The Atlanta City Council is slated to vote Monday on a proposal to call a referendum on a 0.5 percent sales tax hike to expand transit in the city, plus an additional measure that sets guidelines for spending the money.
Tag: MARTA
Posted inLatest News
Control of Atlanta’s streetcars emerges in talks of $2.5 billion in transit funding
The issue of who should control the Atlanta Streetcar – Atlanta or MARTA – emerged as a flash point Wednesday between some Atlanta city councilmembers and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration during a talk about the future of the streetcar amid a $2.5 billion proposal to expand transit in the city.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta calls four meetings on transportation sales taxes; last two fall after deadline for preliminary project list
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration on Thursday called four public meetings to gather input about the two proposed transportation sales tax referendums that Reed wants on the Nov. 8 ballot. By state law, MARTA must present a preliminary list to the city by May 31 for a proposed transit tax increase to appear on a ballot this year.
Posted inColumns
Density bonuses essential for MARTA’s expansion to ease traffic congestion
By Guest Columnist WILL ADAMS, an Atlanta-based researcher, analyst and frequent speaker in the energy utilities industry
Many MARTA rail expansion advocates I speak with are surprised to learn the transit system’s ridership figures have been down each year since 2009, with 2014 as one of the lowest on record.
Posted inColumns
City of Atlanta and MARTA can create transit model in age of micro-regionalism
Atlanta has a wonderful opportunity to lead the region by showing how to seize the future. It can become the model for the rest of the region. As Atlanta proves that transit is giving it a competitive edge, the rest of the region will find out the hard way that it’s a day late and a dollar short – and forced to play catch up.
Posted inMain Slider, Stories of Atlanta
The sum of its parts
It is natural for any city to brag a little about itself … but in Atlanta, boosterism is a way of life. That, however, does not change the fact that there are many things about Atlanta that are worth bragging about. I guess we were just in a little bit of a reflective mood this […]
Posted inColumns, Main Slider, Saba Long
No more delays – let’s fund MARTA expansion this year
“Delay, delay, delay.” That was presidential candidate Donald J. Trump’s response to President Barack Obama’s forthcoming nomination of a Supreme Court Justice to replace conservative Antonin Scalia.
Transit skeptics in Fulton County and at the state legislature are using the same tactic to shortchange a long overdue MARTA expansion.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: MARTA bill may not be dead
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, speaking to a gathering of civic leaders Monday morning, gave a glimmer of hope that the MARTA referendum may not be dead after all.
At a conference about the “opportunity gap,” Reed said that if there were a transportation referendum without MARTA, “just count me out.”
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
MARTA’s Brookhaven development stalled; city wants more discussion about density
The mixed use development planned at MARTA’s Brookhaven Station has been put on hold by Brookhaven city officials, who want to have a broader discussion about the area’s infrastructure before homes, shops and a hotel are built at the site.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
President Obama appoints MARTA’s GM/CEO to infrastructure council
President Obama has announced his intent to appoint MARTA GM/CEO Keith Parker to a national council that advises the president on issues related to the security and resilience of the country’s critical infrastructure systems.
Posted inColumns, David Pendered, Main Slider
MARTA may start photographing drivers, car tags as part of parking system upgrade
MARTA is upgrading its paid parking system and wants to know its options for taking pictures of each driver and license plate as vehicles enter and exit a MARTA parking facility.
Posted inColumns, Main Slider, Maria's Metro
For Georgia to remain competitive, investing in MARTA and transit are key
For decades, Georgia has had several road-building initiatives geared to attracting new companies to the state.
They’ve been called developmental highways or the Governor’s Road Improvement Program (GRIP) – and they’ve all involved spending hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build four-lane roads to almost every corner of the state.
Posted inColumns, David Pendered, Main Slider
Census study shows educated, high-earning millennials want to live near transit
It may seem like old news in metro Atlanta, but a new demographic study of Washington, D.C. by the U.S. Census Bureau has determined that well-educated, high-earning young people disproportionately reside near a transit rail stop.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
2016 State of MARTA Breakfast to be headlined by thinker on energy, mobility
The speaker who headlines the 2016 State of MARTA breakfast is so focused on disruptive technology that he disrupted the Paris climate talks by saying talks about reducing carbon emissions don’t matter – because technology will end the use of fossil fuels by 2030.
Posted inKelly Jordan, Seen in Atlanta
Fall on the ground by Kelly Jordan
This week’s theme is “Fall on the ground”
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
GDOT to name team to rebuild Ga. 400/I-285; MARTA, GRTA plan to use new roadway
The Georgia Department of Transportation on Thursday is slated to announce the apparent winner of the competitive bid to build the most expensive highway project in state history – the $1.1 billion reconstruction of the interchange at Ga. 400 and I-285.
Posted inColumns, David Pendered, Main Slider
MARTA’s planned CNG bus buy highlights fiscal health, efforts to boost air quality
In another indication of MARTA’s fiscal recovery and commitment to clean air, MARTA is in the process of purchasing up to 270 new 40-foot CNG buses.
Posted inWABE
Commentary: Time for region to be MARTA smart
Here we go again. Another year. Another transportation debate.
This time, Fulton County wants a five-year penny sales tax for transportation.
The idea is gaining steam among the mayors of the various Fulton cities who want new funding — primarily for roads.
Posted inColumns, David Pendered, Main Slider
Atlanta Streetcar to get conduct code: No vaping, spitting, or evading fare
Just as MARTA has its Ride With Respect code of conduct, the Atlanta Streetcar could soon have its own conduct code that outlaws everything from evading a fare, to spitting, to vaping an electronic cigarette.
