Opinion Talk

By Robert

June 3, 2008 8:09 AM | Link to this

I have lived here for 30 years, and I watched the racist suburbanites of Gwinnett and Cobb (who have mostly moved on now) consistently vote out MARTA expansion for fear of bringing in the “bad elements”. We are now living with the sins of our predecessors, and we have a short-sighted city-hating state government who refuses to pay for transit expansion.

I used to think traffic would eventually kill us, but now it seems we that issue may solve itself. As a Realtor, I am already seeing a massive shift in buying closer to the major job centers. But not everyone will be able to afford that option, so we MUST make transit development a top priority! Ultimately that will draw people here who are in search of low cost of living—which is what gets most people here in the first place.

By Evan

June 3, 2008 8:11 AM | Link to this

I ride my bike 12 miles to work almost everyday, and I’ve never found the need for bike lanes.

By She's Right

June 3, 2008 8:16 AM | Link to this

Brenda is right. My husband and I live in Brookhaven, so we are fortunate to be able to navigate residential backstreets to the grocery store. We also have easy access to MARTA, but rarely use it because you only need to go to the airport so often. We’d love to use MARTA to get to work, but we both end up 5 miles short of our final destination with the current tracks. The bus is NEVER on time, and attempting to bike on Peachtree Industrial or Ashford-Dunwoody is like asking for a death sentence! If it’s this bad for someone who lives in a “supposedly” pedestrian friendly area… I can’t imagine the pains for someone living in the suburbs. If only I could telecommute!

By Mark Bittner

June 3, 2008 8:23 AM | Link to this

It’s obvious we do not have a viable mass transit system in the area, however our local municipalities and real estate developers have not helped the situation. If you look at other major cities, you typically see some type of logic to the urban design. Chicago and New York are laid out in a grid system, for example. When you shove 230 unit developments onto two-lane roads out in the middle of nowhere (where most of us can afford to live), you don’t allow any logical place for metro transit to service the residents. Even if a pot of money fell on the metro area to fund mass transit, God help the urban planner charged with figuring out where the thing would go. Local planning organizations need to better manage the growth and development of our communities and the permitted use of the land, even if it means ticking off a multimillionaire developer. We also need to put more obligations on real estate developers on the front end (i.e., environmental impact plans, assessments, etc) of their efforts before they build these monstrous developments. They walk away with loads of money and leave the issues related to actually living in the area to the local, underfunded governments…and the poor citizens who bought in the communities they built.

By She's Right

June 3, 2008 8:26 AM | Link to this

Brenda is right. Saving gas in Atlanta is nearly impossible. My husband and I live in Brookhaven, which fortunately affords us the opportunity to navigate residential backstreets to a couple places (namely the grocery store). We have easy access to MARTA, but don’t use it often because quite frankly, you only need to go to the airport so often. We’d love to save gas driving to work despite our 8 mile commutes. However, the train drops us off approximately 5 miles short of our destinations, the buses are NEVER on time, and attempting to bike on Peachtree Industrial or Ashford-Dunwoody is like accepting a voluntary death sentence. If it is this difficult for someone who lives in a “supposedly” pedestrian friendly area, I can’t imagine the pain of those people in the suburbs. If only they’d make telecommuting mandatory!

By GRTA Fan

June 3, 2008 8:44 AM | Link to this

The only saving grace for me is that I live near an Xpress bus lot. It takes me 2+ weeks to use a tank of gas.

By WRCz

June 3, 2008 8:55 AM | Link to this

I have a seventeen mile commute and I ride a scooter 2 or 3 times a week (more if the weather is nice), saving approximately 6 gallons of gas per week and having a whole lot more fun. There are things you can do.

By WouldLIkeTo

June 3, 2008 8:57 AM | Link to this

My only opportunity to use mass transit would be GRTA to downtown (from Canton), MARTA to Doraville and a bus to Norcross. Based on my reading of schedules, it would take me about 2.5 hours each way. I think we need to look beyond mass transit to and from downtown

By Tony

June 3, 2008 8:59 AM | Link to this

I’m with you Evan. I commute ten miles one way by bike almost every day. I looked for several years for a job close to home and finally found one and love it.

By jct

June 3, 2008 9:22 AM | Link to this

We need to think mass transit with local and express routes.

