After Atlanta voters demand more MARTA, neighbors may follow
Atlanta’s mayor says transit is being ‘depoliticized,’ while Fulton’s leader looks forward to a transit vote as early as next year
Transit fans cheered when they saw the results of the MARTA tax vote on Nov. 8 — but not just for the buses and trains and new stations that the half-penny sales tax will bankroll for the city. They cheered for the inspiration it might give other cities and counties to join in or expand metro Atlanta’s transit network.
“It wasn’t even close. It was 72 percent in favor of MARTA, it was 68 percent in favor of infrastructure,” said Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed a few days after Atlantans approved the tax for the transit agency as well as an 0.4-percent sales tax for other transportation-related public works .
Pretty much every single Atlanta precinct voted in support of the MARTA tax, even in affluent areas around West Paces Ferry Road that tipped for Republican Donald Trump. The only exception was a four-Atlanta-voter precinct in DeKalb. (But conversely, don’t imagine that a hundred percent of Democrat voters are excited about what is after all a regressive tax: in most precincts, Clinton carried a bigger share of the vote than MARTA.)
Reed suggested that transit isn’t a red-or-blue issue. Speaking last week at a Gold Dome press conference announcing a new UPS distribution center on Fulton Industrial Boulevard, Reed said he thinks “transit and rail is being depoliticized by business announcements.” He pointed to State Farm, Mercedes Benz, NCR — all big business announcements that have recently moved to the parts of the metro Atlanta that have transit:
“There are business leaders saying in order to attract the talent we want to attract, you got to be near transit. And folks that want to continue to put their head in the sand they’re going to lose,” said Reed.
MARTA is planning on asking the federal government for matching money to help pay for the new builds. The GOP’s platform says it does not support funding for transit. Reed doesn’t sound worried when asked if a President Trump — who has discussed an infrastructure package and has mentioned rail — might put the kibosh on transit money.
“Here’s the good thing about MARTA. We’re going to fund a major expansion whether we have federal partners or not,” Reed said.
Transit fans say that people from all over the metro, be it a blue, purple or red place, are increasingly sick of traffic and are interested in getting transit rolling. There are some enthusiastic Gwinnettians, there are the recent annual ARC surveys that show folks saying transportation is a huge problem and that they are interested in transit. Two years ago, Clayton voted to cough up a penny sales tax to bankroll MARTA there.
Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves says there could be a vote as early as next year for more transit projects which would cover the parts of Fulton that aren’t in the City of Atlanta. He said he sees the makings of a “true regional transit” system.
“We’re poised to take the baton of what the city has done by taking rail, MARTA transit expansion further throughout the county,” said Eaves, also speaking at the UPS announcement last week. That could include rail out to Fulton Industrial Boulevard in the west, and other expansions leading to Gwinnett and Cobb counties.
It’s a bit early for details on what mix of buses, light rail or heavy rail might show up on a Fulton ballot. But among the mayors of Fulton County cities north and south, Eaves said, “there’s general consensus of the need of something.”
What about further out? DeKalb, like Fulton, has long paid a penny sales tax for MARTA. But Cobb and Gwinnett don’t. Those two counties run their own bus systems, which include some interchanges with MARTA and lines into Atlanta. And “transit expansion” might not mean “MARTA expansion.” It might mean Cobb and Gwinnett growing their own systems.
Emory Morsberger, a longtime Gwinnett County businessman who now works on community revitalization, said that he thinks that the county will be paying more attention to transit now.
“I think that the closeness of the chairman’s race last Tuesday was partially due to the lack of transit that’s been moved forward to date,” said Morsberger, referring to the re-election of Gwinnett County Commission Chair Charlotte Nash with 53 percent of the vote.
He said Nash is a great leader but that some voters are frustrated with the lack of transit.
“Gwinnett is no longer a rural, agrarian community,” he said.
Transit is not a red-or-blue thing, he said. “It’s a get-to-work thing,” he said.
A spokesman with Gwinnett County said via e-mail that Nash confirms her commitment to following through with the county’s comprehensive transportation planning process before addressing any new, major, long-term transportation initiatives.
Gwinnett’s process involves public consultation and will end with a plan that will serve as a roadmap for how transportation — including transit and roads — will develop in the county.
Nick Juliano, president of Advance Atlanta, a campaign group that is working to build support for transit throughout the region, suggests that metro suburbs are not the anti-transit turf they were in the olden days — say, 1990, when 70 percent of Gwinnett voters turned down a MARTA expansion.
Juliano pointed out that at a recent Advance Atlanta forum, both outgoing Cobb County Commissioner Tim Lee, a Republican, said that the region needs transit; and that Atlanta Braves Vice President of Operations Mike Plant said the team would be supportive of that vision.
“While there are hurdles ahead, we live in a time in which statements like these are occurring more frequently and when a conservative Republican from the northern suburbs is transit’s most outspoken legislative champion,” said Juliano in an e-mail, referring to state Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Johns Creek.
The Alpharetta Republican took a politically-famous trip on public transportation from Kennesaw State University to the Gwinnett Arena in 2013 and made a video about the three-hour-plus trip. Since then, he’s championed public votes on MARTA expansion and on getting transit agencies to work better together. “People understand that transit access both enhances quality of life and increases economic growth and competitiveness,” said Juliano.
Transit boosters also point to another interesting result of Tuesday’s elections: both Cobb and Gwinnett, long deep-red counties, voted for Hillary Clinton. It’s unclear whether that was a bump of anti-Trump voters or a permanent change, or a combination of the two. But if the electorates are changing, maybe elected officials will start thinking it’s time to get on board with transit.