Yes, this blog has sucked lately... but hey what a delightful surprise when you check back and and realize that after a nearly a month I have finally posted_something_?!Ok, maybe not.. but here goes anyway.
I travel nearly every week for biz (hence the lack of posts)
and being from Atlanta I'm always frustrated to see so many other cities who thought ahead years (or in many cases decades) ago and have efficient, effective mass transit solutions. Since we've consistently ranked in the top 10 of the worst traffic cities in America, I could never figure out why Atlantans never raised cain about sitting in their cars for hours a day to go to work. I mean, our traffic sucks! Then, even more surprising is the record of some suburbs and counties consistently voting against MARTA. Crazy! Last legislative session saw a couple of proposals for raising sales tax to pay for rail ways in the greater Atlanta area but the governor didn't support them. Apparently he wanted more time to finish overhauling the State Transportation Board which was hobbled by cumbersome bureaucracy. I was just telling some friends over the weekend that someone should start a group of concerned citizens who would lobby for better mass transportation.
Well, it looks like $4 a gallon ( which could soon be $5 per gallon?) gas prices are proving to be the 'significant emotional event' that get people to think about alternatives. Recent polls ( and increased rider-ship of shuttles from outlying counties) prove that folks in the metro may be feeling different now about funding a new rail system.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle has an article which provided me with a glimmer of hope that folks asleep at the wheel in commuter traffic may be waking up. ABC discusses two proposals for rail systems - one to the South toward Griffin that would utilize Norfolk Southern rail lines already in place, and another going from Atlanta to Athens via tracks owns by CSX. The most promising thing is that now Governor Purdue is on board with this movement. I guess he finally realized that eventually citizens of GA are going to start complaining about the dire straits of Georgia's derailed transportation system on the way to the ballot box? Second most interesting is that there is in fact an alliance of more the 50 business, government and environmental orgs called "Get Georgia Moving Coalition" which was formed to push for the transportation funding initiative in this year's legislature. Let's hope they accomplish their goal. I know I'm a dreamer ( and I'm not the only one), but man how could would it be to be able to take a train to Athens to see a band like the whigs or go to a UGA game to root on my Dawg's? Totally cool.
