Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd Reacts to T-SPLOST Vote
Decatur Metro | August 1, 2012Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd writes in…
I am glad it is over and that there is no doubt what the voters wanted… or did not want. It was in my opinion decisive. I spent most of my time last year arriving at the list of projects to vote on and if that list is why anyone voted no then I certainly share the responsibility for the no vote. If it is mistrust of elected officials, since I have been an elected official for 21 years, I certainly share that responsibility also. This vote brought together people of different parties, different races and different cultures on both sides of the issue. I think good can and will come from that. My hope now is that we will work together as we search for a method to move forward. I do not think that simply revising the list of projects and trying another vote would provide a different response from the voters. But our traffic problems did not go away with the vote. I promise to work together with Governor Deal, Mayor Reed, other elected officials and all who wish to participate in a positive way to move this region forward. Today, let’s dedicate ourselves to finding the solution that will inspire all of us stand together and say… YES!!!!
Bill Floyd, Mayor Decatur, GA
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It seems it passed or came close to it in Dekalb and Fulton. Could we pass another 1% tax just in our counties and fund all the projects within our counties? Or were the other counties’ tax receipts needed to subsidize the projects here? If so, maybe we could pass funding just for rail and alternative transportation projects. If we can provide transportation options here intown and realize the vision of the Beltline, who cares what happens in the surrounding counties. Let them stew in their traffic jams if that’s what they want.
Where do you see that it came close in Dekalb and/or Fulton? The Atlanta Region was one of 12. Only 3 regions voted yes and the most convicing of those was 54% to 46% in favor. The Atlanta Region was 62% against.
Dekalb and Fulton were both 51 – 49 % against. You can see it on the results map on ajc.com if you look at just the Atlanta metro region.
The AJC has Fulton and DeKalb both 49% in favor and 51% against. Pretty close.
Thanks…I couldn’t find that finer level of breakdown.
You can find county-by-county results within the Atlanta region. In DeKalb and Fulton it is reported as 51/49 against.
59 percent yes in City of Atlanta. I’d guess Decatur had a similar result.
+1
I wish they had let the vote happen by county instead of by region. That way, at least some of the most important projects affecting us might have happened. And, I am more and more starting to think the way you are, in that those who voted against it should (and will) suffer the consequences. It just sucks that we’re all going to suffer along with them.
Yes, I would like to let them stew in their traffic jams. But it’s those traffic jams that worsen our air quality, so we can’t ignore the problem. The only hope is that those folks get sick of being stuck in traffic as well and realize that we can’t go on building more and more roads.
A British friend recently ask me what Americans REALLY want in a our politicians. Were the subject local elected officials, I would have to point to the recent leadership of Mayor Bill Floyd. His magnanimous and productive response to the defeat of TPLOST portrays a man whose seamless blend of passion with reason is rarely seen in our leaders.
This is one of the most refreshing things I’ve heard come out of any elected official in a long time.
Bill,
Your statement reflects the commitment and responsible leadership you bring to the City Commission and it has been a pleasure to serve with you these past 12 years. I know that you poured many hours of your time and effort into this vote and I sincerely wish it had passed.
I have a bad feeling that the kind of transportation projects that Decatur wants to do will be far, far, far down the list of ones selected by the Governor and GDOT. A missed opportunity in my opinion, but the vote was overwhelmingly opposed to the 1 cent tax.
Again, I thank you for your efforts.
Does anyone know the T-S results from the City of Decatur?
Kind of hard to dig through, but by-precinct results are available through the Secretary of State’s office: http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/GA/DeKalb/40423/94666/en/reports.html
Here’s an example showing that your vote may not have been counted. We are denied our rights when either faulty electronic voting machines or a careless process fails to record votes.
Did anyone here vote at the SCOTT precinct located at North Decatur Presbyterian Church, 611 Medlock Rd?
Take a look at the link Byron posted: http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/GA/DeKalb/40423/94666/en/reports.html
Filter it with Election Day and SCOTT
It shows only 2 votes YES, and 0 votes NO for T-SPLOST. Not a single race shows more that 2 votes on the day of the election!
If you download the spreadsheeet: Look at tab 84 (T-SPLOST) it shows the same results. Unless I’m reading it wrong, of 2003 registered they claim only 121 people voted from this precinct. 118 were absentee or advance ballots. I was in a short line at 7:40AM and my wife was in a longer line at 5:30PM.
