A meeting hosted by Cobb County’s Democratic leaders on Thursday night proved more favorable toward transportation proposals, a strong contrast to earlier gatherings in which a proposed rail line was disparaged by its critics.
State Sen. Doug Stoner, D-Smyrna, led the informational meeting regarding the proposed regional transportation tax and the projects that will be funded by $6.14 billion the 10-year tax is expected to generate.
"We consider ourselves a progressive area," said Coakley Pendergrass, a resident. "We have to bring transit to Cobb."
Residents in the 10-county region go to the polls next year to vote on the tax referendum, and Cobb County’s large number of registered voters is considered one of the critical counties for approving the tax.
In Cobb, much of the transportation debate has centered on a $1.2 billion transit line, possibly light rail, that would run from the Arts Center MARTA station to the Cumberland area, with about one mile in Cobb County.
Many Cobb residents, including several of the county’s state leaders, have criticized the project as too expensive, shortsighted in relieving traffic congestion and not beneficial to enough county residents.
Those same issues were were brought up again on Thursday night, falling between comments from Stoner and other state officials who support the line, which would be allocated $856 million in tax funding.
“Nobody argued that this was a transportation project; everyone said this was an economic development project,” said Ron Sifen, a resident who insisted that most of the line would benefit Atlanta and Fulton County. “I don’t agree with that. If we’re going to spend a billion dollars on a project in Cobb, I want it to be for relieving traffic congestion and this project doesn’t do that.”
Stoner countered, saying, “Anything we do in transportation, in addition to relieving traffic, goes toward economic development. This is about how do we give alternatives and choices to commuters in this county?”
While officials such as Stoner and Commission Chairman Tim Lee, and state Reps. David Wilkerson and Stacey Evans support the transit line, Rep. Ed Setzler and other officials are pushing to get the project removed from the list.
Setzler, R-Acworth, is promoting a mix of road projects and commuter rail along existing CSX train lines, a concept supported by Commissioner Bob Ott.
“I’m not against transit, but this project will not be completed in 10 years and will not provide congestion relief,” Ott said. “I think the proposal for Cobb is too transit heavy … and using commuter rail lines in other places has worked and could work here.”
The transportation tax with the existing project list currently looks like it would have a hard time passing in Cobb, said Kerwin Swint, political science professor at Kennesaw State University.
“There is a lot of opposition in Cobb because people don’t see the payoff for them,” he said. “They feel that they will be paying off a rail system that will be benefitting other people.”
Changing the rail project would give the tax a better chance of passing, Swint said.
Thursday night’s meeting was one of several that Cobb’s state lawmakers have held around the county. A series of 12 meetings is scheduled later this month throughout the 10-county region.
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