Jill Chambers arguments against MARTA seem to rely on the assumption that NO ONE is paying attention.

“Every year they say they’re going over a cliff and there’s going to be a crisis, and yet MARTA’s running just fine,” Chambers said. “You can almost cut and paste the press release from the year before.”

I guess she’s forgotten about MARTA’s $25 million federal stimulus bailout this past year.  Perhaps we should just let the fed continue to pick-up MARTA’s tab from here on out.

Please.

Can we just drop the guise that there’s an actual debate going on here about how to best manage MARTA and get down to brass tacks?  If the MARTA acronym makes your stomach turn and you wish it would just hurry up and die already then let’s have THAT debate.

Why does the AJC continue to quote Chambers without challenging these baseless statements?  In an effort to write an “objective” piece they seem to abandon common sense.

h/t: Terminal Station

Here’s a breakdown of how City Schools of Decatur plan to use the roughly $1.1 million in federal stimulus money it will receive this year.  (Data and details taken from Action Item D from the July 14th agenda)

$444,100 - (Salary and benefits)  “2.5 regular education paraprofessionals from Oakhurst, 2.5 regular education paraprofessionals from Winnona Park, and 2 regular education paraprofessionals from Clairemont to the federal stimulus account codes. Also, 1 K-3 spanish teacher from each elementary school will be coded to federal stimulus funding.”

$18,000 - (supplemental pay items) District staff with 5 or more day reduction will have up to 4 days restored “About 45% of the employees in this category requested additional days to be able to complete certain tasks.”

$75,000 – City of Decatur After School program

$10,000 -  system professional learning

$125,000 – 50% of additional operating expenditures allocation – “$55,000 for instructional materials and supplies, $50,000 for instructional technology (primarily ActivBoards), $10,000 for professional learning fees and travel, and $10,000 for media books and materials.”

$25,000 – rising 9th grade leadership camp

$178,900 - salary and benefits for “2 of the learning lab teachers at the high school, a part-time IB coordinator at the high school, and the rising 9th grade leadership camp”

$228,300 – part-time RTI specialist, an inclusion teacher at the middle school, a new self-contained teacher at the middle school, a new paraprofessional to support the new inclusion teacher, and a paraprofessional at Glennwood.

$10,000 - occupational and physical therapy services

$5,000 – early childhood supplemental services

$5,000 – assistive/adaptive instructional technology equipment

$3,200 – GNETS

$10,000 - professional learning fees and travel

Today, the ARC voted in favor of their plan to redirect $25 million in federal stimulus dollars to help bridge MARTA’s crippling budget shortfall that threatened to close down services for entire days of the week.

In doing so, ARC came to the rescue of not only MARTA and it’s riders, but also inadvertently Georgia lawmakers , who’s inability to pass a number of important measures this session was just beginning to gain some serious traction in the press behind this massive MARTA fumble.

Not only were rail-noodling Dems up in arms, but so was all of Atlanta’s business community, who knew full well the importance of public transportation if Atlanta (and Georgia) wished to compete in something we like to call “the global economy.”

It was just getting good.  Pissed lawmakers were giving the inside scoop on committee meetings,  MARTA was calling for special sessions, we had the House Majority Leader on record saying he went to Disney World more often than he rode MARTA (and therefore couldn’t see the benefits to his Isle of Retirement (St. Simons.)

Those were the days.  We were all pissed and we could smell the blood.  It was going to be an embarrassment to end all embarrassments.  One that might actually shame the legislature into action – since rational argument had long ago stopped having any effect.

But then ARC made their announcement that they had figured out a way to help MARTA through the year with the help of stimulus funding and all the press simply…vanished.  The hounds were called back to the house, the horses led back to the barn.

Now, as the ARC votes in favor of formalizing the MARTA bailout by giving it $25 million for “preventive maintenance” (which MARTA will repay with $25 million in “capital improvements” around MARTA stations), transit advocates are cheering with a pit in their stomachs.

Happy the city isn’t being saddled with a public transportation system that keeps the hours of a Chik-Fil-A, everyone is now wondering if the legislature learned it’s lesson.  Or have they instead learned that when they do nothing, someone else will clean up their mess?

With its generally spoiled 4-year old mentality, I’m going with the latter.

First on DM

MJK writes in…

The ARC transportation policy committee just voted to explore the possibility of using up to $25 million of the remaining Federal Stimulus funds to plug the MARTA operating gap thus avoiding draconian service cuts. It will be [made] official during the May Board meeting.

Trying to confirm what stimulus money we’re talking about here.  Is this the remaining mass transit funding from the federal stimulus package?

MARTA announced yesterday that it will receive between $60M-$70M of the $180M allocated for GA mass transit in the federal stimulus package.  But as we suspected, that money cannot be used to cover operating expenses, so MARTA plans to use the funds for repairs and “system preservation projects”.

Not the sort of news that gets transit-huggers all hot and bothered, though I guess it could be considered “investing in the future”.  I’m still eager to hear how the other $120M will be spent.

Meanwhile, it sounds like we won’t know for a couple months how the now much-malined (thanks a lot Harry Reid) high-speed rail money will be distributed.  The U.S. Transportation Sec. will distribute that money directly.

Johnny Issakson better get crackin’!  Here’s where you can contact him, in case you’d like to drop him a line.

As the Federal stimulus package passed both houses of Congress last week, transit junkies seemed a little bipolar as they both whimpered and cheered.

They whimpered because mass transit funding ended up receiving only 1/3 of its original appropriation ($8.4 billion from $24 billion).  But then they waved those wet hankies high when they realized that in the final moments of wheeling and dealing, high-speed rail’s money quadrupled to $8 billion.

What will be done with the high-speed rail cash is still definitely yet-to-be-determined. All that we really know is that $8 billion doesn’t get you far when building new track for 100+ mph trains (the recently voter approved L.A. to SF high-speed route will cost upwards of $40 billion).  However, retrofitting existing freight tracks between Charlotte and Macon (with a stop in ATL) seems to be substantially cheaper – only $2.5 billion! And seriously, what’s a couple billion between friends?

But what I’m curious about this morning is what will our favorite Georgia politicians do with the $168 million in mass transit grants it will receive from the Fed?  The city of Atlanta has asked for $121 million to build two street car lines and $18 million for light rail along the Beltline Trail, while Athens, Macon and Hinesburg all want a smaller piece so they can pimp their bus services.

How will this money be distributed?  Let’s ask the GDOT!

Oh wait…didn’t I read something recently about Sonny & friends looking to take authority away from our lovably dysfunctional GDOT?  I wonder if that has anything to do the more than $1 billion the state will soon receive in infrastructure money.  Maybe if we can distract the rest of the state with visions of gold-plated bridges, Atlanta can claim most of that delicious transit money!

That is unless some smaller, and less annoyingly liberal town or city asks for it.  Then suddenly its all “Light-Rail Comes to LaGrange!”