Infrastructure bond referendum a quiet, but likely sell

BIG TICKET HIGHLIGHTS

Council district projects = about $67.2 million

The Atlanta City Council voted in January to distribute $5.6 million for projects inside each of the city’s 12 districts, with $1.4 million in “non-transportation projects to be identified at the council district level.”

District 5 Councilman Alex Wan, head of the finance committee, said councilmembers are working with the Department of Public Works to determine top needs in their respective areas, and are also expected to hold meetings with their constituents.

Martin Luther King Jr. Drive improvements = about $17.7 million

Following up on Reed's pledge to make Atlanta's Martin Luther King Jr. Drive the finest in the country, the city is proposing spending $12.8 million near the future Atlanta Falcons stadium to replace a 105-year-old bridge over surface parking between Northside and Forsyth Street, as well as spending $4.6 million on street improvements including resurfacing and adding bike lanes along some sections of Ralph David Abernathy Drive to Oakland Cemetery. MLK Drive could also receive about $263,000 in traffic light improvements in multiple places.

Martin Luther King Natatorium = $17.5 million

Councilmembers balked at the original pricetag — $25 million — of this proposed indoor swimming facility, prompting Reed officials to lower the cost of the project. Reed’s administration said the pool is needed to replace the now-closed King natatorium on Boulevard. So far, Reed officials haven’t said exactly where they plan to build it.

Citywide signal system upgrades = $20.1 million

This bucket of money, about 8 percent of the total infrastructure bond, will go toward replacing traffic signal LEDs, monitors and improving traffic light synchronization.

Complete street overhaul = $32.1 million

City leaders aim to give dramatic makeovers 14 major streets, from Cascade Road to DeKalb Avenue and East Paces Ferry. The “complete street improvements” include milling, repaving and adding sidewalks, pedestrian and/or bike lanes to a number of the roads. The budget includes $5 million for unassigned projects. This bucked of money is separate than the city’s plans to repave key roadways.

Public Art Program = $11.8 million

A city ordinance requires 1.5 percent of capital improvement funding be spent on public art, but Reed is proposing spending closer to 5 percent of the infrastructure bond funds on public art projects city-wide.

“The city needs it, and that’s the law of the city of Atlanta,” Reed said, pointing to the investment in art at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport as a success in this realm. “I think that art matters.”

Mayor Kasim Reed predicts Atlanta’s notoriously troubled traffic woes will prompt locals, anxious for any ounce of gridlock relief, to approve spending $250 million on infrastructure fixes next month.

“Traffic light synchronization and bridge repair, on their own … really make this dog hunt,” Reed said, adding that key to the bond passage is that voters understand their taxes won’t rise as a result. “This is less about persuasion and more about awareness of the election.”

Reed has less than a month left to convince voters to say yes on March 17 to two separate bonds. The first, worth $188 million, will fund capital maintenance projects such as road improvements and sidewalks. The second bond, valued at $64 million, will pay to build or improve municipal facilities.

In late 2008, Atlanta completed a study that found nearly half of its 1,705 miles of streets were in disrepair and needed repaving. About the same time the great recession began pinching city revenues, limiting the city’s ability attend to its maintenance backlog.

Early voting begins Monday, and Reed said he’s now raising funds for a messaging campaign to reach those voters in the final critical weeks.

New polling suggests the infrastructure referendum might be an easy sell.

» DOCUMENT: See the Renew Atlanta list of infrastructure proposals (.pdf)

A poll commissioned by Citizens for Better Infrastructure, the group running the bond campaign, finds that 79 percent of Atlanta voters are likely to support the referendum. The poll was conducted by Reed’s go-to-group, Anzalone Liszt Grove Research.

And in a separate, smaller poll conducted by 20/20 Insight LLC and commissioned by Franklin Communications, 63 percent say they’d approve the referendum if voting today. Around 20 percent of Atlantans said they are opposed to spending the funds, and 15 percent are undecided or have no opinion.

Cabral Franklin — son of former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin — said he was surprised nearly two-thirds of Atlantans support the measure, especially as Reed hasn’t yet launched a full messaging campaign on the issue.

“That’s a big number,” Franklin said. “That’s going to be hard to defeat no matter what you do.”

The biggest threat to its passage, if any, Franklin said, is that the city hasn’t yet finalized a project list.

It’s been well over a year since Reed announced plans to tackle a portion of the city’s billion-dollar backlog of needed roads, bridge, sidewalk and building maintenance fixes in his second term. Still, the city is vetting and whittling down a behemoth list of proposed projects.

A few possible expenditures go beyond road paving and sidewalk maintenance. The city could spend millions on public art and a natatorium.

District 7 Councilman Howard Shook said he wants the administration and council to approve a final list as soon as possible. The city’s only hard deadline to do so is before Atlanta heads to the bond markets for approval, which occurs only if voters approve the measure on St. Patrick’s Day.

“Common sense suggests the public needs to know what the list is before they go to the polls,” Shook said. “The more time there is to consider the list, the more likely someone might be to vote for it.”

Reed spokeswoman Jenna Garland said the administration is still taking input from residents, an effort they began more than a year ago with several rounds of public meetings. They city also created a website last year, where residents can comment on the proposals.