Couple of things
- Willie Green's a Republican? He was Charlie Maddox's top backer last year, so it shouldn't be a big surprise (and he likes payday lending which is one of the most cruel devices that unintentionally perpetuate poverty on the planet). He'd have an uphill climb in this election now that Jim Whitehead has jumped into the race with Ralph Hudgens, with the former already lining up key endorsements from folks like Max Burns and Barry Fleming. We also learn that Doc Elderidge is still weighing a run. No Democrat not named Terry Holley has volunteered yet, which is understandable seeing this is a district which backed Charlie Norwood by close to 70 percent.
- Speaking of politics, fresh off his loss in the Agriculture Commissioner race, Brian Kemp wants another go. He'll be the man to beat based on the 'R' next to his name and his name recognition, though Tom Chasteen could make it interesting. Chasteen would draw Democrats and could pull some of those moderates who'd back Kemp.
- I point out that it ain't pretty in Jackson County regarding their county manager being fired.
- Hopefully the Georgia General Assembly will find a way to restore the funding for Athens Tech because otherwise, they're just talking a good game about investing in our technical schools to develop the nursing and biomedical industries.
- Here's how to not position yourself for a challenge to a popular congressman.
- Iraq = American Revolution ... this must be the new PR strategy.
- Excellent coverage by John Dickerson of Barack Obama in South Carolina including his ability to take a prominent endorsement from a state legislator of Hillary Clinton and turn that to his advantage.
- Safe to say that Matthew Yglesias nails it on this one.
- Not that I necessarily disagree with F. Todd Baker, but what was really lacking in Norm Weatherby's letter was an actual understanding of what our community, particularly downtown, looked like. I mean, 'T-shirt shops?' Really? The man's acting like we're Daytona Beach in the foothills rather than, say, one of Men's Journal's 'Top 50 Places to Live' or one of Money Magazine's 'Top Five Places to Retire' or Sperling's BestPlaces's 'Top Small U.S. Metro Area in 2006 for Relocating Families.
- Speaking of politics, fresh off his loss in the Agriculture Commissioner race, Brian Kemp wants another go. He'll be the man to beat based on the 'R' next to his name and his name recognition, though Tom Chasteen could make it interesting. Chasteen would draw Democrats and could pull some of those moderates who'd back Kemp.
- I point out that it ain't pretty in Jackson County regarding their county manager being fired.
- Hopefully the Georgia General Assembly will find a way to restore the funding for Athens Tech because otherwise, they're just talking a good game about investing in our technical schools to develop the nursing and biomedical industries.
- Here's how to not position yourself for a challenge to a popular congressman.
- Iraq = American Revolution ... this must be the new PR strategy.
- Excellent coverage by John Dickerson of Barack Obama in South Carolina including his ability to take a prominent endorsement from a state legislator of Hillary Clinton and turn that to his advantage.
- Safe to say that Matthew Yglesias nails it on this one.
- Not that I necessarily disagree with F. Todd Baker, but what was really lacking in Norm Weatherby's letter was an actual understanding of what our community, particularly downtown, looked like. I mean, 'T-shirt shops?' Really? The man's acting like we're Daytona Beach in the foothills rather than, say, one of Men's Journal's 'Top 50 Places to Live' or one of Money Magazine's 'Top Five Places to Retire' or Sperling's BestPlaces's 'Top Small U.S. Metro Area in 2006 for Relocating Families.
posted by Jmac at 7:11 AM
12 Comments:
This Brain Train initiative worries me for several reasons. #1 Georgians have been...shall we say...less than enthusiastic users of mass transit/rail in the past, #2 the lack of any sort of effective mass transit system in Atlanta makes the Brain Train wholly ineffective - so I drop my car off in Athens, take the train (which will stop upwards of 10 times or more along the way), get dropped off in downtown Atlanta, and now I'm carless in a city that is unwalkable and devoid of effective, cheap transportation, #3 - for the reasons stated in the letter today...I can't think of a worse fate for our fantastic town than to have it turned into a bedroom community to Atlanta, a faceless, characterless suburb a la Gwinnett/Cobb/Cherokee/pretty much all of metro Atlanta. To me it seems like a collosal expenditure on a system that may not ever be used save for a few freshmen at UGA who can have their parents pick them up on the other end in Atlanta on weekends.
