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Posted inDavid Pendered

Plan for big changes at MARTA receives little push-back, except from union; ready for vote at Capitol

by David Pendered

The most significant proposal in decades to reform MARTA is sailing through the legislative process at the state Capitol and could be up for a vote in the House as early as next week.

So far, no serious objections to the proposal have been raised in public by MARTA or the three governments that control MARTA – Atlanta, and Fulton and DeKalb counties, though union has voiced concerns. The sponsor said the bill intends to help MARTA serve its current and future riders.

“I hope that the bill is received in the way it is intended – and that is to improve MARTA’S financial conditions so that we can, hopefully, see some future expansion of the system,” said Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven), who chairs the MARTA oversight committee.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta attorney Bill Moseley to become chief of staff of Jacksonville Transportation Authority

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

A former Atlanta transit duo is now in Jacksonville, Fla.

Nat Ford, a former general manager of MARTA, was named CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority last year.

On Tuesday, Ford named Atlanta attorney Bill Moseley as JTA’s chief of staff. Moseley served chairman of the MARTA board for several years. As attorney, Moseley’s practice has focused on areas of litigation, governmental affairs, and corporate and business law.

Posted inSaba Long

Transportation Camp attracts usual suspects to explore transit advances

by Saba Long

Technology is disrupting nearly every aspect of the transportation industry — whether its state-of-the-art robotics revamping the automobile assembly line to a computerized conductor system navigating the railroad tracks or a mobile application providing real-time train and bus locations.

Nearly 250 technologists, planning students, professional experts and other transportation enthusiasts gathered at Georgia Tech for TransportationCamp South, an “unconference” organized by New York City-based Open Plans — a transportation technology and planning startup. Previous launch cities include San Francisco, New York City, Montreal and Washington, DC.

Posted inLatest News

Cycling in the city celebrated at Atlanta Bicycle Coalition event

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition knows how to throw a party.

On Friday night, the bicycle advocacy group held its annual “Blinkie Awards” program at the Ponce City Market event space on North Avenue where it honored people, organizations and businesses from all over the community for being bicycle-friendly.

The highlight of the night came when Rebecca Serna, ABC’s executive director, gave the first award to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed for his efforts to improve cycling on Atlanta’s streets. Just a few days ago, the city approved $2.47 million for “high-quality Complete Streets-style bike projects” in 2013.

Posted inSaba Long

Atlanta’s ‘start up’ community — turning hype into reality

by Saba Long

Bash it all you want but the beauty of Twitter is moments like the one I had a week ago. I stumbled upon an online conversation about the ecosystem of Atlanta’s startup community and its relation to the city’s transit access – namely connecting the Atlanta BeltLine to MARTA.

The irony is hours before that tweet exchange took place, Scott Henderson, the executive director of Hypepotamus – an open gathering space for startup companies – gave me nearly the same line in an interview. “Density begets serendipity.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

Buckhead a study in contrasts: Mobility to improve as office market sags, construction slumps

by David Pendered

Buckhead provides an interesting glimpse into the mixed bag that is metro Atlanta’s commercial real estate industry, a vital piece of the region’s economy.

The good news is two major transportation projects should improve access measurably in a region where prestigious buildings are surrounded by traffic congestion. One project involves MARTA’s Buckhead Station, while the other addresses the interchange of Ga. 400 and I-85.

The not-so-good news is the office market continues to drag. Buckhead was one of the region’s five submarkets that lost tenancy in fourth quarter 2012, though Buckhead showed an overall gain in the year, according to the latest vacancy report from Cassidy Turley, a commercial real estate services provider.

Posted inDavid Pendered

MARTA GM Keith Parker talks up privatization, strategic vision in speech to DeKalb chamber

by David Pendered

MARTA GM Keith Parker said Wednesday he intends to pursue a consultant’s recommendations that MARTA privatize some services in order to fix the battered budget.

