We knew Obama was offering threats, along with bribes to
states to persuade politicians to cooperate.
We had already seen the infiltration of Agenda 21 implementation in city
councils and county commissions over the past 3 years.
About 150 Tea Parties Leaders across Georgia met in
Canton in September 2011. Some of these groups had different names; some were
9/12 groups, but they were all Constitutional Conservative groups. We all began to study T-SPLOST in October 2011.
We formed the Transportation Leadership Coalition in March
2012 to study the T-SPLOST and create a team.
This boondoggle looked like a real stinker. We decided to oppose it based on the facts.
We created Traffic Truth.net in June 2012 to post our
findings. We participated in all the
T-SPLOST forums we were allowed to attend.
We saw assisted other Regions. We
were joined by many other groups.
We defeated the T-SPLOST in 9 of the 12 regions. We are grateful to all who helped. We are continuing to monitor problems as we
move forward.
As we studied the projects, it didn’t take long to see
that they would not reduce traffic congestion.
We didn’t trust the predictions made for population increases, personal
income projections or long-term economic growth. It looked like another wasteful Obama
stimulus plan, but this time, we were going to pay for it out of our
pockets.
Early on, we recognized two separate issues; the lack of
congestion relief in the road projects and the disproportionate 52% going to
transit when only 5% used transit. We
confirmed MARTA’s desperate financial condition. It was also obvious that the
exurbs were being asked to replace the federal government and sign up to being
MARTA’s “sugar daddy” and bail them out.
As we participated in the forums it became clearer that
transit-oriented Economic Development was the third issue and was the main
issue driving the $8 billion ad campaign urging a YES vote.
At the end, there were clearly three separate issues
stuffed into the 2012 T-SPLOST. They
watered down the list to the point that none of them could be finished within
the 10 year time limit.
1. Road
traffic congestion
2. Public
transit bail-out and
3. Economic
development a tax subsidized economic development plan with the Beltline and
the Community Improvement Districts.
The Road Projects didn’t remove congestion.
The only project had an impact on the I-285 Interstate
tangle was the ramp to GA 400, but it was not to be scheduled for completion
until 2020. Only a few projects included
the addition of roads, but these were in areas where there were currently no
severe congestion problems. The project
costs looked “padded” so we looked up generic road construction and maintenance
costs to confirm the overcharges to counties.
They were 50% to 90% depending on the county It was
clear, counties would be better off doing these projects themselves if they are
ever needed.
The Public Transit Projects didn’t remove congestion
The promise of converting car commuters into train and
bus riders had no merit. We discovered
data relating train feasibility to population density. We looked at ridership data in Portland and
other cities who voted to expand their train systems 10 years ago. There was no increase in ridership and the
debts they incurred are unsustainable.
Most of the T-SPLOST transit projects were starter projects with big
costs coming after the 10 year period.
We estimated the total cost of public transit expansion at $80 billion.
Expanding public transit would only double the tax subsidies required to keep
it operating.
The Economic Development Projects didn’t remove
congestion
The Beltline would actually increase congestion within
the Beltline area. The same applies to
the MARTA station-based shopping malls as they develop more high-rise
apartments.
I-285 is the biggest problem.
We need a grid of highways and state roads in DeKalb and
Fulton that allow commuters to use alternate routes to I-285. Fixing congestion
on I-285 should be an on-going priority.
We have highly traveled interstates running through
Atlanta and we all need alternate routes to allow interstate traffic to totally
bypass Atlanta.
MARTA is insolvent
We found that MARTA spends $750 million a year to
operate, has $120 million a year in revenue and requires $650 million a year in
tax subsidies. We also learned that federal tax dollars would no longer be
available after 2012.
UN Agenda 21 Implementation in Georgia is a problem
In 1992, George (Hapless)W Bush signed on to U.N. Agenda
21 to prevent “global warming”. We think
this is a hoax, but Obama is requiring its implementation using federal grant
bribes and threats. The establishment of
appointed regional governance is outlined in Agenda 21 and it is costly. Georgia needs to ban Agenda 21 implementation
like Alabama did.
Conclusions:
HR 277 should be repealed to remove regional transportation
governance and the 30% match requirement for regions who voted NO. All other laws creating regional community
development programs should be repealed.
U,N, Agenda 21 should be banned in Georgia. These U.N. programs are designed to bankrupt
us, using the global warming hoax as an excuse. We expect our government to
recognize junk science when it sees it, not set up costly programs to solve
non-problems
Government stimulus is counterproductive. We won’t restart our economy until all asset
prices bottom out. We need deep cuts in
government spending to avoid government bankruptcy. Government must pull back its footprint.
Government’s responsibility for Transportation should be
limited to building and maintaining roads and bridges. Government is not responsible for providing
public transportation. Government should not presume to be our Nanny. Our
communities take care of their own without tax subsidies or busy-body
bureaucrats in regions.
We don’t like HOV lanes and want these lanes returned to
general use. We don’t like Toll lanes on
Interstates. We can keep the toll on GA
400 until all ramp and expansion work is completed.
Economic development should be left to private
investment. There are a lot of costly building programs the government has
assumed responsibility for, that would be better off without any government
subsidies or involvement.
Tax dollars should not be used to build stadiums, Team
owners should pay for their own facilities like they do in England. Our sports facilities are horribly
underutilized, because they are tax subsidized.
England’s sports facilities are utilized 100%, because they are
privately owned and operated.
All bus service should be private. Government is not responsible for providing
bus service. When they do, it becomes
more expensive to operate. Private
companies should replace all public bus service. We have private bus services operating in the
state and they are doing a good job.
GRTA should be closed.
This transfer of responsibility should take place as seamlessly as
possible.
MARTA should close its bus service, abandon its expansion
plans and downsize to attempt to cover its costs and save the trains.
We estimate the cost of Atlanta public transit over the past
30 years to be about $15 billion. That
would have been better spent on rebuilding our crumbling sewer and water
systems and maintaining and expanding our roads and highways. Government solutions are too expensive. Government at all levels needs to take a look at what they are spending money on and off-load all unnecessary and intrusive functions. Government needs to continue to automate and streamline its operations, but we can’t afford the Nanny-State. We need to stop spending money on the global warming hoax and EPA overreach.
We are in for another round of layoffs and asset crashes plus inflation. We all need to hunker down and ride it out. We need to increase our production of oil, natural gas, coal, minerals, timber, water and food to avoid a deeper depression. Overreaching regulations need to be rolled back.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader, Transportation Leadership Coalition member
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