Mr./Ms. Decatur had a pretty good 2010.  Lots o’ new restaurants, public improvement projects, an amicable school redistricting.  And all in a recovering economy!

As someone living amongst its insides, what do you think should be this smirky character’s New Year’s resolution for 2011?

Brick Store Pub, Decatur GA (pic courtesy of E.J.)

Atlantans love the Beltline, correct?   Well, if you’re talking about City of Atlanta-Atlantans then yes they do.

But what about metro Atlantans?  The ones who live in counties far beyond the Beltline?  A recent Gwinnett poll gives us another look at what seems will be an uphill battle for Atlanta’s highly publicized public project to get on the list of projects funded by the potential transportation sales tax.

According to an annual poll taken by the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District only 32% of those polled supported the regional sales tax for transportation funding, and only 22% of the 802 Gwinnettians polled supported that funding supporting the Beltline, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

So OK, it looks like regional leaders have some work to do if they want to convince residents to support this penny sales tax in a recovering economy.  Also, I guess it’s not all that surprising that residents with minimal interaction with the Beltline would be all that jazzed about it, and thus support would be even lower for that.

But here’s the sentence that really has the potential to alarm…

In fact, more than 50 percent of respondents said they would be less likely to favor the sales tax if the Beltline was a part of the project list.

“Haters.” was CL’s Thomas Wheatley reaction to this part of the story.

But hey, let’s stop and think on this for a minute.  If ITPers were presented with a question like “would you be more or less likely to favor the transportation sales tax if a new bridge for Jimmy Carter Boulevard was part of the project list?” how do you think they would respond?