Dunwoody Candidate submissions to the League of Women Voters of GA
Below are the submissions the candidates made to the League of Woman Voters of Georgia. To see the full write ups, just click the photos or the links for each race.
Hey John, I totally agree with your response to the Regional Transportation vote next year. In fact I have a few more options from the "all of the above" category when it comes to regional transportation:
a) Too much operational costs are in the 10-year tax. I'd rather see funds going to pure one-time infrastructure projects. If operational costs need to be funded, they need to be planned out longer than 10 years. That's like saying my property taxes will cease in a decade. Then what???
b) Clayton County Commission needs to "man up" & go ahead and vote & join MARTA. They held a non-binding vote in 2010 and 67% said yes. Result: They won't need operational funding from the TIA and they'll be paying in their 1 cent tax like we are doing.
c) (As you say), the other 8 counties under the TIA need to pay the 1% tax. But WITHOUT Fulton & DeKalb adding another penny.
d) State Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax. Hasn't been changed since the 1980's. Set at a per gallon rate. 2 things: 1. Add 5- 10 cents per gallon, and that (along with the new 1% the other 8 counties would pay), would be enough to fund all of the TIA projects. 2. Open up to "Transportation" projects instead of just for roads & bridges, which is what the state law dictates. There's 1 percent of the tax that then Gov Miller held back from the legislature. Take that 1 percent and put towards transit.
e) Change the GDOT Board from being the "Old ol boys" appointed positions, to being ELECTED and accountable. Too many of these guys are asphalt industry representatives.
f) State funding for MARTA. Atlanta is the only major city in the US with a transit system without any state funding. Yet the state has oversight over MARTA. That's like having a boss and not receiving any money from him.
g) If I were king (John??), I'd reduce the 10 metro counties to about 3 or 4. We no longer need the county seat to be the distance you can ride a mule in one day. So redundant and wasteful. That in and of itself would open up regional planning. We're too connected, yet "There but for the grace of God go I", were I to live in Fulton, Cobb or Gwinnett and work in the Perimeter area.
h) ARC needs more teeth and armed with a bigger stick, not just a carrot. Have no clue how to do this.
i) Fail safe: In 30 years, the GEN Y will be ruling this place. The demographics will be totally changed (Hispanic & Asian majority in Gwinnett, etc.). If we don't fix it now, they'll fix it then. Look at Detroit. They can't go any lower and are slowly making changes for the better. We'll continue as a region to lose out on college grads staying in the area and attracting new businesses to the likes of Raleigh, Charlotte, Dallas & Orlando (High speed rail Commuter rail & local transit systems).
I went to 5 of the Roundtable public meetings over the past month. 4 of them I was able to do a 2-minute public comment. As Bicycle Joe, of course I talked about Bike/Ped projects, but also said we need a REGIONAL solution. Here's my thoughts from the Cobb meeting. http://www.bicyclingjoe.com/2011/09/comments-from-cobbs-transportation.html
Oh, was this post just supposed to be about Dunwoody? Well guess what? We're all a part of the regions.
Although I am here in unanimity and have become their brevet leader as I am the only one not "sporting lint" and repeatedly buy coffee and subs for the rest of the rabble, you all must thank me as I prevented "Occupy Atlanta" from becoming "Occupy Dunwoody" when I asserted that Vinings was where the real monied live...
Hey John, I totally agree with your response to the Regional Transportation vote next year. In fact I have a few more options from the "all of the above" category when it comes to regional transportation:
ReplyDeletea) Too much operational costs are in the 10-year tax. I'd rather see funds going to pure one-time infrastructure projects. If operational costs need to be funded, they need to be planned out longer than 10 years. That's like saying my property taxes will cease in a decade. Then what???
b) Clayton County Commission needs to "man up" & go ahead and vote & join MARTA. They held a non-binding vote in 2010 and 67% said yes. Result: They won't need operational funding from the TIA and they'll be paying in their 1 cent tax like we are doing.
c) (As you say), the other 8 counties under the TIA need to pay the 1% tax. But WITHOUT Fulton & DeKalb adding another penny.
d) State Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax. Hasn't been changed since the 1980's. Set at a per gallon rate. 2 things: 1. Add 5- 10 cents per gallon, and that (along with the new 1% the other 8 counties would pay), would be enough to fund all of the TIA projects. 2. Open up to "Transportation" projects instead of just for roads & bridges, which is what the state law dictates. There's 1 percent of the tax that then Gov Miller held back from the legislature. Take that 1 percent and put towards transit.
e) Change the GDOT Board from being the "Old ol boys" appointed positions, to being ELECTED and accountable. Too many of these guys are asphalt industry representatives.
f) State funding for MARTA. Atlanta is the only major city in the US with a transit system without any state funding. Yet the state has oversight over MARTA. That's like having a boss and not receiving any money from him.
g) If I were king (John??), I'd reduce the 10 metro counties to about 3 or 4. We no longer need the county seat to be the distance you can ride a mule in one day. So redundant and wasteful. That in and of itself would open up regional planning. We're too connected, yet "There but for the grace of God go I", were I to live in Fulton, Cobb or Gwinnett and work in the Perimeter area.
h) ARC needs more teeth and armed with a bigger stick, not just a carrot. Have no clue how to do this.
i) Fail safe: In 30 years, the GEN Y will be ruling this place. The demographics will be totally changed (Hispanic & Asian majority in Gwinnett, etc.). If we don't fix it now, they'll fix it then. Look at Detroit. They can't go any lower and are slowly making changes for the better. We'll continue as a region to lose out on college grads staying in the area and attracting new businesses to the likes of Raleigh, Charlotte, Dallas & Orlando (High speed rail Commuter rail & local transit systems).
I went to 5 of the Roundtable public meetings over the past month. 4 of them I was able to do a 2-minute public comment. As Bicycle Joe, of course I talked about Bike/Ped projects, but also said we need a REGIONAL solution. Here's my thoughts from the Cobb meeting. http://www.bicyclingjoe.com/2011/09/comments-from-cobbs-transportation.html
Oh, was this post just supposed to be about Dunwoody? Well guess what? We're all a part of the regions.
Reporting from the front lines -
ReplyDeleteAlthough I am here in unanimity and have become their brevet leader as I am the only one not "sporting lint" and repeatedly buy coffee and subs for the rest of the rabble, you all must thank me as I prevented "Occupy Atlanta" from becoming "Occupy Dunwoody" when I asserted that Vinings was where the real monied live...