Despite Cobb County Chairman Tim Lee’s assurances over the past year that the public will decide if a controversial rapid transit bus system is built, the $500 million project can now proceed with a simple majority vote of the county commission.
That detail is embedded in a 110-page transportation planning document that was approved by the commission May 26. Each of the four district commissioners say they thought that the planning document required a public referendum on the system when they voted for it.
“I thought that because that’s what we were told,” said commissioner Bob Ott, who does not support the project. “I came to that conclusion because of all the pledges made by the chairman.”
Commissioner Lisa Cupid said she voted for the transportation plan "under the premise there would be a (BRT) referendum."
“Apparently, I didn’t read the document carefully enough,” she said. “We may need to reverse that.”
Lee has not responded to phone messages and questions sent to him through email over the past week for this story.
Bus rapid transit, or BRT as it is known, would cut a path for buses only down U.S. 41 and through some of the most congested roads in metro Atlanta: from Kennesaw State, past the Big Chicken, down through the Cumberland area and the new Atlanta Braves stadium, before linking up with I-75 and rolling on to a MARTA station in Midtown.
Half of its cost would be paid by local taxpayers.
Ron Sifen, a Cobb resident and transit activist, does not support BRT because he believes there are better, more cost-effective ways to thin out congestion in the corridor. Sifen said Lee has repeatedly told the public that voters would have the final say on BRT.
Sifen said it’s “an issue of government telling citizens one thing, then doing the opposite.”
Tom Cheek said deceptive government leadership is becoming the norm in Cobb County. Cheek is a frequent county government observer who last year successfully fought for upgrades to the Cobb Medical Examiner’s Office.
“This is part of a trend that I’ve observed lately where everything seems like a trick,” Cheek said. “I know the chairman will say that I don’t have expertise, but I know the difference between the truth and a lie.”
Ott said at Tuesday’s commission meeting that he will introduce a resolution next month saying there should be a referendum on BRT, if it proceeds.
No `sleight of hand’
Lee has long supported bus rapid transit.
The chairman threw his political weight behind the project when it was part of the 2012 regional T-SPLOST, which was overwhelmingly rejected by Cobb voters. The project was estimated to cost $1 billion at the time.
Then last year, after the project’s cost was cut in half, Lee wanted to include a $100 million line item in the 2016 special purpose sales tax project list that would help the county qualify for a $250 million federal grant for BRT.
But district commissioners would not support the item for fear that its inclusion on the SPLOST project list would tip the vote against the six-year, $750 million tax, which they say is vital to funding a variety of government needs.
In response, Lee removed the line item, which was clearly identified as part of the BRT project, and asked for the addition of $75 million in intersection improvements along U.S. 41. Money allocated for those 10 projects would have qualified as matching funds for the federal BRT grant.
The change generated little support among district commissioners. Lance Lamberton, president of the Cobb Taxpayer’s Association, called Lee’s proposed change from a single line item to individual intersection improvements a “Trojan Bus.”
Lee made his first promise for a public BRT referendum at a July 2014 commission meeting, during which the board approved placing the SPLOST tax referendum on ballots last November. Lee tried to assure voters that they could vote in favor of the tax and not worry about the money being used to fund BRT.
“I just want to be clear on something,” Lee said during the July meeting. “My intent, if the board sees fit in the future to consider bringing the (BRT) project forward … it’ll be done in a public environment. It’ll be done — in my recommendation — in a separate election, to be held on its own merit … and be voted on by the citizens of Cobb County … by itself in an election-year ballot.
“There’s nothing sleight of hand.”
Ott said it was that comment — and others — that led him to assure the public during last month’s meeting that approval of the county’s transportation plan would not mean approval of BRT. “…It would take further action from the board, and then a referendum,” he said.
Neither Lee nor Cobb DOT Director Faye DiMassimo,who was standing at the podium during Ott’s comment and whose staff compiled the document, corrected the misstatement.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution submitted three questions to DiMassimo last week, including whether Lee or County Manager David Hankerson directed her staff to leave the BRT referendum to the discretion of commissioners.
DiMassimo did not answer, but Lee’s deputy chief Kellie Brownlow sent an email in response.
“Last week, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners adopted a forward thinking planning document that includes long-term innovative transportation alternatives to achieve regional connectivity,” Brownlow’s email says. “Instead of recognizing this as forward thinking, we received a line of questions that actually make it far more controversial than it is, particularly at this juncture.”
Brownlow then asked the newspaper not to report that it asked questions of DiMassimo.
During the same May 26 meeting at which the transportation plan was approved, commissioners also approved submission of a federal grant application for $20 million worth of intersection improvements down U.S. 41. The project includes building dedicated lanes at six intersections, so buses can zip around congestion.
The grant asks for $10 million in federal funds, and says local SPLOST money could be used for the local share.
Neither DiMassimo nor Lee’s office responded to the newspaper’s question about whether those intersection improvements could be used to qualify for a larger BRT federal grant.
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