Its disappointing that so many people were against the T-SPLOST. Atlanta is well behind when it comes to city and regional transportation. This was a step in the right direction but too many people just see it as another "tax." Yet we as a whole unfortunately voted so short sighted. The T-SPLOST was for local government to make a much needed improvement to make Atlanta "the city" of the south. Now we just pushed back our efforts for another 20 years. Nice job Georgia.

I voted Yes

The rail to Town Center benefits Cherokee county as well. With Acworth built up, there's no where for Town Center development to spread but into Canton, and it has at a steady clip. Economic development in Canton lowers your property taxes and brings jobs to the area. Cherokee County will probably need to invest in circulators/shuttles from Town Center, but that isn't very expensive. Even small towns can foot the bill. Where I come from originally before moving to the metro, my town of 30k-40k people owned its own circulator from the main city.

I have lived and worked in Dunwoody off and on for many years. This seems an appropriate area to comment, along with my others. I don't want to bore with repeating the same details, simply will sat born in Atlanta, rode the electric trolleys in the '50s from the suburbs to downtown, novel concept. Pair of wires overhead, on tracks. Went to Ga. Tech, worked in the transportation industry and engineering. My favorite transpo is NASA, but not in the TSPLOST budget. I think I have, for enjoyment ridden most of MARTA;s busses, and ALL of the trains. Glued, actually MARTA's East Line back together, as the genius folks borrowed BART's design, and 80' long steel girders change length about 3" in our southern climate.

Read second first. Then go to Med Ctr Station and tell me how you navigate Atlanta. WYSIWYG. Part 2: at very bottom of comments. Thanks, y'all. And Anna, keep it up. Miss the trial coverage.Caught the fliers from the helicopter in 1971 when that year's "TSPLOST" was being sold by the politicians. Watched MARTA tear 100 year old towns and traditions in half, never to recover. Owned property in Acworth, East Cobb, Kennesaw, Downtown, East Point, Hapeville, McDonough. Moving is not an option, as someone suggests. My kids are in Kennesaw, and my grandkids. I choose to live on a farm. It is my choice. I do not dictate where I live at the whim of government. So, commuting or not is my choice. So, for those I have seen and heard, move closer to work, you are misguided. Anyone who gets trapped by politicians on their own. Regarding TSPLOST, 52% rail, and MARTA has always been behind in maintenance and, like most government entities, is poorly run. Acworth, Woodstock and Kennesaw will benefit only slightly by extending the rail from Arts Center to Cumberland. I know. I have ridden the routes, had to work transportation out their. This will do nothing. Perhaps used tracks to Woodstock,past Kennesaw Mountain to Acworth, we might accomplish something in conjunction withn the xpress busses. These are scattered neighborhoods, and try getting around East Cobb. Since this is Dunwoody, park car, try the train or bus.Good luck/see bottom of comments>. Bal at bottom

Click your profile, click blog on the left column and click on new blog entry. Then click "promote" if you want the editor to review.

Sorry that's Mayor Reed's job.

Vote NO!! so a real transportation bill can be created, not one that sticks us with taxes for ten years and that WILL NOT improve commute times per the ARC ...

No thank you Dean and I voted NO to another tax that would only become another government FUBAR.

And the AJC continued to publicize it as a 1 cent sales tax. IT WAS A 1% SALES TAX PEOPLE!!

If you have a paycheck that's large enough to pay extra taxes during this recession, by all means pay the IRS extra taxes. Everyone is allowed to but, nobody does. NoBama 2012

Syd: Money to the IRS isn't used on local projects. The GA portion would also go equally to all parts of the state. That's part of our problem.

I'm sure the real Syd Barrett would throw up in his grave if he knew you were using his name …

@votenotsplost1 twitter
It may be to late too keep our TAXES from going out of the country, I wrote about this a lot over the last 5 weeks.
http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/5296

Current funds? 70 % of current gas tax funds are eaten up just to maintain the roadways we have, a symptom of the regions unplanned sprawl pattern.

*like*

Anne, is it true the larger more significant projects (1-20 to 285 improvements amoung them) wont even start until 2020? Seems like a lot of teh projects would still be almost 10 years out and the smaler less significant projects would be done first, that seems counter productive..

David, thanks for your comments! I couldn't find it earlier but posted a reply about the timing of the projects to the general comment section.

Drew: Imagine Buckhead levels of traffic everywhere in the metro area.

It's actually 3.5 billion for the metro by 2040 and that's probably an underestimate as we start going more vertical.

Well-placed transit would centralize that vertical development on proposed transit cooridors, like the one planned down the I-75/Cobb Pkwy cooridor in Cobb County instead of highrise apartments getting scattered around.

