Category: Maria’s Metro

Finding the right transportation solution for metro Atlanta is getting harder by the day.

Take what former Gov. Roy Barnes told real estate agents last week. (I actually emailed the governor to make sure he was quoted accurately. Yes he was).

As Political Insider Jim Galloway reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Barnes said that MARTA should be preserved, but not expanded. Instead, the state should shift to a network of elevated light-rail lines that would run above metro Atlanta’s interstate system.

What has happened to our “smart growth” governor?

Without a doubt, metro Atlanta is the economic propeller for the state of Georgia.

When metro Atlanta suffers, so does the rest of the state.

But, for reasons that defy logic, there is a lack of appreciation for the positive impact that Georgia’s metropolis has on the rest of the state.

One would think that the state of Georgia would do everything it could to make sure that its economic engine was running as efficiently as possible. But whether it be economic development investment or traffic issues or water resources, metro Atlanta often finds itself at a disadvantage.

Recently, I had lunch with Taylor Glover, president of Turner Enterprises.

It didn’t’ take long for us to start talking about the environment and energy. Glover began drawing some wavy lines on the paper tablecloth at Ted’s Montana Grill.

In the past, the earth has relied on solids for energy — the burning of wood and coal. As time has passed, the world has turned more to liquids for its energy — primarily oil and petroleum products. The problem with those energy sources is that they contribute to pollution and to climate change.

In short, those are unsustainable sources of energy.

How far we have fallen.

Today Georgia finds itself in the weakest political position it has ever been at the national level, at least for the last six decades.

Currently, there is virtually no direct link to the party in power at the White House, the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. And Georgia is at risk of being left out in the political cold when it comes to power and influence.

Take the battle over the $1.75 billion appropriation for new F-22 fighter jets. Both U.S. senators from Georgia — Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson — had placed the continued

It’s been pretty easy to blame the state legislature for the lack of progress on regional transportation issues and MARTA during the last session.

But part of the problem rests within the region. There has been a lack of consensus among local governments and their delegation of senators and representatives on how to proceed on key regional issues.

A significant meeting took place last week at Fulton County that hopes to change that backdrop.

The meeting included top elected leaders from the city of

After six months in office as CEO of DeKalb County, Burrell Ellis finds himself uniquely positioned to build stategic relationships with Washington D.C. and the Atlanta region.

It is those relationships that Ellis hopes will help DeKalb County weather the stormy economy and be prepared for a stable recovery.

Ellis has been working on his relationship with the federal government through the National Association of Counties, an organization he joined when he was a DeKalb County commissioner.

Two strikes. One more and we’re out.

Atlanta has struck out twice with internationally-acclaimed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

First, it was the 17th Street bridge connecting Spring Street with Atlantic Station. Calatrava had designed a bridge that would have been a fanciful and graceful gateway to our city. Instead of a Calatrava bridge, we got a low-budget, DOT-concrete span painted yellow.

Second, it was the new concert hall for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Calatrava had designed a hall that appeared able to take flight in between the highrise buildings on 14th Street between Peachtree and West Peachtree streets.

When the $300 million design was unveiled, it was called Atlanta’s next signature postcard. Instead, it will end up in the file of unbuilt designs.

Governance.

Even in the best of times, finding the right governance to address a problem in a fair and representative way is a tricky task.

It is just that exercise that the Atlanta Regional Transit Implementation Board has been wrestling with for the past several months.

What would be the most balanced way to oversee transit development in the 12-county Atlanta region, if and when a new funding source is passed.

The effort has been a valiant one. County commission chairs have been working with MARTA, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA), the Georgia Department of Transportation, the governor’s office and the Atlanta Regional Commission to design a governance board to implement a regional transit system.

For as long as I can remember, there’s always been tension between Atlanta and the rest of the state.

Some call it the two Georgias. Others say there are three, four or five Georgias. Whatever the number, it’s become increasingly apparent that these great divides are pulling our state apart — creating a disjointed and acrimonious environment that hurts every corner of Georgia.

Those divides were even more glaring in this past legislative session when different political agendas resulted in little getting done for either metro Atlanta or the rest of Georgia.

As a result several key business and civic leaders are strategizing about a big idea to unify the state through a multimillion dollar, multi-year initiative.

After years of being on the outs, cities now believe they have a friend in the White House.

“In some ways, we have elected our first urban president,” said Georgia Sen. David Adelman, who chairs the state Senate’s urban affairs committee.

President Barack Obama has spent most of life in cities — Honolulu, Jakarta, Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Chicago.

