Voters across country approving ballots supporting transportation improvements

Posted on May 16, 2012 by sarah

By Jeff DuFresne, CCIM, CPM, LEED AP

DuFresne is executive director of the Urban Land Institute – Atlanta District Council, which covers Georgia, Alabama, and eastern Tennessee.

Jeff DuFresne, CCIM, CPM, LEED AP, is executive director of the Urban Land Institute - Atlanta District Council, which covers Georgia, Alabama, and eastern Tennessee

On July 31, 2012, residents across the 10-county Atlanta region have the opportunity to vote on a referendum that would fund $8.5 billion in transportation improvements through a regional one percent sales tax. All eyes are on the outcome of this Transportation Referendum and how metro Atlanta handles its infrastructure needs in the new economy.

Many believe that metro Atlanta must invest in its transportation to confront our serious traffic problem and that improved transportation throughout our region is the key to our future economic health and competitiveness. The need to invest the dollars that are available on projects that have the greatest effect on economic productivity, real estate demand, and global competitive position has never been more urgent.

According to Infrastructure 2012: Spotlight on Leadership, the newly-released report by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Ernst & Young LLP, voters across the country are approving local and state ballots that support infrastructure improvement. Leaders recognize the potential for ballot measures to rally popular support for infrastructure investments that might otherwise languish unfunded. When given the opportunity, voters are saying yes to increased sales taxes, property taxes, and vehicle fees for investments that provide a clear benefit for their communities.

From 2008 to 2011, ballots that allocated funds to transit capital or operations had a 73 percent success rate. The notable transportation votes that passed in 2011were the Grand Rapids Michigan BRT system; the Cincinnati Ohio street car system; and the State of Washington highway tolls.  Other metro areas that have recently passed referendums (on the first vote) to maintain/upgrade their transit systems through a sales tax increase include Charlotte; Dallas; Los Angeles; Phoenix; Seattle; St. Louis; and St. Paul-Minneapolis.

We can no longer count on the Federal government to fund local infrastructure projects. Beginning three decades ago, the federal government began de-emphasizing new project infrastructure funding after a spending spree that built some of the world’s most modern transportation networks, including 50,000 miles of interstate highways, other roads, sewer treatment plants, and water lines across the country.

Constrained public budgets and a growing recognition at the local level of the importance of infrastructure— combined with lack of action at the federal level—are causing states, regions and cities across the U.S. to seek innovative infrastructure approaches and solutions. On July 31, all eyes will be on Atlanta and how we handle our traffic problem through the Transportation Referendum.

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Atlanta a global hub for technology innovation

Posted on April 16, 2012 by admin

By Larry Williams
Vice President, Technology Industry Development, Metro Atlanta Chamber

A recently released report on the state of Georgia’s technology industry has aimed a spotlight on some of the most exciting and encouraging news for the future of the economy, not just in Georgia and Atlanta, but in the United States and even globally.


The Technology Association of Georgia’s report, done in partnership with the Metro Atlanta Chamber, shows us that innovation will truly lead us out of the current recession.
Among the report’s key findings: Georgia companies producing technology products and providing technology services generated an economic impact of $113.1 billion in total industry sales in 2011. The tech industry also contributed 17 percent to the state’s GDP. That is a significant statistic.


We hear a lot of political speeches these days about job creation and the importance of growing jobs. But, with this report, we hear the private sector speaking loud and clear. The technology industry has become a very powerful economic engine, poised to drive huge economic improvements, including the creation of new jobs.
Not only that, the technology industry has become the nexus of transformational developments that are changing the way we do business, the way we communicate, the way we find entertainment and the way we live our day-to-day lives.


Consider that a recent Gartner report estimates that worldwide IT spending is projected to total $2.7 trillion in 2012. According to Gartner, some 350 companies will each invest more than $1 billion in IT this year.


To give those whopping figures some context, the report goes on to say that a significant portion of that spending will be on applications in the cloud services area, in data warehousing and in mobility. Right now, it’s about content, about storage of that content, about access to that content and about the security of that content.


