You may have seen mentions in the press of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s recently published “Regional On-Board Transit Survey”, which claims to be the largest such study ever conducted in the nation with over 50,000 participants.  (Actually, I think I was one of the participants a while back.)  Riders of MARTA and six metro area bus systems were surveyed.

As such, it’s a big dang report and a variety of Atlanta news outlets have been highlighting different elements of it.

Of particular note is the AJC’s rather odd chicken-or-the-egg perspective at the lack of suburban riders who utilize mass transit on Thursday.  (See the map from the report above, which indicates where transit rider commutes began.)

I say, draw your own conclusions.  Here are a few interesting summary tidbits ripped straight from the final report…

• VEHICLE AVAILABILITY: Over 40% of transit riders surveyed indicated that they have no access to a vehicle. Almost a third (32%) have access to one vehicle, and about 27% have access to multiple vehicles. None of the transit riders surveyed indicated access to more than 3 vehicles.

• VEHICLE ACCESS: Consistent with the vehicle availability question; over 40% of those surveyed have no access to a vehicle. Of the remaining 60%, over half said that they could have used an available vehicle for their trip – making them transit riders by choice.

• HOUSEHOLD EMPLOYMENT: Most (52.9%) of the transit riders surveyed are from households with 2 or more employed persons. Households with no employed persons represented only 8.6% of those surveyed. The most frequent responses were those for two worker households (39.3%), and one worker households (38.6%).

• EMPLOYMENT: Almost three-fourths (74.5%) of all the riders surveyed indicated that “Yes” they were employed. The remaining fourth (25.5%) of riders indicated that they were not employed.

Read the rest of this entry »

A new report (pdf) out from the Atlanta Regional Commission shows the areas of the Atlanta metro that experienced the largest job growth from 2000-2009.  Not surprisingly, the biggest gainers were in the fringe counties, while the old, traditional city center saw – with a few exceptions – near universal declines.

The map above gives a good overview, with the largest job gains (+1,901 – +19,446) in dark blue, modest gains (+1 – +1,190) in light blue, modest declines (0 -  -1,899) in orange and the largest declines (-1,900- -11,910) in white. (After the jump, see how Decatur specifically fared).

As for how the city has fared during the recession, compared to the nation as a whole, the report shows that Atlanta saw the fifth largest decline in employment from 2008-2010 among American cities, down 8%.

The map above can be found on page 2 of the report.

h/t: Atlanta Business Chronicle

Read the rest of this entry »

Last year, transit trolls breathed a sigh of relief when the Atlanta Regional Commission stepped in and saved MARTA.  But at the same time, many worried that the “bailout” wasted a LOT of momentum.  Here’s how I summed it up last May…

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.)

Yesterday, a piece by CL’s Thomas Wheatley brought out worries that not enough is being done to revive that sort of fervor prior to the end of Georgia’s legislative session next week.  As if she was reading our calls for action, the AJC’s April Hunt comes through this morning with a recap of what’s still being done to get some form of “transportation bill” through the Georgia legislature.

A slew of action alerts from transportation advocates of different stripes have landed in e-mail accounts, exhorting people to call their legislators in favor of passing a bill. Lobbyists for the Metro Atlanta Chamber have headed to the state Capitol, concerned CEOs of big Georgia companies in tow, warning of the consequences of inaction. The Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce bused in 300 business people last week to hobnob with legislators and talk about the jobs to be created by expanding transportation — or to be forgone if legislation sputters out like last year and the year before. They wore buttons that said “New Transportation Funding: Finish the Job.” Now they’ve created a “Finish the Job” logo and launched a Facebook page.

You can join the “Finish the Job” Facebook page HERE.

Hunt also quotes Rep. Jay Roberts – the chair of the House transportation committee – as saying that his office “hasn’t been inundated” with responses to get a bill passed.

Well, here’s Mr. Roberts email address:  jay.roberts@house.ga.gov Inundate away!

The item on last night’s agenda (page 59) – which led me to the city’s $1.77 million McDonough Street LCI grant – is also of particular interest on its own.

Remember when the Atlanta Regional Commission saved MARTA from massive cuts last year, directing $25 million in federal stimulus money to the cash-strapped transit authority’s operating budget?

