Fresh Loaf

SACS ED: Although Clayton County has garnered the most publicity, enough other Georgia school systems have had accreditation-threatening SACS encounters in recent years that the state BoE requested the creation of a task force to educate school boards around the state about appropriate behavior.

SMOLTZ: Shoulder surgery is successful; doesn’t answer any questions on return to pitching, though.

GLAVINE: I don’t even want to say it.

HOT PANTS: Some “blue jean bandits” may have been caught in Dawsonville after a lengthy police chase and manhunt.

FARE ENOUGH? Atlanta cabbies say gas prices are making their trade unprofitable at current rates, ask City Council to raise them.

BRAIN PLANE: Wings Air will begin offering a 20-minute, $49 Athens-Atlanta flight Monday, with another carrier awaiting airport contracts to follow suit.

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OBAMA AND CLINTON: Meet in Washington.

PREZ DISPENSER: Georgia has six public universities, including Georgia Tech and Georgia State, that have recently lost their presidents and are searching for new ones before fall classes begin.

TRAINING DAY: Gwinnettians will vote in the July 15 primary whether to pay a penny sales tax for MARTA service in the county. Although the last such vote in 1990 failed, recent polling indicates many now think itsmarta, perhaps due to horrible traffic and gas prices. As a backup to rail, though, county leaders are hoping to at least introduce diesel-electric hybrid accordion buses to the historically train-trepid public.

DOWN AND DROUGHT: Lake Lanier is still 13 feet below normal despite winter rains, meaning the next best hope is for a hurricane to hang out in North Georgia for a while this summer.

CHIPPER JONES: Hits 400th career home run.

CARTERSVILLE ADVENTURE: Illinois man has a big morning in Cartersville.

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Gov. Sonny Perdue said today that he plans to find the $13 million needed to purchase more buses to accommodate the increasing number of people who are flocking to public transit because of high gas prices.

These boots were made for buses.

“I was disappointed this year when our Legislature overlooked the $13 million I placed in there for more GRTA buses,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll rectify that. We’re going to try to find that money to get those buses.”

He reiterated the fact in a conversation with reporters after his comments.

State lawmakers sliced the governor’s $13 million request from the budget during the most recent legislative session. The same lawmakers also failed to pass a sorely-needed funding mechanism that would’ve allowed voters to decide if they wanted regions in the state to be able to levy a sales tax for transportation projects.

When asked by a reporter if the rising prices of gasoline had caused him to consider possible state assistance to expand transit systems, Perdue said to wait and see. He added that he expects all transportation agencies to work together to create a solution — and that transit has to be a component.

But Perdue also put on his transit planner cap and hinted that the metro region’s sprawling landscape is more suited to rolling-tire buses rather than rail-hugging trains.

“When you look at statistics, there’s a certain density that’s required to make [transit] sufficient,” he said.

(Photo by Thomas Wheatley)

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The Reason Foundation, a Libertarian-leaning think tank, is keeping its idea about a multi-level traffic tunnel running underneath Atlanta alive.

From a May 28 post on the group’s website titled “Tunnels Are Part of the Traffic Solution”:

This proposed tunnel would have an inside diameter or 45 feet and each deck would have three 11 foot lanes and an overhead clearance of 12 feet allowing the tunnel to accommodate buses as well as SUVs and cars. The northern tunnel would be 5 miles long and the southern one would be 3.1 miles in length.

…

In 2004, Refik Eilbay, the director of tunneling services for Jordan, Jones and Goulding, a leading Georgia-based engineering firm told Tunnel Business Magazine, “The area continues to grow, so the City is developing long-range plans to deal with the population increase. Because there is less and less surface space available to support infrastructure growth, it will continue moving to the last remaining frontier - the underground.”

Eh. How about we occupy some of those narrow slices of land and finally offer rail options? You know, avoid the tailpipe emissions, the massive cost, the continued reliance on the automobile as the primary mode of transportation?

For a great take on the Reason study, click here to read a August 2007 CL article by Joe Winter.

(Photo courtesy of Cofiroute)

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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.

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OBAMA: Clinches the Democratic nomination, gives rousing victory speech to thousands in St. Paul.

DRYEST BEFORE DAWN: State climatologist expects drought will get worse before it gets better.

