Opinions of Public in Gwinnett on potential extension

VOICE OF GWINNETT

MARTA in Gwinnett?

Published on: 12/10/06

Support extension? Yes, because Gwinnett County has always needed a public transportation system, especially a rapid train system. It would help with the I-85 traffic congestion, and it will help us all breathe better.

Today, I think it is finally possible since the demographics have changed tremendously over the last 16 years. Hopefully the desire for clean air and less traffic will trump the racial reasons for not wanting MARTA in Gwinnett. As a resident of Gwinnett I am in favor of MARTA. MARTA would be a win-win proposition for our county.

Where? The rail line should go as far as Gwinnett Place Mall, this way the people who live farther north will have the option of parking and riding.

Support a 1-cent SPLOST? Whatever it takes to help with the traffic and smog; 1 cent is a very small price to pay for helping to improve our county and our state.

Would sales tax be approved? Maybe, our county is filled with Libertarians and Republicans who oppose even the modest tax increases. I believe those closer to DeKalb will support the increase, however, I feel those farther up I-85 will not. I hope I am proven wrong.

In Gwinnett for the 1990 vote? No I was not, but I remember the positions of Cobb and Gwinnett County back then. Hopefully we have grown up since this debate was last held.

CHERYL S. ROSS

Norcross

Support extension? No. A very small percentage of the population in Gwinnett actually works in downtown Atlanta (or anywhere near a MARTA rail line). Also, if there was an extension and there was enough of a need, that would only encourage MORE cross-county traffic and congestion trying to reach the train station. The best approach for Gwinnett is still an express bus line.

Where? The logical extension should take it to the Mall of Georgia, with perhaps a stop at Jimmy Carter Boulevard and one around Gwinnett Place Mall. But, since the Ga. 400 extension to Windward Parkway isn't even planned to be completed until 2030, what's the point in considering such a line?

Support 1-cent SPLOST? No

Would sales tax be approved? No, the majority of the residents of Gwinnett would not perceive a benefit.

Alternative solution? Buses and road improvements.

In Gwinnett for 1990 vote? Yes. I did not support it for the same reasons I don't support it now.

BILL CROZIER

Lawrenceville

Support extension? Yes; I feel that Gwinnett has grown but think we should only extend the rail system and not the bus system. Park-and-ride is the way to go.

Where? The rail should go northeast to the Mall of Ga and southeast to Ga. 316 or Ga.124.

Support 1-cent SPLOST? MARTA has enough money to start the project. Let the state foot the bill because everyone will profit from it.

Would sales tax be approved? No. We don't need another tax.

In Gwinnett for 1990 vote? No.

Crime will follow the MARTA system. Along with the planning and development; someone should be appointed to oversee security issues.

QUINCY PETERSON

Snellville

I supported MARTA in Gwinnett 1990. In fact, my 13-year-old son and I handed out flyers at MARTA stations.

I do still support MARTA or some form of mass transit, especially with development becoming more dense closer in and the "suburbs" extending farther out.

However, MARTA's heavy rail is very expensive and takes years to build, and MARTA is not known for its efficiency. No doubt if MARTA had been metro-wide from the beginning, it would have far wider coverage today. And every year that goes by, land acquisition and construction gets more expensive.

With so many people living so far out now, we probably need some form of suburban commuter rail like Chicago has, along with lighter rail to get people to their final destinations. Too many links in a trip will doom any system to failure.

So, yes, I do support some form of mass transit, would be willing to pay the additional tax for it, but just to call it "MARTA" oversimplifies the issue.

PETER WESTAFER

Berkeley Lake

The success of the Gwinnett bus system, especially the express route into Atlanta, shows the potential for the success of a rapid rail extension.

The Northeast Line should be extended to Gwinnett Place, as it was originally intended before the 1990 referendum. If the old Macy's store is redeveloped into mixed use with condos, the viability of rapid rail into Atlanta is likely to be very good. It would also be a natural jumping off point for a rail or other transit system to Athens and UGA.