For Atlanta, that’s great news. Our region stands as a hub for these trends and a hub for the development of products and services to address these trends. We have tremendous assets. We have top research universities, innovative companies, capital and funding sources, and the bright minds and leadership.


And we have the market. We have companies that deploy some of the most cutting-edge mobile solutions in the world. You only have to look at what The Home Depot Inc., UPS and Delta Air Lines Inc. are doing with bar code reading, shipment tracking and social media programs to know that if you want the world’s top customers in your back yard, your company needs to be here.
In a mobile, on-demand world, people want immediate online access through their smart phones and tablets, and their laptops as they sit in coffee shops. They want quality content, such as news and entertainment and they want to know that personal data, from an online photo album to a bank account password, is secure. Those wants and needs drive a lot of what we call the cloud.
From an economic development standpoint, the cloud is not a cloud, but a data center housed in Atlanta or Gwinnett County, managed by technicians and engineers educated at Georgia Tech or a local community college. The quality content comes from CNN or The Weather Channel and the entertainment is supplied by a start-up gaming company.


Dramatic and sweeping changes in the technology field are giving rise to ongoing needs for the creation of new technology efficiencies and problem-solving skills. That’s leading to multi-tier job creation – and the technology field supports some of the most high-paying jobs of any industry.


It also gets down to smart people. Today’s economy is an innovation-based economy and driving this innovation are the brightest minds and best problem solvers. These are people who enjoy the challenge of creating something new – a new product or service – to respond to a need that has never existed.

For this current generation of innovation, the brightest minds are gathered around technology. This is the industry that is the catalyst for delivering a whole new way to engage products, get services and interact. These are the innovators creating new patentable products, the entrepreneurs driving ideas and products to market and the leaders of companies that are reinventing the way we do business.


Atlanta is poised to continue to be a global leader in the technology field, with great growth potential. We are already a global hub for mobility and we need to make sure that we are positioned to continue creating the next generation of innovation.


But there is a work to do.


We need to continue to prepare our workforce for the new jobs that are being created by next-generation technology and for the needs that are coming out of the trends in the technology field.


We also need to think of ourselves as a global tech hub and not just a regional center for technology. We need to let people know that Atlanta’s tech market is 13,000-companies strong, and that events like Venture Atlanta have provided nearly $1 billion in funding to date for innovative companies, mostly in the tech sector. We are already walking the walk, now we need to start actually talking the walk and get our story out there.


Atlanta may not roll off the tongue like Silicon Valley or Austin or Boston, but the assets and the innovation are all right here.

View Key Findings and full report here.

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Atlanta’s trip to China about job creation, building relationships

Posted on March 26, 2012 by admin

By Jorge Fernandez,
Vice President, Global Commerce, Metro Atlanta Chamber

This week (March 23-31), Metro Atlanta Chamber leaders embarked on a trade mission to China with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, leaders from Invest Atlanta and more than 20 Atlanta companies seeking to learn how to do business in China.

Since the Metro Atlanta Chamber embarked on its global outreach mission, by creating a Global Commerce Council, China has been the priority for us. In fact, our very first trip as a new global commerce department at the Chamber was to take then-Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin in a very successful trip to China.


Here we are six years later, and now we are taking Atlanta’s Mayor Kasim Reed, her successor, on a similar trip.

Over these last six years we have partnered with a host or organizations to market Atlanta in this important market for the purpose of introducing our region to Chinese companies that are encouraged to go global, and to find opportunities for Atlanta-based companies in a market with the highest growth of its middle class.


  • Achievements

    Atlanta has been going to China not just through Metro Atlanta Chamber, but with our partners the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Invest Atlanta, Gwinnett County, Sandy Springs and others collectively, two or three times a year, every year. This is a collective and collaborative effort to raise awareness of the region in the market.