Trees dont grow to the sky...why would anybody move to this area just because houses are cheap. Them employment market is dead and the fantasies they promise with this tax will never happen, or if it does it will be handled with Georgia's typical ineptness.

An INDOCTRINATION is more like it.

I got an education, too, and I'm still voting NO!

I did my homework, so I'm voting NO.

Probably a public education.

Did you read the list of things they were going to do with the money? Widening the roads and "improving" interchanges isn't enough. If I had seen rail services going in all directions and deeper into each area, I would have voted yes in a heartbeat.

Drewboo sometimes it is better to keep your mouth shut and let people assume you went to Auburn than to open it and remove all doubt.

While I do not claim to be an expert, please check out the Gwinnett County project list at http://documents.atlantaregional.com/TIA/4-GWINNETT-TIA-Chairman-4-25-12--Final.pdf for all the specific improvements for Gwinnett County (FYI, can view the project list for each individual region at http://metroatlantatransportation.com or TransformMetroAtlanta.com).

That said, a few highlights for Gwinnett County include $92M for Gwinnett County I-85 Transit Study/Engineering/Planning plus additional funds for widening Buford Hwy and Sugarloaf Parkway Phase II extension. The $600M for repairs of MARTA tracks, stations, tunnels and systems will improve mobility for the poor throughout Gwinnett and all regions (as the poor in Gwinnett do not work exclusively in Gwinnett).

Interchange improvements (I-285 & I-85, I-285 & GA400, I-285 & I-20W) will impact all of us as "choke points" throughout the transportation system affect all of us.

Each of the ten counties and cities within will receive 15% of total funds for their own locally chosen improvements.

Also, as I understand it, without TSPLOST the funding for GRTA Xpress Bus from park 'n rides along I-85 to downtown Atlanta, a very popular route often with standing room only, may be impaired.

Again, this isn't perfect and not every problem will be solved. But this is a HUGE step in the right direction.

We have bought enough "studies" like the one that brought us the HOT lanes up here.

Vote NO unless you are hired to create the studies themselves.

The marketing of congestion relief was a bit misleading, since its really secondary to economic development, but doesn't invalidate how important these projects are, especially in a bad economy, and especially for the working class people in-town who need economic development in the South and West end to bring jobs like the ones their ancestors had when the neighborhoods were younger. Then there are projects for congestion relief like the work around Windy Hill, Cobb Pkwy and I-75.

It mitigates congestion by absorbing some of the regions growth and jobs AROUND infrastructure. I realize this is novel idea in Atlanta but this it typically the way cities are planned.

These are locally vetted and chosen projects through computer models and much technical evalution over a period of roughly two years.

Sell that time share Sell, Sell Sell !!
But this program won't impact commute times at all per the ARC and that was the main reason bussinesses supported it in the begining,

so if it DOESN'T meet the need, you must NOT Proceed

Find someone to run against your state legislators. They should have had the guts to say no to the Federal Mandates and to the governor, but they voted to put this on the ballot and to create a regional transportation authority that never goes away, even if this stimulus package is voted down.

Timeshare hard sell ... Jobs!! Jobs!! as in MORE government positions to pay for, aren't there enough already? If it passes will we get a set of stake knives free?

Why do you believe that only government creates jobs? That money flowing in the private sector will create more private sector jobs. We don't need bigger government. We need a larger, more prosperous private sector.

No name: If that were true, the # of available jobs would have increased, not decreased over the last decade. Misplaced trust in private enterprise caused the economic crash. Government infrastructure and investment is the main job creator. That's why businesses have to pay taxes.

You should stop spewing your well-researched facts and logic on here. This forum is only for those who wear tin-foil hats! The true American voters!

The problem is people believe all that tea party nonsense. Which is foolish on lots of levels one being taxes are the lowest levels since the 50's and 40 percent of the stimulus was tax breaks. This countries infrastructure is crumbling because they keep cutting budget so taxes stay nice and low. You worry about the debt we leave our children worry about a crumbling road system, no high speed rail and a water system that's very old. Other countries just keep passing us but we got low taxes.

Just because the AJC said so, doesn't make it the truth.

"We have been soaked with taxes for roads and infrastructure improvements for decades in the form of fuel taxes."

You choice to vote no is fine with me. However, facts are facts. The motor fuel tax hasn't been increased since the '90s. Don't know how thats soaking you, unless you have problems filling your car up.

Sorry Anne -- I can't give this government a 10-year commitment. There's plenty of $$$ to around right now, it's simply being wasted in inefficient areas. Something needs to be done, but a regressive tax such as this is not the right call. I just hope when T-SPLOST is defeated, instead of proponents getting up in arms about how the opponents are going to kill the growth of Metro ATL, cooler heads prevail and a a bipartisan agreement can be reached using current tax dollars.

