Local

Ferrell Out as Atlanta Streetcar Manager, Community Leaders Seeking Answers

October 8th, 2012

Last month MARTA executive Dwight Ferrell was removed as manager of the Atlanta streetcar project. Another top consultant reportedly resigned as a result.

While city and transit officials aren’t saying why, some community leaders are worried the $70 million project is being mismanaged.

Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond is one of them. He says the abrupt leadership change is troubling.

“That project is very, very important to downtown, and I would suspect if this person was removed, it’s probably because the project just hasn’t taken off,” said Bond.

Bond says he’ll be looking for some type of update at Wednesday’s city council transportation committee meeting.

“Even though it can be complicated, it’s not rocket science and I don’t see how a two-mile strip downtown has proved so formidable for the persons trying to execute this contract.”

A spokesman for Mayor Kasim Reed refused to comment about why Ferrell was removed and Ferrell himself, along with MARTA, have declined interviews.

When asked about potential replacements, Tom Weyandt, the mayor’s top transportation advisor, said the project is fine as is.

“I think we have leadership in the project. I don’t think it’s a matter of installing anyone new. We know who we’re working with both at MARTA – we have confidence in them – we know who we’re working with [in terms of the] design-builder and we have confidence in them and the project is rolling along.”

The streetcar project is owned by the city of Atlanta, and jointly funded by the city, the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, and a large federal grant. MARTA, along with several private consultants, were brought in to advise and manage the project.

Given all the different parties, Ashley Robbins, executive director of Citizens for Progressive Transit, says the project’s leadership structure is ill-defined and has serious transparency issues.

“It’s very easy to shift the accountability in this project. It seems to be, kind-of, no one knows what’s going on,” said Robbins. ”The city is definitely being very tight-lipped about all of it.”

According to city officials, the streetcar project remains scheduled for completion by late 2013, but Robbins fears the leadership change and current delays related to utility relocations could delay the project past that date.