State leaders weak on big issues, ARC chief says

State leadership is lacking when it comes to addressing the biggest issues, such as mobility and clean water, said Sam Olens, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, the chief planning agency for 10 metro counties.

“We need a state that acts like they are the head of the Southeast,” Olens said at an Urban Land Institute seminar Tuesday morning called “Repositioning to Weather the Storm.”

“I’m tired of the ARC getting criticized for making plans,” he said. “We should not be asked to solve state issues. What we need is a state that is actually ready to accept their responsibilities.”

Improving interstate traffic flow and controlling stormwater pollution are state issues, not local ones, Olens said. Bus rapid transit on interstates is a weak response to highway congestion; “Atlanta is past that,” he said.

He said state leaders tend to get distracted by side issues, such as challenging the gun ban at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Rep. Timothy Bearden (R-Villa Rica) and GeorgiaCarry.org, a gun rights group, fought the airport’s ban on guns. A federal judge threw out their lawsuit and an appeals court upheld the judge’s decision.

Bearden said Tuesday “the safety and security of law-abiding citizens will never be a side issue or distraction to me.” As for transportation and stormwater, “we are working on those issues diligently” but are hamstrung by a huge state budget deficit, he said.

ULI is a nonprofit research and education organization whose members are involved in development.