    Georgia’s second biggest trade partner is China, where we have seen year-over-year growth at the rate of 33 percent.
    More than 20 Chinese companies now call Atlanta home, including SANY America, Hisense USA Corp. and Techtop Industries Inc. Our continuous presence in China is extremely important because we are living in a highly competitive global economy. In Georgia, there are more than 170,000 jobs directly related to foreign companies, so doing business in China, and internationally, is very important to Atlanta’s economy.

  • Exports

    Exports represent 8 percent of Metro Atlanta’s GDP and more than 150,000 export-supported jobs. In a global economy, companies are indirectly and directly impacted by the global economy, whether they are actively pursuing international business operations or not.
    The bottom line is that Georgia depends on world markets.


    The Metro Atlanta Chamber feels strongly that this trip to China represents an unprecedented opportunity for the companies that are participating. One of the goals of the trip is to boost the efforts of mid-sized companies to export their products to China. There is untapped need for goods and services in the market. This trip can provide key links and connections to make this goal achievable.


    The cities selected for this trip were carefully and deliberately chosen because of real-time opportunities that exist there and because of their synergies with Atlanta’s economy.


    The strength of China’s economy is vast. There are opportunities for an array of industries, including architecture, engineering, green building, professional services, medical equipment, transportation, energy and education.
    China has a very rapidly expanding middle class – that’s what’s helping to generate the opportunities we are seeing. There is greater demand for products from a middle class that wants the best.


    This growth phenomenon also means that as Chinese companies grow, they are looking for opportunities not only in China, but overseas, and the U.S. market is the largest market in the world. That is where they want to be to grow.


  • ROI

    The success of this trip is measured in several ways, including foreign direct investment (FDI). By finding the right leads, we can work to develop them into projects that eventually become jobs in Georgia and Atlanta.


    There is also the success that comes from building trade relations. The companies going on this trip will begin to understand the reality of doing business in China and come back with a better view and understanding of the Chinese market overall, which will lead to ways to grow their business back home.


    Then there is the prospect of marketing Atlanta. We are in a very competitive world and there is a constant need through every means possible to ensure that Atlanta remains in the minds of Chinese companies that are assessing the U.S. market. We meet that need through visits, meetings, receiving delegations here, writing articles, meeting with the media and engaging social media.


    This trip, and the cities selected to visit – Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen – all are experiencing growth.
    Guangzhou, the third largest city in China measured by total consumption by its population, boasts a growth model on consumption that China is trying to replicate in the rest of the country. Hangzhou, according to Forbes magazine, is ranked as a top commercial city in China’s mainland. Meanwhile, Nanjing is similar to Atlanta in that it is one of the most important inland transportation hubs for the country.


    Our mission trip to these cities complements the great job that the state’s office in China does. This also builds on the work done during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and the work done by Atlanta giants who have found success in China, including The Home Depot, The Coca-Cola Co. and The Portman Companies.
    As China continues to evolve and adapt to it economic challenges, China will continue to look externally for growth and find solutions to the needs of its middle class. These trips help develop those solutions.

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DeKalb Chamber Stands Behind Transportation Referendum

Posted on March 5, 2012 by admin

As we move toward the July 31 vote for the region’s landmark transportation referendum, the DeKalb Chamber remains fully in support of this progressive plan to tackle metro Atlanta’s traffic woes and transportation needs.

Leonardo McClarty, DeKalb Chamber of Commerce President

In spending approximately $8 billion for more than 150 projects, the Atlanta region receives more than $34 billion back by 2040. Thanks to the increased travel time savings and reduced fuel costs this plan will bring about, regional residents will save a combined total of more than $18 billion, in current dollars, by 2040. The transportation referendum, and the investment it represents, will support 34,000 construction jobs by 2040 and an additional 200,000 jobs, including those that are supported year-over-year.