NY has many systems. One is the subways that will get you around the boroughs. The other is commuter rail. On commuter rail goes farther out and has less local stops. Commuter rail goes outside the city (Westchester County), CT (all the way to New Haven), and NJ.

We are way to small minded when it comes to transportation. We need commuter rail that easily hook up with MARTA rail. Commuter rail could be to Macon, Athens, Carollton and Rome. Commuter rail you need parking lots. Local rail should have limited parking.

We need bus only lanes. That are local/express. Other cities are doing this. I have been to Denver and it was a dream getting around. I only drove when I wanted to go into the mountains.

I moved here for opportunity. That opportunity is drying up. My next move will be to a more transportation friendly city.

By atlmom

June 3, 2008 9:42 AM | Link to this

We clearly need more mass transit - but we don’t have leaders, we have followers.

I live in the city, we don’t use much gas, we have decided what we want to do, and that is not take jobs far away, most of what we do is within 5 miles of the house.

I don’t know why the city/region is so against having the developers (the ones making the money) - help solve the problem. Just make sure that they put no parking with any of the new projects and they will figure out a way to help solve the problems (like, ,lobbying the state and federal govts).

Every other state gives large amounts of money to their cities because they are well aware that without the cities doing well, the state is going nowhere. But not our fine state of Georgia.

By Jen

June 3, 2008 9:43 AM | Link to this

I’m with Evan and Tony. I moved to the city so I could be closer to my work and now I bike every day and have no need for bike lanes. I take residential streets the whole way. It’s only 4 miles so it’s easy. Too easy.

Now, I’m not saying bike lanes on big roads (like Ponce or Peachtree or North Ave) wouldn’t be a good idea. They would. I’m only saying that you can find a route that’s safe from home to whatever destination RIGHT NOW.

More rail, like the DC Metro, would be nice…

By hw

June 3, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this

Our own selfishness created this metro area that lacked transit alternatives.

It is time for us to replace current state officials with transit-friendly ones.

Gov. Perdue’s suspension of the gas tax (3 cents/gallon) is nothing but a political ploy. Assuming that we each use 100 gallons of gas a month, $3 in everybody pocket can’t even buy a rt ticket on MARTA. If the gas tax remains in place, we will have an additional $120 mil. a year to spend on mass transit for all. MARTA’s annual budget is $460 mil. $120 mil can increase MARTA’s capacity by at least 25%.

By itsme

June 3, 2008 9:58 AM | Link to this

I tried riding my bike to work from home in Chamblee to office on Buford Highway in Doraville. Almost got killed. Won’t do that again.

By CJ

June 3, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this

We need more mass transit (trains, NOT buses) to connect areas other than downtown. Major employers are located near Cobb Galleria, Perimeter Mall, and Alpharetta. They attract employees from all over the metro area. There should be trains to link the upper NE and NW sides to North Central.

GA DOT keeps pushing for more ‘express buses’, but those buses get stuck in the same highway traffic as the rest of us. We need more trains!

By Dixie Dawg

June 3, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this

Atlanta and the surrounding area were developed around the motorize vehicle. People want low taxes so we have no bike lanes, few sidewalks and narrow roads. We also have people driving those vehicles that don’t know or understand the laws regarding cylist and believe that they shouldn’t be on the roads - and don’t know that is against the law for a bicycle to ride on a sidewalk in GA. It is going to take a very concerted effort on everyones part to change. It isn’t like Chicago where the city was developed around the mass transit program. Also there isn’t a silver bullet which everyone seems to want in every situation. We need to look for a number of ideas that will help to different degrees and when added up will amount to something. Unfortunately we don’t have the option of starting over.

By Will

June 3, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this

I’ve lived here for 19 years, and I have been optimistic for most of those years that someone with authority would “get a clue.” Sadly though, I have come to accept that you simply cannot argue with the idiots that run this state — They will only drag you down to their level and then beat you with their experience. I’m still holding out hope that the high gas prices will force a paradigm sift in the state, but I am also making a back up plan to move to a more enlightened, and truly cosmopolitan, city.

By Sue

June 3, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this

Just think, if MARTA had been extended up 400 as originally planned, it would be up to Old Milton next year. What a missed opportunity! I would be better off living in a different county to take advantage of the express buses to downtown ATL!

