Recently I have been reading opinions about the TSPLOST vote coming up on Tuesday. One common statement I see over and over again is usually “I will vote no because these projects will not affect me.“ To these people I would like to say that these projects will in fact affect you because they will stimulate our local economy.
The GDOT employs tens of thousands of men and woman here in Georgia by letting, then awarding projects all over the state to contractors. This is more far-reaching than most people realize. Sub-contractors, fabricators, manufacturers, suppliers, lumber mills, steel mills, truck drivers, quarries, just to name a few, will be directly impacted if TSPLOST is not passed. Many smaller contractors have already gone out of business and countless others have lost their jobs because GDOT simply does not have the funds to let projects.
Keeping an updated and safe infrastructure is one of the main jobs of government. This is not something the private sector can do. Unfortunately a contractor cannot just decide on his own to build a road or repair a bridge. For that we need government and we need to use our taxes to pay for it.
I looked at the list of proposed projects and there are some good and well-needed ones listed. There are also a few that may not be so critical, to me at least.
Here’s a fact that I can’t back up but no one reading this will be able to deny. $8 billion dollars to do road projects in the state of Georgia is only a small fraction of the money needed to do all of the work that needs to be done. Every major interchange around 285 (and most small ones) needs to be reworked and updated.
An outer perimeter needs to be looked at again. A vast majority of bridges need to be widened (and some just torn down and replaced). I-75, I-85, 675, 575 I-20, 285 and Ga. 400 all need to be widened to accept additional lanes. A new highway that runs north and south that doesn’t bottleneck in downtown Atlanta would be nice. How about a highway that will take you from Cherokee/north Cobb to Gwinnett without having to get on 285?
These are just some ideas for the metro area. What about the rest of the state? How many thousands of miles of roads here locally need to be repaved or widened? How many thousands of secondary intersections need to be updated and turn lanes added? Again, I’m just talking about the metro area. Again, what about the rest of the state? Would $100 billion be enough? $200 billion maybe? Do those numbers sound ridiculous? I don’t think they do. I’m sorry, but $8 billion is just not enough to implement improvements that will affect every one.
This tax will put a lot of people back to work. If you are voting no because “It doesn’t affect you,” how about voting yes because it will affect many others?
Tony Visockis
Marietta
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This is nothing more than wealth re-distribution to the good old boys network.
This is NOT "new" money.
Please understand this. Quickly.
This is simply another version of the Obama income redistribution scam.
But in this case it is not an effort to take from the haves and redistribute to the supposed have nots.
It is actually the other way around.
Taking from the Have Nots and then redistributing it the Haves.
and to further address your point about job creation
The job creation figures that have been claimed as fact are not correct. Permanent, quality jobs will not be created and those that are will be few and far between.
It is a fabrication meant to play off of the current dirth of job opportunities for the sole purpose of generating votes.
We pride ourselves at calling Atlanta the "City in the Trees". It is a lifestyle that entails a sprawling Metroplex without the concentration of hi-rise living among office centers that typifies cities with successful mass transportation systems. A widely dispersed population means a significant drive by auto is required to make any portion of the commute by train. It's just not worth the time and trouble to make the switch. And, it's just not worth the monumental expense for an insufficient ridership.
Other "transportation" initiatives include sidewalks, bike paths, and the beltway park connector that are lifestyle improvements that are nice, but are they affordable? And, how will they help congestion?
Give us a clean bill to get our cars moving more efficiently. That is the need we should focus on and let the stimulus flow from that.
Tony Visockis thinks YOU need to work harder so that YOU can hire your neighbor to build a road that really is not needed.
I makes me cringe to realize there are so many deeply stupid idiots living so close to me.
In my opinion, There are only three things our tax money should be spent on. National defense, Emergency services and our infrastructure.
To say that these road projects are not needed is a blatant attempt to mislead people who may not be so informed.
I don't think putting people back to work is a bad thing and the only ones who can pay for our infrastructure is us ...
As far as i am concerned you lost any credibility when you resorted in childish name calling and didn't even have the courage to identify yourself. You sir are a coward.
Your letter makes the opposition point. How can we blow $700 million, 2/3 of all Cobb's project money, on one project in Fulton County that will not address the problems you so accurately describe?
Please, rethink the ACTUAL list being proposed, and vote NO so we can develop Plan B.
The state also has twice tried to build a bypass to the the Downtown Connector, both through and under historic East Atlanta with a proposal to run a tolled connector between GA 400 and I-675 through tunnels under the Eastside of the city.
The original freeway proposed to run through East Atlanta was stopped by neighborhood residents who lived in and near the path of the proposed road in what is considered to be one of the most famous and legendary freeway revolts of all time back in the 1970's while the proposal to tunnel I-675 under the city was quickly abandoned due to much very-negative public feedback in 2007.
Heck, it is just the very modest amounts of proposed road construction that is in the project list that has the T-SPLOST on the ropes and on the verge of defeat as many Metro Atlantans, both inside and outside I-285, object to additional road construction on the grounds that they fear that more road construction will only bring more overdevelopment which will only bring even more. traffic.
It is Metro Atlanta's strange and unique aversion to roadbuilding that the reason why GDOT has repeatedly stated that they don't plan to add any new untolled lanes to the freeway system.
The irony is that the defeat of the T-SPLOST, which many of its critics claim funds too much transit, that will likely strike a fatal blow to any major roadbuilding efforts in Metro Atlanta in the future.