Posts

By David Pendered

The political theater of the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation played out Tuesday in a harbinger of things to come as the final list of projects is crafted.

The day started with a show of solidarity by the Executive Committee of the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable. The committee voted unanimously to approve what turned out to be about $715 million in sales-tax-funded road improvements in five outlying counties – Cherokee, Douglas, Henry, Fayette, and Rockdale.

The day ended with remarks from DeKalb County officials and advocates who forcefully requested the committee to add the proposed MARTA rail extension along Eastbound I-20. Construction costs of the 5.4 mile route range from about $523 million to $769 million, depending on whose estimate is used.

By David Pendered

The political optics of the region’s proposed $6.1 billion transportation improvement program begins Tuesday, as the battle over projects spills for the first time into the public arena.

DeKalb County Commissioner Lee May has called a noon press conference – complete with “elected officials and supporters” – to discuss the exclusion of any new transit project to serve south DeKalb on the tentative short list that was approved last week.

May intends to pick up where he left off last week, when he addressed the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable’s Executive Committee after it voted for a $3 billion tentative list of transit projects. May took the podium to ring the bell of equity in transit and finance:

By David Pendered

It says something about the transparency of governance at Atlanta’s airport when more information is publicly available on LinkedIn than is provided by the airport.

The Linkedin page of an airport manager says concessions generate over $336 million in annual revenue. That sort of figure may be of interest to concessionaire competitors in the city’s current effort to sign vendors for the airport’s 125 food and beverage sites and 27 retail shops.

No such total revenue figure is available – much less more detailed data – in the airport’s concessionaires’ brochures or its presentations to prospective concessionaires, according to a new study by Bruce Seaman, an economist with Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.

By David Pendered

Metro Atlanta’s plans to use federal funding in addition to revenues from the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation were thrown into jeopardy Friday.

The chairman of the House Transportation Committee said he will not compromise on the spending plan he submitted last month, according to a report in the Aug. 6 edition of The Wall Street Journal. The budget proposal would cut current spending levels by about a third, according to some reports.

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) said he will fight as vigorously for the proposed cuts in the transportation budget as he did against certain spending in the battle that shut down the Federal Aviation Administration.

By David Pendered

The initial shape of a project list that voters are to see on a ballot next year for the 1 cent transportation sales tax referendum was approved Thursday.

This list is only a beginning point, and even it won approval by a narrow 3-2 vote. (See below for the roll call.)

Seven transit projects made the initial list, with a value of $3 billion. These projects were defined as “kickoff projects” because they are not guaranteed a spot on the list.

There is no list of road projects – yet. The initial shape of a road list is to be formed at a meeting to be scheduled within the next week by the Executive Committee of the Atlanta Regional Roundtable. Aug. 15 is the deadline for a final list.

By David Pendered

The ceremonial groundbreaking on Wednesday for a Cancer Treatment Centers of America hospital in Newnan is expected to attract an audience of 500 onlookers.

Part of the draw is just the pure joy watching economic development: Construction is pegged at $150 million, and the economic impact over five years is projected to be $500 million.

Part of the draw is political: The groundbreaking culminates a multi-year battle in the state Legislature. The debate was portrayed as pitting those who promoted choice in cancer treatment against those who wanted to keep insured patients at Georgia’s existing hospitals.

By David Pendered

Bennigan’s may be trying to make a come-back in its hometown by opening at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The restaurant appears to be in the group of restaurants that are in a white-hot battle to win a food or drink concessions contract at Atlanta’s airport.

Fifty-eight companies are competing for just a dozen spaces at which they can open a restaurant or beverage location – 11 spaces located on concourses and one in the coveted Atrium. Some companies likely represent several restaurants.