By Now ain't that sumthin'

June 3, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this

Hey Evan, I know that you think that you don’t need a bike lane, but that is because you are in the street and in the way! Give us poor slobs who can’t ride a bike to work a break and TRY to find the bike lane before you end up being a hood ornament, Mr Green.

By Southern Born

June 3, 2008 12:14 PM | Link to this

There is a lot of wishful thinking for trains, but the price tag is astronomical and ever-increasing. Telecommuting is an option that, thanks to advances in technology, is very cheap to implement and makes workers as accessible in the virtual office as they are in the physical office.

Why, then, has telework never grown past the early adopters & enthusiasts? Neanderthal managers who insist on their staff being chained to their desks are the predominant impediment.

It’s for that reason that I will be looking for a job closer to home. Ironic that, thanks to the possibility of telework, my closer to home job may be with a company a thousand miles away.

By Hopeless

June 3, 2008 12:23 PM | Link to this

The story is and remains the same — you can’t get there from here.

How many times does one need to show that MARTA is nowhere near being a functional mass transit system as is, for example, the DC METRO. MARTA does not go anywhere but to the airport, e.g., try to get to a Braves game or to the Clifton corridor. Unfortunately, late night travel on MARTA, from the airport in particular, puts a person in an uncomfortable position with panhandlers or multiple “thugs”… It just does not pay to travel on MARTA!!!

By joe in lilburn

June 3, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

Why is gasoline more expensive in the Atlanta area? Months ago it was cheaper than the national average.

By Mangler

June 3, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this

I’m still waiting for you all to stop speeding, tailgating, and flooring it from green lights and up hills. Why complain about the price of gas when you obviously don’t care enough to use it more efficiently?

And for those of you who do commute daily, look around at the people you are commuting with? Recognize any of them? You all are going the same way … and creative ideas on how to get more people carpooling?

By Sam I Am

June 3, 2008 12:42 PM | Link to this

Long distance commuter rail! That would be so great.

Growth has been mismanaged to the point where we will never recover. But certainly, each county could have several transportation centers, places that you could drive a short distance to, so that you can hit express bus or train.

Right now, I have to drive 30 minutes just to get to a MARTA train station. That’s insane.

It will take some strong politicians to make it happen. And at this point, they are too worries about savings 3-cents/mile.

What we need to solve this problem (as well as many others) is leaders who are willing to lead, not ones who are worried about their jobs and their power base.

By DCResident

June 3, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this

I have never been on Marta. I do know a lot of people that live in ATL. And none of them even mention it as a way to get around. At least not as a convenient way to get around. Is it really that bad?

ATL won’t be a world class city without a thorough train system. All the major cities (London, NYC, CHI, DC) have excellent trains. In reality, there are no southern cities with good transportation systems. Is there any wonder why there are no Southern cities in the top tier of cities?

ATL is more like Memphis, Charlotte, Nashville or Birmingham than the top tier cities. Citizens of ATL fail to recognize that.

By C

June 3, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this

A million times yes, Southern Born. We could solve our transportation problems today by government giving a significant tax break, or some other incentive, to companies who let their office staffs telecommute X% of the time. Why don’t we hear anything about this at the national level? You want gas prices to go down. Cut demand.

By Walking

June 3, 2008 12:55 PM | Link to this

The Marta trains go basically 6 places; Downtown, the airport, Midtown, Lenox Square, Perimeter Mall and Decatur. If you want to go anywhere else, you’re outta luck. Or if you want to stop anywhere, it’ll cost you another $1.75. The busses are slow and infrequent, and it takes 20 years of planning to build new stations, much less a whole new line.

I’m not counting on Marta for anything.

By Walking

June 3, 2008 12:58 PM | Link to this

The Marta trains go basically 6 places; Downtown, the airport, Midtown, Lenox Square, Perimeter Mall and Decatur. If you want to go anywhere else, you’re outta luck. Or if you want to stop anywhere, it’ll cost you another $1.75. The busses are slow and infrequent, and it takes 20 years of planning to build new stations, much less a whole new line.

I’m not counting on Marta for anything.

By Leah

June 3, 2008 1:46 PM | Link to this

Why do some complain? Our elected officials (Perdue) run on “flag” issues and keeping taxes low; not realizing low taxes equals very little government support for public services.

