No go on the Peachtree Streetcar
Ariel Hart of the AJC reports that Atlanta will not receive federal funds to build a streetcar line here.
As Ariel puts it, “The loss for the streetcar is one more drop in the bucket of metro Atlanta’s mass transit misery.”
She has all the details here.
It’s times like this that I like being a blogger. Because it would have been hard to write the story Ariel had to write.
Streetcar announcement today — I hope!
Photo credit: kevinseanw via Flickr
Good morning!
As you probably know, Atlanta expects to hear word today whether it has been awarded up to $300 million in federal funds to build a streetcar system downtown.
MARTA and several other organizations put together an application for funds, which, if awarded, would help bankroll a six-mile line on Peachtree Street and/or a three-mile, east-west line on Auburn Avenue that would connect the King Center with Centennial Olympic Park.
Officials have said they think Atlanta has a good chance. We’ll see.
Federal regulations recently changed to favor the construction of streetcar systems, and many cities already have a head start (the photo above shows a streetcar in Toronto).
In fact, Charlotte, which already has a light rail line, has begun to explore the possibility of applying for federal funds for a streetcar line.
I think many of you are up to date on the prospects of streetcars in Atlanta but if not, check out this post on SaportaReport and this post from Thomas Wheatley at Creative Loafing.
Is MARTA listening to me?!
We all like to flatter ourselves sometimes, and that may be especially so for broken-down reporters such as myself.
So I would like to think Michael Walls, the chairman of MARTA’s board of directors, read a post I wrote a few months back about the utility of our mass transit system, particularly when you need to reach certain destinations.
In an opinion piece for SaportaReport (clearly the source of so many great things) Walls wrote the following:
“For residents and visitors alike, MARTA matters tremendously to our quality of life. If you’re heading to the Peachtree Road Race on July 4th, watching musical legend Paul McCartney perform at Piedmont Park, going to a hometown game for the Braves, Falcons, Hawks or Thrashers or leaving on a business trip from Hartsfield-Jackson airport, MARTA makes all of that possible.”
That’s more or less what I said in the post. Here’s how I put it:
Read more
SaportaReport: Time for Chambers to move on
Maria Saporta of SaportaReport speaks with authority when she says that Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Dunwoody), who chairs the Georgia legislature’s MARTA Oversight Committee (MARTOC), and the rest of the naysayers need to move on now that the state has given MARTA a clean fiscal bill of health.
Below is a short excerpt, but please read the full column here.
From SaportaReport:
“This audit review should be enough to silence Chambers once and for all. She has made MARTA and the state jump through time-consuming hoops on her witch hunt for evil and wrongdoing.
“And now it’s time for her to stop.”
(end)
I will reiterate that I don’t think everything MARTA does is great. For example, I still want to know why there isn’t a bus that goes all the way up Boulevard and Monroe!
But using the transit service as one’s own punching bag is wrong. What are we doing to do, stop the trains, pull up the tracks, bulldoze the stations?
I don’t think so, so let’s work on building on the transit system we have.
DOT Chief visit, Part two
Filed under: ARTS & EVENTS, GREEN BUILDING, SMART GROWTH
When I give my opinion here, I’m taking one of the liberties that, I think, blogging affords.
But as a former — very recently former — newspaper reporter, I always feel weird, for lack of a more eloquent phrase.
So I want to add some other context to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s visit to Atlanta today.
First off, if one of the feds is here, and he wants to talk about transportation, I would like to think he won’t forget us, and he will keep an eye on our progress, or lack thereof.
Also, any money for MARTA is good.
So LaHood brought the classic big check in the amount of $10.8 million to help MARTA become more energy-efficient.
By installing solar panels at the Laredo bus maintenance facility in Decatur, MARTA will save at least $150,000 a year for the next 45 years.
Lord knows, MARTA needs an extra $150,000. I think MARTA may even need an an extra $1.50, while we’re on the topic.
And the initiative will translate into other money for MARTA because the excess electricity the panels generate at the facility will then be sold to Georgia Power, bringing in some much-needed income.
What organization doesn’t want to be more energy-efficient these days?
AJC on Maglev train proposal for Turner Field
Ariel Hart of the AJC has a good story today about the proposed maglev train line that would connect MARTA with Turner Field, which I wrote about last week.
