Fresh Loaf

MARTA will make cuts to bus and train service on August 15, a move transit officials say is necessary to pull the metro Atlanta’s largest people mover out of a budget shortfall.

Transit officials call next Saturday’s cuts some of the most severe in MARTA’s 43-year history. Bus routes 23 and 182 will be totally eliminated. More than 40 other routes will adjusted. If you feel like it takes forever for a train to arrive, well, you’re gonna have to wait a little longer. Oh, and starting Oct. 1, fares and parking fees will increase 25 cents and $1, respectively.

Why were the cuts needed? After the jump, the answer to that question, as well as a full list of bus route modifications and details about longer wait times between trains.

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Oh hey, Ariel Hart of the AJC, what good news do you have for us this evening?

At a moment when mass transit is taking center stage as a solution to transportation problems nationwide, a [Federal Transit Administration] report has concluded that the Georgia Department of Transportation’s transit program is riddled with financial management problems, according to a report obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The problems were so severe that the federal government has frozen DOT’s transit grants, which average about $28 million a year, including some from the federal stimulus program. The report cast doubt on whether DOT could manage grants for the commuter rail line proposed to go south through Lovejoy.

It’s that last sentence that really smarts. A GDOT spokesman tells Hart that the agency’s taken steps to fix the problems and unfreeze the funding. For a better idea of how behind the times Georgia is when it comes to rail, Hart’s full article is worth checking out.

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The Atlanta City Council Finance and Executive Committee yesterday gave Beltline officials the green light to issue up to $267 million in bonds to fund the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit.

At a citizen advisory committee meeting on Tuesday at the East Atlanta library, Richard Lutch of Atlanta Beltline Inc. told members that project officials will issue bonds in the $145 million-$165 million range in October, a good chunk of which will go to refinance last year’s bond issuance.

Exactly how other cash raised from the issuance will be used for trails, parks and other Beltline features is still undecided. But officials have a basic idea.

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Atlanta City Councilwoman Anne Fauver recently voted against a study to help make the Peachtree Streetcar project eligible for federal stimulus funding. She says the Beltline is better positioned for federal funds, questions the streetcar’s scope, and wonders who will maintain the estimated $120 million project if it’s built.

On July 20, the Midtown and Downtown business associations offered the City a $600,000 grant to do a feasibility study on a streetcar line along Atlanta’s famed Peachtree Street and to prepare the City’s application for $300 million of stimulus money.

I voted against the legislation to accept the grant. It passed 11-3 so the feasibility study and the application for Federal money will be done. My position is based on the following:

The Franklin Administration asked for the legislation to be fast-tracked. Council had not had a work session or public hearing on the project. We never specifically endorsed the Streetcar proposal. The Streetcar is not THE top priority in Connect Atlanta, the City’s first comprehensive transportation plan either.

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IMAGINE TRANSIT HERE: The path of the Beltline, seen here crossing Ponce de Leon Avenue, crosses through 45 Atlanta neighborhoods.

You can understand why Beltline officials have earmarked $10,000 in the project’s upcoming fiscal year for “crisis communications.”

Since the city embarked on its mission to build a 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit around Atlanta’s urban core — a project that officials say will transform the city from a car-dependent hodgepodge of villages to a smart-growth wonderland served by streetcar — it’s faced its share of catastrophes.

In 2008, a state Supreme Court ruling temporarily stripped the Beltline of half its funding. Later that year, a controversial payout to Gwinnett County developer Wayne Mason raised questions over decisions about how the project allocated taxpayer dollars. In January, a bitter battle over rusty railroad tracks waged by the Beltline and a partnership of Amtrak and the Georgia Department of Transportation seemed ready to cripple the project.

But in all these crises, the Beltline emerged victorious. And on July 10, project officials had more good news to report.

After weeks of negotiations, Beltline officials struck a deal for two vital segments of GDOT-owned abandoned railroad tracks in southwest and southeast Atlanta. Atlanta Beltline Inc., the agency charged with implementing the project, now controls nearly 50 percent of the right-of-way it needs to form the spine of the 22-mile transit loop.

Continue reading “The Beltline’s tipping point”

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The Atlanta City Council yesterday approved a deal that could once again see streetcars running along Peachtree.

The Midtown Alliance and Central Atlanta Progress have offered up to $600,000 for MARTA to study the streetcar project, which last year was placed on hold after the city realized its budget woes.

Yesterday’s deal also allows officials to determine if the project could compete for up to $300 million in federal transportation stimulus cash. According to City Council President Lisa Borders’ mayoral campaign website, streetcars could become a reality in five years.