You get what you vote for.

By Atlanta sucks

June 3, 2008 2:08 PM | Link to this

I’ve lived in Washington DC and the subway was very efficient. You could hop on to go to the next station and pay a pittance for the short trip. It went all over the city and even had a stop IN the mall, not across the street where crossing traffic and rain make it difficult. What morons designed the Atlanta system? Probably the same morons who worked for the DOT and thought combining two major highways to run through the center of town was a good idea.

By Dan

June 3, 2008 2:09 PM | Link to this

Buy a condo in the Midtown Mile on Peachtree Street and no worries !

By jewcowboy

June 3, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this

more trains in the city will not happen until our population density increases. we have one of the lowest population densities in the u.s.

heavy rail such as MARTA costs upwards of $100 million per mile. that means running rail to douglasville would cost $2 billion, or almost $3 billion to covington.

how do you find money to cover every compass point on the map with trains when only a small portion of the population lives in each direction? when people give examples like new york, it’s apples to oranges. from manhattan to the other side of queens is less than 10 miles versus the 20+ miles of most of our suburbs.

dedicated bus lanes seem a more pratical solution to those who choose to live far away from the city core.

By Frankie

June 3, 2008 2:22 PM | Link to this

MARTA, state government, city government have focused on issuse that do not directly service the people of atlanta and the surroundin metro areas. Even if i chose to ride MARTA, why would i want to travel from decatur area all the way intown if i work near the airport. 1 hour each day/way would be wasted. MARTA needs to expand the rail by adding spurs to the North-South East-West lines, and extend the existing lines they have now.

Thanks Gov. Perdue for not adding an additional 3cents per gallon. I think i can squeeze another ounce into my car now… How about you know that the gas issue is goingot continually rise, give people of this state a break…make the state refund non taxable , or plan to suspend the gas tax for more than just a couple of months…

If you get MARTA to take me within 1/2 mile of my work place i will walk the rest of the way, a great way to make a lot of these overweight folk loose some weight too. I’m just sayin…

By Frankie

June 3, 2008 2:30 PM | Link to this

Yeah I had a job 10 minutes from my house and lovedd it until the company went belly up…I a again looking to move my employement closer to my home…since i can’t sell my house now either…screwed on both ends… Now i understand what it feels like to have a train run on you, too many people trying to screw me at the same time…

I drive 71 miles round trip each day. thats 1420 per mth….gotta think of some ways to get around this situation..

By Treker

June 3, 2008 2:35 PM | Link to this

I ride my bike to work a few times a week. I began doing it because my stress level and explatives use were so high during that 20 minute drive I had to find another option. I don’t ride on the road because I know it clogs up traffic and I know how I feel when a cyclist is trying to make it up a hill with a dozen cars behind them. I stay on the sidewalk and yield to pedestrians and make sure the car driver makes eye contact with me before I cross in front of them or them in front of me. I was wondering if you hate the cyclists on the sidewalk that are trying to stay out of your way? I have to leave home earlier than usual but I arrive with 100% less stress than if I drove my car. I’m blessed to have the health to do that - there are plenty of people that don’t have those options.

By jimbo

June 3, 2008 2:48 PM | Link to this

Clearly the best option is to take MARTA’s budget, use it to resurrect General William T. Sherman, and set him loose on the metro Atlanta area. He’d have a challenge on his hands with the sprawl.. but given time and tens of thousands of union troops I’m sure he could make the needed improvements.

Buses can’t make it on the freeway.. or really through the city streets. Having more of them will just build animosity against them. Rail will have to pass through valuable land meaning it will cost far too much to buy it and Atlanta insists on taking MARTA’s revenues for their own wasteful hobbies. I stand by my theory that the near complete destruction of the city by an undead union general is the only way to go. We’ll just start over from the ground up.

By jimbo

June 3, 2008 2:58 PM | Link to this

Ideally the Sherman’s union army would be undead as well. Undead have no labor rights and don’t have to be paid, there’s a definite advantage there. The problem of supplying a steady supply of brains WOULD be a logistical issue since there seems to be a shortage of them in Atlanta. It seems to me that a zombie army would starve.. perhaps before completing their mission.. AW crap. Back to the drawing board..

