Point/Counterpoint: The T-SPLOST

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.