Fresh Loaf

Here’s another way Atlanta wants to be like Decatur. From Georgia PIRG:

A new poll, released today by Georgia PIRG Education Fund and the Smoke-Free Atlanta Coalition, shows that 65 percent of Atlanta voters favor legislation that prohibits smoking in all indoor public places, including workplaces, restaurants, and bars.

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The poll also suggests that an overwhelming majority of Atlantans (95 percent) consider secondhand smoke to be at least a minor health hazard. Additionally, it found that thirty-four percent of Atlanta voters would view city officials or candidates for city office more favorably if they were to support a supported a city ordinance.

The nonprofit think tank, which surveyed 600 registered Atlanta voters for the poll, says Atlanta City Councilman Jim Maddox has started a task force to examine more stringent smoking policies. (My dear colleague Scott Henry just sang over my cubicle wall that Maddox has announced his retirement. We’re sure the long-serving councilman will get cracking on this issue in no time.)

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Jeez, guys, didn’t you read that he was taking a train to Washington, D.C.?

The Georgia Public Interest Research Group has just released its analysis of the state Department of Transportation’s wishlist for President-elect Barack Obama’s proposed stimulus funds. And the group says the state agency’s list favors asphalt over rails.

The Georgia Department of Transportation’s wish list requests:

• Georgia would spend only 34.3 percent of funds on public transit/intercity rail projects.

• The state DOT has allocated 69 percent of the two billion dollar highway project funds to the maintenance needs of the state’s infrastructure. This is a higher portion than most other states but would still leave many bridges and roads in a state of disrepair while building new highways.

• GDOT also lists three bike/pedestrian projects in Fulton County: West End Rail Multi-use Trail ($2.2 million), Fourteenth Street ($7.6 million), and Downtown Atlanta Pedestrian ($6.7 million).

There are some worrisome aspects to these high-dollar and ambitious wishlists, too.

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FUND TRANSIT State Rep. Dubose Porter, D-Dublin, stands alongside mass-transit supporters Monday and voiced the need for more cash for more options.

It’s become a mantra of passionate rail and bus supporters during the current legislative session: Do something, anything, to kick start the state’s static transit situation.

On Monday afternoon, the message was echoed. Members of Citizens for Progressive Transit, Georgia Public Interest Research Group, the Sierra Club, Mothers and Others for Clean Air and Georgia Brain Train Group, among others, rallied for legislators to pass a proposal that would generate cash to expand bus and rail services.

Advocates say their movement has momentum this year in the form of a state Senate resolution that was nipped and tucked last week by the House. State Rep. Dubose Porter appeared alongside the groups yesterday and said it’s time to start thinking about moving people by rail.

“We cannot pave our way out of gridlock,” Porter said. “This is someone from rural Georgia talking… The bill that is moving through [the General Assembly] is about allowing regions to determine their future.”

Neill Herring, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, supports the need for more transit funding, but told InsiderAdvantage’s Dick Pettys that the current form of the Senate’s proposal reads like an “Atlanta bill.” That could be a problem. Porter said that can be changed if the House dedicates the remaining penny of the motor-fuel tax that’s traditionally gone to the state’s general fund to instead fall under the care of the state DOT. For rural regions which lack the density upon which transit thrives, the generated revenues could go toward road projects.

Also on Monday’s agenda: Release findings of a study they say shows using public transit saves money and gas and lessens our impact on the environment. Rob Thompson of Georgia PIRG presented a study that concluded metro Atlanta transit agencies reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 662,036 metric tons per year and save consumers $228 million in gasoline expenses. (Ariel Hart of That Other Paper has a report questioning some of the study’s findings.) View the agency-by-agency data after the jump.

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

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