Atlanta Magazine

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"This year the biggest “I resent you even asking me” ballot question is the one that’s getting all the news attention—the transportation sales tax referendum (or T-SPLOST)."

— Andisheh Nouraee, on the things he wants to vote on and the things he resents being asked to vote on

July 24, 2012

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TSPLOST

Everyone’s talking about it today. The AJC wonders if it’s a boon or a boondoggle (heh). And the New York Times puts the drama in a national context (and gets some pretty contentious quotes). Here’s our article on just where the money raised by the tax will go. What do you have to say?

Tags: Atlanta TSPLOST transportation tax politics

July 16, 2012

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Photoset

T-SPLOST vote casts shadow on Multimodal Passenger Terminal meeting

From the post:

Even though the MMPT is not on the T-SPLOST list (GDOT and MMPT’s team of developers will look to federal grants and private-sector funds), it’s hard to get excited about a transit hub when the fate of the transit systems it will serve remain unknown. My favorite of the concepts, for instance, envisions a double main hall that is bisected by an open street on which streetcars will run. If the T-SPLOST passes, streetcars will operate on portions of the BeltLine—plus two new cross-town routes—in as soon as five years, connecting with MARTA and the Downtown Streetcar in the process. Just as they were at the turn of the century, streetcars are poised to be the lifeblood of Atlanta transit, and I liked that Concept B puts them front and center.

Read Elizabeth Florio’s full blog post

Tags: Atlanta Gulch TSPLOST transit

July 13, 2012

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"First, why isn’t anyone talking about the name? TSPLOST. It sounds like one of those nonsense words my two-year-old son says after he licks the icing off a cupcake. Don’t you wonder about the bureaucrats who dream up these acronyms? Seriously, where do they come up with this? It stands, by the way, for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, which is an inexcusable euphemism for “You’ll be paying more.” Supporters of the July 31 vote—which will determine whether we add another 1 percent to our sales tax to fund $6 billion worth of transportation projects—are worried about turnout, since there’s nothing else on the ballot, it’s the middle of summer, and really, wouldn’t we rather be watching the Olympics? I think there should be a second question on the ballot: “Should Georgia lawmakers henceforth be forever banned from using the word SPLOST, on pain of death?” Voters would queue for hours."

— Steve Fennessy, July 2012 Editor’s Note: On TSPLOST

Tags: Atlanta TSPLOST transportation tax editor's note Steve Fennessy

July 03, 2012

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Link

63 percent of those surveyed so far said they supported TSPLOST. Where do you stand?

Tags: Atlanta future TSPLOST transit survey

June 08, 2012

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"The referendum’s passage won’t be the best thing ever ever evah, but it will be a good thing; the best available first step to improving the region’s transportation network. It will get some good projects started and could send a signal to local and state politicians that improving regional transportation is as important to metro area voters as guns, abortion and smiting Messicans are to rural voters. I think people who say the referendum’s defeat in July will force the state legislature to develop a better transportation plan 100% wrong. I’ve lived in Georgia for 15 years and the only time I can recall the state legislature showing genuine enthusiasm for urban transportation was in 2008 when it voted to allow guns on MARTA."

— Andisheh Nouraee on Jay Bookman’s thoughts on T-SPLOST

Tags: Atlanta TSPLOST traffic transportation opinion

May 30, 2012

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