I don't think Gwinnett will support an additional 1-cent sales tax in addition to the school SPLOST and the [county government] SPLOST. The larger issue of state finding for MARTA needs to be addressed and solved. No other large city transit system relies only on fares for funding; neither should MARTA.

I think MARTA rail and the coordination of the Gwinnett bus system will certainly help [traffic problems], although it's not the complete solution.

I was not in Gwinnett County at the last vote. We moved into Gwinnett in 1993 from DeKalb.

RANDY HORENSTEIN

Lawrenceville

We do not need MARTA in Gwinnett. No one rides the Gwinnett County Transit now. We also don't need the congestion and back up that buses cause. We have enough problems with traffic.

ALLISON LEIGH RODGERS

Duluth

Support extension? An emphatic yes. Gwinnett county population makeup has changed tremendously, but you could not tell from the recent election counts.

We have a much more diverse culture in terms of race and socio-economic levels. We have a portion of the population that cannot speak English, which helps explains the voting disparity.

With growth comes the pains associated with having too many people concentrated in any given area, traffic nightmares.

MARTA was needed 16 years ago, however, certain influential figures decided MARTA would be a source of bringing in the "undesirables." Well, what happened, they managed to get here in spite of the opposition back then.

If MARTA had been allowed in then, we would be much further along in the quest for a solution to our traffic woes. If MARTA or some other rail is not allowed in, our only solution is to start building double-decker freeway systems for one-way traffic. We are not slowing down growth in Gwinnett, so we need to take measures to accommodate the growth, and ignoring it is simply no longer an option.

Where? If voted in, the line needs to travel up through mall lane from Gwinnett Place, to Discover Mills, on to the Mall of Georgia with an eventual split at Ga. 316 to Athens.

Support 1-cent SPLOST? Yes, I would support a 1 cent sales tax for MARTA in Gwinnett.

In Gwinnett for 1990 vote? I had just moved to Gwinnett in 1990 and did vote for MARTA.

We need to create a county of inclusion regarding Atlanta, not of exclusion. When someone asks you where you are from when traveling, what is the most common response?

Atlanta, then we may say we stay in the outskirts like Gwinnett County or Lawrenceville, Duluth, or Suwanee.

Gwinnett planners need to wake up and see the error of their past planning ways and make progressive decisions to get people moving instead of sitting in our horrendous traffic snarls that are widespread. We need alternatives to offset the winding horse-and-buggy trails that have now become paved streets, with the only other alternatives to back roads being the super highways (I-85/Ga. 316) that are crawling with traffic, and I do mean crawling.

KARL BRYANT

Lawrenceville

Yes, Gwinnett has grown to a point where it needs to discuss a rail system for Gwinnett County. It has already been determined that the heavy rail model of MARTA is too expensive thereore an extension of the MARTA rail system into Gwinnett as it is currently designed will not happen. However, building a light rail line from the Doraville station into Gwinnett is a potential solution.

Eventually this light rail would go up the Buford Highway corridor and then to Gwinnett Place mall. In the future it would continue north following the route of Satellite Boulevard to the Gwinnett Center and then the Mall of Georgia.

Another potential route would extend from the Gwinnett Center past Discover Mills mall and then to the City of Lawrenceville before eventually heading south to Snellville and possibly connecting to MARTA rail lines in DeKalb. This route also could eventually extend from the Gwinnett Center west to a MARTA extension of some sort in North Fulton.

The 1-cent sales tax was first mentioned a few years ago by the Atlanta Regional Commission. It is potentially the best solution.

The metro Chamber of Commerce and the Georgians for Better Transportation lobbying groups have proposed two alternatives. The Transit Planning Board (TPB) is to study and release their funding solution by the end of 2007. It may be premature for the Legislature to rule on this during the 2007 session until the TPB — which consists of the heads of the metro area governments — weighs in.

I would hope the sales tax would be supported in Gwinnett assuming we could see a detailed proposal of what we would get for the money and how it would alleviate congestion.