“He has embraced his urban roots,” added Adelman, citing the fact that in his first couple of months in office, Obama established the Office of Urban Affairs. And the top leaders in his administration are “people who have direct experience

The shapers of Atlanta gathered Sunday evening at the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center to honor one of their own — Richard Stogner.

As a video screen played scenes from Stogner’s life, we all received slices of Atlanta history from the officials who were on the front row of government during the city’s growth from a metro area of less than 1 million residents to a region of more than 5 million people.

Stogner, who has spent more than 40 years serving local governments, recently retired. He culminated his career by serving eight years as executive assistant to former DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones.

Here we don’t go again.

On Thursday, about 50 of the 120 people who went on the recent LINK trip to Minneapolis-St. Paul gathered at the Atlanta Regional Commission to figure out where we go from here.

(For the record, this conversation needs to take place during the LINK trip when everyone is present, energized and enthused. Issues and ideas become stale waiting two weeks after the fact).

After two hours of conversation between the various participants, I left the meeting feeling no comfort that we are getting close to finding a funding mechanism for transit and transportation funding in our region.

The problems are becoming more pronounced with each passing day.

Whatever happened to IT3?

And what can we do to make sure it becomes reality?

IT3 — Investing in Tomorrow’s Transportation Today — was launched by Gov. Sonny Perdue last year as an effort to take a thorough look at what the state should do to improve its transportation challenges.

It commissioned McKinsey & Co., a top consulting company, to conduct a $2.5 million study on a far-reaching assessment of what it would take to build out our transportation infrastructure.

IT3 was presented to various transportation agencies at the end of last year, but then its recommendations got lost in the whirlwind of unproductive state politics in the transportation arena.

Imagine a state with exceptionally high taxes and almost no economic development strategy — that’s Minnesota.

But here is the kicker. Minnesota has been a favorite state for Fortune 500 companies.

“There’s a direct link between jobs and a good quality of life,” said Charlie Weaver, executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership. “We want the best quality of life possible.”

Weaver spoke to a delegation of more than 100 Atlanta leaders visiting Minneapolis-St. Paul earlier this month to compare and contrast initiatives related to growth, development, transportation and quality of life.

Surprisingly, the Twin Cities areas has 19 Fortune 500 companies — including Target, United Health Group, Best Buy,

The metro area of Minneapolis-St. Paul will be the site of this year’s LINK trip.

LINK — Leadership. Involvement. Networking. Knowledge — is in its 13th year of taking top metro Atlanta leaders to a different city to learn best practices as well as failed initiatives in other communities.

The LINK trips prove especially valuable in forging regional ties between government, business and civic leaders.

Minneapolis-St. Paul will help Atlantans understand how a cold Midwestern city remains one of the strongest Fortune 500 metro areas in the country. With 19 Fortune 500 firms based in the seven-county region, Minneapolis-St. Paul focuses its

Underground Atlanta will not be getting a casino anytime soon. But as one door closes, another one opens.

As my colleague, Scott Trubey, and I reported in this week’s Atlanta Business Chronicle, plans to turn the retail and entertainment complex into a c asino of “video lottery terminals,” is on hold, at least until Gov. Sonny Perdue leaves office.

Perdue has let the Georgia Lottery board, the group that would have to approve the casino, that it won’t happen on his watch.

There’s a wide range of opinions — for a myriad of reasons —

MARTA General Manager Beverly Scott can hardly contain her excitement.

After decades “toiling in the vineyards,” she and other rail advocates finally have friends in the White House.

With just a couple of days notice, Scott got a call from a friend at the Federal Transit Administration asking whether she could come up to Washington D.C. for the administration’s unveiling of its high speed rail strategy.

So early on Thursday morning, Scott found herself at the old Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. After going through three different security screenings, she joined about 80 other transit advocates in a medium-sized room

Something extraordinary is taking place.

As never before, the Atlanta region is coalescing around a common agenda.

The metro Atlanta area is composed of more than a dozen counties, numerous municipalities and governmental agencies and authorities. It is extremely difficult to get the urban, suburban and ex-urban leaders to understand how their interests are mutually intertwined.

There’s so much blame to go around.

The political stalemate between Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson means the Atlanta region is in a standstill when it comes to new transportation funding.

The implications are enormous.

Enough already.

State legislators need to stop trying to take control of MARTA or Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Some legislators just don’t get it. They keep orchestrating plots or plans or bills for the state to take over our largest public transit system and the world’s busiest airport.

These are the same state leaders who have done virtually nothing to support either.