The $1 billion streetcar project, which includes new parks and streetscapes along the streetcar route, proposes connecting Fort McPherson to Buckhead. The first phase eyed for implementation — estimated at $120 million before the market tanked — would connect Midtown to downtown and include an east-west tourist loop stretching from the King Center to Centennial Olympic Park.

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The Natural Resources Defense Council, a well-regarded environmental nonprofit based in New York, this week released its list of the country’s most green, or sustainable, cities. Seattle received top honors, followed by San Francisco and Portland, Ore.

Compared to other cities with a population over 250,000, Atlanta ranked 33rd.

The rankings are based on, left to right: air quality, energy production and conservation, environmental standards and participation, green building, green space, recycling programs, transit, standard of living and water quality.

The ranking’s a bit disappointing when you consider how much energy the city’s invested in such initiatives as Sustainable Atlanta, the sewer overhaul and the Beltline. Those programs, however, are still far from completion. The city leads the country in the number of LEED-certified buildings, but that’ll only get you so far when you consider the programs such cities as Seattle and Chicago have launched.

Athens ranked 14th on the list of medium-sized cities. Roswell ranked 23rd among among smaller cities.

(Courtesy of NRDC)

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Beltline has secured a purchase option on segments highlighted above in red

The Beltline and Georgia Department of Transportation have agreed that key railroad tracks owned by the state agency will indeed be part of the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit.

GDOT Commissioner Vance Smith and Atlanta Beltline Inc. CEO Terri Montague announced today the agencies have struck a deal over a two vital segments of railroad tracks in Southwest and Southeast Atlanta.

The set of tracks in Southwest Atlanta stretch more than three miles from Allene Avenue to Lena Street. The other segment, which is much smaller, runs from Wylie Street to Memorial Drive in Reynoldstown.

According to the agreement, Beltline officials have exclusive claim on the properties until June 30, 2012. Until then, ABI will lease the segments and prepare them for public use — think hiking tours, urban sightseeing, etc.

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A couple of years ago, it really seemed like the Peachtree Streetcar was gonna happen.

The studies were completed and it seemed like everything was in place to connect Fort McPherson and Buckhead with a nearly $1 billion street-level transit system.

The first phase of that vision — 10 miles of track from Woodruff Arts Center to Memorial Drive, with a downtown tourist loop — was nearly ready to go. All the initiative needed was a special tax district along Atlanta’s most famous corridor, a Legislature-approved parking tax, and everyone to exercise patience during construction.

But then the city reported its shortfall and the economy cratered. The streetcar concept was placed on the backburner, where’s it sat for months. Ask any transit wonk at panel discussions or community meetings about the project, and they’d tell you that the vision was there but the money was not.

Maria Saporta reports however that the City of Atlanta, MARTA, Midtown Alliance and Central Atlanta Progress are coming together to apply for federal transportation dollars to fund some of the project.

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On July 1, a bunch of new laws covering everything from Confederate Heritage History Month to boll weevil eradication went into effect in Georgia.

One of those laws allows MARTA riders to consume food and drinks at transit stations — which means MARTA could sell them as well. The cash-strapped transit agency hopes the deal might add some much-needed revenue.

MARTA doesn’t know it, but it’s missing a gold mine. Here, free of charge, is one suggestion to make efficient use of space and maximize profits.

You are welcome. (H/T to Adrifting)

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Straphangers and transit wonks can breathe easy, as Gov. Sonny Perdue today finalized a $25 million agreement between the Atlanta Regional Commission and MARTA that will help the transit agency avoid drastic service cuts.

Perdue’s action today was largely just red tape. As governor, Perdue must approve all projects paid for by federal stimulus dollars. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority approved the ARC and MARTA’s agreement on Wednesday. Perdue had hinted he would do the same.

In exchange for funding to keep its trains and buses running, MARTA will spend $25 million on transit-related projects. ARC stepped up to help the cash-strapped transit agency after the Georgia General Assembly failed to pass a bill that would have allowed MARTA more control of its funding.

Perdue today also approved $121 million worth of other stimulus projects, including streetscape improvements in downtown Atlanta, park improvements in DeKalb County, and oodles of roads.

Screenshots of those are after the jump.

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The Clean Air Campaign, an Atlanta-based booster of alternate commuting, has posted a video that shows how foolish the estimated 60 percent of metro Atlantans who drive to work by themselves actually look — minus the steel, LCD screens playing “The View,” and dusty coffee tumblers that have surely caked your cloth interior with Maxwell House juice.

The animation then shows the effect that shared commutes, teleworking and riding transit could have on road capacity. Big difference.

To view the campaign’s animation, click the screenshot to the right.

