The event was held by the East Cobb Civic Association.
Jane Hayse, transportation planning division chief for the Atlanta Regional Commission, gave a presentation on the proposed 10-year tax for transportation projects that would raise the sales tax rate by 1 percent before opening up the floor to questions.
Bobbi Shams of east Cobb asked Hayse who she anticipates using a light rail line in Cobb County.
Hayse said the county is in the process of determining “who is the market, using transit, particularly along Highway 41 going all the way up Kennesaw State. There’s a lot of students between Kennesaw State and Southern Poly that are possible candidates, a lot of redevelopment going on in those areas.”
Shams also asked Hayse if she believed a Cobb-financed rail line was really meant to serve Fulton County residents.
Hayse said 64 percent of all residents in metro Atlanta leave their home county every day.
“We are a multi-county regional entity here in metro Atlanta and people travel all over the place. That’s about all I can say,” Hayse said.
Another audience member, Larry Savage, who is challenging Tim Lee for commission chairman, challenged Hayse’s assertion that passage of the transportation tax would create 200,000 jobs, have a $34 billion impact on regional gross domestic product and an $18 billion rise in personal income from the efficient movement of goods and people.
“So what would our growth rates be if we didn’t have this program?” he asked.
“Good question,” Hayse said. “I don’t have that answer on the tip of my tongue, but I do know that it’s going to be different and most likely less than what we see here.”
Joe Nottoli of east Cobb asked a question that sparked loud applause from the audience.
“Let’s say I didn’t like something about the Atlanta Regional Commission,” Nottoli said. “How can you vote them out?”
The chairman of the ARC is Tad Leithead, a developer who also serves as chairman of the Cumberland Community Improvement District.
Nottoli elaborated on this comment after the meeting.
“Whenever I do not like something the ARC has done, how do I vote them out of office?” he said. “You can’t.”
Nottoli said he intends to vote against the proposed tax.
“It’s taxation regionally, and we lose home rule of our various townships, counties,” he said.
Another attendee, Dick Cottrill, related his disapproval of the proposed tax, saying when it comes to the proposed light rail, why bother? Stand on 285 and look south down 75, he said. Assume you live in Vinings and commute to Atlanta every day, leaving anytime between 7 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.
“It takes me 10 minutes,” Cottrill said. “There is no traffic going from Cobb into Atlanta. It all turns left onto 285.”
The original purpose of the TIA was to reduce congestion, Cottrill said.
“That light rail is nothing but developed for two huge economic groups in Cobb County, three — Cumberland Mall, Chamber of Commerce and Town Center — and those have political influence to get that rail — which is not called MARTA yet — from Arts Center,” he said.
There is no need nor justification for the proposed rail line, he said.
“Your group, which is an unconstitutional group by the way, your group has come up with that concept at the economic insistence of these three developers because they happen to throw a lot of money around,” Cottrill said. “They’re going to spend $8 million in Cobb County on selling this thing. People in this room have no way of competing with that. So the whole concept is unconstitutional. If Cobb says no, we don’t want any part of this, we’ve got to go along with it. Are you telling me American citizens who are in a county can be outvoted by other counties?”
Hayse said she was merely interpreting the legislation as written.
Not everyone was opposed to the transportation referendum.
Kathy Slough said she intends to vote for it, noting that she takes CCT to Midtown to work.
“It has white, black, purple, green people on it, OK?” Slough said. “It’s everybody.”
Slough said she was appalled when she moved here from Ohio.
“There are more sidewalks in my town of 20,000 then almost all of Cobb,” she said. “I’m a businesswoman. I use CCT. It’s saved me countless dollars. And I would use the rail. If we don’t do something in Cobb and Atlanta, we’re in the top five for the long distance commute here. It’s not about Democratic, Republican, Libertarian. It’s about we’ve got to help Cobb County move forward instead of being in the dinosaur age.”
Mike Holzknecht of east Cobb said he intends to vote in favor of the TIA as well.
“We’re so used to conspiracies and theories and UFOs and things like that,” Holzknecht said, thanking Hayse for her presentation. “The state Legislature had a shot in doing the right thing for 10 years. They booted it down the line.”
Yet Dr. Bill Hudson, a member of the Marietta-based Georgia Tea Party, said he will vote against the referendum.
