Interesting developments in Clayton County with two new county commissioners who support putting a referendum before county residents to join Fulton and DeKalb in contributing to the penny sales tax, which supports MARTA.

WABE reports that new commissioners Jeff Turner and Shana Rooks support the measure.  This is in sharp contrast to the two recently ousted incumbents who were opposed to such a measure.

A majority of Clayton’s five commissioners would have to support a measure to get it onto the November ballot.   Since the defeat of T-SPLOST last month, transit advocates have been lobbying Clayton to join MARTA.

Not sure that “all publicity is good publicity” in this case.  From the AJC…

The Beltline’s board voted unanimously on Friday to end Brian Leary’s contract at the end of the month. The meeting came days after an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation revealed Beltline staffers charged taxpayers for wedding gifts, a parking ticket, a dry cleaning bill and other charges that infuriated watchdog groups and frustrated City Hall.

Atlanta’s Streetcar Facebook page posted this “sneak peek” of the city’s new streetcars on the back of a flatbed truck.  According to the overly excited text of Thomas Wheatley…

…the vehicles are scheduled to be delivered in September to Siemens’ Cumming facility where they’ll be fitted with their propulsion systems.

Decatur 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

This morning, the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club announced it was opposing the T-SPLOST referendum, because it “is primarily a business-as-usual sprawl-inducing road program”, in favor of a “Plan B” with more transit funding.  From the Sierra Club’s press release…

A frequent refrain of T-SPLOST supporters is that there is “no Plan B” for transportation in Georgia. The Sierra Club rejects this notion, and believes that there is indeed great potential for an alternative plan that achieves meaningful progress on commute alternatives for Georgians without needlessly subsidizing another wave of sprawl. Elements of a truly visionary and transformational “Plan B” should include:

• A Workable Institutional Framework that provides an equitable regional transit governance structure and de-politicizes transportation decision making.
• Effective and Innovative Financing for Commute Alternatives such as a restructured multimodal gas tax, a parking tax, and other mechanisms that tie funding to travel behavior.
• A Vision that Enables Atlanta and Georgia to Lead the 21st-Century Economy by moving beyond business-as-usual sprawl development and towards a truly sustainable and forward-looking future.

Juxtapose that statement versus a April 21st report from the AJC’s Jim Galloway on what Georgia’s state leaders say will happen if T-SPLOST doesn’t pass this time around…

Officially, there is no Plan B, so [House Speaker David] Ralston wasn’t prepared to go much further on the topic. But the threat – no, make that a hard promise – is out there. Should the July 31 referendums fail, the next blueprints will be generated from within the state Capitol.

Do you believe that Capitol leaders are bluffing?  And would a transportation plan created within the state Capitol be closer to what the Sierra Club has in mind?   These seem to be just two questions voters will have to answer for themselves before they tap the touch-screen on July 31st.