ART SHELDON

Duluth

I voted no the last time (1990) the MARTA question came up, and my reasons have not changed. I voted no because then, as now, I don't believe a large enough percentage of our population works anywhere near where MARTA begins and ends, even with the proposed new Gwinnett stations.

I see our traffic problems centered on I-85 to I-285, on McGinnis Ferry Road, on Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road north of I-85, on Ga. 20 just about anywhere you choose, and many other cross-county roads. These routes connect our homes to where our people work. They are also jammed with commercial traffic trying desperately to avoid Atlanta.

Our tax dollars need to be spent on roads that make sense for this century, not the last. I want to see the DOT people go back to school and learn how to design surface transportation systems that don't involve halting the flow of traffic for every subdivision or strip mall. I want the DOT experts to learn how to build roads and bridges so that real solutions can result. The tremendous expense of roads and bridges using 75-year-old methods is used as an excuse when, in fact, the expense is due in large part to our methods and the ridiculous amount of time it takes to get something done.

Finally, build the Northern Arc and get the commercial and other through traffic around Atlanta safely and quickly. That alone would remove more traffic than MARTA ever could.

Let's see an honest study done on where Gwinnett people live and work. Let's include the through traffic currently stuck on I-85 at all hours of the day and night. Let's get a real look at what needs to be fixed without the pressure and agenda of the Atlanta-first MARTA crowd distorting the facts.

WILLIAM MAY

Lawrenceville

Support extension? Yes. We are a major metropolitan county with more than

700,000 citizens. A hallmark of a great city is a high quality, efficient public transit/rail system.

Where? Three corridors, at minimum. Along U.S. 78 to Loganville, I-85 north to Hamilton Mill and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard north to the county line.

Support a 1-cent SPLOST? Yes.

Would sales tax be approved? I do not think that the sales tax would be approved unless MARTA takes significant steps to become more fiscally responsible and bring sound leadership to the table. At this time, the perception of MARTA is that it would just be a sinkhole in Atlanta to pour money in with very little in suburban returns. I wish it were different.

In Gwinnett for 1990 vote? Yes. Supported it.

A well run rail system is a proven alternative to traffic deadlock and can enhance the quality of suburban life. Also, commercial land for building a rail line was not going to ever be as inexpensive as it was in 1990.

WARREN DAVIS

Norcross

Support extension? Gwinnett has definitely grown, but because its growth has been mostly residential, I believe it is necessary to have a rapid rail system in Gwinnett. People just work too far from home for driving to be a reasonable choice.

I live in Grayson and, because I work in a highly specialized field, I could only find a job in Alpharetta. Trust me, if I could ride a rapid rail system, I would.

Where? MARTA should extend to the Mall of Georgia with another line extending out U.S. 78 at least to Snellville

Support a 1-cent SPLOST? Yes, I would support it if Gwinnett had some say in how MARTA is run. Because MARTA has historically not been well managed by the city of Atlanta,

I would almost rather Gwinnett fund a separate rail system that links to MARTA at certain stations.

Would sales tax be approved? I think it would be a close vote but, if the county's leadership worked out a plan that addressed concerns of residents, I think it would have a chance to pass.

ROBBI CONVERSE

Grayson

Support extension? I would like a rail line only in Gwinnett. Traffic is getting so bad we need either a MARTA line or some rapid transit line.

Where? I think you could carry it all the way to the Mall of Georgia.

Support 1-cent SPLOST? Yes, I would support the 1-cent tax.

Would sales tax be approved? People will probably not approve it because that would bring MARTA buses into the county, and people of lesser means could move in, more than we have now, because they will be able to move around easier. If it were ONLY a rail line, and we still needed our cars to get to the park and ride, they might approve it.

Alternative solutions? I've said before we need more crossings of the Chattahoochee River (there are only four ways across right now) and maybe a highway up above Gwinnett County going from I-85 over to Ga. 400 and I-75 to take some of the traffic off of the highways now and I-285.

