Altanta

March 2009 - Posts

    Sara Cheshire

  • Take 5 Minutes to Save MARTA

    The Georgia General Assembly is coming to a close this week and there is a hot transit issue still on the table that can make or break Atlanta's transit future. Luckily there is Citizens for Progressive Transit, a local non-profit organization that stays on top of transit issues and laws, with a lobbyist down at the capitol trying to keep an eye of road spending vs. needed funds for transit, such as MARTA and the Beltline.

    If you support such transit issues, you have until Friday to contact your local legislator to encourage him or her to vote yes for the regional transit bill (instead of the state transit bill) as it is more likely to support city transit projects.  It is a fairly big deal...even NPR gave it a call out this morning.  It is important to act now.

    The Environmental Action Network has come up with the following text you can use as a guideline for your email contact:

    "We want local control for any new transportation tax. The statewide sales tax approach does not provide enough certainty on how and where the new transportation money would be used. We need to know that any new transportation money raised here in metro Atlanta will be used for the projects that Atlantans want and need.

    Please oppose any statewide sales tax that would spend our tax dollars on road projects all around the state. Let's keep metro Atlanta tax dollars in metro Atlanta, for the projects the people want.  Support the regional sales tax option."


    Find your representatives and legislators here:
    http://www.congress.org/congressorg/state/main/?state=GA&view=myofficials#0


    Related, MARTA is having serious financial trouble (not incredibly unexpected), which might be aided by the regional plan.  MARTA is the only transit system that doesn't get state funding and things have been adding up.  So now they are at the point of reducing service and charging more money per trip to pay for their debt that is becoming higher than the escalators at Peachtree Center.  Here is a survey you can fill out if you would like to help form their decisions:
    http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/survey.zgi?p=WEB228TXMWSPX8

  • The City Too Busy To...(fill in the blank)

    Yes, I am having a busy week, but wanted to check in with all you loyal blog readers.  I busted out laughing when reading the headline of one of Creative Loafing's most recent blogs tonight: The city too busy to change.  In a former time, Atlanta was also coined "the city too busy to hate" during the civil rights era.  Or perhaps now, as one satire puts in, Atlanta Less Busy, Finally has Time to Hate."

     While the hate might be increasing along with crime, in general, these slogans are all funny because WE ARE BUSY.  I often have to book social events with friends a week in advance and it seems trendy to be flying out of the airport on a regular basis. I more or less juggle three jobs.  And there is always something going on.

    Which is why I go out of town to actually rest.

    Speaking of getting out of town and the airport, a recent study was released citing Atlanta's carbon footprint.  It turns out the electricity used as the airport is taking the biggest piece of the pie.  The city too busy to put in energy-efficient lighting it seems.  And now the general assembly (local legislature) is in its final couple days, so they are franticly busy to get bills passed.  And I wish I had the time to pay attention to all that is going on, but I don't.  So I sign up and join local groups and they email me action points...or recently I discovered you can RSS notes from the Senate and General Assembly.  (See the big list of Georgia RSS feeds here.)

     So fill up your iGoogle, or be like me, now too busy too look at all my email.  There is definitely the spirit of opportunity here, but the vastness of opportunity requires some focus. If you are feeling you need to jam up your inbox, check out yelp.com for food, meetup.com for social groups, your local non-profit in the area of your choice, and there is always Clark Howard's, Delta's and AirTran's travel escape deals that will at least give you some options for rest...outside the city.

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saracheshire
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