At yesterday's debut of Atlanta's Streetcar, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed had a bit of advice for lawmakers readying for a knock-down debate over transportation funding.
Our AJC colleague Scott Trubey asked the mayor what proportion of the new funding should go to mass transit, long a priority for Democrats and suddenly an emphasis for some leading Republicans as well.
"I believe that the appropriate split is about 55/45. Fifty-five in favor of roads, and 45 for transit, in the metro region," said Reed. "I think that we have to respond to peoples' lifestyles and what the public is demanding."
The long-awaited transportation blueprint didn't offer any recommendations for a mass transit funding split, but suggested a historic investment to the growth of transit. It pointedly said lawmakers should encourage the "development of responsible, well-funded and coordinated public transportation" in metro areas.
Reed said business leaders, not politicians, are already driving that conversation. Case in point, he said, was State Farm's budding new Dunwoody campus attached to a MARTA station.
Said the mayor:
"Density doesn't just mean the city of Atlanta. It can be Avalon in Alpharetta and Serenbe in Fairburn. The bottom line is people want to be around one another, so even if you're not in the heart of the city, the direction of the country and the world is to want to be around other people."
The mayor said he's working on boosting funding for the streetcar line to get wait times down from 15 minutes to 10 minutes, though he's not yet certain where he'll find the cash. He does, however, know where the Streetcar's next new stop should be.
"The next place that the Streetcar should go is a stop on the Atlanta Beltline," he said. "The Atlanta Beltline is a globally significant project."
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