Questionable Whether Transportation Referendum Would Pass in Atlanta
Decatur Metro | September 9, 2010 | 10:16 am
From an AJC article about long-rusted political wheels trying to move forward to eliminate the “piecemeal” nature of Georgia’s transportation system. (Of course a “system” implies that parts are working in support of each other. Hmm…how about we call it “Georgia’s transportation anarchy” instead?
A poll released by the Livable Communities Coalition on Wednesday showed that the referendum would probably pass — barely. Polling 400 people who vote in minor elections in the ten-county Atlanta region, it found suburbanites outside the five-county Atlanta area opposed it 55 percent to 40 percent. Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett were neutral on it, but Fulton and DeKalb supported it 63 percent to 32 percent. Whites opposed it 53 percent to 45 percent, and African-Americans supported it 79 percent to 15 percent. Republicans opposed it 66 percent to 31 percent, where Democrats supported it 79 percent to 18 percent. Some of the more solid supporters: those with commutes longer than 30 minutes.
Apparently ‘burbanites they like their long commutes just fine, thank you very much.
But seriously, this poll seems to foretell that if metro-Atlantans want the transportation referendum to have a good chance of passing, it will need to include tangible projects for the suburban counties, as well as inner-city, rail-soaked goodness. This may not thrill some ITPers hoping to see all their projects tackled at once, but based on the makeup of our transportation district, it looks like it’ll be necessary.
Photo courtesy of WriterChad
nice pic.
Indeedy. I suppose some credit is in order!
Money is tight. Governments are going to have to show definite projects when they ask for funding. “Better transportation” or “job creation” or vague “road projects” are not going to cut it with voters.
The referendum has the requirement for specific projects to be called out, arrived at after a long, convoluted process.
Steve, here’s a question I’ve been unable to find an answer to. Hopefully you can help.
A while back Maria Saporta listed 8 light rail projects that are included in the Concept 3 Plan.
The Beltline was #1 and the Clifton Corridor (Decatur/Emory/Lindbergh) was #2.
What I never had answered was whether this list of projects was in order of importance. I couldn’t find anything in a Google search, except that it looked like Clifton Corridor rider projections were much higher than most of the other light rail proposals.
Basically I’m wondering if the Clifton Corridor really is the #2 priority in terms of light-rail for ARC. Perhaps you or any of the ARC DM readers can provide an answer.
DM, I’m not sure there was any priority order for those. Maria might be able to help you –
Acutally, the final project list may have nothing for ITP transit. The original legislation passed last spring bars spending any money on existing MARTA projects, and the guidelines recently proposed by the state require any funded projects to cross county lines. That would rule out funding for the Beltline or the Atlanta streetcar. It looks more and more like the only possiblity for transit funding would be for city-suburban bus lines, like GRTA, Cobb County Transit or Gwinnett County transit. This may turn out to to be a big mistake. As the poll indicates, ITP voters are the most likely voters to support this tax. If you give THEM no reason to support it, there may be no support for the tax at all!
Oh wow. I hadn’t heard about the cross county lines requirement.
That still doesn’t disqualify a Clifton Corridor transit option though, does it? And I have to believe that Emory’s gotta be jonesing for a transit alternative to a couple MARTA stations. And while the Emory-Decatur option seems most intriguing to me, it seems like the alternative Emory to East Lake option (along the active CSX line) might be more plausible.
Interesting article and data. I pointed out the following in a recent AJC Op-Ed (http://www.ajc.com/opinion/transportation-tax-could-be-598634.html):
Nearly all Georgians support regional efforts in the abstract to improve the flow and efficiency of transit in their regions. The spring 2008 Georgia Poll, the best data we have on public attitudes related to new taxation for improved transportation across the state, asked a random sample of Georgians, “Do you think that the suburban, city, and county governments in your area should share their financial resources and work with each other to develop and implement a regional plan to reduce traffic congestion and suburban sprawl?” A super-majority (85 percent) of respondents answered affirmatively. (In the 10-county Atlanta metro area, 88 percent agreed with the idea of regional sharing.)
Yet, Georgians are less supportive of regional efforts to improve transportation when presented with concrete financial proposals. Survey respondents were told that their local elected officials may vote for legislation that would allow suburban, city and county governments in their area to charge an additional one-penny sales tax to pay for regional programs to reduce traffic congestion and suburban sprawl. Georgians split their support for the then hypothetical one-penny tax. Their support even dropped when they knew that proceeds from the tax would be shared among multiple communities in their region, including communities other than their own.
Statewide, 49 percent of Georgians approved of the penny tax for regional transportation improvements in their own community, dropping to 35 percent when the tax would pay for transportation projects in communities not their own. (In metropolitan Atlanta support for the tax declined from 51 to 37 percent.) The falloff in support for the one-penny tax was consistent among Georgians (and metro Atlantans) regardless of residence in cities or suburbs), amount of household income, partisan identification and race.
Selling the transportation tax is going to be a fascinating campaign.
Yikes. That’s not all that reassuring.
So I guess the only scenario not surveyed would be public opinion of an ACTUAL list of projects. (obviously impossible at this point.) Though from the trending it seems like that might score even lower.
I find myself thinking “Man, there better be a lot of road projects on this list if we want any additional $$ for transit.” I feel dirty already.