I don’t think this would change the outcome of the T-SPLOST, but what about my vote? What about my neighbor’s vote? It could change the outcome of a close local race. The problem may only be with the secretary of state’s website but these results can not be true. I’ll see what Brian Kemp’s office has to say.
I voted at that location at around 6 and was in a line of, I’m guessing, 20-30 people, so, yeah, something’s up with that.
Thank you, Mayor Floyd.
I love that guy.
Mayor Floyd:
Here is the post I sent in on this forum earlier today in response to the first story on the vote:
I voted for the TSplost, but my heart was not in it and this morning I am glad it failed. One more per cent sales tax on top of the 1% for MARTA keeps the tax burden for the metro transportation on the backs on people in Fulton and DeKalb and that is not right. Sales tax is not the way to pay for these projects. Tax transportation – parking, fuel, taxis, rental cars, etc. MARTA should raise the single ride fares out of the airport to $5 – every other city charges more to get to/from the airport. It’s time for City of Atlanta, the inner core counties, and MARTA to take off the gloves.
Here’s what I say to you:
Thank you for the effort and hard work you put into this effort. I voted for it because you and others I respect said it was the best we could hope for and that is probably true. Now I think it is time to step back and re-assess. Metro Atlanta as defined by the 10 county “Region” for this vote is hopelessly divided. If the vote nearly passed in Fulton and DeKalb, imagine how decisively it was defeated in Cherokee, Cobb, etc. I think it is time for a change in attitude toward our neighbors. Imagine you live in Cherokee (or Forsyth, whatever). You get in your car, drive (slowly yes because of traffic, but you get there) to work in Atlanta, park for nothing or next to nothing, get back in your car and go home. Your air quality is ok – the people in the city bear the brunt of that. You pay most of your sales and all of your property tax in Cherokee. So what did Atlanta get? Nothing. Atlanta needs to find a way to get something. Start with taxing public parking lots – parking is ridiculously cheap. Same things go for MARTA. Start charging for parking again at the lots, but give DeKalb and Fulton residents a free pass. It’s time to stop playing nice.
Your neighbor,
Don Rigger
+1,000,000
Del has already made it clear he has no interest in funding/ expanding MARTA with his new found ability to allocate transportation funding. The road construction lobby money is powerful and sadly, they will be the biggest winners in this entire thing.
When I lived in northern Kentucky & worked in Cincinnati, I payed a Cincinnati “city income tax” because I worked in the city. It was similar to the Atlanta area where most folks who worked in the city did not live there. I wonder if this sort of income tax could work here?
I know New York City has this tax. In fact, wasn’t there a period of time when city employees had to reside in NYC? That was a bit extreme and always seemed limiting and untenable to me but was a way to ensure that the folks who paid city taxes were the ones who benefitted from city employment.
I think this is a great idea and I would pay it.
It would never work here due to the Georgia power structure’s extreme aversion to any tax.
“The road construction lobby money is powerful and sadly, they will be the biggest winners in this entire thing.”
I don’t think that’s true. I don’t believe the road builders were lying when they said they’d have to lay off more workers if TSPLOST failed (they’ve already laid off about 40 percent since the recession began). Even if roads are the only thing built now, there will be fewer than if the TSPLOST had passed.
For those of you who want a county-by-county vote, that was the original idea when this whole transportation thing first came up 4 or 5 years ago. The counties could form alliances and select a list a projects that would benefit each and all and then vote within those counties. The Legislature, however, under the leadership of Gov Perdue, scrapped than in favor of the convoluted law they gave us. It’s called “kicking the can down the road”. Now the Gold Dome folks can say “we gave you a chance and you didn’t want it, so that’s all, folks”.
Oh Sonny Perdue…still f$%&ing us here in 2012.
If you don’t like it, you can just Go Fish !
Thank you Bill Floyd for your hard work on this project.
I can only imagine how difficult it was to push past the personalities and agendas to produce this list.
Thank you Mayor Floyd for the effort you put in on behalf of Decatur. Your work is appreciated!
Thank you Mr. Mayor for your work on this and for your thoughtful dedication to the citizens of Decatur and the metro Atlanta area. You’re a class act!
I voted no – and would again with similar terms…But those are the words of a good man.
