“Hallelujah! I’m speechless after that.”
-- Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson
Hallelujah indeed. Mayor Johnson’s Southern-style, spontaneous exhilaration was warranted last week when the Atlanta region took a large first leap toward improving the inefficient patchwork of winding roads and a few rails that we call a transportation system.
Perhaps more importantly, the unanimous vote by the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable’s executive committee could bode well for a new era of cooperation on issues of mutual concern, transportation being paramount among them. If that happens, we’ll all be better off.
A smoothly running global capital of nearly 6 million people will prove a much more effective jobs magnet than a divided collection of perpetually bickering political subdivisions. The latter scenario will be viewed with disdain by investors shopping for places to do their part in rebuilding our national economy — low taxes notwithstanding.
It’s up to greater Atlantans who are fed up with lengthy, unpredictable commutes and wearing out brakes in stop-and-go traffic to ensure that regional collaboration becomes our new operating model. That will require pointedly reminding our elected leaders that a gridlocked I-285 or Ga. 400 equally hinders liberals and conservatives alike.
The public will have ample chance to do just that as the full 21-member transportation roundtable moves toward approving a final project list by October 15. That vote will set the stage for the 2012 referendum on the one-penny transportation special purpose local option sales tax.
Last week’s 5-0 decision by the roundtable executive committee, though, may be the one best remembered by historians. It showed an impressive level of nonpartisan, forward thinking and political maturity by all those involved in the give-and-take over the project list. The result is worth celebrating in these times when it’s more fashionable to shout across the aisle than reach across one in search of common ground.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said after last Monday’s vote: “There were a couple of moments where the conversation and the work could have gone either way. And I think all of the members did a good job of walking that back.”
Kudos to them.
Not everyone, however, sees it that way.
Fayette County Commissioner Steve Brown wrote a letter to the editor last week castigating state Republican leaders, Mayor Reed and even the Metro Atlanta Chamber for their work on the “wasteful” T-SPLOST and other issues. “It appears as though our Republican elected officials at the state level are willing to permit Democrat Mayor Reed and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce (sic) to rule the roost when it comes to issues involving metropolitan Atlanta.” He quoted Albert Einstein as saying, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
We like another Einstein quote cited during last week’s Georgia Forward forum in Pine Mountain. “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
Our competitor cities get that. In Gov. Rick Perry’s Texas, Dallas-Forth Worth is using a combination of toll roads and both light-rail and heavy-rail passenger lines to move people around. That’s a 21st-century strategy to stay economically competitive by not standing still.
Atlanta and Georgia can’t afford either a standstill or a standoff over the T-SPLOST.
Thankfully, the state’s political leaders — from Gov. Nathan Deal, to House Speaker David Ralston, Mayor Reed and many others — recognize that new thinking is needed for a new day. They, and other public officials, must maintain their fortitude and spirit of cooperation as noisy opposition to the T-SPLOST builds in coming months.
Andre Jackson, for the Editorial Board
Atlanta Forward: We look at major issues Atlanta must address in order to move forward as the economy recovers.
Look for the designation “Atlanta Forward,” which will identify these discussions.
