David Pendered

Deborah Scott, executive director of Georgia Stand Up, has been named a White House Champion of Change for her efforts to promote economic equity and environmental stewardship in Atlanta.

Scott’s citation on the White House page says she was named “for her innovative energy priorities and sustainable living practices making a greener community a possibility in any American city or town.”

Most recently, Scott has been in the spotlight for her work in organizing a community development plan regarding Fort McPherson. The award-winning plan aims to ensure that the entire community surrounding the fort benefit from its conversion from military to civilian use.
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Denver, a role model for metro Atlanta’s proposed transportation sales tax, is running into some problems with its own transit construction program.

A funding shortfall prompted Denver’s transit leaders to privatize almost a third of the region’s planned 122-mile transit system, plus work on 15 stations including the hub – Denver Union Station. National media stories in recent weeks have addressed current funding woes and construction delays.

These sorts of issues are just part of the territory when it comes to building one of the nation’s most ambitious transportation projects, a spokeswoman for Denver’s FasTracks said Monday. But they do bear attention as metro Atlanta voters consider creating a 1 percent sales tax to pay for road and transit improvements.
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Congress and the Obama administration have made it clear that Georgians will vote July 31 on the proposed transportation sales tax with no clue as to how much money the federal government may pay to support the projects.

This news is significant in metro Atlanta. The 10-county region is counting on the federal government to pay nearly 12 percent of the total $7.1 billion cost (in today’s dollars) of the road and transit projects to be built if voters approve a 1 percent sales tax for transportation.

Without the federal funding, it seems unlikely that all projects will be completed. Neither a contingency plan, nor a priority list of projects, was part of the recommendation from the Atlanta Regional Roundtable, the group of 21 elected officials that created the construction list.
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Methane gas captured in a landfill in DeKalb County will be transformed into fuel for vehicles at a futuristic facility where the ceremonial ribbon was cut Monday.

This example of renewable bio-fuel is just the sort of technology that was hoped for by participants of the first Earth Day, in 1970. Sunday marks the 42nd celebration of an event that now involves millions of people in at least 192 countries.

DeKalb’s new facility, which will create compressed natural gas from the methane gas, joins another methane recovery operation at the county’s Seminole Road Landfill. The first recovery facility captures methane for use by Georgia Power, which burns it to drive turbines that create electricity.
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MARTA has raised the stakes for passage of the proposed transportation sales tax in DeKalb County.

MARTA’s board of directors did what the Atlanta Regional Roundtable could not muster the votes to do – approve a plan that would create a unified rail system in south DeKalb that would include enhanced bus service along I-20, but more importantly extend heavy rail service from Indian Creek Station to the Mall at Stonecrest.

Talk about a political imbroglio for voters in south DeKalb.
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The proposed deepening of the Savannah Harbor received a major boost today in the form of documents released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The studies released today show the cost would be about $652 million to deepen the Savannah River shipping channel by five feet, to 47 feet. The economic impact of the expected increase in trade would amount to $174 million a year, nationwide.

In a related development, the South Carolina Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a dispute over a state water quality permit that would allow the dredging of the shipping channel, according to a report by the Associated Press. The court’s decision to take the case will fast track a final ruling in a matter that would have been appealed up from lower courts.
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Last year, more than 4,800 pre-owned medical devices such as wheelchairs and hospital beds were provided at little to no cost to the disabled by a non-profit organization that works from a warehouse near Stone Mountain.

Like many non-profits, FODAC does its work out of the public limelight. But to those in the reuse industry, including Bill Bolling, the founder and CEO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, FODAC is well known and serves a need that is likely to grow as government service is reduced.

“As we look at less government and less government support, we in turn have got to say, ‘What does the private sector response look like?’,” Bolling said. “FODAC is an example of the creativity, and ingenuity, and commitment where we can really make a difference through the private sector.”
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MARTA’s board of directors took the first formal step Monday toward applying for federal funding for two new rail lines and enhanced bus service along I-20 from downtown Atlanta into central DeKalb County.

The board designated the three routes as “locally preferred alternatives.” The designation allows MARTA to submit funding requests to the Federal Transit Administration.

The realpolitiks of MARTA’s action are unclear. For starters, Congress hasn’t been able to agree on transportation funding since 2009, when it last passed a transportation bill. In addition, DeKalb County Commissioner Lee May said the action doesn’t satisfy concerns of constituents who want rail service extended into south DeKalb – and have vowed to vote “No” on the transportation sales tax referendum on July 31 because it provides only enhanced bus service in their region.
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One big question that arose last autumn was who would be the face of the campaign for the 1 percent sales tax for transportation that will be on the July 31 ballot in the 10-county metro Atlanta region.

The answer, so far, is: No one.

Two TV ads have been released and neither shows a living creature. Both are comprised solely of computer-generated graphics.

There’s no snippet of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on the stump, as he was for the recent successful campaign to extend a sales tax for the city’s sewer upgrades. No comments from Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson, whose skill in presiding over the Atlanta Regional Roundtable resulted in its unanimous vote to create the $6.14 billion list of projects to be paid for with the sales tax.

There’s not even an avatar of anyone involved with the campaign.
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The Atlanta BeltLine is evolving quickly into a name-brand transit system that could serve thousands of streetcar riders and untold numbers of cyclists and pedestrians by the end of this decade.

That’s partly because the name “BeltLine” has become shorthand for four proposed streetcar projects to be paid for through the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation. Just half of the 10-plus mile streetcar system would be built in the BeltLine corridor, but its linkage to the BeltLine has earned it a BeltLine tagline.

The way several BeltLine officials explain it, this evolving view of the BeltLine results from its central role in Atlanta’s ongoing efforts to improve mobility in the region’s urban core.

“We are pursuing an aggressive, integrated strategy to build out the transit network in the City of Atlanta over the next 10 years,” said Ethan Davidson, spokesman for the BeltLine.
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