The DeKalb Chamber (Chamber) would like to commend and thank CEO Burrell Ellis and Mayor Bill Floyd for their leadership on the Atlanta Regional Roundtable.  The adoption of the Transportation Investment Act (TIA) project list demonstrates leadership and regional cooperation by CEO Ellis and Mayor Floyd. In light of the total sum of funds and the allocation to DeKalb, the Chamber believes that DeKalb County received its fair share of $1.017 billion from the $6.14 billion.  DeKalb County’s project list is as follows:

  • I-285 at I-85 – $26.5 million
  • Lenox Road – $5 million
  • Buford Highway – $12 million
  • CSX Bridge at Emory – $25 million
  • Glenwood Road – $5 million
  • Indian Creek Corridor – $5 million
  • N. Druid Hills Road Corridor – $25 million
  • Panola Road widening – $31 million
  • Panola Road at I-20 – $21 million
  • Mt. Vernon Road to Dunwoody Club Drive – $12 million
  • Buford Hwy Connector – $25 million
  • I-20 East MARTA corridor improvements – $225 million
  • Clifton Corridor – $700 million

In addition, DeKalb County will receive another $149 million in discretionary funds, a call center and funds to go toward MARTA’s “state of good repair”, which will be funded by everyone in the region.

We, along with many others in DeKalb County, would have liked to have seen more funds dedicated to the expansion of rail down I-20. However, we are pleased that $225 million was allocated especially considering that originally no monies were set aside. Moreover, these funds can be used to leverage additional funds in the future.

Because I-20 was not funded to a greater degree, there are some who have publically stated they will not support  the TIA and may in fact advocate against its passage. However, to actively engage in defeating the TIA would be harmful to DeKalb, as a whole, and certainly does not move us forward. The fact is at the present time there are no other alternatives for addressing our transportation deficiencies. The TIA process as it stands has the potential to be a major economic generator not only for DeKalb County but for the Atlanta region as a whole. The inability to pass the TIA limits our ability to compete regionally and domestically.

It is critically important that we pass the TIA because our future economic prosperity depends upon it. Rest assured, the DeKalb Chamber will do everything possible to inform and educate the citizens of DeKalb County to ensure that decisions are based upon facts and merits.

-Leonardo McClarty

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Data Show Economic Boost from Transportation Referendum

Posted on February 10, 2012 by admin

Here’s something we can all agree on: Atlanta’s traffic problem is slowing us down. It slows us down on the job, since for most commuters time on the road is not time on the job. And it slows us down at home, leaving less time for family, kids and the comforts of home.

Doug Hooker, Executive Director of the Atlanta Regional Commission

A just-completed study by the Atlanta Regional Commission shows that the July 31 referendum for a one-penny sales levy will not only unclog our roads but will pump life into our region’s economy and afford us more time at work, at home and with family.

According to the ARC study, traffic congestion is costing the average metro Atlanta commuter $924 a year. If the 157 projects on the July 31 sales levy are built, commuters will save $9.2 billion by 2040.

Traffic snarls are also expensive in lost time and wasted fuel. If the projects are completed, the ARC’s independent economists found, incomes across metro Atlanta would rise by $18 billion.

The study also points to significant jobs gains if the levy is approved. Investing $8.5 billion in transportation improvements that free up traffic throughout the region will create 200,000 new jobs, according to the economists, including jobs that are maintained year over year. That’s more than 7,000 jobs a year between 2013 and 2040 – and more than two-thirds of them are mid- to high-wage jobs.

Overall, the economists found that by building the projects on the July 31 referendum, the region would realize a $34.8 billion return on an $8.5 billion investment. But that speaks to only half of the equation. Commuters will also have more time for home and family, more productive hours at work – and a region that is far more attractive to job-seekers and jobs-producers.

The Georgia General Assembly gave voters the opportunity to invest in transportation because they know that funding levels have dropped and our needs are great. Georgia ranks 49th in the nation in transportation spending per capita — and ranks fourth in total hours the average commuter spends in traffic. Also, a recent Brookings Institute study shows Atlanta’s global economic standing is 189th, far behind our regional competitors such as Nashville at 89th and Charlotte at 145th.

Adding to the challenge are the three million more people forecast by ARC to come to metro Atlanta by 2040. Meanwhile, gas tax revenues continue to decline as cars become more fuel-efficient. Since 1980, the average fuel efficiency of a passenger car sold in America has increased by almost 40 percent.

