Wheatley reports over on Fresh Loaf that the Governor has signed off on allowing ARC trade $25 million in stimulus money to MARTA yesterday in exchange for capital improvements around stations.  Along with that the gov also approved another $96 million in stimulus projects yesterday.

The only DeKalb projects on the list were $1.2 million for the Olmsteadian Deepdene Park improvements and $868,00 for the South River Trail.

I’ll try to find out more about the details of Deepdene, but in the meantime Xenia – who had her front yard ripped up last year –  recently wondered in an email whether Decatur/DeKalb could get any funding to make more pedestrian-friendly improvements to Scott Boulevard.

Apprx. one year later, I now have a bunch of anemic weeds (the green stuff that was supposed to be grass seed obviously didn’t take) where I once had a very nice, thick, healthy, monkey grass barrier on the median that protected walkers from Scott blvd. traffic–not far from Venetian pools where foot traffic has increased along with dangerous traffic issues. Question: Is there anything in the works to improve (nonexistent) curbs and sidewalks along Scott given the new opportunities for projects due to Federal stimulus monies?

I recall asking the city about potential stimulus projects in the city limits, but I don’t think I ever received a response from Hugh Saxon, so I don’t have a list of anything off-hand that’s potentially “shovel-ready.”  (Though I do have an extensive list of home improvement projects that are more than shovel-ready.)

Today, the ARC voted in favor of their plan to redirect $25 million in federal stimulus dollars to help bridge MARTA’s crippling budget shortfall that threatened to close down services for entire days of the week.

In doing so, ARC came to the rescue of not only MARTA and it’s riders, but also inadvertently Georgia lawmakers , who’s inability to pass a number of important measures this session was just beginning to gain some serious traction in the press behind this massive MARTA fumble.

Not only were rail-noodling Dems up in arms, but so was all of Atlanta’s business community, who knew full well the importance of public transportation if Atlanta (and Georgia) wished to compete in something we like to call “the global economy.”

It was just getting good.  Pissed lawmakers were giving the inside scoop on committee meetings,  MARTA was calling for special sessions, we had the House Majority Leader on record saying he went to Disney World more often than he rode MARTA (and therefore couldn’t see the benefits to his Isle of Retirement (St. Simons.)

Those were the days.  We were all pissed and we could smell the blood.  It was going to be an embarrassment to end all embarrassments.  One that might actually shame the legislature into action – since rational argument had long ago stopped having any effect.

But then ARC made their announcement that they had figured out a way to help MARTA through the year with the help of stimulus funding and all the press simply…vanished.  The hounds were called back to the house, the horses led back to the barn.

Now, as the ARC votes in favor of formalizing the MARTA bailout by giving it $25 million for “preventive maintenance” (which MARTA will repay with $25 million in “capital improvements” around MARTA stations), transit advocates are cheering with a pit in their stomachs.

Happy the city isn’t being saddled with a public transportation system that keeps the hours of a Chik-Fil-A, everyone is now wondering if the legislature learned it’s lesson.  Or have they instead learned that when they do nothing, someone else will clean up their mess?

With its generally spoiled 4-year old mentality, I’m going with the latter.

Playing catch up this morning…

First up, something that I’m sure has caught the eye of anyone that has a stake in Decatur’s Community Transportation Plan.

According to a report in the AJC, if the Atlanta Regional Commission succeeds in helping MARTA close its $25 million funding gap, everyone’s favorite transit authority promises to return the favor by using some of its stagnating $65 million in capital improvement funds to help fund development projects in Fulton and DeKalb that “complement transit.”

Wow.  That could be almost anything.