Letters to the Editor

An Open Letter to Atlanta

With Election Day four days away, TSPLOST talk heats up

Editor's Note: Early voting for the July 31 General Primary, Nonpartisan and Special Election, which includes the Transportation Investment Act (TIA), concludes Friday at 5 p.m. See here where to cast your advance ballot. With the election in the final homestretch, TSPLOST proponents and opponents are in overdrive trying to get their message out. Included here is an op-ed piece from the executive director for The American Conservative Center for Public Transportation providing an out-of-state point of view. Also a pair of videos as Cascade Patch has vocal TSPOST opponent Vincent Fort of State Senate District 39, which includes portions of Midtown, calling the transportation referendum “a bad deal” and a “trick against Atlanta” during a …

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TSPLOST: Where Do You Stand?

Midtown, how will you vote on the transportation referendum next month?

Thirty-three days. It is just a tad more than a month until metro Atlanta residents head to the polls to vote on a referendum that will fund $8.5 billion in transportation improvements through a regional one percent sales tax. If approved, it will fund a 157-project list that will include many items that will affect transportation and traffic in the inner city. Detailed project maps are available online.   WSB Radio talk show host Adam Goldfein certainly knows where he stands and he is firmly against it. Heard weeknights from 8 – 10 p.m., Goldfein spent his entire Wednesday evening program discussing the upcoming vote and why he’s against it. In a recent blog, Goldfein wrote: "The effectiveness of the T-SPLOST at creating and funding large…

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Do You Feel Pressured to Support TSPLOST?

Local municipalities, chambers of commerce and even businesses are mobilizing to get voters to the polls in support of TSLOST on July 31. How to you feel about this effort?

Our subject matter for today's Midtown Patch question of the day involves next month's transportation referendum vote. It’s no secret that most municipalities are urging a "yes" vote on TSPLOST. Without it, local governments are going to have to look at other ways to raise funds for traffic and transportation projects. But did you know local chambers of commerce and even businesses have been recruited to do the same thing? According to Jim Galloway, political insider for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, more than 400 businesses, including some of metro Atlanta’s largest, have signed on to turn out extra voters who have been given a firm understanding of the importance of a “yes” vote on July 31. Sam Williams, president and CEO of Metro …

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Former Atlanta Mayor: T-SPLOST is an Opportunity

Sam Massell sees July's transportation referendum as a chance for metro area to do something about traffic congestion; District 56 candidate endorses T-SPLOST

Forty days from Friday, metro Atlanta residents will be voting on a referendum that will fund $8.5 billion in transportation improvements through a regional one percent sales tax. If approved, it will fund a 157-project list that will include many items that will affect transportation and traffic in the inner city. Detailed project maps are available online. The Midtown-based office of commercial real estate services provider Cassidy Turley released this week another video as part of its campaign supporting the passage of metro Atlanta’s TSPLOST ballot initiative. Each week until the July 31 vote, Cassidy Turley will release a two-minute video featuring an interview with an Atlanta business or community leader to educate the public about …

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Gov. Deal strongly endorses transportation sales tax

"As an individual, I do advocate for it. Secondly, as a governor, I am advocating for it because this is not a legislatively imposed tax. It is a tax increase that the people themselves will decide about." - Nathan Deal

With traffic creeping along the I-75/I-85 Connector below, Gov. Nathan Deal and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle stood high atop an 18-story Midtown office tower early Wednesday evening and urged Metro Atlantans to vote in favor of next month’s regional transportation penny sales tax referendum. The pair addressed a small group of reporters atop the Atlantic Station building prior to a private fundraiser for local business leaders who are in favor of the tax’s passage. A new Insider Advantage poll of 539 people shows that 47 percent of those asked would vote against the 10-year, one cent sales tax, with 32 percent for it and 21 percent undecided. But those numbers didn’t faze Deal, who brushed aside the notion that he was backtracking on his no-tax …

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Hunt Archbold

8:00 am on Friday, June 15, 2012

Just heard on the radio Jim Tharpe, Georgia PolitiFact editor, talking about Deal’s pledge for no taxes. During the 2010 campaign, Deal signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, in which he agrees to "oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes." So with that, Tharpe and the Truth-O-Meter gave the governor a full failing grade for endorsing the transportation referendum.   more ›

Be informed. Know the facts. Vote on July 31

When it comes to next month's transportation referendum vote, a local business leader says "the key is to be informed."