Craig, regardless of what solution is ultimately adopted, the implementation will take time. There is no way around that. Projects of this size can't be built quickly. I just reviewed a little Atlanta Airport history which speaks to making investments in time and money for the good of Atlanta and its people. In 1925, Mayor Sims signed the lease for the land and committed to turning it into an airfield. In 1939, the first control tower was built. By 1957, the Atlanta Airport was the busiest in the world and by May 2012, 8,461,608 passengers passed through in that one month alone. The project list for TSPLOST will take time. There is no way around that at any time. How long will we have to wait to begin??

After being stuck in stoplight after stoplight on some major roads, the stoplight synchronization seems like a huge plus to me.

Brian, a city or county can change the calibration of stoplights without any money being involved. They have employees that should be capable of figuring out what works and what doesn't. That is what they are paid for. We should never have to pay extra for something like this.

Pam - I already talked with the engineer about this last year, and there are technical barriers to making simple tweaking feasible without an upgrade. For instance, Cobb County and Smyrna use different systems on Atlanta road. The older system needs to be updated for the interface to work (not on the list, but just an example of how it's not so simple as it sounds). Another example is the system upgrade needed on Cobb Pkwy. That is on the list.

Truly an idiotic statement.

Thats a surprise please let the media know ... oh you just did ...
I've cancelled it - so enjoy! Vote NO!

R: I've cancelled out your cancel out. 2-1 now in favor ;-)

Somehow I brought more little friends and we all went with NO!! (Smiles)

So pro splosters, who gets the blame when this goes down in flames?
I bet they wish they had marketed better now huh Brian?

Just remember the ARC has already stated this project list WON'T reduce commute times at all..

The other point is that when government starts taking your money for a project - they will keep finding ways to take your money - end date or not. The other issue is that the funding is for the construction of these projects - not the future maintenance of them. There will come a time where we find ourselves in a pickle.

Atlanta's already in a pickle Amanda. Some of us just haven't yet come to that realization.

The re-education camps will be opening soon...

This is how politics works. You have to give enough projects in every area that people like - so that they will not care as much about the ones they don't. The reality is that since everyone was able to find one project that they didn't like in the bill, they rejected the entire thing - which would have have been a great step forward for Atlanta.
Politics isn't pretty, but if we want to move forward, you have to be willing to accept some things you don't like with those you do. We spent 5 years planning this - we got buy-in from every municipality in the region. EVERY ONE. It was unanimous. And short-sighted voters such as yourself think that what - we can just "create a better bill that will pass?" It's not going to happen.

Stupid is as stupid apparently always says.

Stephen W. Ramsden
Stephen W. Ramsden
Stephen W. Ramsden
Stephen W. Ramsden
Stephen W. Ramsden
Stephen W. Ramsden

Nah, there will just be two years of citizen input, a fresh project list, and then we'll be voting again in 2014. It'll eventually pass, but be more painful each year we wait.

I'm not sure how people will rectify the fact tea-partiers want more roads and Sierra clubbers want more rail - when both groups voted no but for completely different reasons.

The common denominator between both seemingly conflicting groups is their distrust of the management of our money.

And the horse with No Name gets the prize ...

Maybe we should dispatch the city / county government system in GA today and combine under the regions FIRST? We could save money and REDUCE political expenses and use those savings in projects. We could reduce the number of Chambers of Commerce as well along the way.

The existing tracks were for heavy rail, not light rail, which is overkill. They were in the middle of the right of way, when there needs to be room for both a trail and tracks. Additionally, they were extremely in need of repair. Sometimes it costs less to just tear up and start over.

Eminent Domain can be used to complete MARTA or other transportation projects.

Less than 4% of the population rides public transit. People I ask say it is inconvenient. If you look at Atlanta area maps, it looks like a bowl of spaghetti noodles was dumped on the paper. Public transit works best in a planned city with streets laid out on a grid.

If all proposed projects were completed, I would walk 3 blocks in rain, snow, or 90 degree heat to wait for a Gwinnett Transit bus, ride it to the transfer hub, ride a "light rail" electric bus to Doraville MARTA, transfer to the east line at 5 Points Station, get off at the Capitol Station to wait for another bus, then walk another two blocks. Each of the 5 transfers adds about 20 minutes to the trip, so including travel time it would be 2 to 3 hours each way if all of the connections were on time. If I work late, I'd have to take a taxi home. In comparision, waiting and extra 12 minutes per day in traffic sounds like a breeze, plus I can combine trips and do my shopping on the way home if I drive. Their advertising is very deceitful.