Well, there were some strings attached.  It wasn’t an out-of-the-kindness-of-their-heart gift.

It was actually just a clever way to get around the suffocating state-imposed mandate that MARTA use half of its revenue from the 1-cent Fulton/DeKalb tax on “capital improvement”, even in times when the other 50% can’t keep the operating budget afloat.  (For more background info and the current sorry state on transit legislation, check out Thomas Wheatley’s excellent Creative Loafing article from yesterday)

In exchange for its $25 million operating budget “bailout”, MARTA agreed to use an equal amount of funds from its capital improvement fund to pay for studies and improvements around MARTA stations in line with the ARC’s mission to promote and fund more “livable” communities.

And it looks like Decatur will see a piece of that delicious capital improvements pie.

At last night’s City Commission meeting, the commission approved an agreement that MARTA would fund the planning and design for both the North McDonough streetscape improvements AND improvements to the Commerce Street intersections at Church Street and Clairemont Ave.

In a note to City Manager Peggy Merriss, Asst. City Manager Hugh Saxon also mentions that he believes there will be enough funding in the $750,000 budget to also design bike lanes for Church Street.

Decatur PD’s Juanchella Francis forwards a note from Dan Reuter at ARC about a Wednesday, December 2nd Atlanta Regional Housing Forum at Decatur’s Maloof Auditorium.  According to Dan’s note, it’s only the second time the forum has ventured outside Atlanta in many eons.

Both Decatur’s Lyn Menne and DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis are scheduled to sit on panels that will try to predict the county’s housing future – “Housing Challenges – What to expect in 2010″ – and discuss “Housing’s Role in a Sustainable Future”.

To read more about this Wednesday morning forum and to register, click here.  The forum is free, though a canned food item for the Atlanta Community Food Bank is requested.

DeKalb commish Jeff Rader alerts his constituents of a North Druid Hills LCI (Livable Centers Initiative) Kickoff at the DeKalb International Student Center (formerly Kittredge Magnet School) at 2383 N. Druid Hills Road from 6:30-8:30pm on November 17th.

The plan itself (PDF) has noble, New Urbanisty goals, but seems to walk an awkward line between wanting to maximize driving efficiency – into and through the corridor – while also developing the kinds of density that should promote more pedestrian activity.

And while I recognize compromise as essential component of any real-world “initiative” or plan, any infrastructure that attempts to promote a sidewalk lifestyle, while simultaneously making driving MORE convienent seems doomed to disappoint both drivers and peds alike.

As part of its “Fifty Forward” initiative, the Atlanta Regional Commission is holding a series of “grassroots” forums all over the Atlanta “region”, asking lawns of residents a variety of questions about Atlanta’s vision for the future.

And guess what?  The 11th in the series, which will focus on how to make Atlanta “the healthiest region in the country” will be at the Decatur Rec Center on Thursday, September 24th!

Healthiest region in the country huh?  Man, that doesn’t sound like the easiest of topics.  How about something easier like “how to make Atlanta the smoggiest region in the country”?  I’m sure we could knock that question out in the good 20 minutes!

For more detail and more serious comments on the subject (from Elizabeth Wilson and Judy Turner), see the full release sent to the press after the jump.  I know, I just called myself “the press”…I feel so dirty. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo Courtesy of Re-Nest

The Apartment Therapy junkie in our household noticed that the RainShine house was prominently featured on AT’s sister site Re-Nest yesterday, with a bevy of interior and exterior pics of the Decatur eco-home on Wilton Drive.

In that green-vein, The Decatur Minute noted yesterday that the city of Decatur, along with friendly arch-nemesis Alpharetta, won bronze-level certifications from the Atlanta Regional Commission for efforts towards environmental sustainability.  Cobb County was the only municipality to receive a silver certification (?!).

In response to the ARC announcement, District 2 City Commission candidate Kyle Williams tweeted “Step in the right direction #DecaturGA, now let’s pass ordinances providing green building incentives.”  I, for one, would be very interested in hearing more details on this proposal.

After the jump, you can read the ARC’s announcement detailing Decatur’s green efforts to-date that led to the certification. Read the rest of this entry »

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.