In Gwinnett for 1990 vote? Yes, I was. I voted against it because of the same reason people will vote against it now.

MARGIE GARNER

Sugar Hill

This whole discussion is just a moot point and waste of time. MARTA is much better known as "The Train To Nowhere."

MARTA is the most useless transportation source that I have ever seen taxpayers waste their money on. Marta loses money every year, and they still just don't get it.

I'm from New York. When you get off a train or subway in New York, there are dozens of taxicabs and buses waiting to take you to your final destination.

But here in Atlanta, when you get off a MARTA train, you are stranded in the middle of nowhere. No taxis, no buses, no nothing. Unless your final destination happens to be near a MARTA station, or you are using MARTA to attend a downtown sports event, as far as a transportation infrastructure, MARTA is USELESS!

Until this reality sinks in, and MARTA fixes it's "Train to Nowhere" status, I am against adding any more tracks anywhere, or throwing good money after bad giving MARTA my tax dollars.

BILL RUBIN

Suwanee

One would really have to question the motives of the group of Gwinnett County leaders who are proposing extending MARTA's rapid rail system into the county. It would appear that there is solid evidence to oppose that initiative.

First let's start with the premise that there is no county solution to the traffic problems of the Metro area. Any solution would have to be integrated for the entire metro area.

Economically MARTA has never been able to support itself without ongoing government subsidies. Gwinnett tax subsidies for MARTA is akin to offering Ford Motors tax breaks to build a plant in Gwinnett.

The current and projected ridership on Gwinnett's Express buses doesn't appear to be sufficient to support rapid rail.

Recycling old solutions with a track record of failure will not solve the metro area's traffic problems.

A better solution to traffic problems in Gwinnett and metro Atlanta would be public/private partnerships in major arterial remodeling that include toll lanes, through truck and express bus only lanes, HOV lanes and public no charge lanes.

That would provide a choice for all the various constituencies attempting to navigate the major highways in the metro area.

PATRICK MALONE

Snellville

AJC

Community Improvement District behind feasibility study

"CID top supporter of MARTA expansion"

By BEN SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/08/06

A business organization trying to reverse urban decay in and around Norcross is leading the effort to re-examine a failed plan to run MARTA trains into Gwinnett County.

So far, the group seems to stand alone.

"It's a dicey issue," said the group's leader, Chuck Warbington. "That's why Gwinnett Village CID is stepping out front on this."

Warbington's group oversees a community improvement district along the I-85 corridor in western Gwinnett.

A CID is a self-taxing entity that uses revenue collected within its boundaries to fund improvements in the area. In Gwinnett County three CIDs are dedicated to revitalizing the I-85 corridor, Gwinnett Place mall and the U.S. 78 corridor in eastern Gwinnett.

But Warbington's group is the only one expected to foot half the bill for a new $100,000 MARTA study on extending rail service from the transit agency's Doraville station to Gwinnett Place. MARTA is kicking in the other $50,000.

Wayne Shackelford, a former MARTA board member and a former commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation, said he was glad someone had picked up the idea of public transit in Gwinnett.

"Do I think a MARTA vote would be different today than in 1990? Absolutely," Shackelford said. "Do I think a majority would support it? I don't know."

Meanwhile, some county officials are weakly endorsing Warbington's effort.

"If they want to study bringing MARTA to Gwinnett, that's their prerogative," Gwinnett Commission Chairman Charles Bannister said. "It'd be all right if they want to spend their money."

Bannister's reaction, perhaps, isn't surprising in a county where MARTA has been a losing issue for politicians.

Gwinnett voters twice rejected referendums — in 1971 and 1990 — that would have extended MARTA service into the county in exchange for a 1 percent sales tax increase. But Warbington believes the political climate might have changed since Gwinnett voters rejected MARTA 2-to-1 in 1990, in part because of worsening traffic and the county's changing demographics.

