Grassroot initiatives for rail and transit provide hope that Georgia is not a lost cause

Hey Marta, don't get discouraged on the lack of progress towards infrastructure funding and investment in Georgia (not just RAIL, but also roads, schools, water, etc...). I take the view that the state is in a period of pronounced transition from a somewhat isolated sparcely populated provincial backwoods locale centered on agriculture to a much more international, heavily populated urban area. Georgia's population has probably more than doubled over the last 40 years or so and Atlanta has gone from a much smaller mid-sized city of not even one million people that was confined to only two counties to a sprawling international city of about six million, the tentacles of which now spread out over nearly 30-plus counties in about that same time with five core urban counties that were that were considered to be far-flung exurban and rural areas not that long ago (example: now ultra-diverse super suburb Gwinnett County was basically a semi-rural, almost all-white bedroom community up until about the late 1980's, now its one of the most urban communities on the Eastern Seaboard mentioned in the same breath as Fairfax County, Virginia and Nassau County, New York).

I wouldn't expect the area to be able to easily make the transition from a viewpoint of that not too disimilar to Jackson, Mississippi, Little Rock, Arkansas or a Birmingham, Alabama to that of a Paris, London or even a Los Angeles overnight. Great world cities often go through growth issues centered around transportation, growth and culural transition (not to mention education and government structure) and Atlanta is merely going through the same growth and maturation process that New York, Los Angeles and Chicago once went through in one form or another. A process that sometimes goes in fits and starts can be affected by outside events and trends (such as ECONOMIC DOWNTURNS, etc.).

Don't throw your hands up, put your head down and walk away in disgust, hang-in-there and keep fighting the good fight, but don't hesitate to look for and come up with creative new ways to fight it. Rail-transit advocates always "rail" against (no pun intended) the state's leadership for not investing enough in rail transportation but take one look at all of the concentrated roadbuilding, in addition to the substantial investments in rail, that going on in North Carolina around the cities of Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh and all of the toll-roads that criss-cross what seems to be the entire state of Florida and it becomes increasingly clear that Georgia is lacking is its transportation investments across the board from roads to rail and even boat. I think that Georgia will eventually have no choice but to make substantial investments in transportation of all modes from heavy-rail to light-rail to high-speed passenger rail to high-speed freight rail (especially important to connect Atlanta with the international Trans-Atlantic seaport at Savannah) to tolled-lanes to tollroads because of the intense competition from next-door neighbors Florida and North Carolina because this isn't just a little regional and national money that were talking about here, this is international money and commerce in three highly-populated states that front major Trans-Atlatic markets. In other words, real money.

As I was in the process of writing my comment, JM posted his piece on the notion that these organizations do not constitute grass roots effort. He (with apologies for the gender assumption..)points out Citizens for Progressive Transit. As a recent Board Member of CfPT I appreciate his reference. While I do agree with him on the premise that GPR would really not qualify as a grassroots effort his reference points out the success that the grassroots has had. Now, while the grassroots continue to do there vital work, it is time for the effort to move beyond the scope of what the groups like Citizens for Progressive Transit and Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers have been able to accomplish with
their limited resources. One could say that the forming of GPR is due in part to the work of CfPT. I should also point out that among the listed Board Members of Georgians for Passenger Rail is Lee Biola, the President of Citizens for Progressive Transit. I for one, am proud to have him represent efforts of the grassroots citizenry.

Thank you.

Salut, Maria.
I really hope that the leadership of Georgians for Passenger Rail will take a close look at the marketing efforts made by the other groups that were successful in luring the High Speed Rail funds just announced by the Obama Administration at the end of last week. I would especially encourage them to consider the extensive work done by the California High Speed Rail Authority:(www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov). I encourage everyone reading this to visit this site and consider the effort it took to put it together. The architectural and infrastructure design and modeling work is quite impressive. I would suggest if GPR should elect to try to produce a similar work, and I hope that they do, that they enlist the help of Georgia Tech. The California website demonstrates the scale of the marketing effort weneed to sell this to the citizens of Georgia. If only we had a state government that had the vision as so that we would see ".gov" at the end of site devoted to selling the public on passenger rail in Georgia.
I always enjoy reading your column.

With all due respect to the exceptional and needed efforts of Mr. Izard and others, I refer you to this:

grass-roots –adjective: of, pertaining to, or involving the common people, esp. as contrasted with or separable from an elite: a grass-roots movement for nuclear disarmament.

I don't think their wonderful efforts exactly qualify as "grassroots".

Therefore... I would refer your readers to this link and the Citizens for Progressive Transit....

http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=122168262300