The people at the Gwinnett Chamber don't stop at Doraville MARTA station and take public transit when they go into Atlanta, nor do they take Gwinnett public transit to Lawrenceville. Why is their time and convenience more valuable than mine? It is no more convenient for your neighbors than it is for you! If you won't ride transit because of convenience, neither will your neighbor!

Polls close at 7pm.

Polls close at 7 p.m. today, July 31.

thank you both

Wow, you should really take off that tin-foil hat.

Pres Taft, Times have changed since you were President. Have you heard how often and easy it is to hack into computer systems today? I want a paper print out. I don't trust anyone, especially when it comes to voting and elections.

Just Wait, the word SERVICES in the TSPLOST makes it very different from a common SPLOST, that can only be spent on infrastructure, please define services? They can spend any $ they on services
To me it is a billion $ loop hole.

Ok, so maybe we should tax you from leaving your county. You can exist only in your county and can't use the Atlanta airport, ride MARTA, or attend Braves games anymore. Then you can have true rule in your fiefdom.

Well said Pres Taft. No Name, it seems that you should build a 10' wall around your property; grow your own food, make your own fuel and be completely self-sustaining. You certainly don't need to benefit from what others contribute to the community.

You can throw in GRTA and those Gwinnett buses too. But I assume that would just negate your dig at MARTA.

They've always planned to do toll roads no matter if the TSPLOST passed or failed. Google "managed lanes GDOT" and read all about it.

At least an increase in the Gas Tax or Tolls approximates a user fee. As metro Atlanta has spread out its gotten more difficult to keep up with the roads, especially since as they age you have to repair or replace.

1% on everything is a too much money.

But some the proposed tolls or maybe Hot Lanes don't even come close to paying the costs if you look at the 75 proposal. Heck the 400 toll only paid for the state portion of that road which is about 20% of the total cost of that relatively short stretch between 285 and 85.

I mean if the 400/285 intersection needs to be replaced why don't they partially fund it with the 400 Toll? Doesn't replacing that intersection benefit those using 400?

Great analogy! In a meeting yesterday we were discussing Clark Howard's "you just have to take a leap of faith" comment and I said it was like walking up to the counter at Delta with no reservation and asking for a discount ticket to wherever you want to go. This one is better.

It was like Pelosi saying you have to pass the Healthcare Bill to find out what was in it. Been there, done that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV-05TLiiLU

True, though as seen with the 75 HOT lane construction even Tolls can't generate nearly enough money to pay for additions to the highways. Part of the reason for HOT lanes and Collector Distributor lanes is that once highways get above 4 lanes each way you start reducing the carrying capacity of each lane, so that a new lane doesn't bring a great return on investment. The HOT lanes (except for 85) operate with grade separation and dedicated exit ramps to get around this problem, though that adds greatly to costs. Plus the cost of land has soared near the interstates now that they are already so wide. So even though 75 will have tolls it also requires an entire year of the State's road building budget.

Even with this tax we wouldn't eliminate congestion.

So tolls, higher gas taxes or congestion may get more people to ride MARTA or the GRTA Xpress bus service or move near it. The nice thing about our rail system is that it can move 3 times more people than it does now which means we could triple ridership at little additional cost yet get 3 times the fare box recovery.

So the trick is not building rail to everyone, but getting more sensible development near existing rail so more people live near it. Tons of land, Fort McPhearson is perhaps the biggest chunck.

The Beltline can be built, it will just take longer. Emory may be the victim but DeKalb should have protected the Right of Way like Atlanta is doing for the Beltline.

Last week I waited over an hour for a bus along the upper reaches of the main avenue of a city of some 5 million people. When one finally came along, I asked the driver just what the schedule for the bus was.

He, the driver, told me he did not know.

Do you think I voted yes to give MARTA even more money then they are getting with the recent fare hike?

Atlanta's terrain, and resulting transportation routes, be they by rail or road, has never been condusive to efficient transport.

When the perimeter was first being built, there was a movement to limit ALL new construction within its bounds and create greenspace by disallowing any new develpment within a mile or so north of the perimeter.

At the time, Balonga, Italy was doing just that.

Today, Balogna is one of the most prosperous and liveable in the world.

Atlanta? Smothering itself still.

Baloney! A meat, a city, a state of mind.

I believe the actual percentage is 27%. But why do actual research when you can watch misleading TV ads?
Further - this builds new lines, increases possible ridership, etc - it's an investment.