Let me finish by saying I love rail travel - Carrie and I marveled at how easy it was to get around in Spain and France last year all by rail. However, the infrastructure just isn't here yet. The Brain Train won't work until Atlanta gets past its obsession with mega-highways and blind devotion to its cars. Without an expanded and effective MARTA(see: Washington's Metro, NY and Boston's rail/subway systems) that runs throughout the city - this intiative won't work. Which means, at least for a little while, we can fend off the suburbinaztion of Athens.
Stanicek, I respectfully disagree with some of your comments. Or anyway, I think your focus is off.
Georgians have been less than enthusiastic users of mass transit because we don't really have any. I'm fond of MARTA, personally, but recognize that it has a ridiculous number of shortcomings, not least of which is the fact that it is not supported as other systems are and is therefore has very limited ability to respond to challenges and opportunities. It also was until recently a strictly inner-city and two-county entity, so it was worthless at reducing traffic in a city to which people largely commute. MARTA is fantastic, however, for getting you to all of Atlanta's entertainment venues and universities and it's generally clean and professional.
So, who would use the Brain Train? UGA students, obviously -- I'd be surprised if the completion of the train didn't coincide with additional restrictions on cars at UGA. Also, for those students who aren't flush with money, public transport into Atlanta provides an entire world of opportunities for educational experiences. Then there are the citizens of Athens and Oconee counties who are already commuting into Atlanta. I was one of these for several years and I wasn't alone. Citizens of Atlanta will commute here, too, as some already do. And most importantly, I think the Brain Train will create wonderful opportunities for the poor people of Athens to be employed in a vastly larger and more divrse economy. Finally, I suspect we'll see a lot of entertainment riders -- people who want to go to Atlanta to run the Peachtree Road Race, see a Braves or Thrashers or Hawks game, etc., and people who want to come to Athens for the same reason.
As for the bedroom community concerns, I don't think we'll turn into Gwinnett County -- that's a very auto-centric model. It's possible we'll experience more of a NJ/CT to NYC situation, though -- and that's obviously got both advantages and disadvantages.
I would agree with Nicki's points about the possibility of becoming a 'bedroom' community. There's more land and a larger housing boom going on in Oconee County, Barrow County, etc.
Plus, as a community, we can set up our zoning regulations to protect us from this kind of thing (if that's what we so desire).
Question ... would the commuter rail have additional stops? Like one in Oconee County and then in Barrow County? And would it drop off folks in more than one place in Atlanta? That would seem to be the ideal solution (if that isn't already the case).
I suppose I just don't have the same faith as you that the residents of either Athens or Atlanta will be willing to keep their cars in park and take the train when there isn't an effective mass transit waiting for them on the other end.
I would be willing to be that the vast...VAST majority of jobs/destinations that residents of Athens want to reach in Atlanta are not connected to a MARTA train station. I would also be willing to bet that the vast majority of Athenians are not going to get on a train for a rather lengthy ride and then wrangle for a spot on a bus to take them to their job. Sure, some people will use it...but enough to warrant the massive expense? I'm just not sold. Let's turn MARTA's rail system into a comprehensive and effective means of traveling around the city and THEN go to work on this Brain Train.
JMac - from what I understand there are going to be many stops along the way between Athens and Atlanta. Which is another reason I don't see this being an effective system. I think many commuters would rather just take their chances in traffic.
And let me a bit more clear - the suburbanization thing is just one of my concerns, a far-fetched one maybe, but a concern nonetheless. Mainly I feel that without a more robust mass-transit system in Atlanta, building the Brain Train first would be putting the cart before the horse.
There will be additional stops -- but that doesn't mean the train ride won't be comparable to a car ride. The NJ and CT trains of which I speak are faster than the car rides into NYC -- but that's because NYC's traffic sucks like ours probably won't for several more decades. But it's not unrealistic to imagine that the "Brain Train" will take 60 - 80 minutes each way. And keep in mind that's 60-80 minutes in which you can drink your coffee, read the paper, make phone calls, chat with your friends, and in short do productive or non-productive things that you want to do. As opposed to placing wear and tear on your vehicle while dedicating all your energy to driving.
Also, when we say people won't do stuff, what we usually mean is that we won't do it. I won't generally leave my car at home if it means I have to take a bus at the opposite end. I'm middle-class and my job requires that I drive my car. But if I don't have a car, or if I have a car which is unreliable, or if I have a car but my job doesn't require that I use it at the other end, then I'd consider transit. Most people will use transit when it represents an improvement over driving or walking or simply not going places they want to go.