For more information about how to connect with rideshare buds, transit options, teleworking tools and other ways you can join the more than 350,000 metro Atlantans who don’t drive to work by themselves, visit the Clean Air Campaign’s “Improve Your Commute” page. The campaign also offers incentives to motorists who give alternate commuting a shot.

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In a packed meeting at its downtown headquarters, the Atlanta Regional Commission threw cash-strapped MARTA a life preserver today, approving a reallocation of $25 million in federal stimulus dollars to help the transit agency avoid drastic service reductions.

Officials stressed the one-time funding shuffle wasn’t a bailout. Under the terms of the agreement, MARTA will shift money from its capital fund to pay for MARTA-related road projects that will benefit the region.

Today’s one-time move by the ARC proved necessary after the Georgia General Assembly failed to pass legislation earlier this year that would allow MARTA more control over its funding. MARTA officials said the transit agency risked cutting a full day of service should new funding not be secured.

The deal wasn’t met with enthusiasm from everyone.

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Atlanta Beltline Inc. President and CEO Terri Montague told CL Tuesday that no cloakroom antics were behind her announcement that she’ll leave the ambitious public-works project on September 1. Simply put, she says: Now’s a good time for her to find another challenge and ensure the $2.8 billion project doesn’t lose momentum.

“This is about a transition in leadership,” Montague said at last night’s Beltline Quarterly Briefing at the Atlanta Public Schools auditorium. “Now is better than later to think about how that looks like, who that person is, and what’s best for the next stage of [the project's development]…In the grand scheme of things, now is a good time to make that change.”

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Atlanta Beltline Inc. President and CEO Terri Montague says she’ll depart the agency tasked with designing the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit on Sept. 1.

“It has been my privilege to serve the City and the BeltLine team in this capacity and to help the project achieve its early milestones and momentum over these nearly three years,” Montague said in a press release. “BeltLine implementation has come a very long way in a very short time—thanks in part to the project’s many partners and supporters.”

Montague joined the Beltline in July 2006. ABI says she’ll assist the organization in a consulting capacity until the end of the year to help with her successor’s transition.

More to come. The full press release is after the jump.

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The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports the Beltline will receive $1 million as part of a $1.8 million grant package from the U.S. government to clean up brownfields.

The grants, which include $400,000 from the federal government’s stimulus program and $1.4 million from the EPA brownfields general program funding, will help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, EPA said. Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

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A lot of it depends on what you want to see.

As part of its environmental study, Beltline officials are soliciting public input as to how the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit should take shape. A full list of meeting dates and locations is available in this post.

Officials last week released 14 short videos that show examples of the options under consideration for the project’s parks, trails and transit components, among other thing. They’re all in the player embedded below. To view the different videos, press play and move your mouse icon to the left or right along the bottom of the screen.

UPDATE: After the jump, the Beltline “fly-through” video.

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Jim Walls at Atlanta Unfiltered reports:

Atlanta school officials took action Monday to keep some or all of an $18 million pot collected for the city’s BeltLine project.

The Board of Education voted to change the effective date of its decision to allow school tax money to be spent on the BeltLine. The board first OK’d the funding in 2005. Under a complicated resolution that you really don’t want to read, the board said its decision will take effect this year instead.

In the meantime, the board plans to renegotiate the split for the $18 million that’s already in the bank.

School officials emphasized they still back the BeltLine. “We voted to support the beltline in December of 2005, and that support level is still there,” board Chair LaChandra Butler Burks said.

APS staff sent CL a copy of Monday’s resolution. Take a look at it here.

And why should any of this matter? Walls sums it up very nicely.

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Transit supporters take note: grassroots coalition Save MARTA is asking you to hop on the bus or train next Friday to raise awareness about the people mover’s woes.

From the event’s Facebook page:

In light of impending MARTA service cuts due to state level legislative action and inaction, Metro Atlantans are coming together to support the transit system by celebrating Ride MARTA Day on Friday, April 17. On Ride MARTA Day, participants will all ride MARTA at least once, per their usual commute or replacing their usual mode of transportation. Participants will ride at the time of their choosing. In other words, all you need to do is ride the bus or train on Friday, April 17.

The purpose of Ride MARTA Day is to bring all concerned Metro Atlantans into a community building activity that will boost ridership, expose new riders to useful routes, express solidarity with MARTA workers and regular commuters, and demonstrate that, as the backbone of our transportation system, MARTA must be fairly funded.

Atlanta City Councilmember Kwanza Hall is scheduled to participate. As of this writing, there are 118 confirmed guests for the event. UPDATE: The event also has an official site. Check it out here.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Beltline officials on Monday will provide residents of Southeast Atlanta a chance to offer their opinion on how they want to move around the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit. Officials will also show them how they’ll move.

