Well written and eloquently argued. Vote YES!

Voting yes for the passage of TSPLOST is a step in pushing Atlanta in the right direction. For far too long we have sat back and let our traffic concerns get worse and worse. It is time that we finally take the first step in improving our transportation infrastructure through the use of road improvement projects and the addition of light rail projects.

Mr. Bottoms is a resident of Arlington, VA. and he works at the American Conservative Center for Public Transportation. What the heck do you think he would write ? Just because you put "conservative" in the name of your organization does NOT mean you are, in fact, conservative. Indeed, anyone who supports rail mass transit would have a hard time qualifying as a conservative, because it is absolutely the MOST INEFFICIENT form of transportation. Bottoms analysis is flawed on many levels, starting with the often repeated spector of Charlotte taking over Atlanta. He opines that the hard earned reputation of poltiicans NOT doing what they say is washed clean with ONE simple act of Nathan Deal removing the toll on 400. He laments that MARTA does not receive a state subsidy, of course, because that is his business. Ask yourself this, is a state subsidy free money or is it money the state has collected from YOU using the force of government ? He references "thousands" of meetings, and suggests that democracy worked. Those citizen meetings were in opposition to T SPLOST, NOT creating it. Finally, this pseudo conservative says that no new taxes is a recipe for disaster. What does sending another $ 2 BILLION a year to GDOT sound like ? GDOT has not had a "clean" audit in five years, cannot comply with the Georgia Constitution in terms of budgetary reporting and is the most dysfunctional agency in state government. WOO HOO Now that's a plan. VOTE NO for the future of GA.

Well now that is and interesting piece of Propaganda. Support those who mismanage our money (taxes) ,does not apologize just comes back in a attempt to talk US into ANOTHER TAX. If this wins the citizens will be laughed at...all the way to the Bank.
I can see it now, the next scheme will be we need a Fire fighter , Or water services or Police SPLOST. Many of us has lost the Trust so there is the need to VERIFY.

My My, now we know that the redoubtable Mr. Bottoms is over-employed. It is apparent that his reading skills are not particularly good. Mr. Bottoms, please re-read my post, and point out to me where I stated that was "anti-transit", which is your term. What I clearly said was that RAIL mass transit is inefficient, and if you really are in the business, then you SHOULD know that. I stand by my statement. I also NEVER said that roads are free, another "rabbit" that you implied in your response. Obviously governments must spend money to achieve anything. That seems pretty elementary, but I guess you feel better if I make that admission. My point, was, in fact, that NOTHING is free, and your original point that Georgia should subsidize MARTA is clearly a statement written by a bureaucrat, because it is obvious that you have not a whit of concern for the taxpayers who will provide that subsidy. Georgia ranks 3rd, according to CNBC, in terms of infrastructure and transportation, as of last week. That would seem to indicate that our future seems just fine thank you Mr. Bottoms, and we do not need a bureaucrat with a personal agenda advising us on what we should think about our state. We pay our fuel taxes, and if GDOT was properly managed they would have plenty of money to continue to provide the necessary transportation systems in our state, and we do it just fine without your advice.

I appreciate your comments Sir, and I apologize if I reacted too strongly. However, please understand that the state of Georgia has many great features beyond simply Atlanta. The people of the state of Georgia do not rise and fall on the basis solely of what happens in Atlanta, Georgia. Obviously Atlanta is an important city with a major influence on the state, overall, but Atlanta is NOT Georgia by itself. That said, the first thing the politicians are obligated to do is too reform the Georgia Department of Transportation, because we are spending enough money now, but hundreds of millions of dollars are being wasted through fraud, corruption and abuse. Our previous Governor attempted a "fast tract" program that left GDOT with significant debt, which now requires 30 percent of the GDOT budget in bond payments. Once GDOT is reformed and downsized to a manageable agency, then the politicans and the bureaucrats in the state government should re-cast the GDOT budget to determine funds on hand, cash requirements going forward and how much additional funding is necessary. Then share that with the people, coupled with some form of revenue enhancement if one is necessary. Atlanta is the least dense city of more than 3 million people in the world. Surely some form of transit is necessary, but an express bus system will work better than rail due to the less dense population coupled with the sprawl of Atlanta.

The revenue enhancement should be in the form of a fuel tax rather than a sales tax. A fuel tax is, in essence, a "user fee" and that is a much fairer means of creating or enhancing the revenue generated for transportation than a sales tax, which would penalize the poor and those on a fixed income, while exempting fuel altogether. The reason the "genuises" in the General Assembly went to a sale tax is because the fuel tax in Georgia is Constitutionally protected, and does not go through the General Fund. GDOT is itself, Constitutionally protected in Georgia. So the legislators cannot influence the career bureaucrats at GDOT, nor can they assert their power through de-funding the agency. So they wanted their own revenue pool to exert their control when contracting with GDOT for project completion. That tactic also enabled the legislators to direct money to Atlanta, and ultimately, to MARTA. Well......with all due respect to you Mr. Bottoms and to the power brokers in Atlanta, I am not interested in helping to fund MARTA, which was a mistake to begin with, and which should not be expanded. Rail transit will NEVER work in Atlanta, and the single minded effort to not only make Georgians fund it, but to pay to expand it, is something that we will fight until the stupid politicans give up on that idea.

After reading this article, I will vote "no" twice.

Mr. Bottoms' organization says the following on its website: “The American Ideas Institute’s American Conservative Center for Public Transportation will be a strong and effective advocate for a robust public transportation system. The Center will work to establish a conservative voice for enhanced public transit, including both urban and intercity rail. Conservatives have traditionally supported a strong national defense, and nothing is more essential to America’s security than reducing our dependence on automobiles powered largely with imported oil. Improved public transportation can be an effective partner in this process, with technologies, especially electric railways, that have been tested and proven in more than a century of service.” So, The ACCPT would like us out of our cars, weaned from fossil fuels, and into transit. Just like DC "land-use" expert Chris Leinberger, brought in for AJC PNC Bank TSPLOST Forum. This is the "sustainability" agenda of the ARC (from which comes the tsplost project list), Mr. Leinberger's business interests and colleagues (one of whom, Brian Leary, is President of the Beltline project), & the Fed Govt's Partnership For Sustainable Communities. Funny how the pro-TSPLOST billboards aren't quite so clear about this. "Conservative" is understood to mean less government, personal responsibility, and freedom of choice. The term is being hijacked to sway voters to support a particular agenda, largely without their knowledge. Vote NO.