Hmmm, but what if I don't want to pay for the road you drive on? I only want to pay for the roads I drive on! :-)

Prior to the subway system. Public transport, by bus, was excellent. The fare, 35 cents one way but with transfers, seemed high at the time compared to other cities, (though by no means exorbitant).

But I doubt other cities were providing public transport over distances as lengthy as 5 Points to the NEasternmost limit of Doraville either.

The system was very well used. They actually had buses running regularly the full length of the city's main avenue without ridiculous connecting layovers at subway stations.

And that's the point. Some fool decided that the marvelous bus system must play a supportive, secondary role to the shiny new trains.

They had it backwards then and they have it backwards still.

Band-Aide won't fix stupid.

Then, 100,000 people began moving to Atlanta, every year, for 12 years, and they don't use buses. Actually, buses are the pits.

The bars aren't open, you must have a flask.

Uh...hello? How about "Have the government live within it's means, like the rest of us"
So crazy it might just work. How's that for "Plan B"? and I mentioned it about a dozen comments up.

Why does "plan B" mean that we have to find ways to finance that massive wish list? How about we forget the wish list, live within the budget.

Who decided we "needed" any or all of those pie-in-the-sky things on that list? Newsflash...the "no" folks don't want that stuff...so why is is incumbent upon us to decide how to pay for them?

Hogwash...the alternative is to live within the budget. It's amazing how easy it is to prioritize when the money is tight. Homeowners do it all the time...why not the government?

Well said, Tom!

Much like Pam mentions above, people got involved and looked hard at TSPLOST. The system will work if people get involved and send a mandated message to lawmakers.

Two questions are on my mind.

First, are there enough early votes from folks that typically vote in General, but not Primary elections? That is the TSPLOST advocacy target group. TSPLOST advocates estimate 25,000 to 50,000 new votes in that category could swing this thing.

Second, will the Brookhaven question promote positive changes in DeKalb, regardless of outcome? Many concerns, issues that affect ALL DeKalb are in the public eye.

Tom this affects, Tucker, big time.

"Much like Pam mentions above, people got involved and looked hard at TSPLOST. The system will work if people get involved and send a mandated message to lawmakers." ----Red Crosse

Just how long have you been, and conscious, in Georgia?

"Two questions are on my mind." ---Red Crosse

You actually have to question yourself twice on how more "stupid" can you get after your "sending a mandated message to Georgia's lawmakers" post?

Well said, I have beek at the ker board 5 weeks, tomorrow I rest, then we go after those officals that voted for this TAX to start with @votenotsplost1

evidence?

I RARELY use the roads in Atlanta, and if I use MARTA, I pay my fee. It should be self sustaining and not rely on subsidies to keep it running.

And how do you think the vast majority of people in the metro area get around? Not buses and trains.

And good idea on the 1800's, less government would be very nice.

But its all a moot point now after failing 63-37. That's decisive. All metro counties it failed. People must not think that traffic is as bad as you do.

I couldn't care less about the traffic. I don't drive much. But when I bike and use MARTA, it saves YOU time in traffic. I'm in favor of internalizing all costs. If you want to drive, pay for the roads. If you want to use MARTA, pay for that. But the way it works now is that we pay for roads and highways with tax dollars, and complain if transit gets any funding.

In 2006 MARTA General Manager and CEO Nathaniel Ford became former Gen Mgr and CEO after audits revealed he had used two MARTA credit cards to run up over $7000 in personal expenses for himself and his secretaries...

GDOT spent $182 million of state and federal money to create the HOT lanes on I-85 and made traffic worse. Having learned nothing from this boondoggle, they still plan to spend billions more to create HOT lanes on the remainder of the highways around town.

Mismanagement by MARTA?
View http://martariders.blogspot.com/
I favor mass transit and use it nearly everyday. And we NEED BETTER regional mass transit. But here are a few examples of MARTA mismanagement that I witness:
*They operate larger buses instead of smaller buses because the union drivers are paid more money to drive the larger buses
*They threaten to shut down profitable and highly used routes such as the Braves shuttle to "reduce" costs. (in actuality, it is a ploy to instigate public pressure for more funding)
*They install expensive flat screen tv's on the trains - only to run 2 week old weather reports on them
*They install GPS on buses - but then don't use the technology effectively. (e.g. such as display bus real time location to the web)
*Buses often run off schedule - sometimes running three buses one behind the other - on the same route! They have no simple recovery plan in place. (i.e. turn one of the empty buses around!)
*Trains (finite distance) consistently don't operate on schedule
*Trains run with the WRONG sign posted on display. (e.g. northbound train with AIRPORT sign displayed - confusing out of town passengers)
*During PREDICTABLE ridership increases, the trains don't run frequently and are short of capacity (e.g. after sporting events conclude) - thereby giving a bad experience to new customers. Who would have thought that the Falcons game would likely end around 4pm on Sunday?

