Fresh Loaf

The departure of Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders from the Atlanta mayor’s race earlier this week has, by political strategists’ calculation, left behind a large window of opportunity for the right candidate.

Specifically, we mean someone backed by the Atlanta business community – anointed by the Chamber of Commerce, as it were. Borders, a protege of mega-developer Tom Cousins, had been that person, but now she’s out.

Therefore, the buzz of the moment has concentrated on a well-known and universally respected chief executive, a man of unique achievement who’s arguably done more than anyone since Ted Turner to restore the vibrancy of Atlanta’s downtown business district.

(more…)

Bookmark It

Decades of myopia and road-building fever are catching up with metro Atlanta. We’re not alone in that mess, but we seem to be one of the few metro regions not doing anything about it.

Neil Peirce of the Washington Post writes that in light of gridlock and arm-and-a-leg gas prices, metro areas as far west as Seattle and as near as Charlotte are finding innovative ways to alleviate their transportation problems.

Georgia, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, is still scratching lotto tickets and wishing for cash rather than getting creative.

What really struck my eye in Peirce’s column was this gem:

The good news: only few other regions — metro Detroit, for example — are as stalemated as Atlanta. Indeed, just check what’s happening elsewhere:

He then goes on to list a bunch of other regions across the country and their projects. It’s a sobering read with some great quotes from Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. The business group has been the leading voice in calling for the General Assembly to take some kind of action to address the sorely needed transportation solutions in the state.

Bookmark It

It was the loudest and most powerful player in the push for transportation funding during the last legislative session but it still wasn’t able to convince lawmakers to act on transportation.

But yesterday Get Georgia Moving, the coalition of more than 50 organizations ranging from the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce to the Sierra Club, announced Terry Chastain as its new executive director. That’s a sign the state’s powerplayers still have a little faith in our elected officials to do something next year.

Chastain is the chamber’s vice president of government affairs and was a familiar face at the Gold Dome this year. The chamber says he’ll be a loaned executive to the coalition.

“It’s humbling to represent so many respected organizations on such an important public policy issue,” Chastain said in a released statement. “With all of these groups working together and with the support of so many in the legislature, I am very confident we will be successful in our efforts.”

Earlier this year the coalition rallied for a funding mechanism that would’ve injected cash into the $7 billion budget the DOT is facing. The best bet was SR 845 — that would’ve allowed regions to levy a sales tax to raise cash for transportation projects. We all know how that ended.

Well, there’s always next year. And the year after that.

Text of the announcement after the jump.

(more…)

Bookmark It

A hearing yesterday on building a commuter rail system that connects Atlanta with its outlying suburbs demonstrated both the need for it, and the reasons why it probably won’t get built in our lifetime.

According to the Gwinnett Daily Post, Atlanta is one of three of the 13 largest cities in the country without commuter rail. “Not only does it affect the quality of life in the region, but it affects our ability to attract jobs,” Michael Robison, co-chair of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce’s transit committee, told the Georgia DOT’s intermodal committee. “We’re falling behind.”

The system’s price tag is estimated to be $1.5 billion and members of the DOT committee responded that the state just doesn’t have that much money to devote to commuter rail. After all, there are miles and miles of roads to be built and expanded, etc., etc.

And, according to one committee member, not everybody wants to get to Atlanta:

Rep. Steve Davis, a member of the transportation committee, said he does not think it makes sense to spend more than a billion dollars on a transportation method such a small portion of the population will use. Davis, R-McDonough, described the projects more as economic development tools than travel tools.

“It will have a much broader impact than just transportation,” Davis said. “They want to force the entire region onto becoming the urban core. I do not want to live in Atlanta; I do not want to live in the urban core.”

Can we say “short-sighted leadership”?

Bookmark It

A report released Monday by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce says that connecting seven intercity rail lines in Georgia is not only feasible, but that the ridership is there to use it.

Conducted by D.C.-based R.L. Burns and Associates Inc., the study evaluated the estimated ridership and cost of implementing and maintaining the different rail lines that would connect Atlanta to cities such as Athens, Augusta, Savannah and Chattanooga, among others. The group concluded that the ridership for the lines would be comparable to other cities that operate commuter rail systems. The Athens-Atlanta link, for example, would serve an estimated 3,000-3,7000 people every day. The downside — as there always is a downside — is that it’ll cost $471 million to start and $15 million to operate annually. The study also says that as gas prices continue to rise, more and more commuters would consider the alternative means of transportation desirable. As the legislative session teeters to its annual opening, maybe the state will finally heed the call from not only public-transit advocates, but the business community as well, that roads have served their purpose in the region and other modes of transportation need to be explored.

Interesting side note: Out of the 13 most populated regions in the United States — such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — only three are without a commuter rail system. Yes, Atlanta’s one of those.

I tried to upload the PowerPoint presentation of the study, but alas it’s too large. However, you can view or download it at the Georgia Association of Rail Passengers website. Click on “Press Room,” scroll down to “MACOC - Commuter Rail Plan Update Summary (Large),” click, and enjoy.

Bookmark It

Maybe it was just me, but it seemed that, just below the surface of the usual boosterish rhetoric at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce’s annual luncheon earlier today was a definite message to the state’s top elected officials to shape up and start showing some real leadership.

In listing the major issues facing the metro area, chamber President Sam Williams told the audience of business leaders gathered in an Omni ballroom that the state had taken a good first step in tackling traffic by forming the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, but more work needs to be done to save the region from suffocating gridlock.

Similarly, he said, Georgia had done well to create 16 water-planning districts across the state, but needs fast action to deal with the ongoing drought.

Williams also praised Georgia for getting rid of a state flag that, with its offensive Confederate battle emblem, “threatened to divide the state.”

In each case, the change he touted was the result of an initiative by Georgia’s previous governor, Roy Barnes. The subtext seemed to be: Sonny, get off your ass and do something — starting with Grady. Both Williams and outgoing chamber Chairman Dick Anderson cited the salvation of the ailing public hospital as a top priority for the metro area.

“If we don’t address this problem,” Williams warned, “the consequences could be extreme for the region.”

(more…)

Bookmark It