And by good, I mean, she tells us exactly where we stand — which is very far from having a maglev train line that would connect MARTA with Turner Field. Ahem!
Please check out the link above!
DOT Sec’y Ray LaHood answers some questions
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was in Atlanta this morning for a few reasons, including bringing $10.8 million to MARTA so it can install solar panels at its Laredo Bus Maintenance Facility in Decatur.
More about that later, because as often is the case, the ancillary events can be newsier than the main event.
LaHood fielded questions from the audience, including one from Kevin Hughley, who’s with a Brookhaven-Chamblee neighborhood association.
Hughley wanted to point out that MARTA is one of the few transit systems in the U.S. that does not receive state funding.
And further Hughley wanted to know if Sec. LaHood and Sen. Johnny Isakson could possibly influence the Georgia legislature to either provide more funding to MARTA, or remove the restriction that strictly splits the sales tax funds into two camps — operational and capital expenses.
And LaHood, who had been a legislator, sidestepped the question ever so gently by saying he was not in the habit of making laws in Georgia, and that he would leave that to Gov. Sonny Perdue.
But he could allow that it’s “counterproductive” to have funds on hand to BUY buses but no funds on hand to PAY the bus drivers.
Alright, we’re getting somewhere.
In a state as transit-allergic as Georgia is, that’s actually a step forward!
Except, he really just bounced it back to Georgia officials, didn’t he? And those officials have proven time and time again that they are not interested in transit.
So did we really get anywhere? I mean, we got solar panels. But we still haven’t fixed the finance mechanism for MARTA, or indeed the mindset that MARTA and other transit is for other people.
I’ll have more to report later on LaHood’s visit.
MARTA says no funding for maglev train
photo by Hexham8629 via flickr
Sure, MARTA’s CEO Beverly Scott and other employees saw a demonstration of how a maglev train works at American Maglev Technology’s test track in Marietta.
And sure Scott was quoted on Atlanta Unfiltered as saying, “We’re drilling into the numbers with them. We’re real interested in continuing the discussion.”
But in an official statement MARTA sent me this morning, the transit system strikes a much vaguer, less upbeat assessment, saying there’s still a long way to go before MARTA thinks the service would be ready for prime time here in Atlanta.
In the meantime, MARTA said it has offered to help the company work through “safety, operational and financial questions” to help “position this initiative” at home and at the federal level.
The two-paragraph statement ended this way: “For now, MARTA looks to become more informed on the Maglev project as their research and development continues.”
As you know from my previous post, the idea of connecting MARTA to Turner Field via maglev train surfaced at a MARTOC meeting earlier this week.
AMT has a sample drawing on its Web site of how it could add a maglev train line to MARTA’s Lindbergh station that you can see here.
(Also, here’s a cool Q&A with the company’s president that appeared in the AJC last year).
I left y’all hanging for so long so I wanted to give you the few crumbs I had managed to collect, but I hope to add some more detail.
Five days is a long time to wait in this day and age so thanks for your patience.
(Photo at top is of a maglev train in Shanghai).
More on maglev train?
I’d like to post more information on the possibility of a magnetic levitation train shuttling folks between MARTA and Turner Field to see the Braves.
But I’m still waiting for more information from MARTA. And I have quite a lot of other stuff to do while I wait.
Sorry folks! Please stay tuned and take a look at Atlanta Unfiltered for a few more precious details.
Maglev train shuttle to Braves stadium?
Well, maybe.
There’s talk of installing a Maglev train line between MARTA and Turner Field to replace the buses that shuttle folks to games now from the Five Points Station.
The issue came up yesterday at a meeting of MARTOC, a joint committee of the Georgia House and Senate that oversees MARTA’s budget.
I’m waiting for more details from the MARTA folks. There’s talk of lots of things, but where are we on this? I think the very preliminary stages.
What’s cool is if the project were to get off the ground, it could involve a Powder Springs company called American Maglev Technology. The company has a test track near its headquarters where it tests out a lighter vehicle version of the maglev technology.
Maglev (magnetic levitation) trains are already used by transit systems in Japan and Germany.
I’ve often taken the shuttle buses to games and it’s certainly better than driving and parking.
But there’s no question that a train would be great. MARTA officials have said a stop at Turner Field is one of the most requested services.
As soon as I know more, I will post it.
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