“We didn’t have any input on the projects, and it’s not going to help with congestion at all,” Hudson said. “And they’re talking about going to Arts Center Station to Cumberland and on up to Kennesaw State and to Acworth — that’s more than 10 years. They’re planning on doing this (tax) two or three times. I’m sorry, no. The taxpayer does not want taxes in perpetuity.”
Like Cottrill, Hudson blames the Cobb Chamber and CIDs for influencing the project list.
“All of these developers, the CIDs, the Chamber, the design people, they’re going to get their pockets lined and the taxpayer is going to pay forever,” he said.
A third candidate who is running for county chairman, Mike Boyce, said he intends to vote against the referendum as well. Boyce said there is a provision in the referendum that stipulates if voters turn down the tax on July 31, it is postponed for two years.
“I would prefer to see us do that because I think there are a number of questions that need to be answered that won’t be answered before the July 31 referendum,” Boyce said. “We have this earmark of somewhere around $650 million for this enhanced premium transportation system. It’s an earmark. And I’m not comfortable voting for something unless I know exactly what it is. So I think the best approach is let’s look at all the analysis and reengage again in two years.”
County Chairman Tim Lee attended the meeting, but remained silent throughout. Afterwards, he clarified what exactly the largest expenditure in Cobb’s Transportation Investment Act project list, the $689 million earmark for “enhanced transit service,” would look like.
While that earmark will help fund a bus service from Acworth to Atlanta, some of it could be used to fund a light rail line as well, Lee said.
“Yes it can if the (Alternatives Analysis) comes and says light rail is the solution and a whole lot more money is identified to pay for it,” Lee said. “It’s written in such a way so that if the AA comes and says if it can be rail there’s a potential that it allows us to go that way if there’s a way to figure out how to make it work, but there’s so many ‘ifs’ associated with it.”
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QUOTE This tax is for a specific group of projects, set for a specific period of time, to raise a specific amount of dollars. Once those dollars are raised, the tax stops, even if the dollars are raised at a period before 10 years. Those are facts. The money raised can only be spent on the projects in the project list and the project expenditures will be overseen by a citizens group. UNQUOTE
The TIA aka TSPLOST is NOT a SPLOST and is not subject to the rules you describe. That's why the promoters are pushing the TIA name.
Please check your facts.
Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - East Cobb residents tee off on TSPLOST
The TIA legislation is not the problem.
The problem and the reason many people are concerned about the TIA is the project list that will be funded.
At best it is a poorly thought out, unconnected, uncoordinated bunch of local transportation projects that do nothing to address our REGIONAL transportation issues.
At the worst it is an effort by certain special interset groups to establish a $7 BILLION taxpayer funded slush fund for their own selfish benefit.
The project list needs to be revisited and straightened out so that the next ten years of tax collections is not wasted.
chairman lee is on a recording, from a previous speech, saying that there is no plan 'b' for the tsplost. what?
what about promoting walkable communities?
what about promoting 'grace' as the only acceptable motorist behavior?
i bet most people would be happier motorists if aggressive driving was absent.
Plus, if you get off the interstate, traffic is usually better - but everyone has it so ingrained that the interstate should alway be faster, they blindly hit the entrance ramp and fill it up.
It is about forcing higher-density development on low-density suburbs with the goal of squeezing additional property tax dollars out of every square foot. Period.
And no one but little children believes the set parameters of any such project (or funding source) will not warp and distort additional public sector spending, eg, the good money after bad effect in which additional resources are poured into a bad idea in hopes of turning it good.
Any actual fiscal conservative understands these causes and effects quite well -- lobbyists for special interests, not so much.
They don't even know what the money will be used for, but if you vote for the tax, they'll think of something!
Best vote NO in JULY 2012, and tell everyone else to.
You will also have the opportunity to vote for Cobb Chairman.
Hate to tell you, but the TIA/TSPLOST train is not going anywhere near you.
Not only that, you don't stand a chance of getting any bus help in the future after TSPLOST train sops up all the tax money in Cobb.
Why, pray tell Sir, would anyone in Mableton vote for this $700 million train that is nowhere near them and will only hurt their future?
Step 2: Anything else.
Step 3: Profit
JR, understand that building trains has NOTHING to do with transportation. It has to do with RE-DEVELOPMENT.
Subsidized re-development at that -- why do you think big money developers are flogging to the pro-tax argument and throwing money at the campaign?