Imagine how many highways you could build for $7,000!

spot on, Mike.

Mike...I believe that the dollar amount spent to promote TSPLOST was 8 millions dollars.

A complete waste of money.....

Thanks Greg.

...and Georgians now are much more educated about referendums and the overuse thereof. It will not be as easy for representatives to shirk politically sensitive responsibilities in the future. This is very important since we have one-party rule and there are fighting factions within that party. They must decide.

Obama -- and Bush -- have also used misused these very same tax $$$ multiple times via their stupid TARP programs.

Voters have clearly had enough of this nonsense, 4th Ward. I won't deny your factual statements that we are, indeed, paying the lowest taxes in modern history. But when both parties shovel our tax $$$ overseas via stupid 'foreign aid' & unnecessary wars...and to loser, failed TARP'd Big Banks....eventually broke Americans say 'Enough' to bailing out failed entities like MARTA.

And that's what happened last night all across the metro area and all across ALL Voting Demographics.

Just like TARP, which was opposed by 85% of America, TSPLOST was similarly opposed by ALL Georgians.

This country is now run by BS anyways. Every commercial you see or hear from every politician from our current President, his party, our cult member please elect me candidate, or his party are in the end nothing but lies. The TSPLOST project/tax was actually presented by the GA Republicans, so if you voted no which I did you voted no for a Republican envisioned project.

Doesn't mean it was the right thing to do.

Drug users pay their dealers too. Doesn't mean the expense was correct. hate to break it to you.

If we ever pay off our China loans that financed the Iraq War, that won't make the decision to invade the right thing to do.

Mike, you can see the diisclosure reports on the Ga Govt Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission's website: http://media.ethics.ga.gov/Search/Campaign/Campaign_ReportOptions.aspx?NameID=7075&FilerID=NC2010000025&CDRID=67779
The group Citizens for Transportation Mobility was the group behind the Untie Atlanta ad campaign...

Did Augusta and Columbus secede? Savannah barely lost it 48-52... not a hell no in Georgia, unless these cities somehow are not located in GA anymore.

Drewboo- I think the State of Georgia as a whole voted 63-37. Somebody correct me I am wrong, I may well be.

Mike: These are regional votes. What the state voted is irrelevant. 3 regions voted in favor of TSPLOST. Therefore it is law and not going away. We'll be having the vote again in 2 years. See you at the polls.

So 9 out of 12 regions voted against. 75%. Sounds like a HELL NO to me.

If the middle class hasn't gotten a wake up call from 4 years of Obama, it never will.

Truthseeker: "Now not only do the lower 50% not pay anything"
Fourth ward: "I have no time for rightwing talking points"

Here are some facts, courtesy of the non partisan CBO: the bottom 40% of income earners pay negative 9.1% income tax rate. The middle quintile pays 2.7% income tax rate.

So, the bottom 60% (lowest 3 quintiles) pay NEGATIVE 6.4% income tax rate.

On the other hand, the top 20% of income earners pay 94.1% of the income tax collected.

These figures are for 2009, the most recent year for which date are available.

By the way, the top 20% of income earners have gone from paying 86% of all income tax collected in 2007 to the most recent 94.1%. Meanwhile, the bottom 40% of income earners have gone from a negative 3.1% in 2007 to the current negative 9.1%.

Facts taken from page 28 of this CBO report dated July 2012: http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/43373-AverageTaxRates_screen.pdf

FW, Still waiting on the information about abundant Obama tax cuts.

Forward on Comrad.

Just make sure those toll booths are 2 way. LOL

Drewboo- That's cool with me. I didn't need another reason to not come to Atlanta but, if that gets you through the day, have at it.
I do like JAH's idea of making the toll two-way though.

By the way drewbooboo don't you think companies will start moving to Alpharetta or the Perimeter area if you toll them to "enter" your sacred downtown area?

I think a better idea would be to put toll booths on all entrances to Fulton & Dekalb rather than just Atlanta because everyone in these counties are already paying a penny tax to support MARTA. Make the tolls higher to exit the county though so people can feel more inclined to stay around to be taxed on their spending.

Jimmy- Can you help me understand? Brian said- "These are regional votes. What the state voted is irrelevant. 3 regions voted in favor of TSPLOST. Therefore it is law and not going away."
That sounds more like the whim of the minority rather than the actual fact. Is he correct or is he full of poo?

Ok Jon DoeDoe. The big bad government is out to get us. Its out to get us to pay for things we use. Sounds scary indeed.

