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.

FMFats forwards this note…

“Unbossed and Unbought” Rev. Hosea L. Williams Exhibit

Tuesday, June 2 – 5:00 – 7:00 PM

The Old Courthouse on the Square – Temporary Exhibit Room

Join us for an opening reception of a special exhibit that explores the work of Rev. Hosea L. Williams. Light refreshments will be served.

On loan from The Hosea Project/Hosea Feed the Hungry, the show features photographs, archival materials and artifacts from Rev. Williams’ years as a Civil Rights leader and politician and a glimpse into his personal life.

Exhibit open to the public: June 2nd – August 28th (Tuesdays – Fridays 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.)

Over on her CSD reconfiguration blog, CSD Mom has been writing for a while about efforts to get the school board to consider a parent survey regarding reconfiguration, which would complement a survey already completed among teachers.  However, the school board didn’t taken any action on that front, so CSD Mom created her own survey and asked parents to participate.

Well, the survey is now closed and the 288 votes have been tallied and with 29% of the vote, Option 6 (which opts from the old K-5 model instead of K-3 and a 4/5 academy) won out over Option 13 that received 26% of the vote.

Now it should be said that this is an unscientific survey and CSD Mom hasn’t been shy about promoting Option 6 over all the others over at her site.  Even so, this seemingly strong support among parents, who made up 84% of the survey vote, for Option 6 shows an interesting and under-reported element to the reconfiguration struggle.  Option 6 would effectively dismantle the 4/5 academy model that has long been heralded by administrators, teachers, and a good number of parents.  Be that as it may, there seems to be a good contingent of parents out there who would rather revert back to a less expensive K-5 system, than spend money to completely renovate 5th Ave so it could become the city’s 4/5 Academy.

Personally, I’m still unsure which option to support.  However, I remain wary to assume that the city’s student population will continue to rise indefinitely into the future…without annexation of course.

Teacher Chris Billingsley sends in some candid pics from DHS last week.   Seniors did their annual run through the halls, ending at the media center.

Chris continues, “Graduation is [this]week in the stadium. Several are off to Yale and Harvard. Quite a few to Georgia and Tech. Almost all seniors have college, career, or military plans. Good Luck! Carpe Diem!”

All day I’ve been trying to think of a few words to write about our fallen soldiers.  This will have to do.

To all those soldiers both long dead and recently buried, today we remember your sacrifice and take a moment to reflect on the freedoms and unique values we owe to both you and those who survived.

We are not a perfect people, but you keep giving us the opportunity to be.

Thank you.