HIGH ON THE SMOG: Atlanta’s under a code orange smog alert today.

FOR GOV OF COUNTRY: Sonny Perdue hosts a gaggle of GOP governors, many of whom are also VP candidates for John McCain, in Atlanta this week for the Republican Governor’s Association luncheon.

TRAFFIC DESIGNER: Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle tells the Cobb Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Club that he’ll unveil a new transportation plan within the next two months.

ANOTHER BEAR HIT: Again on I-75.

GROWING OUR OWN: USA Today profiles Georgia’s ascendant young baseball talent pool.

UMP IRE: High school pitcher and catcher are under investigation after the catcher ducked away from a pitch during a state championship game, allowing it to hit the home plate ump, who had called nine of their teammates out on strikes during the game.

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The Connect Atlanta Plan, the city’s first-ever comprehensive transportation plan launched by Mayor Shirley Franklin late last year, will begin its third round of public hearings on June 16 in Buckhead.

Click here to read my summary of one of the plan’s early meetings.

Details for upcoming meeting locations follows after the jump.

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Gov. Sonny Perdue this morning suspended a scheduled increase of the state gas tax.

“Frankly I don’t think we can justify raising tax on gas at a time of economic stress on families,” he said.

The increase would have occurred July 1 and raised gasoline 2.9 cents per gallon to 13.9 cents. It’ll now hold tight at 11 cents per gallon. Taxes on diesel, aviation gasoline, propane and compressed natural gas would’ve raised prices to 16.5 cents, 20.9 cents, 8.2 cents and 13.8 cents per gallon, respectively. Perdue estimates the suspension will save Georgians $70-80 million dollars. That also means it’ll cost the state the same amount for transportation projects that the tax revenues fund. The suspension stands until the next legislative session in January.

“I hope we can send a clear signal to Georgians that we understand the strain on families’ budgets by high gas prices and we are doing all we can from the state’s perspective to address that,” he said.

Yet the solutions Perdue offered were akin to sticking bubble gum in a leaky dam.

“I think it’s time we seriously looked as a nation at drilling on our own land and becoming more independent from that perspective while we search for alternative energies for the future,” he says. “I’m persuaded we’ve got great reserves here that we can bring to the market very quickly rather than being held hostage from the international perspective.”

When asked if he’d consider a switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles such as hybrids both for his personal transport and the state’s fleet of vehicles — Perdue politely said he already travels light.

“We look at that occasionally,” he said. “What I find is that is more political fluff and messaging than effect in that area. I’ve seen people do it. I see them ride a little car for a little while and then they’re back in big vehicles after a while. I think the very fact in the whole Conserve Georgia effort we’re trying to build a cultural aspect of really only driving as much as you need… I travel pretty lightly as most of you know. We don’t send out two or three vehicles as most other [states] do. We’re obviously encouraging our departments to use the size vehicles they need.”

Andisheh Nouraee of Decatur says the governor’s suspension will save him 33.6 cents per week. “That’s an extra three pieces of spearmint gum per week. I think my co-workers will be pleased with that. Particularly on hummus day.”

Not once during this morning’s press conference did Perdue mention rail options or possible state assistance to MARTA. Georgia is the only state in the country to not offer funding to its largest metropolitan area’s main transit system.

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The Department of Transportation says that several southbound and northbound lanes of I-75/85 will be closed near downtown this weekend. Here are the specifics:

Southbound:

• Four inside (left) lanes will be closed between 17^th Street and I-20

• Two inside (left) lanes will be closed between I-20 and University Avenue

Northbound:

• Three inside (left) lanes will be closed between University Avenue and I-20

• Four inside (left) lanes will be closed between I-20 and 17^th Street

These closures are necessary for crews to safely work in the fourth (center lane). During the weekend crews expect to lay more than 13,000 tons of asphalt brought by more than 350 dump trucks. There will be more than 200 workers within the work zone.

These closures are expected to cause significant delays. Georgia DOT advises motorists to utilize I-285 to avoid backups.

I’ve forgotten about these warnings every weekend and paid dearly for it. Learn from my mistakes and take public transit if you can.

