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State. Rep. Rashad Taylor urges Perdue take action on MARTA

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

Gov. Sonny Perdue said earlier today he’d like to avoid a special legislative session to reconsider a bill that would give cash-strapped MARTA more control over its main source of revenue.

Well, State Rep. Rashad Taylor, D-Atlanta, has offered the governor another option. The freshman lawmaker today wrote Perdue urging him to issue an executive order to help MARTA. (Click here to view the letter.)

“Because of the House’s failure to pass SB 120, Metro Atlantans are now looking to you for leadership on this issue,” Taylor wrote. “If the law will allow, I urge you to issue an Executive Order suspending the capital reserve restrictions that currently tie MARTA’s hands. If you are unable to do this by Executive Order, I ask that you call a special session of the Legislature so that we can pass legislation that will give MARTA access to its capital reserves… We must do better for the capital city and for the citizens who rely on public transit to work for Georgia’s present and future.”

Taylor, who serves on the House MARTA Oversight Committee, will join other lawmakers tomorrow for a press conference about the issue at 2 p.m at downtown’s Five Points MARTA station.

Voting problems hit Atlanta’s Adamsville Rec Center

Friday, October 31st, 2008

Georgia Democrats are calling for Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel to extend advanced voting on Saturday and Sunday after computer glitches caused a reported 500 people to wait two hours in line at a Fulton County polling place.

State Rep.-elect Rashad Taylor, D-Atlanta, says poll workers at the Adamsville Recreation Center in Southwest Atlanta told him voter check-in machines couldn’t access the Secretary of State’s system shortly after 7 p.m. on Thursday night. When he arrived at the rec center to assist poll workers, Taylor — who was joined by Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders, Councilmember C.T. Martin and City Council Clerk Rhonda Johnson — says he saw an estimated 500 people still waiting to cast ballots.

“A few days ago, there was a problem connecting to the system,” the representative-elect says. “This time, there was a problem with the system.”

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