Category: David Pendered

An interesting insight from the latest WSB-TV poll on the proposed transportation sales tax is that the referendum simply won’t pass unless almost every undecided voter swings to support it.

The opportunity to reach out undecided voters, a segment that polled at 14 percent, improved Friday. Congress approved a federal transportation bill that includes significant transit funding

The federal bill increases the likelihood that the federal government will provide the 12 percent of funds that will be needed to do all the work voters in metro Atlanta have been promised if they approve the 1 percent transportation sales tax.

The clock is ticking on the July 31 election day, when a referendum on metro Atlanta’s first regional transportation sales tax will be on the ballot.

Today is the last day to register to vote in the election. Registrations by mail must be postmarked no later than July 2 to be considered, according to the Georgia Secretary of State. Other important deadlines are listed below.

Meanwhile, the Metro Atlanta Chamber has moved to counter a poll conducted for WSB-TV that showed waning support for the sales tax – especially among voters who reside in counties other than Fulton and DeKalb counties.

Potential homebuyers who plan to use one of Georgia’s down payment assistance programs can earn their qualifying credits at an all-day event Saturday in Atlanta.

These buyers would be locking in prices that are far below their pre-recession peak. Some prices are relative bargains – a quarter of homes sold in the past 12 months were prices at less than $50,000, according to a report this month by Smart Numbers.

Saturday’s event qualifies those who complete it for a certificate now required by the state’s housing agency, the Department of Community Affairs, to apply for housing assistance. The event is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Jean Childs Young Middle School, located at 3116 Benjamin E Mays Drive S.W.

Congress is inching closer to a Friday adoption of a federal transportation bill that could give metro Atlanta voters some assurances that they won’t be going it alone in paying for road and transit projects if the transportation sales tax is approved.

Based on a tentative deal reached Wednesday, a two-year federal bill would likely include funds that would help build projects in metro Atlanta. The proposed transportation sales tax envisions the region using proceeds of the sales tax to draw down more federal funds than now is possible.

An insight into the reason a federal transportation bill is crucial to the completion of local projects emerged Monday during a discussion of four federal grants that were addressed in a MARTA committee meeting.

Gov. Nathan Deal and the state Transportation Department have given two big boosts to the effort to create a linear park along Ga. 400 in Buckhead.

Gov. Nathan Deal has announced the state will provide $750,000 to the Buckhead Trail, which is being overseen by Livable Buckhead.

The state DOT also helped the trail by approving a resolution that calls for transit and multi-use trails to be included in all managed lane projects. The board that oversees GDOT approved the resolution in May.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is among President Obama’s biggest supporters, but that didn’t stop a city entity that’s chaired by the mayor from renting office space in a skyscraper that’s partly owned by two of Obama’s wealthiest opponents.

The city’s development arm, Invest Atlanta, has approved a 13-year, $5.7 million lease for office space in the Georgia Pacific building, in Downtown Atlanta. The lease is three times the $1.9 million that Invest Atlanta would pay to stay at Underground Atlanta, according to a fact sheet from Invest Atlanta.

The iconic skyscraper is owned by Georgia Pacific and others, according to Fulton County tax records. Georgia Pacific is wholly owned by Koch Industries, whose two billionaire owners oppose Obama’s reelection and support conservative candidates.

The deadline to register to vote in the July 31 election – including the referendum for the transportation sales tax – is just a week away.

Voters have until July 2 to register for the general primary election, according to Georgia’s secretary of state, Brian Kemp. The same date is the deadline for voter registration for any run-off, which would be Aug. 21.

The ballot will be chock full on July 31. In addition to the sales tax referendum, primary elections are underway for local seats as well as the state Legislature and Congress. Metro Atlantans also will be voting on a seat on the Public Service Commission, which oversees utility companies.

Atlanta could be at the center of a new southern network of passenger high-speed rail service that a consultant to the state Transportation Department has said is feasible and could begin operating no sooner than 2028.

The report does not address the sobering question of how to pay for the potential network, which would link Atlanta with four southern cities: Birmingham, Ala.; Louisville, Ky.; and Savannah/Jacksonville, Fla.

The new report reaches some of the same general conclusions of a freight logistics report GDOT released earlier this year: Georgia’s rail system has not kept pace in providing upgrades needed to serve its growing logistic industries and population.

Georgia is heading toward a new model for transporting the poor, elderly and disabled from home to health care in rural Georgia.

A new system is needed simply because the costs are forecast to rise dramatically – up by 64 percent by 2030, according to a recent report to a committee of the Governors Development Council.

The new system seems likely to rely on the use of one entity to coordinate the overall transport system, which will continue to use a variety of local transport providers to transport rural Georgians.

Politics can be as much perception as reality, and the two appear to coincide in at least one aspect of the campaign for the transportation sales tax – traffic congestion.

The perception of traffic congestion is that has lessened on metro Atlanta roadways in the years since the Legislature first began cobbling together the referendum that is on the July 31 ballot. A report from GRTA supports the perception.

At this point in time, there’s no way to gauge the impact at the polls for voters who spend less time in traffic congestion than they did before the recession. The scant poll results that have been released do not address that question.

