Over the past few months, Atlanta has been bombarded by a deluge of ads advocating and denouncing the T-SPLOST, a 1% sales tax that would be used to fund various transportation initiatives. Amidst the debate, the Tea Party and the Sierra Club have become unlikely allies against the T-SPLOST while, simultaneously, a handful of Atlanta Democrats, the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, and prominent Republican leaders (including Governor Nathan Deal) have championed the initiative, leaving many voters confused as to what the T-SPLOST really means for them. In an effort to help elucidate the controversial proposal, Students for Environmental Action has curated opinions from two student environmentalists representing the contrasting views and what the T-SPLOST means for environmental and transportation advocates in Georgia.
The T-SPLOST Will Provide Much-Needed Change to Atlanta's Transportation Infrastructure
Candler Vinson
, Emory Sustainability; The Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance
The T-SPLOST (Transportation-Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax), which will generate nearly eight billion dollars over its
ten year lifetime, gives Metro Atlanta the first opportunity in decades
to truly upgrade its worn and weathered infrastructure, as well as build
new infrastructure that will support the region in the upcoming
decades. The project list has been wrought from debates and
conversations of the members of the Atlanta Regional Commission's
Regional Roundtable, a board made up of local government officials from
the 10-county region and the City of Atlanta. The project list that resulted reflects the different needs of different parts of the region.
In the city and surrounding, denser neighborhoods, transit improvements
are the major focus of the T-SPLOST's funding; it will decrease in-town
traffic, give more options for traveling through the city, and help
people get from their homes to the major economic and social centers of
the city. On the other hand, the suburban areas that surround Atlanta
would not be as well serviced by transit (although there are plans to
extend transit services to these suburban areas in Clayton, Cobb, South
DeKalb, and Henry counties) and are alternatively supported by new
roads to provide more routes and more space to alleviate traffic now and
prepare for growth in the future.
When it comes down to it, the
T-SPLOST promotes a multi-modal system for getting around Metropolitan
Atlanta. This means more options for Atlantans, more connectivity
between economic and social hubs, denser development around transit
oriented communities, which will attract more younger professionals, appeal to more
large corporations, and make it easier for visitors to explore the city; it will also mean less time spent by individuals in their cars, reduced air pollution from
exhaust of idling vehicles, decreased commute times, and job creation
that spans the course of the ten-year tax period and beyond. Some people
will argue that Atlantans don't need to be taxed any more, but it's
simple economics: all goods and services must be paid for. Additionally,
squabbling over a single penny, 1% on the tax dollar, is petty and
selfish compared to the good that will come of it. And anyway, there's a
civilian committee that will have the last say on regional projects,
and county-wide projects will be voted on locally. Likewise, arguing
that the T-SPLOST contains too much funding for transit or too many road
projects is foolish and naïve; that is how politics works. Furthermore,
it is belittling of the hours upon hours of our elected officials' time
spent selecting only the best projects to help Atlantans, and all
Georgians, as we step, bike, ride transit, and drive into the 21st
Century.
The T-SPLOST Will Be Detrimental to the Long-Term Transportation Health of Atlanta
Heather Hatzenbuhler,
Georgia Youth for Environmental Solutions
As a young progressive who supports the idea of paying for
public goods and absolutely loves riding public transit (the Metro is
one my favorite things in D.C.), it may be surprising that I will be
voting “No” on the TSPLOST tomorrow. This bill, however, does not work
to address the major issues related to transportation in the metro
Atlanta area, and will actually create more problems than it solves.
The following are a few reasons why I am opposed to the proposal:
1. The
administration of the funds is a mess. The money will first go to the
Georgia Finance and Investment Commission (GFIC) to be dispersed for
transportation projects, which the Georgia Department of Transportation
(GDOT) will then funnel to each region. Then the Governor, the Speaker
of the House, and Lt. Governor will create a “Citizens Review Panel” to
oversee this new tax. This sounds like bureaucratic inefficiency to
me, and I seriously doubt that any panel appointed by Mr. Deal will
represent the needs and interests of most Georgians.
2. The current
list of projects have conflicting priorities that do not present a
cohesive vision for transportation. We cannot make mass transportation
and automobile commuting easier, faster and
cheaper at the same time.
These two things are mutually exclusive. To more accurately address congestion and the negative externalities related to heavy car traffic a
gasoline tax or toll is a much more efficient solution.
3. It is
unsustainable. It funds far too many expansion projects for roads and
rail without any long term plan for funding maintenance and operation of
these projects. This is the same kind of short-sided budgeting decision
that lead to the bankrupting of MARTA and other transportation projects
across the state and the nation.
In the forty minutes it has
taken me to write this blog, I have heard five commercials urging me to
support the TSPLOST. In our political world where money = speech, I am
very skeptical of platforms that have enough financial backing to afford
FIVE prime-time commercials on NBC, the official broadcaster of the
2012 Olympics, an event projected to reach an audience of over 5
billion. To me this casts serious doubt on the claim that this tax will
benefit all Georgians. I do not claim to be a transportation expert, but
I have done my due diligence as a voter to inform myself on the issue.
We do need good policy solutions to“Untie Atlanta” but the TSPLOST is
not one of them.
Georgia sits near the southern terminus of the Appalachian Mountains, and for several hundred million years, its highlands have been busy setting the stage for the evolution and diversification of salamanders. Nowhere else in the world has an equivalent diversity, but we have it in our own backyard.
And it’s not just salamanders. Georgia’s diverse landscape--from the Blue Ridge to the Okefenokee to the barrier islands--is home to an equivalent diversity of amphibians and reptiles. Furthermore, the University of Georgia has rich legacy of herpetological research that continues to this day. Dr. John Maerz of the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources is a herpetologist with a very active lab that works on a variety of ecological and conservation projects involving amphibians and reptiles. Herpetology (WILD 4040) is offered very spring and not only provides students with a great knowledge of global herpetology, but also gives them access to beautiful places like the Savannah River Site and the Jones Ecological Research Center on field trips. The opportunities are endless!
3) Organize community outreach. Amphibians and reptiles are some of the most feared and disliked animals on the planet, and we attempt to reverse misconceptions through educational programs in classrooms and for community groups.