When I worked in Atlanta, my husband was very ill and spent a lot of time at various hospitals and doctors' offices -- and since I took off a lot of time when he initially became ill, I couldn't really afford to take him. So I dropped him at the MARTA station, from which he got to Emory, Crawford Long, etc. Transit is a fabulous gift to those who cannot drive or cannot afford to drive.
It's notable that additional in-town rail and additional in-town stations are planned, and MARTA was recently asked to study expending to Gwinnett. So the network you envision is perhaps not too far off.
And finally, the time to build it is now. Otherwise we risk simply getting into the position of recognizing the utility later on, when acquiring the land and money will be a far more involved process.
Stanicek may be cynical about the lack of passenger interest in a "Brain-Train" (god, what a stupid f$%#ing name), but that doesn't mean he's wrong.
It's a problem I see a lot with smart progressive, environmentally minded (left-wing, tree-sex loving...) people -- we tend to associate/socialize/discourse with people like minded to us. It's makes us forget that there's a HUGE majority of folks out there who not only don't think the same way we do , but actually think exactly the OPPISITE of the way we do.
In this case, I actually agree with Nicki that it would be great to hop on a train and get to the Atlanta Airport in two hours without having to deal with traffic, and I would actually do so. But I also know that the majority of the students who nicki thinks will use it to get back and forth to atlanta either:
a) won't even consider it ("screw the train, I wanna show off my Land Cruiser")
or
b) will always mean to use it, but end up not using it becasue it's not practical.
I don't think we can compare this to a NJ/CT to NYC situation: which is the only real successful example that I can think of this type of transit system paying off, becasue we can't comapre NYC to Atlanta.
A train that takes you to a metropolitan area that virtualy DEMANDS you have an automobile to accomplish anything isn't particularly useful -- even to a left-wing, tree-huggin' hippie like me.
Wouldn't the train also be pretty much a one-way trip during certain times? For instance, only going towards Atlanta in the morning, only leaving Atlanta in the afternoon? The rail lines don't seem to accommodate any kind of major shuttling to and fro, given that they are more for industrial movement than commuter. Has that been addressed or am I wrong about that?
Also, students do have a good bit of disposable cash and unsecured credit, but what they don't have is secured credit. Athens seems to have moved towards keeping up with the former kind of economy.
Out of curiousity, is MARTA completed funded by Atlanta? I would think it would be logical to expand MARTA to places where the train might stop to increase connectivity, and that (in theory) some state and federal funding could assist with that if we can tie these two projects together because I don't dispute that not related.
But it's the same general concept behind something like a park-and-ride lot which I initially panned but have gradually warmed to. That we have to start thinking, say, 10 to 15 years out in our transportation and growth plannning.
If the rail is going to be nothing but a one-way speed demon between Atlanta and Athens, with no increased service from MARTA and no stops in a few of the in-between communities, then, yes, it won't accomplish much. If we're gonna do this thing right, it needs to be discussed as part of a comprehensive alternative transportation plan for the entire region.
And, as much as I regret saying it, this region (read: the majority of the people in this region) don't give a crap about alternative transportation, and they probably never will.
If no one(but us)is ever gonna ride the thing, I'd rather see the money put towards Peach Care. And buy myself a hybrid car.
I know, I know, I'm being grumpy and cynical...
Indeed you are, blackfin. Because the fact is that the poor will ride the train, we will ride the train, UGA alumni and other such folks will ride the train, people in general will ride the train for entertainment purposes, and UGA students in general will ride the train if it's relatively convenient and parking here is relatively expensive.
Also, MARTA is being expanded and additional work that would tie in is planned. And the GRTA is finally figuring out the intelligence of planning real estate around transit, which will make the system as a whole more economically viable and also increase demand for greater connectivity.
(And JMac, MARTA is unique in that it is largely NOT FUNDED by the state -- one of its major shortcomings is that the Georgia assembly has refused to support it at any level, which is not how it's done elsewhere. Despite this it is the nation's 9th largest transit agency of its type, both in size and ridership. Imagine what it could do if it actually had funding or were comprehensive.)
A suprisingly good wikipedia article on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARTA
why does it always seem that all arguments against all public transportation initiatives are based on "it won't solve all the problems instantly so, we really should continue doing nothing" ?
I'm just sayin'...
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