Somehow, June is already over, so these are the last two photos from the Light Up Atlanta exhibition.
The two shown above are Shelly-Anne Tulia Scott’s “Pealing Back the Heart” and Ted Freeman’s “Hot-lanta Fan,” both at Five Points Station.
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Transit tax might fall back to November
27 JunFrom Creative Loafing:
Georgia Department of Transportation Planning Director Todd Long told the Augusta Chronicle last week that the state is considering re-scheduling next year’s vote on the transportation tax from July to November.
If held in November, the tax would be on the ballot for the general election, whereas in July the vote would occur during the state’s Republican primary.
While voter turnout for the general election will be higher than for the Republican primary, the later date will also require an additional four months’ worth of privately-funded marketing expenses, Long said. There’s also the chance that, with more candidates and issues on a general election ballot, voters won’t give the transportation tax the attention and consideration that its backers hope for.
Telephone Town Hall Tonight
22 JunThe Atlanta Regional Commission’s regional roundtable is holding a “Telephone Town Hall” meeting forFulton County residents at 6 p.m. today.
The meetings are a chance for residents to talk to the officials who make up the roundtable about what projects they want to see on the region’s transportation project list. The roundtable will work to finalize the project list over the next several months and the one percent sales tax to fund the projects will be put to a vote next year.
The number to call in for the meeting is 1-888-886-6603 and the PIN is 16727.
Light Up Atlanta: Lindbergh
19 JunAnother piece from the “Light Up Atlanta” sculpture exhibition that’s on display at seven MARTA rail stations.
The artwork was produced by local architects and designers, and will remain through June 30.
Light Up Atlanta: Arts Center
15 Jun
"Seating Bench 01" by Tae Jun Park sits just inside the east fare gates at Arts Center Station
“Light Up Atlanta” opened last week, dotting MARTA’s rail system with white Corian sculptures that lend some brightness to the stations.
Members of the local architecture and design community produced the six pieces, which will be on display through June 30.
Whittling Down the Wish List
4 JunGeorgia DOT issued the latest version of the regional transportation wish list Thursday. The roster of prospective projects will be funded by the one-cent sales tax that comes up for a vote next summer.
State Transportation Planning Director Todd Long had the task of adding and subtracting projects from the original list, compiled in April. The new version will now go before the 21-member regional roundtable, whose members have to slice approximately $15 billion worth of projects from the list’s current total of $22.9 billion – a reduction of about 65 percent. The reductions will bring the projects’ price tag in line with the $8 billion that the transit tax is expected to generate in its 10-year lifespan.
Here’s a searchable database of the new wish list as well as an interactive map for locating projects in your area. Fact sheets for the projects on the updated list will be available here on June 9.
What’s on, what’s off ?
Afternoon commuters pass through the plaza at Five Points Station. The transportation tax would fund improvements like removing the non-functioning sign from the ceiling.
So far bus rapid transit for the portion of Piedmont Road between Roswell Road and Lindbergh Station is still on the list, as are funds for improvements to Five Points Station. Those improvements will include removing the mammoth yellow contraption – once a sign – hanging from the ceiling in the plaza, as well as fixing the skylights.
A circulator bus system for Fulton and DeKalb counties, on-board security cameras for all of MARTA’s bus, rail and paratransit vehicles, and and set-up of a distance-based rail fare system are also still included.
An extension of the Silver Comet Trail from Cobb County to Centennial Olympic Park and an ad system for MARTA’s rail tunnels were both axed.
What’s next?
An Atlanta Regional Commission informational meeting will be held June 9, followed by a meeting of the executive committee for Atlanta’s regional roundtable. The executive committee meeting will be open for public input on the first round of changes to the wish list.
A “telephone town hall meeting” for Fulton County residents is scheduled or June 22.
Details are on the roundtable’s meeting page.
City Council works out the streetcar’s NSF
3 JunThis is the week during which the City of Atlanta was to conduct an internal audit to track down the $5.6 million it needs to cover its portion of the first segment of the downtown streetcar project.
According to a story in Saturday’s AJC, the City Council might have based its December 2010 decision to allocate funds for the project on faulty information provided by Chief Financial Officer Joya De Foor. De Foor became the city’s CFO in June 2010.
C.T. Martin, one of two council members who voted against the resolution, told the AJC that he believes De Foor herself wasn’t aware of the budgetary hole. “I know that the first action that happened on this happened before she got there and she was operating off information she was told,” Martin said. “Somebody told her that the money was there.”
The $5.6 million is part of Atlanta’s share of the streetcar project’s $56 million cost. The bulk of the project will be paid for by a $47.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, with the remaining $2.8 million coming from funds originally designated for other transportation projects along the same corridor the streetcar will serve.
MARTA Meetings: Today and tomorrow
16 MayYikes, almost forgot: MARTA is holding public hearings at 7 p.m. today and Tuesday.
Here’s what’s on the agenda:
- MARTA board members will outline the agency’s budget for the 2012 fiscal year
- Proposed service changes to bus routes 3, 25, 50, 51, 99, and 181 proposed for September
- Fare increases proposed for October
- Security improvements
Today’s meetings are at the South Fulton Service Center in College Park, which is served by the route 180 bus, and at the Fulton County Government Center downtown, which is served by the route 49 bus. There’s also free shuttle service to the downtown meeting.
Tuesday’s meetings are at the DeKalb Maloof Auditorium in Decatur, which is one block west of Decatur Station, and at the North Fulton Service Center in Sandy Springs. Take route 87 bus from Dunwoody or North Springs Station to the North Fulton Service Center.
What happened at Allen Plaza, plus an ARC transportation “wish list” database
18 Apr
An undeveloped parcel of land on Ivan Allen Boulevard sits in the shadow of Allen Plazas W hotel and condominium tower and Novares Twelve Centennial Park
Rachel Tobin wrote a brief but through history of downtown’s troubled Allen Plaza development for Friday’s AJC.
Developer Hal Barry summarized the events leading up to the recent foreclosure of one of the project’s buildings. It’s a story that’s become all too familiar in the last few years:
“We did well and made a lot of money…[a]nd we turned around, as risk-taker developers do, and reinvested a lot of it in operating expenses and project investments. And then the market hits you broadside.”
Also on Friday, the AJC published an overview of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s transportation “wish list,” with a database of all the prospective projects on the region’s list .
Among the items MARTA requested are a variable regional fare system (sometimes referred to as “zone fares”) , on-board security cameras for all buses, trains and paratransit vehicles, an advertising system for the agency’s 10 miles of tunnels and the establishment of a cloud computing system to assist in post-disaster recovery and service continuity.
The 436-item list, with projects totaling about $29 billion, will be pared down first by the GDOT’s planning director, then by the 21 members of the Atlanta Regional Roundtable. Voters in each of the state’s 12 regions will decide during primary elections in 2012 whether to approve a new one percent sales tax to fund their regions’ projects.
The Oppidan Omnibus 