An audit by Atlanta’s city auditor has flagged expenses by the Atlanta BeltLine, including pension benefits that aren’t available to city employees and credit card expenses in one month of $9,835 for items including an executive retreat and staff dinner.

A separate report, this one by an outside consultant commissioned by the BeltLine advisory committee, determined that the BeltLine’s management needs to “develop consistent financial and progress reports.” The report suggested that management formalize “the advisory process so that input is better integrated into ABI Board [Atlanta Beltline, Inc.] and city of Atlanta decisions.”

Bullhooks could be used on circus elephants, and petting zoos would be banned in Atlanta parks, under two proposals the Atlanta City Council is slated to vote on today.

The bullhook issue is part of a broader bill that a senior advisor to Mayor Kasim Reed said is needed so that Atlanta can take back its animal control ordinances from Fulton County. Fulton bans bullhooks. The petting zoo ban is part of a broader effort by the city parks department to control undesired activities.

Both measures are expected to sail through the council, given that they appear on an agenda crowded with matters including the planned adoption of the city’s 2013 budget, which takes effect July 1.

The campaign for passage of the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation is maintaining a slow but steady presence as the July 31 election day approaches.

After its launch on April 4 with the introduction of an advertising campaign on TV and radio, the campaign is well beyond its midway point. About six weeks remain before the vote.

The campaign went on the offensive Wednesday, issuing a media advisory chiding a leader of the Tea Party for saying an increase in the gas tax was a viable option to the sales tax as a means of raising money for mobility improvements. Previously, the campaign has largely involved statements of support from celebrities, elected officials and organizations; and an information campaign conducted via “wireside” chat.

(This story has been updated with new comments from the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council.)

Businesses that are small or disadvantaged will have their fair shot at contracts for more than $3 billion worth of transit projects that are to be built if the transportation sales tax is approved.

GRTA’s board of directors unanimously approved a resolution today affirming that all contracts it oversees will comply with federal regulations on disadvantaged business enterprises. The resolution also says GRTA will collaborate with local governments to develop policies that promote work for small businesses.

Metro Atlanta voters who are still making up their mind about the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation should think of their children and grandchildren, the guest speaker said at today’s meeting of the Civic League for Regional Atlanta.

“However you vote, I challenge you to vote for your grandchild,” said John Robert Smith, the president and CEO of the non-profit Reconstructing America. “Look at your vision for your hometown, your region, and the places that you love.”

Those lofty thoughts set the tone for an ensuing conversation in which five panelists took turns to deride or praise aspects of the proposed sales tax that’s on the July 31 ballot. Maria Saporta, editor of saportareport.com and a longtime Atlanta journalist, moderated the panel discussion.

An animal rights organization plans to have a lawyer in Atlanta today to oppose the city’s proposed animal ordinance, which the group says would permit the use of bullhooks to control elephants.

Bullhooks don’t pop up much in daily conversation. But every February, when the circus comes to town, there’s debate about – and often rallies against – the metal-barbed sticks that animal trainers use to strike and apply pressure to sensitive spots of elephants.

“By introducing legislation that excludes a bullhook ban, it appears the city is caving to commercial interests over animal welfare,” said Carney Anne Chester, a lawyer for PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The price of MARTA’s base fare and monthly pass fare will not increase through at least June 30, 2013, according the operating budget MARTA’s board of directors approved Monday for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

However, the price of other fares will increase on Oct. 7, according to the board’s previously approved rate hikes. Reduced fares will rise from 95 cents to $1; mobility base fares will rise from $3.80 to $4; and mobility monthly passes will rise from $122 to $128.

Also, the price of vehicles for Atlanta’s streetcars are rising. An extra $750,000 will be needed for an acquisition now budgeted at $17.2 million, according to a report to the board’s Operations Committee. The board took no action on the report.

Atlanta is poised to enact a new animal ordinance drafted by Mayor Kasim Reed’s office that does not ban the use of “bullhooks” to control elephants.

Bullhooks are specifically banned by a Fulton County animal ordinance, which would have prevented the use of the barbed sticks in February by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The circus won the right to use bullhooks to control elephants through a lawsuit it filed against the Fulton County.

The mayor’s office intends for the Atlanta City Council to vote June 18 on the proposed animal ordinance, according to the legislation. That’s likely to be a busy day for legislation, given that the council also plans to approve a citywide budget of $540 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

A new federal report paints a grim picture nationwide of the real estate industry.

According to Mayor Kasim Reed’s current budget proposal, the picture isn’t any better in Atlanta. The effect of the downturn rambles across major sectors of the city’s economy that once had prospered from real estate development – engineering and construction, materials and transport, legal and marketing and sales.

The mayor’s budget book holds out little hope for a bounce in the local economy to occur over the next year.

Sweet Auburn Avenue’s commercial district has the dubious distinction of making its way twice to the list of the country’s most endangered historic places.

That announcement was made Wednesday by David Brown, executive vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Brown and others spoke at an event on a vacant tract of land at the corner of Auburn and Piedmont avenues, where a building stood until it fell from disrepair.

The designation comes just three months after Atlanta’s Urban Design Commission halted the planned demolition of most of the building that once housed the Atlanta Daily World newspaper. The developer, who planned to build a new structure behind the old facade, subsequently announced it would not appeal the ruling.