As we get closer to July 31, the date that metro Atlanta will vote on a 1-cent transportation tax, the debate, like the weather, just keeps getting hotter.
In the middle of this storm of rhetoric and campaigning, our plan at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is to provide you with the information you’ll need to make up your mind about the referendum on projects across the 10-county region.
Our Truth-O-Meter team has been rating statements from folks on both sides, and our reporters have been providing the local coverage that digs deep into the issues underlying this historic vote.
On Thursday, the newspaper and PNC Bank will host an Atlanta Forward Community Forum for subscribers on the referendum, commonly known as the T-SPLOST. We’ll have a panel of experts from both sides of the issue answering important questions.
(As a measurement of interest in the issue, space for the forum filled up less than 24 hours after I sent an e-mail to subscribers to invite them.)
We also know that as voting gets closer, our readers get more interested and tuned in. To help you do your own research and check on the facts, we’ve organized a page on ajc.com that compiles useful information and the stories we’ve published. If you go to www.ajc.com/go/tsplost, here’s some of what’s available:
● A complete list of the projects you’ll be voting to approve or disapprove, including a map that you can download and print. ● A summary of what each project costs. ● Frequently asked questions on the basics of the T-SPLOST. ● A story that looks at how the projects will impact traffic in key areas of the region. ● An analysis of how the campaign in support of the issue plans to convince voters who are undecided. ● Opinion pieces from people on both sides of the issue.
We’ll continue to add to this page, which also features commentary from our columnists and links to other sources of information.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the work of Ariel Hart, our reporter who’s assigned full time to coverage of the issue. Hart has been constantly digging into the numerous reports, press releases and project lists to give our readers information that simply can’t be had anywhere else.
We’re proud of the reporting she’s doing, and she’s working on several important stories.
Last week, she spent some time in Portland, Ore., where advocates for Atlanta’s Beltline rail project say a streetcar line spurred economic development. She went there to find out for you. Look for that story soon.
We’ll also be looking at the money behind both sides of the campaign, and let you know who’s spending and why.
In your July 29 Sunday newspaper, we’ll publish a poll that takes a crucial, last-minute look at where voters stand.
In that same Sunday newspaper, we’ll also do something we consider vitally important on our Editorial page — we’ll take a position on whether our community should vote for or against the T-SPLOST.
As a reader of the newspaper, you may know that we no longer endorse candidates in partisan political races. That decision is a direct result of feedback you’ve given us through your comments and our research.
While you have said you don’t rely on endorsements in partisan races, you have urged us to stay focused on important issues that affect your life in Metro Atlanta.
That’s why our “Atlanta Forward” themed opinion pages are organized around schools, transportation, the regional economy, leadership and quality of life.
This important vote on Atlanta’s future touches all of these areas, and that’s why we’ve devoted, and will continue to devote, so much space, time and energy to it.
As one of metro Atlanta’s leading institutions, we feel the obligation for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s editorial board and Editorial page to reach a conclusion about the vote — just as you must as a voter and citizen.
It’s not a decision we take lightly, and it’s one we’re struggling with — just as many of you are.
We’ll let you know where we stand.
And no matter how this vote comes out, you can expect us to stay focused on the issue. If it fails, we’ll turn to what metro Atlanta will do next. If it passes, we’ll work to watch how each taxpayer dollar is spent.
Disclosure: Cox Enterprises, Inc., the parent company of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has contributed to the campaign in support of the transportation referendum.
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