JUly 15, 2012 PAGE 1
Your On Common Ground News presents:
2012
VOTERS Guide
“Transportation is critical to any major city that wants to be competitive and thrive.” – Joe Jackson, president of Greater Atlanta Economic Alliance.
“I’m ready to pay the penny because the alternative is we’re going to sit in traffic and spend the penny in gas.” – Andrew Young
Photos by Glenn L. Morgan/OCG News
T-SPLOST supporters urge voters to help bring jobs, untie traffic
A
By Valerie J. Morgan
ndrew Young recalled the behind-the-scenes machinery that helped create Atlanta’s airport, the city’s rapid transit system and Georgia 400, the highway that for years served as the states’ only toll road. Young shared how racial barriers, economic challenges and other hurdles were forced to take a back seat in the name of progress, as politicians and constituents worked together to push the groundbreaking transportation projects and economic development initiatives through. The civil rights legend, former Atlanta mayor, Congressman and U.S. ambassador says Atlanta is now poised to grow again, and transportation initiatives that are on the table are even more critical than ever before. Young is among several Atlanta area leaders who are urging voters to support the transportation referendum known as T-SPLOST. Voters in the
10-county Atlanta region will decide on the measure on July 31 during the General Primary. “MARTA was passed by merely 400 votes in the combination of Fulton and DeKalb counties,” Young said, recapping the controversies surrounding the 1971 start of MARTA and the Atlanta airport deal, which was inked in 1925, along with the Georgia 400 highway project to connect Atlanta’s north communities. “I’m ready to pay the penny because the alternative is we’re going to sit in traffic and spend the penny in gas,” Young said. Young said the 10 counties must be willing to bite the bullet and work together, if the area is ever to have a rapid transit system similar to those in New York City and Washington, D.C. “Whenever we have been visionary and united, we have succeeded,” Young said. Several business organizations are supporting the measure, even
as opponents have criticized the lan, saying it is not specific enough about what jobs and opportunities will be provided and when. Two minority business organizations, however, affirmed their support of the referendum: The Georgia chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC) and the Greater Atlanta Economic Alliance (GAEA). “No major city other than Atlanta has three major intersections going through the heart of its downtown. We have to do what is best for this region,” aid Art Queen, president of NAMC. Queen said the NAMC, a 43-yearold trade association, also supported the resolutions passed by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, Georgia Department of Transportation, and the Atlanta Regional Council. “Transportation is critical to any major city that wants to be competitive and thrive,” said Joe Jackson, president of GAEA. “This referendum
addresses our current and future mobility needs. That is important to businesses.” Leaders of the Conyers-Rockdale Chamber of Commerce thinks so, too. “The chamber supports the referendum because it really causes us to think regionally about growth and our transportation needs,” said Thua Barlay, president-elect of the ConyersRockdale Chamber. “We have to get beyond our individual pet projects and think broader in terms of the Atlanta region. When large corporations look at coming to a place, they want to know about the location of airports and other transportation.” Leonardo McClarty, president of the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber passed a resolution in March supporting the T-SPLOST to help the economy. “It may not be the answer to everything, but it is a good first step,” McClarty said. “Every day we don’t do something, things will get worse.”