Drewboo- We already pay for the things we use. And, yes the government is a wasteful, money burning beast. The outcome of this vote is the only positive news we have had, the only hope, in a long time. I just hope everybody stays vigilant.
What do you do for a living? Just wondering.

Yup, gonna reply to my own post! Unless the Norcross Mayor was advocating for MARTA rail to be extended into Gwinnett County, he shouldn't've been anywhere near this "regional" discussion. Again, next time around, bring in unbiased and unbought transportation planners, NOT politicians.

Nick, the Transportation Investment Act of 2010 is the crummy piece of legislation that birthed the TSPLOST...the TIA specified the make up of each region's roundtable...the roundtables were to consist of the county commission chairperson from each of the counties in the region, and one mayor from one of the municipalities in each county- that mayor to be elected by his fellow mayors in that county. Once the roundtable was convened, they were to select a group of five to be their executive committee. Bucky was selected by the roundtable to be their chairman. Because the Atl region roundtable included the city of Atlanta, Kasim Reed was added as a non-voting member...
Contrary to popular belief, the TSPLOST was not about MARTA. 52% of the money was slated to be spent on "transit", only about a quarter of that was actually for MARTA. The rest of that 52% was for the Beltline, trolleys, bus lanes, bike paths, etc, basically anything other than MARTA that could move people that werent in a car...

One particularly odious part of the TIA provides that if the TSPLOST fails, then the regions that veto it must provide 30% matching funds to transit projects for the next 24 months or until such time as a sales tax for transportation passes. This codifies the cowardly behavior of the legislature who lack the political will to fund transportation projects and instead want to foist it upon the votersto be the 'bad guys' who raise taxes...so in two years we can look forward to having this argument again...

@ Nick

The roundtable consisted of every county commissioner or mayor of a large city in the "region". THe politicians were there to represent their jurisdiction in the "region".

Just get some schedule and efficiency into the system and make it worth the money. Anyone ever been to Asia and used the train systems there? Super efficient! And posted schedules that you can rely on. Train supposed to be at this stop at 3:00, you can set your watch on the arrival.

Yes, Nick...that was the 'stick'...either pass the 1% sales tax now, or pay 30% matching funds for two yrs or until you pass the 1% sales tax...the 'carrot' was if you pass it, you only have to pay 10% matching funds for the entirety of the ten years the tax was scheduled to run. But the bigger carrot was the part of the tslpost that said the tsplost money would be spent 85% on the projects in the list and the other 15% would go to the counties to use for local transportation projects at their discretion....so the counties would give 10% back to the state as their matching funds and use the other 5% for whatever. The whole thing was one big incestuous slush fund, and it was all glossed over and prettied up by a slick $8 million ad campaign...

This is what Drewboo meant to say... "The good thing about this is that the bad plan was defeated & politicians/bureaucrats were sent a clear message that they need to earn the taxpayer's trust. Now we won't have to sort through all the whiny promises asserting that things would be handled properly & we should all just have faith in the legislation (regardless of all the the verifiable reasons we have that prove otherwise). Now the powers that be can come up w/a solid plan & that will assure the taxpayers that "don't want to pay for projects that will wasted their money & resources" that their hard-earned money & our mutual vested interests will be managed properly. & in the meantime the politicians/bureaucrats can work to repair the trust breach they've created."

Keep drinking the Kool Aid bryan. Governor Deal has already started talking about setting priorities for improvements. Do you really believe the government will stop working just because the failed TSPLOST initiative was soundly voted down?

So what is more accountability? People complain about the GDOT and they weren't even in charge. Better planning? You mean coming up with a plan of over 150 projects where funds were split nearly 50/50 for roads and transit and funded by us locally and controlled locally. Reasonable goals? Most of the road projects were to be completed within the 1st few years and transit projects within the next 10. I guess you NO voters were expecting roads done all done in 1 year and trains running in the next 2 years.

It won't be until all our highways look like NYC or Florida. And trust they will start hitting major roads like Tara Blvd and Cobb Pkwy with tolls too. Hey, either way the money is going to get taken from you. Just thought people would rather have local agencies controlling the money and projects that local leaders and citizens came up with versus "Big Government" telling us what is important to us and making us pay for those projects. So yeah... thanks Phil for you and those alike for putting the region back even further in transit and road infrustructure in the ATL.

