T-SPLOST No Vote July 31, 2012

We continue to pour through the Final List of Projects on the T-SPLOST lists by County, particularly for ARC Region 3, that includes Atlanta and the 10 surrounding counties.   The more we dig, the worse it looks.   We believe a NO VOTE is the correct response to this mess.

The MARTA bail-out needs to be a Fulton and DeKalb problem.   MARTA and GRTA need to give up their bus service to private company operators.  MARTA needs to abandon expansion beyond current service, cut budgets and  regroup .   MARTA funding should be provided by the City of Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton only and should look at funding from other sources related to Atlanta-based tourism and trade.  Any future MARTA expansion should be the cheaper hard rail and limited to completing connections within DeKalb and Fulton and not beyond.   MARTA should curtail its bus service where ridership is low by cutting the bus service coverage.   MARTA spends $750 million a year, collects $120 million in revenue and is subsidized by taxpayers to make up the $630 million annual difference.  Expansion is not an option.

If the only way Georgia can get Federal money is to do dumb things, we should send the Federal money back.  It’s printed, borrowed money that we will pay double for with future inflation. 

Each County should be responsible for roads and bridges within its borders and should be the sole determiners of what, how, who and when roads are built and refurbished.  GDOT should have no authority to decide anything.   The best way to determine what roads need to be expanded and repaired rests with the city councils, county commissioners and hundreds of angry voters with pitchforks and torches.

There are several serious problems with the Final List        

1.       It sets up a Regional unelected (soviet) layer of government
2.      It usurps city and county “home rule” and violates the Georgia Constitution
3.      53.% of the now estimated $8.5 billion is going to more empty trains and buses.
4.       overcharging on road projects appears rampant
5.      Unnecessary overpriced bike lanes, paths and sidewalks are included as projects
6.      Too much is spend on “studies” and “design”
7.      Population growth estimates are laughably high
8.      Very little of it would actually fix our traffic gridlock

If we can vote, county by county to impose an additional 1% sales tax on ourselves, for our own critical road projects, we should start working on that as soon as T-SPLOST is defeated.   Voters in each county need to vote on their own county project lists.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody Tea Party Leader