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.
No, really, this train is bound for Charlotte
Charlotte, N.C. — you now the city where that light rail car is headed — is applying for $25 million in federal funds to build a streetcar line.
That would be on top of the light rail system.
The Charlotte Observer reports that city council voted 7-4 on Monday to apply for a grant that would pay for most of the cost of constructing a 1.5-mile line.
The newspaper also noted that three Republicans on the council and one Democrat voted in favor.
You can read the whole story here.
This train is bound for Charlotte
As a freelancer, I pitch story ideas and sometimes editors bite and sometimes they don’t.
Last week, the global conglomerate Siemens came to Atlanta to show off a light rail car that will be part of Charlotte’s transit expansion. I thought it would make a great story, but I was the only one.
Or was I? Maria Saporta was on it, of course, and from her column I learned that the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce actually laid track to properly display the car, which can also be used as a streetcar.
Laid tracks? You have my attention now.
Maria mentions a lot of great things, so please check out her column.
But I would like to mention one thing former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory said while he was in town.
McCrory, who Maria points out is a Republican, said you need to marry transit with the existing transportation network and expansions need to make economic sense. And he said you can’t build transit without a land-use plan.
“The right is only going to want to build roads. The political left will want to put transit everywhere out of fairness. This is not a fairness issue,” McCrory said. “There needs to be an inter-connected system of sidewalks, bikeways and buses.”
So many good ideas for Mr. Reed!
Do I wish I had thought to write/solicit ideas for a to-do list for the new mayor, as Atlanta magazine did in its January issue, or do I wish I had thought of some of the actual ideas?
Needless to say, both.
It doesn’t look like you can access the whole article online but you can read a taste of it here. (It’s worth getting your hands on a copy of the actual magazine to take a look at the whole piece).
The suggestions were published in conjunction with the proceedings of a roundtable the magazine convened to discuss Atlanta’s problems and what we can do to fix them.
The magazine solicited ideas from people all around Atlanta, and while many of the ideas are a bit self-serving — someone involved in a volunteer organization thinks every Atlantan should start volunteering — all of the suggestions merit consideration.
I think the best single comment comes from Creative Loafing’s Andisheh Nouraee. (You may think we are biased in favor of Creating Loafing folks here since Ken worked there for so long but I never worked there and I don’t even know Andisheh. I just like good ideas).
While I don’t agree with every idea, I love the way he presents his thoughts in a very no-nonsense way that just says, “Let’s get going.”
Here’s his comment:
“Treat critics with respect instead of as enemies. Honor responsible homeowners by cracking down on serial code violators whose derelict properties are magnets for criminals. Create an Office of Transparency and empower citizen watchdogs by putting every new government report and document online in real-time. Admit the BeltLine is a park with a bike path, not a mass transit project. Require large parking lots to install secure bike racks. Mobilize Atlanta business leaders against rural GOP lawmakers who revel in hurting the city. Hire more cops, and tell the ones directing traffic at Hartsfield-Jackson to stop being such dicks.”
Alright so let’s get going!
Outtakes from today’s sustainable roundtable
Filed under: Cityscape, GREEN BUILDING, SMART GROWTH
Well, darn if you can never tell where I might show up on the Web!
I covered Southface’s Sustainable Roundtable this morning for SaportaReport.
The topic, one near and dear to my heart and yours, was the future of transit in Atlanta, and the featured speakers were Erik Steavens, director of the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Intermodal Programs, and Lee Biola, president of Citizens For Progressive Transit.
The event gave us, as I put it in the piece, reasons for optimism and reasons for skepticism. Read the piece here.
So what’s with the photo above?
Please go to My Green ATL to read the rest of the post.
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.
International Car Free Day
The AJC is reporting that today is International Car Free Day!
Commuters are encouraged to ditch their automobiles in favor of public transportation.
Gosh, today that suggestion does have a particular resonance, no? The question is, how many metro-area commuters can actually do that?
Anyway, I did not want you guys to miss that! (It’s at the bottom of one of the DOT stories so some may not have seen it).
More on LaHood’s visit
Filed under: ARTS & EVENTS, POLITICS, SMART GROWTH
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited Atlanta today for two reasons.
First, he spoke at the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Fifty Forward Transportation Forum. Secondly, he gave MARTA $10.8 million to install solar panels at a bus maintenance depot.
But in the process of doing these two things, LaHood inadvertently gave a forum to residents’ frustration with area transit and the transportation officials who decide if we have transit and where.
As I mentioned in my previous posts, LaHood fielded questions from the audience at the ARC event, including one from a gentleman who hopes someone in Washington can intervene on our behalf with the Georgia Legislature, to convince the folks under the Gold Dome that we need more money for transit.
I mean, isn’t that a bit like you making a complaint about the teacher when the principal happens to stick his/her head in your classroom?
One could certainly argue that if Georgia paid some attention to transit, no one would need to tattle to the DOT secretary!
Later when someone asked when the “high-speed rail” conversation would be coming to Atlanta, LaHood responded, “It’ll come to Atlanta if Georgia gets its act together.”
It’ll come to Atlanta if Georgia gets its act together.
Read more
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!
Our new website!