I think the missing key ingredient was the inspiration he references. It was missing for this campaign. Honestly, who gets excited and passionate about simply ‘easing traffic’ with a catchall variety of unrelated projects over 10+ years. People are inspired by simple, easily absorbed concepts: putting a man on the moon, getting the Olympic games, and recently the Beltline project. In the end, It’s clear that the “yes” crowd never had an easy, central concept that got people excited and motivated. Maybe, as noted eleswhere here, we chew off smaller “more achievable” projects that inspire, can be completely quickly and provide meaningful, tangible improvements.
Thanks, Mr. Mayor, for fighting the good fight. Metro Atlanta has clearly chosen another method for reducing traffic congestion: driving away existing employers and scaring off new ones. Enjoy your tea while you can still afford it, morons.
They don’t have to get our permission to raise the gas tax. It’s time for those who drive the most to pay the most for these projects.
Yes they do need permission. It would require a state constitutional amendment.
Thank you Mayor Floyd for your service on this matter.
You should take some heart to know that your fellow Decatur citizens overwhelmingly supported you on this. 71.7% of the City of Decatur voted yes after adding up the precinct by precinct totals.
Wow. That explains the cognitive dissonance–a stunning failure despite all the Yes signs as I drove around prior to the election. The persuasive voices for me were Mayor Floyd and Clark Howard. (In addition to this blog of course………..)
By Precinct in Decatur, percentage voting for TSPLOST:
Clairemont East: 71%
Clairemont West: 68%
Glennwood: 73%
Oakhurst: 74%
Ponce: 70%
Renfroe: 73%
Winnona Park 74%
There’s a precinct called “North Decatur” with a 30030 address but I’m not sure the voters are city residents. Only 64% there voted for TSPLOST.
Of note:
– Renfroe Precinct had the lowest absolute count of voters: 500. But I cannot tell if that was because of the evening school event blocking parking or because fewer voters live in that precinct or another explanation.
– The Clairemont East & West and Ponce Precincts had slightly lower percentages of TSPLOST supporters. Is that because they are the closest to MARTA already? Or other reason? Or perhaps not a meaningful difference.
– We are once again a voter anomaly in Georgia.
The North Decatur precinct is not in the city.
Renfroe is the smallest precinct in Decatur. If you look at the first few pages of the following report it breaks down turnout by precinct. http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/Voter/pdf/Results_07312012.pdf
I don’t know if it means anything or not, but the Clairemont East and West precincts always has a slightly higher Republican vote than other precincts in Decatur. Nothing huge, by any means, but usually 5-10% higher than the rest of Decatur. That may or may not explain the higher % of TSPLOST no votes.
I voted at Renfroe in the last hour, and there was no lack of parking or any obvious event going on. (perhaps event was earlier?) Only a few other people were there. Seemed like low turn out to me compared to that hour during similar elections.
42% turnout at Renfroe.
That’s actually pretty high for a low profile July primary election. Turnout in city elections is usually only about 25%. Turnout for the Presidential election in November will probably be about 70%.
Here’s what Governing magazine had to say about the vote and support for transportation in general:
http://www.governing.com/blogs/fedwatch/What-The-Georgia-Vote-Means-for-the-Future-of-Transportation.html
To ask the citizens for additional funding without cleaning up the lack of accountability of the funds that are already present has contributed to the outcome. MARTA’S has a bad PR problem with accountability and how funds are used. No accountability . cronyism is a live and well. The entire decision for me is we are just going to build more roads without a Metro Plan . Oh that was supposed to be the function of GRETA if I am correct. Until this state has been reeducated about its driving patterns the only thing that will cause a drastic life style change is a higher gas tax or tolls to drive from OTP to ITP. Try that for a year and run this back to the voters driving 80+ miles round a trip.
When I get stuck in 400 traffic it is amazing . Every one should count the number of vehicles with one passenger per car. If you can count that fast because they are usually moving 80+ miles and hour. You get my point. Let me state again. Until you get into the old wallet people are not going to expect anything different on the road except more roads.
“that was supposed to be the function of GRETA”
You are correct. GRETA was Roy Barnes’ answer to regional transportation planning. It also would have a seat at the land use table. The first Executive Director was Dr Catherine Ross, a nationally recognized transportation planning expert. Another Sonny Perdue legacy is that is has been reduced to an operating agency with no teeth.
I’ve lived in Decatur 63 of my 65 years, I can hardly wait to leave.
Is that a negative statement about TSPLOST loss? Mayor Floyd? Decatur precincts support of TSPLOST? Frustration with current Decaturites? Current Decatur leadership? Wanderlust?
Where will you go for life after Decatur? Hopefully, you are not looking forward to life after life already.