With about a month to go, efforts to bring public transit back to Clayton shifted into high gear this week as dozens of grassroot organizations, unions, community activists, civil rights groups and politicians gathered on the Clayton courthouse steps for a rally reminiscent of the Civil Rights era.
Clayton voters will decide on Nov. 4 whether to join MARTA.
Thursday’s rally was a combination get-out-the-vote and pro-MARTA push in a county that’s been without local public transit since C-Tran shut down four years ago. Organizers brought in civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson to drive home the point that without public transportation Clayton remains cut off from the rest of the region and from economic growth and jobs.
“This is key to economic development. Key to jobs,” Jackson told the crowd of onlookers and volunteers, including those from the local chapter of his organization the Rainbow/PUSH coalition. Jackson made a similar plea four years ago.
“We’re long-distance runners,” he replied when asked what brought him back to the county. The rally was organized by the Clayton-Henry-Fayette-Spalding chapter of the Rainbow/PUSH coalition. The rally included participation from The Friends of Clayton Transit, an umbrella coalition of 25 various grassroots groups founded by former state representative Roberta Abdul-Salaam.
Earlier in the day, MARTA CEO Keith Parker spoke to the Clayton County Ministers Conference about the transit system’s plans for Clayton. He told the group that Clayton is getting a good deal because it has the opportunity to join without the traditional entry fee often required by other transit systems around the country. Nationally, entry fees have been a “major stumbling block” to expanding transit systems, Parker said. Clayton would levy a penny tax to pay for MARTA service.
“It’s a great deal that might not present itself again,” Parker said.
Joining MARTA “would be a huge economic catalyst,” for Clayton, Parker told the group. If the vote is successful, he said service would start with 1 to 2 routes begining next March. More routes would be added by July and MARTA bus service would be fully operational by 2016.
Rail service would follow “within a few years,” he said. But that hinges on whether MARTA can work out a deal with Norfolk Southern to use the railroad company’s lines.
“Whenever you need to buy something somebody else has…that always going to be a difficult conversation,” Parker conceded. If a deal could not be struck, Parker said MARTA would work with Clayton to create alternatives that could include a range of options such as bus rapid transit.
State Rep. Mike Glanton, who was instrumental in getting the referendum to the ballot, said getting the message out to the community in the next month is going to be critical. Some in the community see public transit as a hinderance. Others aren’t aware of the referendum to join MARTA.
“There’s a concerted effort to get the word out,” said Glanton, who is also a minister. “We may not have this opportunity again. The future of transportation is uncertain if we don’t latch on to this.”
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