Now if we could just get Jesus…

By Political Foreskin

June 3, 2008 3:11 PM | Link to this

CNN just reported that another cycling bear was struck and killed on I-75 in Cobb County. The bear refused to yield to faster traffic and insisted it had the right of way in the bike lane that wasn’t there. A state police spokesman said that it wasnt’ the first bear that’s been fooled by the HOV lane.

The motorist did not stop.

By jewcowboy

June 3, 2008 3:14 PM | Link to this

i like your thinking jimbo…you just made me almost shoot diet coke through my nose.

By Tony C.

June 3, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

WHATEVER. YALL ALL WERE SCARED OF BLACK PEOPLE IN THE 80’S AND VOTED NO TO MARTA IN GWINNETT AND COBB…NOW YOU RAN AWAY TO CUMMING AND BUFORD AND GUESS WHAT? YOU’RE FARTHER FROM YOUR JOB AND YOUR COMMUTE IS LONGER. BET YOU WERE BRAGGING AT THE BAR WHEN YOU BOUGHT THAT ESCALADE…NOW YOU LIVE NEXT TO SOME BLACK FAMILY FROM NJ AND YOU BOTH CAN WHINE ABOUT HOW MUCH GAS COSTS-BUT YOU’RE BOTH “TOO GOOD” TO RIDE THE TRAIN WITH THE HOI-POLOI

HA HA HA

By hw

June 3, 2008 3:25 PM | Link to this

Those who say “why not just telecommute”. Well, lets think about this, telecommute is not a solution for most of the jobs out there.
For example: Restaurant workers cannot telecommute. Hotel workers cannot telecommute. Law enforcement officers cannot telecommute. Store clerks cannot telecommute. Teachers cannot telecommute. Maintenance workers cannot telecommute and the list goes on.

I believe that we should impeach our ignorant elected officials who think that a 3-cent gas tax break can solve the energy problem.

By jimbo

June 3, 2008 3:29 PM | Link to this

Tony, I’m a white dude who lived in the suburbs with a black dude as a roommate in Norcross. I also lived on Franklin road in Marietta… which.. if you’ve ever lived on Franklin road… I mean.. you’d know..

Obviously I’m not afraid of any minority. In fact I’m opening restaurant soon that will combine all my experiences from where I’ve lived. I’ll call it Jimbo’s House of Tofu Soul Tacos.. I drive Hyundai.. and I don’t type in all caps. You need to calm down man.. have a tofu soul taco.

By noed

June 3, 2008 3:55 PM | Link to this

I live about 8 miles from Doraville. I work off Abernathy. I could take a bus to Doraville station. Then the train to Lynburg. Then another train back north to Sandy Springs station and then a bus to work. Well, there goes my work day. Not enough hours in the day to do that and work.

By Dan

June 3, 2008 4:32 PM | Link to this

Buy a condo on Peachtree Street and live the city life ! Transit everywhere. ditch the car on the Midtown Mile !

By CJ

June 3, 2008 5:20 PM | Link to this

What more of an argument do local officals need to support more train systems? This AJC article lays it out: High gas prices lead to surge in mass transit

BTW - MARTA costs about $100 million per mile to extend; commuter rail (making use of existing freight lines) is only in the neighborhood of $19 million per mile. Much more viable.

By John R.

June 3, 2008 5:58 PM | Link to this

With the traffic as bad as it is in Atlanta, how can we save on gas? The only way to combat this problem is to utilize public transportation. But for many of us, including myself, it is hard to utilize Marta when someone lives on the outskirts of the city. It still requires gasoline to reach these destinations for public use. The problem needs to be addressed, but ultimately it never will.

Problem, Obviously…Solution, good question!!

By MarkC

June 3, 2008 7:46 PM | Link to this

Sorry folks. I hate to say it but the only way to deal with this issue is to ration gas. Everyone gets the same amount. The only way business will be creative is to allow those that do not actually have to put their hands on a product work at home. Computers, blackberrys, etc, make this possible. Also the 4 day work week is long overdue. I have worked for a company that ran production 4 days per week 10 hours per day and productivity actually rose. We also need to make it equally unpleasant for rich and poor…therefore, we need to ration. No one should still guzzle fuel just because they can afford it. This is a golden opportunity to do something beneficial for everyone.

