Fresh Loaf

On Wednesday, House Speaker David Ralston dropped in on a crowded House Transportation Committee to chat with his colleagues.

His request: Please pass Gov. Sonny Perdue’s legislation that could provide much-needed funding for new roads, bridges and long-overdue transit projects. At the beginning of the legislative session, the speaker said managing the state’s  transportation woes was a priority.

“This is a good bill,” Ralston said to his colleagues. “This is a bill Georgia needs. And frankly, this bill is long overdue.”

Ralston might not want to read this week’s Atlanta Business Chronicle. The paper’s Dave Williams and Maria Saporta have a detailed rundown of why Perdue’s bill — and our hopes of getting out of traffic or riding better transit — could die because of political and geographic bickering.

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After years of pleading with state lawmakers, MARTA might finally catch a break. But it’s not out of the woods just yet.

During a packed press conference today to reveal more details about additional transportation funding, Gov. Sonny Perdue said he supports giving the transit agency more leeway in how it spends its main funding source.

“We’ve given school systems great flexibility during the economic downturn,” Perdue, who was joined by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston, said. “It only makes sense to do the same thing with MARTA. And they’ve promised to be good stewards.”

Should both chambers of the General Assembly pass a regional transportation tax measure that Perdue’s proposed, MARTA would be granted a three-year window to decide how it spends revenues generated by a penny sales tax in Fulton and DeKalb County. Currently, the transit agency can only spend half those revenues on operations and the other half on capital projects. (For more information on the transportation tax proposal, see this previous post and read this piece by Dave Williams.)

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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 April 16, President Barack Obama gave rail lovers some long-awaited good news: As part of the president’s stimulus plan, he offered $8 billion to begin linking major U.S. cities with high-speed rail lines — and an additional $5 billion more to improve rail service over the next four years.

“We need high-speed rail,” Obama said. “It’s happening right now. It’s been happening for decades. The problem is, it’s been happening elsewhere, not here.”

By “elsewhere,” the president was referring to Europe and Asia. But he could just as easily have been talking about Southeastern states other than Georgia. Thanks to a lack of vision, little to no funding, and an almost cartoonish addiction to roads, the Peach State’s far behind many of its neighbors when it comes to rail.

Transit and transportation advocates say if the state’s leadership doesn’t work to catch up, Georgia could miss out on a nationwide rail renaissance.

Click here to continue reading this story.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Note to lawmakers: Perhaps using one of the metro region’s most important assets as a bargaining chip isn’t that great of an idea? Maybe?

From Friday’s Atlanta Business Chronicle:

If Atlanta’s rapid transit system is forced to eliminate a day of service, business leaders say, it will be a severe economic blow to a city already stung by a deepening recession.

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“It would be devastating for the Atlanta economy and therefore the state of Georgia’s economy if MARTA has to restrict services on any day,” said A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, the alliance of downtown businesses. He called the state’s failure to resolve the problem a “travesty.”

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“If MARTA has to furlough its trains and buses for one day a week, the ripple effect would be tremendous,” Metro Atlanta Chamber President Sam Williams said. “I’ve talked to several big employers who say their businesses would be drastically affected. This would certainly send a message nationwide that Georgia has another problem and can’t solve it.”

The paper also quotes officials from AT&T, UPS and BellSouth — all of whom say MARTA service cuts could impact their workers. There’s also a good list of statistics outlining the role MARTA plays in shuttling residents and visitors around the region.

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And while we’re on the topic of saving MARTA, the transit agency is asking your opinion on potential cuts it might have to make to offset its budget shortfall.

There are a whole host of questions — asking if you’d mind if MARTA sold advertising on Breeze Cards, closed bathrooms, etc. If you’ve got something to tell them, there’s an online way to do it.

Check it out here.

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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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The state just doesn’t seem to understand MARTA’s importance to metro Atlanta. The Atlanta Regional Commission, however, just might.

Ariel Hart of the AJC reports:

A committee of the Atlanta Regional Commission on Thursday recommended that ARC divert up to $25 million in stimulus funds to MARTA to meet operating shortfalls. The money had been intended for long-needed metro Atlanta transportation projects.

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MARTA will still have to follow through with less draconian cuts, General Manager Beverly Scott said Thursday. They will likely include furloughs, raising employee payments for health care and stopping bus and train service at midnight.

An ARC spokesman tells CL that the full board will vote on the recommendation in May. In the meantime, it’s working with MARTA staff to examine its financial situation and to see if the transit agency can use the stimulus funds for operational purposes.

It’ll also be interesting to see what transportation projects might get dropped if the plan goes through.

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After we spoke with lawmakers who attended last Wednesday’s sitdown with Gold Dome Republicans about helping MARTA avoid drastic budget cuts — a meeting during which one lawmaker allegedly said he “[lived] closer to Disney World than any MARTA station” and occasionally rode the metro region’s largest transit agency to “ball games” — we’re now able to report the elected official’s name.

State Rep. Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons. He’s also the House Majority Leader. Lobbyists this session showered him with everything from Cirque du Soleil tickets to a $303.60 dinner. What he really could use next year is an eTicket.

Keen, sadly, did not return our calls. (Keen does not return calls to CL. Ever.) We tried to be “journalists” and get his take on it, but oh well.

(Photo illustration by Brooke Hatfield)

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In other words, nothing was accomplished.

Last night, Scott Henry and I embedded ourselves in the Gold Dome, risking life and limb to chronicle the final night of the legislative session. Thanks to the House press box’s Internet service acting screwy, we weren’t able to offer you minute-by-minute updates on the shenanigans.

That might’ve been a good thing. If you’re a fan of transit and getting around, you would’ve been disappointed with the news.