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The election for the DOT Board seat left vacant by Mike Evans — he who fell in looooove — wasn’t nearly as contentious as the one earlier this year. Those races left a couple of state representatives who didn’t side with Speaker Glenn Richardson’s pick finding themselves relocated to less prestigious offices and losing committee appointments.

But that’s the past, man. Everybody behaved themselves this go-round. And now that Evans and DOT Commissioner are planning their nuptials, we, the gridlock-enslaved scribes of the city, present to you…Steve Farrow! (He’s a former state senator and attorney who oddly enough, seems to have never been photographed in his life. No, I don’t think this guy holding the lobster is him.)

After the jump, the requisite press release giving you the background on Farrow.

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WE FIT: Atlanta’s the sixth-fittest city in the country, according to a report released Thursday.

TAXES TWO-STEP: City Council, worried about approving the mayor’s property-tax increase, may not adopt the budget by the June 30 deadline, a delay the mayor says could affect city services such as public safety and trash pickup.

TRIBAL STUDY: Researchers shoot aerial photos of an Amazonian tribe that hasn’t had contact with the outside world while the tribe aims arrows at their plane. Survival International says the group is one of about 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide.

INTERPOL: Posts red-flag alert online for Columbus, Ga., double murder suspect.

HUSBANDRY: Decatur woman is indicted for allegedly being married to six men simultaneously to help them become U.S. citizens.

BEAR KILLED: The menagerie that is I-75 — where a zebra and a pig were hit by cars in April — suffers another casualty, this time a bear that was hit and killed at I-75 and I-285 in Cobb.

GREASE DE RESISTANCE: Restaurants are beginning to lock up their grease barrels as gas-price-weary thieves have been stealing thousands of dollars worth.

FRAUGHT TRAINS: The nation’s rail network is creaking under the strain of added workload on aging infrastructure.

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Gather ’round, Atlanta, Marietta, Sandy Springs — according to the Brookings Institution, your carbon footprint is shrinking. Everybody gets a gold star.

The Washington, D.C.-based think tank has released a study of the carbon footprint from transportation and residential energy uses of 100 metropolitan areas. The three-city survey conducted from 2000 to 2005 in our neck of the woods shows that our impact has decreased 4.75 percent while that of the average metropolitan areas and nation has increased 1.1 percent and 2.2 percent during this time, respectively. In all the rankings, the three cities hovered in the middle.

Hard to believe, eh? I know what you mean. That could be chalked up to the fact that the areas are more-or-less near one another, that a lot of other metro Atlantans travel from as far off as Gwinnett and Hall County to work in the city core, etc. The output surely hasn’t reduced because of public transit. With how sprawling metro Atlanta is, the three cities selected may not be suitable samples.

The study also doesn’t take into account our food supply, which according to a consultant with Mayor Shirley Franklin’s Sustainable Atlanta initiative, makes for up to a quarter of our carbon footprint that’s often overlooked.

What are the solutions? Researchers say:

Federal policy could play a powerful role in helping metropolitan areas—and so the nation—shrink their carbon footprint further. In addition to economy-wide policies to motivate action, five targeted policies are particularly important within metro areas and for the nation as a whole:

• Promote more transportation choices to expand transit and compact development options
• Introduce more energy-efficient freight operations with regional freight planning
• Require home energy cost disclosure when selling and “on-bill” financing to stimulate and scale up energy-efficient retrofitting of residential housing
• Use federal housing policy to create incentives for energy- and location-efficient decisions
• Issue a metropolitan challenge to develop innovative solutions that integrate multiple policy areas

Marilyn Brown of Georgia Tech, considered one of the leading researchers in energy policy, co-authored the study. After the jump, feast upon the numbers. To view the full study, click here.

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Google Transit, the online Goliath’s maps-merged-with-mobility program, now includes MARTA routes. Now if they’d step on it and start videotaping every inch of our sprawling region and integrating it into maps, we’d truly show people what’s real about city life. Like observing drug deals. And flashers. Or people falling off bicycles. Step on it, oi!

Citizens for Progressive Transit has its own homegrown online transit tool, too, and it’s a little easier on the eyes than Google’s. The A-TRAIN Trip Planner tells you how to get to the nearest bus stop or rail station, how long it’ll take you, what route to take, and even let you enter in how fast you want to walk or bike to get there.

(Thanks to the folks at the CfPT message board for catching this.)