Because they know that a sack with millions in taxpayer subsidized "transit oriented development" is the prize.
The same thing has happened all over the country. I really thought that Cobb would be too smart to fall for it.
JR, a number of proposals have been put forth. You are not listening. But you are essentially saying we need to just hand the chamber/arc thieves the (giantormous amounts of)money to fund their unaccountable TSPLOST slush fund. Don't be a sucker JR ( or are you perhaps a Chamber Shill?)
This negates technologies such as buses (including BRT), light rail and heavy rail.
Notice the achievements in successful road construction were accomplished with a county-level funding mechanism. This TIA thing is just another attempt to rope us into paying for someone else's ineffective, expensive toys!
But relax folks, all is well, it all depends on the results of the Alternatives Analysis.
Well Tim we all know how that is going to turn out, don't we?
But regardless of whether the enhanced transit service is "premium bus service" , BRT or light rail, the fact is that whatever it is going to be is going to be finacially unsustainable without an never ending subsidy from the taxpayers.
See Mr. Taylor's comments below to get a "real world" idea of what is in the future for Cobb County if this passes.
Onto the karger issue.
I concur with Mr. Boyce.
Let's put this off for a couple of years and reassess the TIA legislation and the TSPLOST project list before we make a collosal mistake.
What is being proposed is not going to resolve the Atlanta Metro area's transportation congestion problem.
It is going to be a $7 Billion dollar happy sack for the developers and transportation robber barons in Atlanta.
It is no exaggeration to say every single thing CLT transit backers have said since 1998 (when a half cent sales tax was approved for transit) and especially since 2007 (when an effort to repeal that tax was defeated with nearly $1m. in special interest funding and relentless lies) has proved to be false.
Since the repeal was turned away these truths skidded out: 1) Another half cent dedicated transit tax will be needed to build and maintain the system that was only supposed to cost ONE BILLION DOLLARS, total 2) Local property taxes will and have been spent on train projects, tens of millions already, something which was absolutely NOT supposed to ever happen according to pro-taxers 3) The county raised property taxes last year via a reval (my taxes were slated to go up by $300/yr) 4) Now the city of CLT has declared that it must raise property taxes by 9% or risk turning into a Rust Belt city. (This would be the same city that thru $12m. at ONE MILE of streetcar it cannot afford to operate)
This is not conspiracy theory or UFOs or Bigfoot -- this is fact. It is completely backward and dinosaur age to back trains for low-density, mature suburbs which have road capacity and congestion issues right now.
Anyone looking to ensure the future of Cobb as a dynamic, attractive place to live and work MUST say no to more special interest spending and top-down, high-density "solutions" which are worse than the problems they claim to solve.
Chairman Lee gives the best possible reason to vote NO on the TSPLOST/TIA...... Even Mr. Lee doesn't know what he is voting for!
Seems like a common tactic to me.
Nothing to say during the meeting?
Weren't your human "teleprompters" from the Chamber there?
Since his handlers from the Cumberland CID and Chamber weren't there to whisper in his ear he had no clue how to respond.
I agree with Mr. Boyce. Let's take a step back and revisit the TIA legislation and the current project list.
The TIA legislation itself has some significant flaws that have been identified and should be corrected.
The TIA project list as currently conceived is a bad joke. It has degenerated into a collection of uncoordinated, unconnected local pet projects that do little or nothing to address our regional transportation issues.
As far as Cobb County is concerned, the "enhanced transit service", whether it is a premium bus line or light rail, is going to end up being a very costly, inefficient non-solution to our local traffic problems.
It's not just the waste of almost a BILLION dollars of taxpayer money in capital costs that doesn't make sense.
Just the ongoing operating and maintenance costs of either of those alternatives (BRT or light rail) will be a financial albatross hung around the neck of Cobb taxpayers so a few special interest groups in our community can benefit.
Let's step back, take a breath and try to do this right.
He immediately blew me off w/ this- "port of savannah- it won't be happening".
Yep,... good answer, Bob!
Can you say-- head in the sand??
Also, when I tried showing him my concerns of all the Smyrna SPLOST money being eaten up by Croy Engineering (w/ little results) he told me,.. I don't know how things work!!
.. that's where you're wrong Bob,.. I DO KNOW how things work around here- & I can see that things are BROKEN!!!