Many starter homes owned by young professional newcomers from outside Georgia and the South in 1990 since have become rental properties filled with immigrants and other ethnic minorities. The area of the CID, once represented exclusively by Republican officeholders, is now served by three Democrats in the Georgia Legislature.

According to the Gwinnett Village CID, nearly half of the area's residents are Latino and nearly two-thirds of housing is inhabited by renters. Household incomes and housing values fall below the county as a whole. But it's not just the apparently growing pool of potential MARTA riders that's driving this issue, according to Warbington.

Warbington said scores of residents voiced support for MARTA or some form of mass transit at public meetings held by the CID earlier this year. "It came up at all 12 meetings," he said, and residents even mapped potential transit stops.

And Warbington argues that Gwinnett is losing opportunities to bring big companies into the county because it doesn't have rail transit. He cited one recent example of a high-tech industrial company that was shopping around for a 200,000-square-foot facility in metro Atlanta.

"Location near a transit station was in their top three list of requirements," Warbington said. "You could go ahead and mark off Gwinnett because we're 30 minutes away from the nearest transit station. Getting some form of mass transit in Gwinnett is going to be hugely importantly to revitalizing the area."

Warbington said the new study will not just focus on laying new train tracks into Gwinnett. It also will consider other options, such as creating a bus rapid transit system for the county or running commuter rail service along the existing Norfolk-Southern rail line to Gainesville.

AJC

MARTA wants 1% tax extended past 2032

"MARTA to ask for sales tax extension"

Three major projects could go forward

By PAUL DONSKY
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/08/06

MARTA plans to ask Fulton and DeKalb counties and the city of Atlanta to extend the penny-on-the-dollar sales tax that provides the bulk of the transit system's revenue.

Without the extension, the tax is set to drop to a half-cent in 2032 — which has severely limited MARTA's ability to finance any new projects.

Ed Wall, chairman of the MARTA board of directors, said the tax extension could free up to $1 billion in bonding capacity that could be used to build new rail and bus lines.

The board is asking the three governments to approve a new contract with MARTA that stipulates the money would be spent on three projects:

• The first phase of a bus-rapid transit line on I-20 east, between downtown Atlanta and Candler Road in south DeKalb.

• The first leg of the Beltline transit loop, a 5-mile stretch from Buckhead to Inman Park.

• A short bus-rapid transit line on I-20 in west Fulton that would serve as an extension of the west rail line, running to the bustling Fulton Industrial business district.

"I want to do those projects, but I can't do them unless I get the sales tax extension," said Wall. "We'd like to make people's commute and quality of life better."

Agreement from at least two of the three jurisdictions is required for the contract to be approved.

Only Fulton, DeKalb and Atlanta voted to join MARTA. The bus and rail system only runs in those areas, although it is used by suburbanites who drive to MARTA park-and-ride lots or take suburban buses that link to the MARTA system.

MARTA last sought an extension in 2000, but that effort was rejected by the DeKalb and Fulton county commissions. Leaders from both counties felt the state should help pay for MARTA.

Fulton and DeKalb officials have long envied other metro Atlanta counties, which have a 1 percent sales tax to pay for local roads and other projects, such as jails and courthouses.

The issue of fairness may again be raised.

"MARTA serves the entire region, the funding for MARTA should come from the region," said Burrell Ellis, a member of the DeKalb County Commission.

"It places an undue burden on the governments that do fund MARTA."

DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones said he's open to extending the sales tax because it includes specific projects that would bring new service to DeKalb.

"It sounds very compelling," he said.

"I have a lot of confidence in the MARTA board chairman and its members, and so I'm very willing to work with them to do what's best for the citizens of DeKalb County and MARTA."

AJC

Gwinnett wants a MARTA feasibility study

"Another look at MARTA rail"

Board representative asks for feasibility study on bringing system to county

By PAUL DONSKY, , BEN SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/07/06

A group of Gwinnett County leaders is pushing for an extension of MARTA's rapid rail line to the booming area, 16 years after county voters soundly rejected a plan to join the regional transit system.

