In the end, it wasn’t about bus or rail, a half-penny tax or a full-penny tax, contracts and amendments, escrow and quorums. It was about letting the people vote. It was about giving taxpayers the power to cast their ballot on an issue of vital and desperate interest to them: transportation.
We’ve heard plenty recently about big public investments in projects in metro Atlanta where citizens dearly wish they had had their say; the Braves stadium in Cobb County and the Falcons stadium in Atlanta are the most prominent. The public didn’t have a vote in either case. And it took years for Georgia residents to finally get an opportunity to say whether they should be allowed to buy alcohol on Sundays.
It comes down to this: On major issues where large swaths of tax money are concerned, people claim a right to be heard: Not just at public meetings, but at the voting booth.
Ultimately, that’s what convinced Clayton County Commissioner Sonna Singleton to join two other commissioners Saturday morning to approve a full penny sales tax question for the November ballot that would allow the county to become a full-fledged partner in MARTA. It’s almost a given that the referendum will pass. Residents will get bus service in the short run, as early as March 1, and rail or some other “high capacity transit option” — perhaps Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) — down the road. But it’s rail they’re really counting on.
Clayton is the only core metro Atlanta county without public transit, a fact that drove many citizens — an overwhelming pro-transit majority — to pack two commission meetings last week to urge commissioners to approve the ballot referendum to bring in MARTA. Addressing the July 1 meeting, Roberta Abdul-Salaam, a transit advocate and former state senator, apologized in advance to commissioners for becoming emotional. “I get emotional when I see little old women walking down Tara Boulevard in a ditch in the rain.”
Transit supporters didn’t much like the half-penny option approved that night by a 3-2 commission vote. The half-penny tax increase, which would have raised an estimated $25 million annually, would have ensured only bus service in Clayton. It was rejected unanimously by the MARTA board the next day; residents of Fulton and DeKalb counties and the city of Atlanta pay a full penny sales tax for MARTA.
It was a risky move for MARTA, to see if Clayton would reconsider with its back to the wall. And when Clayton Commission Chairman Jeff Turner called for a special meeting Saturday to vote on joining MARTA with a full penny (or getting no transit at all), residents were cautiously optimistic but steeled for disappointment.
Ultimately, supporters got what they wished for. And in the rapturous, tear-flowing hallelujah following the decision, Turner told me he expected the measure would pass with 75 to 80 percent of the vote in November.
But residents should neither celebrate too long nor divert their attention.
As Commissioner Michael Edmondson, the lone dissenting vote, took time to point out during Saturday’s meeting, the contract agreement with MARTA raises legitimate questions. For starters, it doesn’t guarantee rail, nor does it give Clayton the ability to renegotiate what kind of transit system it ultimately gets beyond bus service. That will be MARTA’s call. Also, money collected in an escrow account designated for Clayton rail could also be sent to MARTA bondholders if the transit agency ever went bankrupt.
MARTA CEO and General Manager Keith Parker said if the rail effort fails, Clayton will get an “excellent” alternative, most likely some form of BRT.
Commissioners declined Edmondson’s suggestion to amend the contract, fearing their time would run out. State legislators put a July 6 deadline on calling the referendum.
Still, Edmondson’s reservations resonated with Singleton.
“I still have a lot of concerns about the contract,” she said, but it’s up to voters now. “I’m going to go ahead and let them make that decision. I encourage them to be just as involved now as this contract goes forward.”
To be sure, putting the full penny referendum on the ballot was the right thing to do. But Clayton County will serve itself well to pay attention to the fine print in the months ahead.
