Neal Boortz: Trolley nothing but Fanplex on wheels

By Neal Boortz

Do you remember Fanplex?

It’s OK if you put the paper down for a few seconds while you recover from your laughing fit. OK, that’s enough. Get a grip. And for those of you who don’t understand why everyone else is laughing, let me give you a little Atlanta history lesson.

About 14 years ago one of our more useless local governing boards, the Atlanta/Fulton County Recreation Authority, was facing a loss of any excuse for its continued existence with the demise of the Atlanta/Fulton County Stadium and the Omni Coliseum. AFCRA comes up with a plan — a plan some say was designed to save jobs, AFCRA jobs: An entertainment complex next to Turner Field.

It was going to be just amazing! There would be miniature golf! Video games! Corn dogs! Families pouring in before Braves games to join the fun! Why, this was going to be so absolutely fantastic that suburban families would load up the minivans for trips to Fanplex even when the Braves weren’t playing. Fanplex was going to revitalize the whole neighborhood!

As I remember this saga, there was one particular radio talk show host — tall and bald — who guffawed at the idea on the air and warned Atlantans that this whole Fanplex idea was a joke, a joke destined to become a miserable failure and a waste of money.

How much money, you ask? Well, the initial investment was around $2.5 million. Nobody came to play the games and eat the corn dogs. Well, some did. The 20 or so original employees came. They easily outnumbered the throngs of suburban families.

Fanplex lasted two years, dwindled to one employee and finally closed. For years AFCRA tried to sell this boondoggle. The asking price was around $2.7 million. No takers. Today it’s just an eyesore overgrown with weeds where rats play miniature golf with acorns.

There’s another Fanplex on the way. This one will ride on rails. It was big doings in Atlanta when Mayor Kasim Reed, U.S. Rep. John Lewis and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood got together to celebrate a $47 million grant for this rolling joke — a tourist streetcar. The cost for this project stands at $75 million. The city has pledged another $10 million and $8.4 million more will be diverted from other projects. Trust me. Before it’s over it will cost $100 million or more.

The real issue with this streetcar is the routing. Is it going to run up Peachtree Street to the Arts Center or maybe even to Buckhead? Nope. I guess tourists really don’t want to travel between Midtown and Centennial Olympic Park.

No, this street car is going to run between Centennial Olympic Park and the King Center. Are there throngs of tourists hovering around Centennial Olympic Park on any given day trying to figure out how to get to the King Center?

Find out for yourself. Go put a booth in Centennial Olympic Park with a “Directions” sign. See how long it takes for someone to come up and ask, “How do I get to the King Center?” As I understand it there was once one of those tourist trolleys running this route. It shut down. Not enough riders.

I also read in these pages that there was a MARTA bus route that would have done the job quite nicely. That was one of the routes recently cut by MARTA.

So, if there isn’t consumer demand, why build it? Well, here’s your intemperate question: Is it possible that this streetcar is being built on this particular route with $75 million (for now) in taxpayer dollars to shore up the King Center? Could that be the true agenda here? The center needs tourist traffic, and these millions of dollars are laying around, so why not?

On opening day this streetcar will be full of grinning politicians and happy contractors. From that point on it’s a one-way run back to Fanplex.

Listen to Neal Boortz live from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays on AM 750 and now 95.5FM News/Talk WSB.

His column appears every Saturday. For more Boortz, go to boortz.com