“Circulator Shuttle” Makes Decatur’s Strategic Plan Project List
Decatur Metro | January 27, 2011 | 1:07 pm
The City of Decatur will hold another Strategic Plan Open House this coming Monday, January 31st from 6p-9p at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, where the coveted “Strategic Plan Project List” (or SPPO as no one tends to call it) will finally be unveiled to its adoring public.
As a tease for the upcoming event, the official Strategic Plan website “Decatur Next” reveals that a “circulator
shuttle”, which would transport residents between downtown, Oakhurst Village and East Decatur Station, is just one item that came out of the resident round-tables that made the list. (The site is mum on any other projects that made the cut, hoping the anticipation will get you in the door.)
What does making the “Project List” mean? From Decatur Next…
Actually, a lot. The adopted plan defines the focus of city leadership and staff for the next ten years, and sets out the areas where our money will be directed.
Inclusion on the list doesn’t guarantee the shuttle, or anything else, will come to fruition but it does ensure attention and resources. That means looking at the various ways such a system could be approached, who could run it, and how much the various scenarios would cost. Then, a decision can be levied one way or another based on the merits.
Shuttle Example pics ripped from DecaturNext
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That would be SO AWESOME!
A great idea, though I’d love to see the N.Decatur/ Clairmont area (where the Publix is ) included. Or is that too far from the city limits?
I would love to see this area included as well!
It’s actually only a couple of blocks outside of the city limits (Superior and N. Decatur is inside) .
Remember, there are a few City Of Decatur residents with a, gasp!, 30033 zip code.
No way! I never knew that–City of Decatur residences with a 30033 zip code! I thought the 30030 zip code was sensitive enough to pick up all Decatur residents although I knew it wasn’t specific to Decatur. There’s some 30030 residents who are just outside of City of Decatur, e.g. the condos across from the YMCA.
Do you mean the 449 building? I assumed those were in the city limits.
Not sure of number but I’ll look next time I drive by. I know this to be the case because I tried to get a friend who lives there to support a particular position or candidate in the City and found out that she was just over the line outside of Decatur.
The 449 condos are actually a few blocks before you get to the “Y”. 449 Clairemont condos are definitely in the City– not so sure about those across from the “Y”…
449 is way inside Decatur limits. The condos I’m thinking of are something like 1105 Clairemont, 30030. I’m not even sure the YMCA itself is inside city limits but it does have a 30030 address.
Hopefully it won’t take ten years, but still … yay!
As long as riders or the businesses in the areas pay for it, I’m for it.
I’m curious where the small government commenters from the plastic bag tax/ban thread are on this post. From a free-market perspective, it seems to me that if there were really demand for this kind of service, someone would have already filled the niche. If there’s not enough demand in the market, why is this something the City should subsidize with our tax dollars?
Or is it that a circulator shuttle is sexy and plastic bag tax/ban is not?
My gripe with the plastic bag tax/ban was more based on the fact that it is a solution to a problem that does not exist (Decatur having very few large retailers that even use plastic bags) and that the Environmental Sustainability Board should be focused on real environmental problems that exist in our City such as car dependency and walkability concerns.
A shuttle of some type between our major business districts actually does solve some of our problems in these areas, i.e., provides alternate transportation, reduces pollution, decreases the need for asphalt parking lots, etc.
A plastic bad tax/ban sends a message but does not solve a problem. A shuttle would actually solve a problem.
Excellent point, Marshall.
Inclusion on the list is unrelated to the size of government. It ensures only that the prospect of a shuttle and potential ways of providing it will be explored. The result could be the city working to recruit a private provider or a public/private partnership where the city’s portion is covered by grant funding. Or, they could find that it’s cost prohibitive or has insufficient demand and choose not to pursue it further. Or any number of other potential scenarios.
Rallying the “down with bloated government” troops is a bit premature at this point.
Good point Scott. I have seen nowhere yet that the shuttle would be completely “free” and/or subsidized by taxpayers if it happens at all.
It could be privately contracted and fully paid for by riders. The business community could pay for it.
Scott & Marshall – thanks for your comments. My intent was not to rally anyone, but to ask a question about the role of Decatur’s government that has been raised in other threads on this blog.
There are no transit systems that I’m aware of in the country that are financially “whole” based on the fare box. So that leaves us with government subsidy (regardless of whether it comes from the City till or a pass-through grant from the state/feds) or business subsidy a la the Buc. Part of the issue is that private vehicle use is subsidized in ways that have largely become invisible to people, so the pure economics of transit vs. private vehicles has been grossly distorted.
