helmet improv

Tying it all together

Tom Crawford, author of the "Capitol Impact" column run in Flagpole, provides an excellent summary of - and insightful predictions based on - the dramatic reorganization of transportation planning in Georgia:

SB 200 will drastically revamp the Department of Transportation, shifting much of the power over the agency’s $2 billion yearly budget to the governor and, to a lesser extent, the legislators. The office of governor, already one of the strongest in the country, becomes that much more powerful with the ability to control which highways get built and which do not.

“Mark my words,” said Rep. Alan Powell (D-Hartwell), a longtime House member. “It may take three years; it may take six months, but we just changed the face of politics in Georgia.”

...

Perdue’s ultimate goal in getting SB 200 adopted may be to facilitate the awarding of major contracts to private companies that want to take over the construction and management of public highways in Georgia. One of the world’s leading private developers of toll roads is Cintra, an international conglomerate based in Spain. Cintra has built and operated such major American highways as the Chicago Skyway and the Indiana Toll Road.

When Perdue flew to Spain last September with a contingent of business leaders - at the same time that Georgia motorists were struggling to cope with a severe gasoline shortage - one of the companies he met with was Cintra. That could be the ultimate legacy of SB 200 - Georgians paying high tolls to drive on highways owned by a European conglomerate. You heard it here first.

Givin' us the ole one-two

For the second year in a row, T-SPLOST "legislation has failed on the last night of the session."

Meanwhile, a revised version of the GDOT overhaul bill passed and awaits Perdue's signature. The legislation undoubtedly gives the governor's office far more direct control over transportation planning and decision making.

Good ole boys, sprawl, congestion and lower air quality win this round. Georgia's decision makers are utterly committed to keeping the state last in serious-minded solutions to transportation issues, last in overall quality of life, and last in building a near-term future with any chance of survival.

More headache-inducing updates from the capitol

UPDATE: the schoolyard stare-down continues...


The House & Senate are playing chicken with T-SPLOST.

Oh, and this very important piece of legislation is under consideration as well.

Trying to find my happy place

Good thing this was published at the same time as this and this. By the power of Greyskull. Or, as granny n'em used to say, "I ain't seen nuthin' like this in all my born days."

For your enjoyment: a graphic representation of the legislature's approach to solving transportation issues.

Losing our chance for TSPLOST again?!

The AJC reports:

"Legislators still split on transportation tax"

Prospects for a new sales tax to pay for roads, bridges, rail and other transportation improvements have hit a barrier as the legislative session nears an end.

The Senate on Monday passed its version of an optional transportation sales tax — for the second time.

The Senate and House disagree on how to set up a new penny sales tax for transportation.

The Senate supports a regional tax, where groups of counties — including the Atlanta area — could band together to tax themselves for local projects, thus giving more local control over transportation dollars. The House supports a statewide tax because roads do not end at the county line.

The Senate on Monday approved a gutted version of the House transportation measure. The substance of House Resolution 206 had been replaced with the Senate’s original vision for a regional sales tax.

Because the Senate has not budged from its position, the two chambers would have to agree on a compromise in the last five days of the session, or the prospect of a transportation tax would die for now.

Oh come on! Not again!

Please contact your state representative and senator, and urge them to find a workable compromise on this deal. Georgia cannot wait any longer to tackle its haywire transportation system.

Days of our lives

Big shocker: AJC reports on the powerful influence wealthy patrons exert on the selection process for transportation projects in GA.

The recently passed House version of the TSPLOST bill includes an unprecedented list of specific projects, several of which are directly linked to generous donors. These projects were included by House Transportation committee chairman Rep. Vance Smith, who, we learn from this March 4th articlein the Gainesville Times, was passed over for the chief position at GDOT. Gena Evans was picked instead.

His supporter for that position was House Speaker Glenn Richardson. Richardson, as you may recall, is an ardent supporter of "the creation of a State Transportation Authority, which would effectively render the [GDOT] transportation board powerless." His likely pick for the head of the STA: Vance Smith.

Keep in mind this is all happening against the backdrop of Gena Evans' somewhat saucy adventures as GDOT director. Our state's transportation "leaders" belong on daytime television.

Opponents of the STA proposal (like me), believe this new body will increase the porcine nature of transportation planning and decision making in the state. The system will become even more pay-to-play than it already is.

Read the whole AJC piece. Marvel at the awful predictability of it all.

More on the awful plan to concentrate trans funding power

The ABH follows up on Perdue & Co's shockingly un-democratic plan to consolidate state transportation planning and funding into the hands of a very powerful few.

If this proposal is enacted, our state will fall even further behind in addressing very real and pressing transportation issues in a meaningful way. Political patronage and party loyalty will dictate transportation planning.

Let your state representative & senator know how you feel.

More parking decks at UGA

Awwww.... come on!

The University of Georgia will add two more parking decks, one near the intramural fields off College Station Road and one near the Performing and Visual Arts Center on East Campus.

If approved today as expected by the University System Board of Regents, construction crews will begin work within weeks and finish as early as August, said UGA spokesman Tom Jackson.

The $9.2 million, 490-parking space deck near the intramural fields is scheduled to be finished in time to furnish overflow parking for UGA home football games, Jackson said.

UGA is supposed to be discouraging automobile use. These decks are utterly at odds with the university's demonstrated commitment to 1) expanding greenspace, 2) increasing walk- and bike-ability on campus, and 3) encouraging on-campus living.

The increased automobile traffic they create will make cycling on College Station's bike lanes far less safe.

This is a terrible, backwards-ass idea, and it sounds like it's being done to appease the tailgating Escalade convoys from out of town, and that it's too late to oppose it.

Not only is this asinine from a transportation perspective- it demonstrates a callous mis-allocation of money for the university. The state keeps shoveling money at UGA, but only for megalithic student centers and wrongheaded parking decks. Meanwhile, academic departments and student service offices are facing unprecedented cuts, including potentially widespread layoffs.

Is it sane to build a monumental campus, full of hapless students in empty, un-staffed buildings, while cash and bourbon-fueled donors park their land yachts in awful, modernist parking decks?

Cyclist run down by robbers

ABH reports on a harrowing robbery attempt in northwest Athens:

A bicyclist was injured in northwestern Clarke County Tuesday night, when a car ran him down, then two men and a teen in the car tried to rob him, Athens-Clarke police said.

The man ran away on Old Jefferson Road, and the would-be robbers sped off.

They were arrested soon after when officers stopped their car near Whitehead and Tallassee roads, according to police.

Thankfully, the victim was not seriously injured.
The same cannot be said, sadly, for many other Athenians in the past month.

Liquor, guns, and public transit

I already posted something about this new law a while back.

Sarcastic commentary is pretty much redundant, but I'll do it anyway.
Strapped alcoholics boarding buses: What could possibly go wrong?