Despite piss-poor travel times and a mountain of studies that show the state needs more cash to build roads, bridges and transit, the General Assembly — for the second straight year — failed to pass a transportation funding bill. The Metro Chamber’s Sam Williams pointed the blame at the state’s “lack of leadership.”

The bill that would’ve allowed MARTA to have control over the one-cent sales tax in Atlanta, Fulton County and DeKalb County — its main source of funding — to fund daily operations? Failed. MARTA officials, who looked like they were at a wake after they heard the news, said drastic cuts to bus and train service were on the way. Veteran lobbyists called the move “irresponsible.”

Yet the lawmakers still had something to smile about, and as is the tradition, tossed shredded paper in the air as Speaker Glenn Richardson and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle gaveled the legislative session to a close at midnight. CL shutterbug Joeff Davis noted it earlier — lawmakers made a mess that someone else will now have to clean up.

We’re gonna let this one soak in and pore over what passed and what failed. More to come later.

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SPARE $2 BILLION? Perdue delivers bad budget news to lawmakers

It’s a shame Gov. Sonny Perdue’s penchant for prayer doesn’t work as well for deficits as it did for drought. If that were the case, Georgia would literally be swimming in greenbacks.

With revenues plummeting in an economic landscape akin to Mad Max, the state is currently facing a $2 billion shortfall, the deepest hole anyone at the Gold Dome says they’ve ever seen. In response last week, Perdue delivered a cost-cutting whack, slashing nearly all state agencies and programs — many of which state Democrats say help the most vulnerable of Georgians in this most precarious of times.

The Department of Labor, the state agency that’s been the first stop for pink-slipped residents? Nearly 13 percent cut. The Public Defender Standards Council, the arm of government that provides indigent defense attorneys in an attempt to ensure justice for both defendant and victims? Almost 11 percent cut. The departments of Education, Community Health and Human Resources? Cut, cut, and cut. State employees’ salaries? Frozen — and vacant positions eliminated.

Add to that the $350 million slashed from K-12 educational funding, and you’re left with a budget that has little wiggle room. From lobbyists to lawmakers, behind-the-scenes staffers to Gold Dome shoeshine men, everyone we queried agrees: The 2009 legislative session will be about money, and what little of it the state has.

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State Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-ACORN, has proposed legislation that would allow counties to band together and levy a one-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects. Metro Atlanta bigwigs favor this approach. Mullis’ legislation would make the 10-county metropolitan area one region.

(Hat tip to Georgia Legislative Watch)

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MARTA officials today said in a press release that a new economic forecast predicts the transit agency’s budget woes will worsen.

The latest economic forecast issued in December 2008 for MARTA by the Georgia State Economic Forecasting Center predicts a further worsening of its current fiscal crisis by an additional $10 million. The forecast also predicts MARTA will experience a cumulative loss of more than $1.2 billion in sales tax revenue over the next ten years – that is up an additional $588 million from its fall 2008 report.

Last month, MARTA — which, it will be noted once again, is the metro region’s largest transit agency and the only one in the nation that doesn’t receive operating funds from the state  — announced it faced a $60 million operating budget shortfall for the fiscal year. MARTA officials asked lawmakers two weeks ago to allow greater flexibility for the one-cent sales tax revenue that funds more than half the agency’s operations.

Agency officials will hold a series of meetings next week to inform the public about potential changes. (The list of locations follows after the jump.)

And on that cheerful note, I’m out of here. Have a great weekend!

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According to Stateline, cash-hungry zombie politicians are already tossing ‘bows to compete for “Obamabucks” — the huge pile of at least $500 billion the president-elect hopes to dole out for infrastructure investments that he says will spur the economy. And cities and counties want the bulk of the loot.

The disagreement over the stimulus money partly reflects the increased tension between state and local governments during a worsening recession.

Many city and county leaders already are upset at state officials who are slashing aid to local governments to cover budget gaps. Their anxieties over being shortchanged were heightened Dec. 2 when 48 current and incoming governors met with President-elect Barack Obama to ask Obama to direct much of the stimulus money to states.

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“We must make sure that the funding is spent quickly, and not stuck in federal or state bureaucracies,” said Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The mayors have submitted a $90 billion infrastructure plan to the transition team.

State officials doubt that channeling the money to cities and counties would save time. More to the point, they believe that state governments should oversee the money, because they can determine transportation priorities for the entire state, not just one area.

According to some reports, the Georgia Department of Transportation is asking for $3.4 billion from the incoming Obama administration. In Atlanta, Mayor Shirley Franklin has requested assistance for sewer repairs and the Beltline, among other projects.

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The recession is taking its toll on MARTA.

MARTA General Manager and CEO Bev Scott says “devastating” drops in revenue collected from local sales taxes — which comprise 52 percent of its operating budget — has led to a shortfall of at least $60 million.

It’s worth mentioning that nearly every state contributes to its largest metropolitan area’s transit system’s operating costs — but Georgia does not.

Scott will hold a press conference to discuss the problem on Monday at MARTA’s Piedmont Road headquarters. It will begin immediately after the regularly scheduled Board of Directors meeting at 1:30 p.m.

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Lawmakers learn from their failures, right?

Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle yesterday told a crowd of 400 mobility-minded businesspeople, politicians and lobbyists at a luncheon sponsored by the Get Georgia Moving coalition and the Council For Quality Growth that a regional sales tax for transportation fixes — or T-SPLOST — would be given priority consideration when the General Assembly convenes in January.

The tax would be similar to a local option sales tax and allow Georgians — if the measure passes and is approved as a constitutional referendum on the 2010 ballot — to vote on a list of predetermined projects such as road, rails and bridges. Cagle said stakeholders in the coming weeks needed to reach a consensus for the proposal to be considered at the start of the legislative session.

Georgia Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle
(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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