“If we make these adjustments, we will, by 2018 again be contributing to our fiscal reserves rather than bleeding them,” Parker told the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce during his talk at the “Executive Speaker Series,” formerly known as the “First Monday Lunch Series.”

Privatization will fly in the face of Parker’s plans to boost morale among MARTA’s 4,500 workers. Privatization also will present opportunities for local businesses to take over the service, he said – almost in passing.

Posted inDavid Pendered

New MARTA GM Keith Parker visits GRTA board for hellos, handshakes

by David Pendered

MARTA GM Keith Parker got a warm reception from the GRTA board when he visited on Wednesday.

Parker made a few remarks in which in he introduced himself as a complete person – a manager who favors “low cost, high impact improvements,” a leader who’s a good listener, and a family man with three children – including one just a month old.

The visit was just the latest of Parker’s stops on his outreach tour. Parker didn’t make any grand announcements, but he did make the important effort to meet his professional colleagues in the public transit arena.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Forums aim to help small firms win work as Legislature debates “small businesses”

by David Pendered

Two upcoming forums will provide information to small and minority companies seeking contracts to design and build projects in Atlanta to be funded with proceeds of the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation.

Presenters will talk about the procurement processes to be used to award contracts for planned transportation projects in Atlanta, MARTA, DeKalb and Fulton counties. Registration for the session Wednesday is closed, but openings remain for the March 6 event.

The forums occur as the state Legislature debates a proposal to redefine small business as it relates to state purchasing contracts. House Bill 863 would change the size of a small business, for purposes of competing for a state contract, from 100 employees to 500 employees.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Transportation sales tax: Proceeds could not pay for routine MARTA maintenance

by David Pendered

Over the next year, MARTA expects to spend up to $700,000 maintaining its train tracks, grinding them into proper shape and otherwise ensuring they will safely carry trains.

The amount may not seem terribly huge for a system with a total annual budget this year of more than $740 million. The project also seems to be an expense that could be deferred in the expectation that it could be funded with MARTA’s portion of the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation, which will be on the ballot July 31.

Except, proceeds of the sales tax could not be used for the rail maintenance project, a top MARTA official said. And the reality of the need for routine maintenance, in and of itself, speaks to the ongoing challenge of maintaining and operating the system – especially in an era of MARTA’s own declining local sales tax revenues and the uncertainty of federal funding for transit nationwide.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Atlanta region standing strong on regional transit governance and changes to MARTA Act

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

It should be so simple.

Establishing a regional transit governance structure and tweaking the MARTA Act to make the transit system more functional should be no brainers.

But when sound ideas are placed in the hands of some members of the General Assembly they somehow become distorted, convoluted and warped with political baggage.

Then when people and institutions object to proposed bills have been drafted with flawed thinking rather than common sense, those bills often just die on the vine and nothing gets done.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Buckhead trail in Ga. 400’s right-of-way begins final planning phase this week

by David Pendered

The proposed five-mile trail to be built alongside and beneath Ga. 400 moves into its final planning phase this week.

If all goes as scheduled, design work that begins at this time will lead to construction starting in mid 2013, according to Denise Starling, the executive director of Livable Buckhead, Inc. Livable Buckhead is the chief organizer of the $10 million trail that is to stretch from a cemetery off Loridans Drive in North Buckhead to the planned Peachtree Creek spur of the BeltLine, near MARTA’s Lindbergh Station.

The Buckhead trail is not directly affiliated with the BeltLine. But the two projects are complementary, and are to constitute the largest expansion of greenspace now underway in any U.S. city, according to Trust for Public Land.

Posted inGuest Column

The Atlanta region is adrift without an elected captain

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist JERE WOOD, mayor of the City of Roswell

Metro Atlanta needs more than a one-cent transportation sales tax to recover from the recession and regain its position in a competitive world. We need to work together as a region, not independently, to meet our transportation, water and other regional challenges.

To act as a unified region, we need leaders with the authority to speak for the region.

Who has the authority to speak for metro Atlanta?

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