By Brad

June 3, 2008 9:01 PM | Link to this

One question for the board, does anyone know where I can get a hooker I need to get laid.

By David

June 3, 2008 9:55 PM | Link to this

Brenda is right on. I live in Stone Mountain and commute to Suwanee. It’s impossible to rely on public transportation to get to my office, and it’s also impossible for me to afford a house (or apt) close to work. I’m priced right out.

By Jan

June 3, 2008 10:12 PM | Link to this

Funny… No one has even mentioned carpooling or vanpooling. Why is that?

By Jaybird

June 3, 2008 10:16 PM | Link to this

Yes it is possible to save gas in Atlanta. Too bad I live in Lilburn. Bikes..Yikes! Walking…Where? No sidewalks. Still we can do small things. Stop racing from stoplight to stoplight at 60 mph on suburban streets. Stop tailgating. Brake,gas,brake,gas..hint hint. Slow down idiot. Next time you need a new car..downsize. Things gov. can do. Build sidewalks so we can walk places. America is fat. Solve obesity, global warming, and high fuel prices at the same time! Mark C. Ration gas? Why? Is there a shortage? You must be trying to drum up business for the tow truck industry.

By Pedestrian

June 4, 2008 3:59 AM | Link to this

I get around town easily on bike and Marta because I live in town and have found work in the area. I go through a tank of gas in a month.

By Houckster

June 4, 2008 6:42 AM | Link to this

I read a good many of the comments preceding mine. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that MARTA isn’t functional but it’s not as functional as it should be and, yes, the reason it isn’t is due in part because the expansion of MARTA has been frustrated by the flimsiest of reasons like the false fear that crime will be exported to the suburbs.

Yet when MARTA works, it works pretty well. The buses generally do run on time in my area and I save quite a bit of money riding MARTA. Just this year, I’m down 171 gallons from last year and over 200 gallons against the national average.

Maybe as more and more people move back into Atlanta, MARTA will gain the ridership that will permit expansion to serve more people.

And hopefully, Atlanta will complete its traffic study and make the situation a bit easier for drivers who can’t use MARTA.

By AeroNautica0909

June 4, 2008 7:32 AM | Link to this

There are many problems here. The State of Georgia itself is to blame for many of these transportation problems. One stems back from the state’s use of the ‘county-unit system’ for determining primary elections (don’t know what that is- go to Wikipedia and look it up.) That has created so many counties and decentralized governments that none of the metro counties can agree on something regional.

On top of that, the State refuses to fund MARTA. Everyone complains about MARTA- yes, it can be wasteful. However, if the entire region and/or state funded MARTA, MARTA’s service would be MUCH better and it would reach farther. Instead of the suburbanites complaining about traffic, they should be complaining to their county commissioners about not working together with other counties.

Furthermore, there’s too much bureaucracy. There’s GRTA, ARC, MARTA- so many different transportation organizations with little to NO power to force regional cooperation. What’s the point? All 3 waste money- but is GRTA better than MARTA? or is ARC better than MARTA? No- none of the three have much power and until they’re given some real authority to impose a force necessary to better transportation for metro Atlanta, Atlanta cannot be a world class city- and this city have the potential to be a very healthy world-class city.)

Finally, the stigma of MARTA- yes the racist suburbanities of Gwinnett and Cobb rejected MARTA back 30 years ago.They put the metro area on a bad course to congestion. Can it be rectified? Of course- but there’s still people in Gwinnett and Cobb, along with other newly developed counties that MARTA is dangerous, unclean, etc. Having lived in New York all of my life until going to college here, nothing is more unclean and unsafe than the New York City Subway. There’s rats, panhandlers, people playing loud music, and if you stand next to the tracks, you can get pushed over by some deranged person. MARTA has been VERY clean when I’ve been on the trains and the stations are beautiful. In other words, perception is a MAJOR problem in Atlanta. We all perceive the suburbs to be clean, quiet, etc- but the suburbs are NOT suburbs now- they’re starting to be more like the inner city.

The best resolution to this problem is for people to move intown. Forced to live in the suburbs since I’m a college student with no money, when I do make money, I want to move intown since it’ll be closer to the best paying jobs in the metro. The commute I’ve been doing since I’ve been here is ridiculous. Others need to do the same- move intown and leave the commute behind.