These factors create a transportation “perfect storm” that requires us to find additional funding sources or suffer worse congestion in the future, with an added cost of time and money to Atlanta residents. The Regional Transportation Referendum is the first alternate funding source the state has offered to commuters stuck in traffic. It’s something we must all consider very carefully.

This economic impact analysis is the first of several ARC is working on to enable solid decision-making by metro residents on this opportunity to invest in our region’s future mobility, economy and quality of life.

-Doug Hooker

Numbers speak loudly on Transportation Referendum

Voters in the Atlanta region have the opportunity to pass a referendum on July 31 that would raise $8.5 billion through a one percent sales tax to fund transportation projects across the region.

Based on the list of priority transportation improvements developed by a Regional Transportation Roundtable of local officials, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) and a team of economists have completed an initial analysis and forecast of the economic impacts of the 2012 Regional Transportation Referendum’s passage and build-out.

The economic benefits expected to accrue through 2040 include the following, if the referendum passes:
• 4 to 1 return on investment – The $8.5 billion investment in 157 projects will result in an estimated $34.8 billion increase in gross regional product in the Atlanta region by 2040.
• 200,000 additional jobs supported – The analysis indicates that the transportation investment will create or support an additional 200,000 job years, including jobs that are maintained year-over-year.
• Almost two-thirds of those jobs will be in mid-to-high paying job sectors.
• The construction sector was hardest hit by the recession. The referendum would lead to the creation and support of 34,000 jobs in this critical sector by 2040.
• $9.2 billion in travel time savings – The average metro Atlanta commuter spends $924 each year sitting in traffic. Collectively, these projects would allow residents to save $9.2 billion by 2040.
• $18 billion increase in personal income – Due to the travel time savings and reduced fuel costs, incomes around the region will increase a collective $18 billion by 2040.

Metro Atlanta faces a transportation funding crisis. Revenues from gas taxes, the primary source of federal and state funding, are declining as cars become more fuel efficient. In fact, 70 percent of the region’s transportation funding will be spent to simply maintain the existing roads and systems over the next 30 years, leaving little room for expansion. This means that, as the region grows, congestion will worsen unless adequate investments are made.

Posted in Regional Transportation Referendum | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

MAVEN

Posted on January 20, 2012 by admin

Metro Atlanta suffers from traffic congestion. Metro Atlanta Chamber’s goal is to educate the public about a referendum in July where metro Atlanta residents will decide whether they want more options to reduce traffic, create more jobs and improve our overall quality of life.

MAVEN is a broad-based group of civic coalitions, business organizations & individuals working to provide the public with information on transportation issues.

View the video on YouTube or watch below.

 

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How Critical is Success at the Ballot Box in July 2012 to Metro Atlanta?

Posted on January 20, 2012 by admin

Quality of Life: 

Metro Atlanta’s quality of life is greatly impacted by our severe traffic congestion.  Consider these facts:

  • The average metro Atlantan spends 43 hours a year stuck in traffic. 
  • Atlanta ranks worst in the nation for Daily Peak Period Travel Time at 127 minutes.
  • Atlanta’s total cost of traffic congestion is nearly $2.4 billion EVERY YEAR. 

(Source: 2010 Texas Transportation Institute Annual Urban Mobility Report)

Get Home Faster:

Approval of the July 31 regional transportation referendum will result in getting you home sooner.  Congestion will be reduced, allowing parents to make their children’s soccer games, piano recitals, etc.

Citizen-driven Project List:

Over 200,000 metro-Atlanta citizens gave their input to arrive at the final list of 157 projects that will be delivered if the July 31 vote is approved.  This unprecedented public input process resulted in a very balanced list of projects: road and transit, small and large, safety and technology, equitably distributed across the region.

Economic Development: 

Passage of the 2012 transportation referendum will inject over $7 billion in needed transportation projects over 10 years. The overall economic impact of this investment will spur job creation, retention and expansion across the region, jump-starting Atlanta’s economy.

 

Posted in MAVEN, Regional Transportation Referendum, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment