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Friday, May 2, 2008
LINK delegation members in Denver pass resolution for new transportation funding
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Taking a more activist role than usual, the metro Atlanta LINK delegation in Denver unanimously passed an informal resolution at its closing session Friday afternoon to try to get the region moving on new transportation funding.
Sam Olens, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Cobb County Commission, sent me an email shortly after the attendees voted to pass the resolution “to undertake a bold effort to support passage of the transportation funding legislation that failed by three votes in the last session.”
Olens said the LINK delegation, which included about 110 metro Atlanta leaders, will ask the Get Georgia Moving coalition of about 50 organizations to launch an online petition of support.
It also will ask the coalition to prepare a questionnaire for qualified candidates for the General Assembly so people can know how they stand on future transportation funding.
The LINK delegation also appointed a small task force to study additional measures to build support statewide for the transportation initiative.
Olens said the members of that task force have yet to be selected, but that there is “no shortage of volunteers.”
This is the 12th year that leaders from metro Atlanta have been visiting other cities through LINK (Leadership, Involvement, Networking, Knowledge). The first city the LINK group visited was Denver, and that was in 1997.
In talking to people attending this year’s LINK trip, the group was impressed with the amount of progress Denver has made in the past 12 years to build its transit system. By comparison, people said metro Atlanta has done little to stay competitive.
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Denver’s regional transit plan leaves Atlanta years behind
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
MARTA General Manager Beverly Scott is green with envy.
The Denver region is building 120 miles of light rail and commuter rail that should be complete by 2015. Already, Denver operates about 1,000 buses at peak times, compared to MARTA’s meager 550 buses (although our region is nearly double Denver’s metro population).
And Denver also is planning to increase its bus service by 25 percent.
“We are being dwarfed by comparison,” Scott said when she called me from Denver this afternoon. Robert Brown, an architect who serves on the board of the Georgia Department of Transportation, said much the same thing. Both were part of the LINK delegation of about 110 Atlanta leaders who have been in Denver for the past three days.
“They’ve been making progress,” said Brown, who actually has been on every LINK trip including the first one in 1997 that also visited Denver. “Atlanta has continued to plan and study. It’s pretty obvious they have moved ahead of us in providing choices for transportation. That’s obvious when you ride their system.”
Two factors have led to Denver’s progress. Strong regional consensus and a dedicated source of funding.
“They have certainly embraced regional collaboration,” Brown said. “It’s still a work-in-progress for us.”
Denver has learned the hard way. Back in 1997, a proposal to fund a plan was presented to voters, and the measure failed in a 58 percent to 42 percent vote.
But in 2004, after an extensive campaign to reach voters, voters approved a sales tax increase of 4 cents on every $10 to fund an ambitious transportation plan with most of the money going towards rail transit. The measure passed: 58 percent to 42 percent.
One reason it was passed by voters throughout the region is that transit is planned in every direction.
“They were able to develop a plan that had something for everyone,” Brown said. “And even the areas not in the plan understood that it would benefit the region and their community in the long run.”
Scott said that key was developing a plan that offered service that was appropriate to the contributions from each of the counties.
“People from Atlanta are realizing that in the last 12 years, Denver has come from behind and passed us,” said Bill Bolling, executive director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank who also has been on all 12 LINK trips. “Denver is a totally different place than it was 12 years ago. They have really worked out the mechanics to be a regional entity.”
Scott, who was on her first LINK trip, put it another way. “We candidly have about 10 to 15 years ahead of us to catch up with Denver,” she said. “It’s clear that they think and act regionally. They have pulled together and understand that they sink or swim together.”
One speaker, Tom Norton, who is a former director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, shared some advice with the Atlanta delegation, Scott said.
“No plan is perfect,” he told the group. “If you sit around waiting for perfection, the world will pass you by.”
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Improving public education a challenge in Denver and metro Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Been there, done that.
Kay Pippin, president of the Henry County Chamber of Commerce and longtime advocate for public education, listened intently to Michael Bennett, superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, as he spoke to about 110 metro Atlanta leaders on the annual LINK trip.
“It was surprising that every idea that everybody in the group got excited about has already been tried in Georgia,” Pippin said in a phone call today.
Bennett, however, made a real impression on Pippin. “The superintendent was fabulous,” she said. “The difference I see here is the clear articulation from leaders on every front. It all comes back to leadership.”
For example, Pippin said that Bennett will meet will all of the school system’s 4,000 employees at least once a year.
“He starts every morning visiting a school, and he carries with him his chief academic officer,” Pippin said, adding that she agreed when Bennett said, “One of the things I’ve discovered in education is that nobody makes a plan and leaves it in place long enough for it to work.”
The LINK trip has hit home how important public education is to a metro area, Pippin said.
“It’s taken us a long time for us to see that public education is as important a part of our infrastructure as roads, water and sewer,” she said. “We haven’t reached a point where everybody in the power structure understands that if we don’t make our public education system succeed, the state of Georgia will have the same problem as Clayton County is having right now.”
Another point that has hit home for Pippin is how metro Denver has worked closely with its congressional delegation to provide a united front on its regional plans.
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Atlantans discover how metro Denver supports the arts and culture
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Since 1988, the metro counties in Denver have joined together to support the arts and culture throughout the region, including the major facilities in the heart of the city.
The level of regional cooperation in Denver for the arts and other issues intrigued Joe Bankoff, president of the Woodruff Arts Center. Bankoff called me this morning to share his thoughts on what he has been hearing on this year’s LINK trip to Denver.
About 110 metro Atlanta leaders are in Denver for three days to study how it approaches many of the same issues that we face in our own region.
Bankoff said that voter throughout Denver have overwhelmingly approved a 10th of a penny sales tax to support all levels of cultural facilities, including the Denver zoo, the major museums as well as host of smaller arts groups in the suburban parts of the region. Currently, that fraction of a tax generates about $40 million a year in funding for all these organizations.
“The region supports an ecosystem for the arts,” Bankoff said, adding that suburban voters support the tax even if they don’t visit to major facilities located in the city of Denver because they recognize the value those attractions bring to the region.
The Atlanta delegation has been taking note.
“The refreshing thing to me that I”m hearing from my colleagues on this trip is: “Couldn’t we do something like this in the Atlanta region,’” Bankoff said.
Denver actually has several regional initiatives where the counties have come together to support funding for the arts, transit and sports facilities, among other efforts.
“There’s a perception of regionalism here that is clearly a reason why some of these initiatives have been able to get done,” Bankoff said. “The difference between Denver and Atlanta is that we talk about regionalism. We need to get the leadership to work together in Atlanta in the same way that it has come together here.”
In hearing presentations from Denver’s leaders on health care, water, education and the arts, Bankoff said he’s been amazed at the quality level of leadership in the urban center of Colorado.
“We have really good leadership in pockets around our region,” Bankoff said of metro Atlanta. “We just need to work together more closely.”
