T-SPLOST Opponents Come to MARTA’s Defense
A group of T-SPLOST opponents are coming to the defense of MARTA after several elected officials, including the governor, have said the transit system’s inefficiencies are partly to blame for the recent T-SPLOST defeat.
The Sierra Club, the DeKalb NAACP, and state Senator Vincent Fort are calling for an “honest” dialogue.
Colleen Kiernan of the Sierra Club says recent remarks by Governor Nathan Deal and state Rep. Mike Jacobs, the chair of the MARTA oversight committee, are counterproductive.
“We don’t necessarily disagree that reasonable MARTA reforms can’t be made but they need to be not while MARTA is being held hostage by the oversight committee when the state spends absolutely no money to support MARTA’s operations.”
Deal and Jacobs have said voters would not support a regional transportation plan until MARTA demonstrates it can control its spending.
In response, MARTA leaders have said they would look for ways to work together with elected officials to address those concerns and educate them on recent cost-saving measures.
Senator Fort, however, wasn’t as diplomatic, saying the governor’s comments were part of efforts to shift blame for an embarrassing loss at the ballot box.
“MARTA is criticized for being quote-on-quote inefficient and then when they do the things that are necessary – cutting routes, cutting employees – they’re criticized for that as well. It’s a cycle of criticism that MARTA undergoes.”
A spokesman for the governor says Deal isn’t looking to “throw sand in anyone’s eye,” and reiterated previous statements made by the governor saying future transportation planning would be centered around road solutions, not mass transit.
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