In less than 50 days, metro Atlanta residents will be voting on a referendum that will fund $8.5 billion in transportation improvements through a regional one percent sales tax on July 31. The Midtown-based office of commercial real estate services provider Cassidy Turley has released the third of its 10 videos as part of its campaign supporting the passage of metro Atlanta’s historic TSPLOST ballot initiative. Each week until the July 31 vote, Cassidy Turley will release a two-minute video featuring an interview with a prominent Atlanta business or community leader to educate the public about the importance of the TSPLOST initiative, which would fund a series of transportation projects aimed at alleviating the traffic congestion plaguing …

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NPU-E, transportation referendum meetings set for Tuesday

Both meetings are open to the public; Georgia Tech to host public forum on the transportation referendum on Thursday

The June Neighborhood Planning Unit-E meeting is set for Tuesday, June 5 at Peachtree Christian Church located at 1580 Peachtree Street. NPU-E serves Midtown, Ansley Park, Atlantic Station, Home Park, Georgia Tech and West Midtown. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. and the public is invited to attend. The volunteer board of elected community leaders make recommendations to the city on voting issues including zoning and permit applications. Here are some of the items on tonight’s agenda: Special events and outdoor festivals to be discussed and voted on for approval Event Name Proposed Location Proposed Event Date Pure Heat Community Festival Midtown (Piedmont Park) September 2, 2012 Degustar: A Taste of Latin America Festival Atlantic Station…

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Fast Track Forward Launches Transit Initiative

Coalition plans aggressive education campaign on transportation referendum

Sixty-five organizations and businesses joined with Livable Communities Coalition (LCC) last week to launch the Fast Track Forward transit campaign with plans to educate and turn out voters effort for the July 31, 2012 transportation referendum. Organizational leaders gathered for a transit campaign kick off event held at Shout Restaurant in Midtown. Attendees sported shiny penny lapel pins to signify the one percent increase option the transportation referendum ballot initiative represents. "From John Wieland Homes to Decatur Cooperative Ministries, our coalition is as diverse as our region,'' said Jim Stokes, interim executive director of Livable Communities. "Our coalition also includes Atlanta BeltLine, Inc., Citizens for Progressive …

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Initiative to inform voters on transportation referendum kicks off Wednesday in Midtown

Fast Track Forward is an educational campaign centered on the merits of the more than $3 billion in new transit projects included in the Transportation Investment Act list to be voted on in July.

Wednesday evening in Midtown, a diverse 60-member-plus transit coalition will kick off its grassroots campaign to engage voters for July’s transportation referendum. The Livable Communities Coalition of the Metro Atlanta will be kicking off the Fast Track Forward initiative to inform metro Atlantans before they cast their vote this summer. Fast Track Forward is an educational campaign centered on the merits of the more than $3 billion in new transit projects included in the Transportation Investment Act list to be voted on July 31. The event will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Shout restaurant at Colony Square with Atlanta Regional Commission Executive Director Doug Hooker set to be the featured speaker. Read more what these …

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Pro-Transportation Tax Advertising Campaign Begins

Citizens for Transportation Mobility was formed to advocate for summer's referendum for a penny sales levy that will generate an estimated $8.5 billion over 10 years to build more than 157 road and transit improvements throughout the region.

A TV, radio and billboard "advertising blitz" launched Wednesday will ask regional voters in a July 31 referendum to approve a 1-cent sales tax to fund 157 transportation projects, along with local plans. The advocacy group Citizens for Transportation Mobility kicked off the campaign Wednesday with a press conference at the Tower Place offices of the Buckhead Coalition. Here's a report from public radio station WABE about the news conference. “With this ad, we’re off to the races convincing metro Atlantans that Voting Yes on July 31 will relieve congestion, create thousands of new jobs and attract rather than discourage new businesses,” said Paul Bennecke, a senior campaign strategist for CTM. “Metro Atlanta voters will see new TV …

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