Anyway, Marshall, good point about the “problem that doesn’t exist”. I would posit that the problem with bags DOES exist (see Fred Boykin’s comment in the bag thread), but that our ability to make significant progress towards solving it is very limited (at best) within our city’s jurisdiction.
Thanks for asking these questions and making these points on DM, KC.
We’ve talked about plastic bags a lot on this site over the years, starting back when many people first started using reusable bags in late 2007.
While at first, I saw no reason NOT to ban plastic bags in the name of “the environment”, discussions here over the years have mellowed my position a bit. For one thing, the research surrounding how bad plastic bags are for environment is confusing. For instance from a Nat Geo article…
“Compared to paper grocery bags, plastic grocery bags consume 40 percent less energy, generate 80 percent less solid waste, produce 70 percent fewer atmospheric emissions, and release up to 94 percent fewer waterborne wastes, according to the “Film and Bag” federation. ”
Is that true? I don’t know. But I’m very aware that the popular environmental mindset is anti-plastic, just like it is anti-car. So that gives me a bit of pause, because popular mindsets have a tendency to paint with too broad a brush. And if the car conversation has taught me anything, it is that none of these trade-offs are as cut and dry as we think they are. I can certainly see how – through efficiencies – a plastic bag could consume less energy than a paper bag. Does that make up for the fact that they don’t biodegrade like a paper bag? I don’t know, but no one’s having that conversation, so I won’t even delve into that.
Ultimately though, I’d like to see this decision made first-and-foremost through the eyes of “community” before anything else, including the generalized “environment.” One of the anti-bag folks made a great point in the earlier post when they mentioned that most small businesses in Decatur already don’t use plastic bags, because they know a large number of their patrons appreciate that. That’s first-hand community responsiveness at its finest.
CVS and Kroger are probably the two main culprits in using a large amount of plastic bags inside the city limits. And the environmentalist in me initially has a problem with that. However, if I take a step back and think about how banning plastic bags in Decatur would affect the community as a whole, I begin to have second thoughts.
Why? Because while plastic bags may be made out of hated plastic, they are just plain better at holding your groceries. This might not be apparent to many of us, who still drive to the store and quickly transfer our groceries to the trunk in paper bags, but I would think that a change to paper by Kroger or CVS might make it a lot more difficult for someone to walk with a couple days worth of groceries from either of these locations to Swanton Heights or Allen Wilson.
Sure they/we could all use reusable bags, but that’s not what we’re discussing. We’re talking about making paper the only option. Is that good overall for Decatur’s community?
To me it seems anything but cut and dry.
I shop Aldi a lot, and customers who are on foot generally bring sturdy totes, duffle bags, or backpacks with them. Most shoppers who walk to the store planning to buy more than a couple of items probably do. Even doublebagged, plastic bags are too iffy. And they cut into your hands!
We’re all obligated to contribute to maintaining our streets, whether or not we personally drive on them; sidewalks, whether or not we walk on them; schools, whether or not we send children to them; recreational facilities, whether or not we use them; fire department, whether or not our own house catches fire… and so on and so forth.
We collectively indicated this kind of shuttle would reflect and reinforce our community values and vision. We can’t always rely on the free market to express our aspirational values. Sometimes we need for government to step in and manipulate conditions so that something new has a chance to succeed or fail. The City has a pretty good track record ferreting out grants and matching funds, instead of just tacking every little thing onto the tax bill, and I hope they will thoroughly explore ways to facilitate this. True, it might not take off, but if it does, then it’s a win all the way around, for those who use it and those who don’t. Just like having good schools and responsive public safety and well-kept playing fields.
I think a shuttle might be a really useful thing for folks for whom the cost of cars is too high or people who cannot drive for some reason. Serving these groups meets a greater good than can be measured by economic demand for the service from a dollars standpoint. It might allow our community to retain more diversity so people don’t have to wastefully spend money on cars if they don’t really need them other than for a weekly run to the store.
As we biked to church today, I realized that a shuttle could work out fantastic for transportation to church. By my count, and I could be missing some, there’s 11 churches on the northside and 5 churches on the southside of the tracks. They tend to have set times for Sunday school and services, e.g. 9 AM, 10 AM, 11 AM, and/or noon, and set times that they end, have refreshments, and folks go home, e.g. noon, 1 PM, 2 PM, maybe as late as 3 PM. Folks are crossing town in both directions every Sunday to attend church and a shuttle could work real well. We’d gladly walk or bike to a shuttle stop because it’s not every Sunday that time, mood, and the weather permit us to bike the whole way. If churches supported the idea and promoted the shuttle to their congregations, I’d bet a group and social effect would increase and maintain ridership.
I am very excited about this and bummed to be working tomorrow night. DM please keep us updated on this!