Officials with the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District, which spans the Norcross and Lilburn areas, say the issue deserves to be revisited because the county has changed dramatically since the last MARTA referendum in 1990.

Gwinnett's population has more than doubled, and its traffic problems now rival the nation's worst bottlenecks.

MARTA has long been locked out of the area's biggest suburban counties, leaving the transit system to serve only DeKalb and Fulton counties and the city of Atlanta.

But on Wednesday, the door into Gwinnett creaked open when the county's lone representative on the MARTA board, Bruce Le'Vell, asked the board to study the feasibility of an expansion into the state's second-most populous county.

The board readily agreed, voting to spend up to $50,000 on the study, provided Gwinnett match the figure. Chuck Warbington, executive director of the Gwinnett Village CID, said Wednesday his group would come up with the matching funds.

Another referendum may be years away, if it happens at all. It's a politically risky matter that calls for a 1 percent sales tax increase and has racial overtones. Gwinnett and the other suburban county's historic refusal to accept MARTA has been seen by some as a way to keep out minorities.

The 1990 vote failed by more than 2 to 1.

"It is speculative, I know," Le'Vell, a jeweler and developer from Duluth, said of the effort. "But somebody's got to pull the trigger, and I'm going to pull it."

Gwinnett has a seat on the board because the county helped fund MARTA's original engineering study. But in 1971, county residents initially voted against joining the system. MARTA's northeast rail line stops in Doraville, a few miles south of the Gwinnett County line.

Gwinnett created its own bus system several years ago, with limited local service and a handful of commuter express routes.

The 1990 plan rejected by voters envisioned a $700 million rail line extension to Gwinnett Place mall with three new stations, including a park-and-ride lot in Norcross at Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Buford Highway. MARTA's study will revisit that plan and determine whether any changes should be made.

Gwinnett has grown up, Le'Vell said, with dense pockets of development that could easily support a rail line or other form of mass transit.

Several developers have recently unveiled plans to build high-rise condominiums — a first for Gwinnett, Le'Vell noted.

Meanwhile, traffic on I-85 and other major roads has reached critical mass, he said.

"There's a need to move people through that highly dense corridor other than [with] cars," Le'Vell said.

Warbington said the MARTA study should consider whether the county might be better served by a bus rapid-transit system — a rail-like system that has limited stops and stations but uses buses, not train cars, to move passengers. The study also would examine possible funding alternatives to the MARTA sales tax, such as private investment.

"People are tired of sitting in traffic," Warbington said. "The only other options are to move or change jobs, and both of those mean changing your life."

Comments posted to an online forum showed a mixed reaction. Some cheered the news of a renewed effort to bring MARTA into Gwinnett, saying it could help alleviate traffic and provide commuters with a stress-free alternative to highway driving, while others said the county was far too spread out to support mass transit.

A few readers said they feared joining MARTA would increase crime and attract the wrong sort of people to the county.

Warbington's group is one of several community improvement district organizations in Gwinnett that were created to stop creeping urban blight from overwhelming the county's southern and western frontiers.

Once home to thriving commercial districts and upscale neighborhoods, the I-85 corridor has become increasingly populated by lower income residents, many of them immigrant newcomers, living in rental homes and apartment complexes.

Warbington's group isn't the only organization trying to bring rail transportation to Gwinnett. A group led by Gwinnett developer Emory Morsberger is lobbying the state to build a commuter rail line from Athens to Atlanta that would cut through Gwinnett. No funding has been identified for the project, estimated to cost at least $378 million.

Talk of a MARTA sales tax in Gwinnett comes at a time of great uncertainty in transportation circles — and possible competition for new sales tax revenue.

The state Legislature is expected to discuss several proposals to shore up transportation funding, including a statewide 1 percent sales tax and allowing regions to levy a sales tax.

At the same time, leaders from across the metro Atlanta region are meeting to improve the area's transit service and possibly create an umbrella transit system funded by a regional tax that could absorb some or all of MARTA's duties.

AJC