The meeting, the first of five Environmental Impact Study workshops, will be held at Trees Atlanta at 6:30 p.m. It will reportedly include a Google Earth animation that will take people on a virtual tour of the project’s path. Beltline officials will take citizen input on the how the trail and transit paths should be aligned, where station stops should be located, and what type of transportation — light-rail, streetcar, etc. — they think should be used.

The meeting is scheduled to end at 8:30 p.m. Click here for directions to Trees Atlanta. A list of the remaining workshops follows after the jump. To download a flyer that includes all the workshop dates and locations, click here. (Warning: PDF)

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The following recent headlines were selected by me to make you angry.

Denver Post: Pace to pick up on West light-rail line

ProgressiveRailroading.com: WMATA outlines plans for $202 million in stimulus funds

San Francisco Business Times: California bullet train gets $29M loan

Daily Journal of Commerce: MAX light rail boosted by bond sale

Arizona Republic: New light-rail plans call for more track and expansion into Mesa

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio passenger rail chugs ahead

Even during the nation’s current economic disaster, other metro areas are growing and improving their mass transit networks.

Meanwhile Atlanta’s economy is held hostage by the city-hatin’, parochial idiots who run the state government.

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1. AJC plans to cut staff by 30 percent (As we later reported, nearly 90 editorial staffers will be bought out or laid off. That sucks.)

2. Atlanta to New Orleans rail line in danger … because of Alabama? (At least this story has a happy ending.)

3. Atlanta City Council OKs Decatur Belt deal— with a catch (Marietta Street residents protect their neighborhood from destruction, and the newest Beltline plan is a win-win)

4. Examining the Sweet 16: Nova v. Duke is can’t miss basketball (Needless to say, we rooted for the Tar Heels.)

5. Georgia slips in ’safest state’ rankings to no. 39 (The Peach State dropped seven spots, to be exact — the largest plummet in the country. Oops.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Ryan Gravel

The Beltline Partnership, the fundraising and public awareness arm of the $2.8 billion project that imagines Atlanta circled by parks, trails and transit, has new board directors.

Most prominent among those, especially for people who keep their eyes on smart growth and transit projects in the city, is Ryan Gravel. An urban designer who envisioned the Beltline as a graduate student at Georgia Tech, Gravel now works at local architecture firm Perkins + Will. He’s become more engaged with the Beltline since the Georgia Department of Transportation and Amtrak unexpectedly announced they want to use tracks near Piedmont Park for a commuter-rail project, putting the project in jeopardy.

Ray Weeks, the partnership’s founding chairman, is stepping down now that his term on the board has ended. He will continue to serve as one of the organization’s chief fundraisers. Weeks is succeeded by AGL Resources CEO John Somerhalder.

The partnership’s roster includes some of the city’s biggest business names. Since its founding, the organization has been vital in securing private funds to help pay for some of the public-works project’s costs.

Full release, with details of who’s joined the board, after the jump.

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Citizens for Progressive Transit, a grassroots advocacy group, is holding its annual lobbying day at the state Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 17.

Members and non-members who want to speak with Georgia lawmakers about the need for more transit, cleaner air and less auto-dependent options are urged to meet with the group at the Central Presbyterian Church across the street from the Capitol on Tuesday morning. There, you’ll receive a briefing and then make your way to the Gold Dome to advocate the cause.

Full details are after the jump.

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RAIL RALLY Beltline supporters say Amtrak, GDOT's plans jeopardize Beltline

When it comes to the future of public transit in Atlanta, there’s good news and there’s bad news.

The good news: After decades of bowing at the throne of roadbuilders, the Georgia Department of Transportation says it’s finally taking off the kneepads and getting serious about train service that would connect Atlanta to other cities in the Southeast.

The bad news: Thanks to an unexpected tiff between GDOT and city of Atlanta officials, the Beltline — the transformative 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit that would one day circle the city — might be in jeopardy. That’s because the train service that GDOT is suddenly embracing would have to run on or near the proposed Beltline tracks. What’s more, Piedmont Park, the city’s most iconic greenspace, might have to be severed by a heavy-rail route in order to accommodate GDOT’s vision.

Last week, CL first reported that GDOT — working in tandem with Amtrak — threw a wrench in Beltline officials’ plans for light-rail, trails and additional green space near Piedmont Park. Just as Norfolk Southern, the current owner of the tracks in question, was about to surrender them to the city, GDOT and Amtrak stepped in and halted the proceedings. Those two agencies now say the tracks in dispute are vital to their own vision for commuter rail.

“Simply put, because of GDOT’s boorish behavior and AMTRAK’s willingness to play along, the future of the city of Atlanta is at stake,” Mayor Shirley Franklin wrote in an urgent letter to U.S. Congressman John Lewis to seek his assistance.

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