Oxendine Wants “Greener” Roads
Decatur Metro | September 5, 2009The Ox has responded to an outraged Inman Park. Hot out of the Fresh Loaf oven…
“I love East Atlanta, Morningside, Grant Park, Inman Park and that entire wonderful part of our great state,” said Oxendine. “But I know we must find a way to move Georgia forward towards “greener” roads, mass transit, light rail—every option must be on the table.”
I can only assume he means covering all the roads in sod, but that sounds rather expensive.
As Wheatley points out in his analysis of the statement, though there’s little chance this bypass would ever be built, it’s win-win for the Ox, who already has little support on the blue-tinted east side of the metro. Pissing off Atlanta earns major brownie points with the rest of the state. Politicking at its finest.
Too bad it doesn’t work the other way around…”Hey rest o’ Georgia, Atlanta needs all your property to create a massive metro parking lot!”
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It’s one of those situations where the candidate has nothing to lose. Say some intown residents want to assist crafting policy as part of Oxendine’s “Brain Team,” then they might be won over by the candidate, tell their friends, and give him some support. If not, no worries, winning Atlanta wasn’t a priority anyway.
I thought the closest thing you could call a “green” road was a bike path.
Maybe he’s talking about literally spray-painting the roads green. That would give new meaning to the term “parkway.”
“Honey, it’s like driving down a beautiful green meadow. Why don’t we have anything like this up in Carolina?”
per National Trasportation Secretary, Sept 4, 2009
“…allow counties and cities to work together to develop regional plans reflecting both regional and national priorities. Then we’d fund them directly. The fact is, metro areas hold over 80 percent of the U.S. population. They’re major centers of economic activity. And they account for most of the congestion and greenhouse gas emissions.
Empowering metro regions to tackle their transportation and energy problems will move us closer to enjoying cities and suburbs that are cleaner, less congested, and less polluted than many are today.”
Georgia isn’t the only state where politicians sell out the vitality and potential of their metropolitan areas in order to buy some cheap gubernatorial votes in the rural counties.
They recognise that ploys like Oxendine’s are holding back the economic potential of our nation.
I hope LaHood’s proposals can be put into action.
I want Governor Barnes back
Me too, nelliebelle1197!
me, three!
Governor Barnes had his own problems with road building – remember the Northern Arc?
Sorry about the late post.
I do not claim to speak for the Oxendine campaign, although I am a supporter. Nor am I an expert on his transportation policy. But I do understand this. Not all north-south, east-west traffic need come through Atlanta. Right now, if you are a carpet manufacturer in Dalton and wish to ship products to the port of Savannah, you need to travel through I-285. The same thing is true if you want to ship goods from Savannah to Birmingham. We need to have a better way to travel throughout the state without going through Atlanta. I think Commissioner Oxendine, as governor, will help develop a transportation plan with the General Assembly that will take traffic off of I-285. He might be suggesting that a “green I-285” is one that allows traffic to move as quickly and safely as possible with fewer vehicles from outside the metro area. Now that my son is a student at Georgia Perimeter/Dunwoody campus, and I must pick him up everyday around 6:00, I understand the necessity to reduce the volume of traffic on 285. The commissioner has several good ideas on transportation to help solve Atlanta’s traffic problems and can work with the legislature, rather than against it, to implement them.
I did not read the commissioner’s comments about Inman Park as insulting. He is, after all, the only candidate who grew up in DeKalb County. In my opinion, he understands the problems of our area better than any other candidate.
Chris Billingsley
Born, raised, and still proud to live in the City of Decatur
PS- Mr. DecaturMetro Guy, Please print my name with the post.
If you want to ship products around Georgia to its ports. there are these newfangled inventions called locomotives. Most cargo leaving and coming to Georgia is containerized-perfect for all those choo choos.
I had a friend once who made the statement “there’s not a convenient way to commute from Smyrna to Marietta”. My response was “why should there be”? If you live in Smyrna and work in Marietta, that’s your issue. But don’t make it my issue to make life more convenient for you because of you choices. Either get a job closer to home or move to where your job is. I realize that’s an oversimplification but that’s reality.
In the same vein, regarding this comment “if you are a carpet manufacturer in Dalton and wish to ship products to the port of Savannah, you need to travel through I-285″, I would suggest that perhaps you should have your factory closer to Savannah ports. Particularly, if that’s your main method of distribution.