GWINNETT MARTA VOTE, HARD
QUESTIONS NEED TO BE ASKED, Field Searcy
There are still a lot of unanswered
questions about exactly what the citizens of Gwinnett will be getting when they
go to the polls to vote “Yes” or “No” on approving the only agreement signed
between county officials and MARTA.
Other contracts are yet to be written
and agreed upon. Who will financially benefit from the contracts?
In order to meet the transit goals proposed, what zoning laws and
building codes will be changed to drive the economic development to these
transit oriented locations and how will this impact other property
values?
If the citizens vote “Yes”, they are
signing up for a permanent tax increase for the next 50 year with a lot of open
questions. There’s no assurance that other taxes will not need to be raised in
order to pay for ongoing maintenance. The voters have not been provided a
cost per rider or cost/benefit analysis. What are the metrics for
measuring success?
What happens if this Gwinnett transit
plan becomes “too big to fail” and more and more money must be sunk into an
aging system?
Private enterprise solutions and
exciting new technologies are on the horizon. For the amount of money
proposed to be raised, there are other solutions the county could implement
that don’t give up their autonomy.
More importantly, is the county giving
up its local control to un-elected and unaccountable regional boards and
agencies that are difficult to remove?
MARTA has a responsibility to shore up
funding for the existing MARTA system which is continually underutilized and
operating at significant losses from year to year.
In essence, the voters need to ask
themselves, will transportation problems in another county become Gwinnett’s
problem? What is the exit strategy for Gwinnett if this goes sideways?
The Gwinnett MARTA
vote is 3/19/19. Early voting began 2/25/19.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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