense of a walkable, livable urban environment is myopic. What does a person do when they get off the train? If you’re serious about transit, you marry heavy rail with the other forms of transit that would then get people around the City (which includes light rail, buses, and yes walking and biking).
One of the biggest problems with MARTA is that it “doesn’t go anywhere” — that is, once you are off the train it’s often daunting to get to your final destination, which makes it attractive mainly to people who don’t have or can’t afford a car.
It’s like building a highway and having no roads once you get off the exits.
And the commentary on the negative political ramifications of the infighting is also spot on. What administration would give money to a state whose jurisdictions so clearly can’t get their acts together?

By: Concerned Citizen

Concerned Citizen — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:35:23 +0000

The BeltLine, Atlanta transit, and regional passenger rail are becoming just another playground toy for local politicians and developers. They care nothing about building a transit network for our region, and are looking solely on their own short-sighted, selfish goals and projects.

I support the BeltLine because it may be the FIRST STEP towards the transportation network that Atlanta desperately needs to allow for future growth opportunities. But the BeltLine will only be successful if it is an integral part of a much larger, multi-faceted system. Should passenger rail play a role in that system? Many say yes, but no one really knows. But passenger rail is a real option that cannot be ignored and one that should not be foreclosed or compromised, especially during this beginning stage of planning and building the city’s future transit system

So why do the BeltLine honchos have their shorts tied in a knot about Amtrak’s interest in providing passenger rail to Atlanta? Is the real plan of the BeltLine honchos to settle for a cute BeltLine “tourist” attraction and to forget about an intra-city transit network that seamlessly enables people to get to places they want to go to? Are those honchos going to squander opportunities to link to inter-city transit networks (e.g., air and rail)? Will they ignore the fact that having passenger rail come through that area of the City and touch the BeltLine could be tremendous, if done right and with the right technology? Will they not even strive to have both the BeltLine and passenger rail?

I can only assume the BeltLine honchos never real saw the BeltLine as a transit project. They must have viewed it as a private party real estate development project. And now is the prospect of solid future transportation options for Atlantans is getting in their way. The choice between transportation for all and real estate development profits for a few is obvious.

By: cityzen

cityzen — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:54:14 +0000

The Beltline misinformation juggernaut is the only transit we’ll ever see from this boondoggle. There is no viable transportation element to the Beltline as the program’s own panel concluded at the outset. But Sierra Club and other well-meaning souls were and remain fooled by developer PR.

So why the shrieks of indignation? Because nobody will pay premium prices for highrise parkside condos next to heavy rail.

The winners so far from the Beltline:
NS (25mm for scrap land without abandonment)
Masons (40mm profit on 2 year holding w/o abandonment) Bellwood quarry owner (25mm for scrap land)
Beltline bureaucrats and lawyers

Losers
Atlanta taxpayers and crime victims, because taxes are diverted to pay for all of the above. Instead of an honest choice of whether Atlanta can afford to subsidize developers around Piedmont Park and turn expensive scrap land into parks, what do we get? Kasim Reed, our next mayor, proposing a tax increase to make up for the shortfall in policing. That’s right, because TADs bleed taxes away from their intended use, we now have another tax increase to make up the difference.

Other losers
Local Democracy – because if you can fool most of the people all of the time, that’s not democracy, it’s demockery.
The depressed parts of Atlanta. They should get development but the Beltline won’t bring it when the Piedmont Park section is the developer goldmine. A moratorium on building in the rich but intolerably congested parts of town would automatically bring development to the next best, closest-in neighborhoods. We need and we would get more Castleberry Hills and Puritan Mills and no more highrises spewing excess cars on Monroe Drive near the park or in Buckhead