@ North Georgia Weather

Actually the ARC stated that it would reduce congestion. The issue was that it wasn't by 20 and 30 minutes and most people took that as it didn't reduce traffic. The problem with government isn't that they are wasting money. I guess unless you have been under a rock for the last 5 years the country has been in a recession. People want to have the same level of services with reduced money and that will just not happen. So when there are cuts or government doesn't come through like they were expecting they say government is not "fiscally responsible." Last your logic that each individual county should tax and fix there own problems is a major reason why we are in this mess. We are ONE region and we have together ONE problem. How can on county fix a problem when most of the roads are connected by county and people travel all over the region? Wonder why we have the whole ITP versus OTP? Everyone is trying to think what will benefit them and their county versus what is better for the region as a whole. We will never have one county that is doing great while the other fail. If one fails they all fail and if the head of the region fails (Atlanta) the entire region will do the same. It's obvious that you are probably hearing both sides but continue to think in your backwards ways.

No, I am correct, I'll try to find it on our Patch site and show it to you. Yes, they made all kinds of statements, what I heard in TV ads made me want to throw up. What a bunch of crap and you believed it. Good thing the majority of people figured it out this time though.
Until both parties can prove they are serious about cutting spending and waste and show they are fiscally responsible, I don't want to let them have any more of my money.

Brian- You said "The problem with government isn't that they are wasting money." Really? You said that?
Of course we are in a recession. Before the bubble burst the government made a point of spending every nickel they could get their hands on, every nickel, whoo hoo it's a party, lets blow it all! There were no responsible parties in the government setting money aside for a rainy day, making a plan in case of a turn down. Now, it's supposed to be our problem? Does the government assume no responsibility?
Of course the government wastes money. The government consumes every penny they get from us and, like a spoiled child, demands more and more. When you allow that with a kid, they end up on drugs and unemployed, like much of Atlanta. Atlanta is NOT Georgia. Atlanta is the biggest city in Georgia but we could survive fine without it, really.

I find it very ironic and a bit laughable that Georgia is run (mis-managed) by Republicans and it has been for many, many years.... Why would any of you keep voting Republican?

I find it laughable that Kelli fails to mention that Georgia was in Democratic hands for 150+ years and has only been in Republican hands for the past 10.

Come to think of it, Kelli is laughable all the way 'round.

Excellent point!

Honestly, this bill was defeated when the legislature refused to move the vote to November. That would have given more time to educate and debate the issue. The amount of sheer ignorance that I read everywhere the issue is debated is startling.

Good point, Tracy. The fender benders who stand in the iddle of the highway on cell-phones to State Farm refusing to move the accident vehicles from the roadway drive me nuts. How about those slow drivers in the left lane who won't get over? Also, those geezers who ride for hours with their blinker flashing? The dweebs who think the safest thing to do in a rainstorm is to slow down to 10 miles an hour and put on the Emergency Flashers? Texters and Talkers driving like mindless zombies... the list is endless. TSPLOST might have passed if it had addressed these important issues.

Your repub politicians reduced the police force numbers... they don't have enough man-power to police the highways! It's called collateral damage... May I suggest you start electing more Democrats who actually care about your jobs and your safety, etc....

Kelli,

You do know that the City of Atlanta - the murder capital of the Southeast is run by Democrats right? I bet you feel real safe midnight on Simpson Street downtown - after all, Big D Democrats care about your safety there!

Roadway GRIDLOCK will continue... that's what happens now...
Unless your greedy repubs politicians unlease & correct the mis-managed money they rake-in throught other taxes - from all that OVER-developement !!!

Kelli,

TSplost lost in Atlanta 62% to 38%; that means many of your fellow Democrats voted against it also. Take a swing at them, you partisan crybaby.

And roadway gridlock would have continued even with TSplost. You need to educate yourself.

Kelli, you haven't lived here very long, or are ignorant of Georgia history (perhaps both). Your beloved democrats ran this state for over 100 years, all the way back to reconstruction, and made a fine mess along the way. The repubs only took control in the last 10-12 years. Unfortunately, they seem determined to match the demos record for debacle. Let's see if they learned a lesson from the resounding defeat of TSPLOST. I doubt it.

In the meantime, partisan sniping such as you demonstrate in your posts helps no one. Don't be a dupe for a political party. The problem is politicians, demo or repub, who are more interested in building their career and power than in addressing our problems and leading with thoughtful solutions.

As long as they can get people such as yourself to buy into the "us against the other guy" mentality, they can keep you distracted from the real problem.

I agree that the Republicans need to be removed from the political scene... But the Democrats ARE actually working FOR the people, so they can stay (imo)....

Get your facts strait "RL"... Obama has nothing to do with Georgia sales tax....
Blame your heavily REPUBLICAN politicians... "they" are the ones making the Georgia laws and rules.....

Jeff, I don't know if all those people were outraged by "gay". I think many more were outraged by the intolerant response to the religious views expressed by Chik-fi-A's president.

60 million $ would not go very far, the DOT is sitting on 1.2 Billion.