By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum
JUNE 29, 2018 | Gwinnettians can expect a decision by the County Commission soon on whether there will be a question on the ballot about public transportation, that is, MARTA, on the November ballot.
We hope there is. The commission could also postpone the vote, so that the county might vote instead later on whether it should join the new Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority, being called The ATL. That new designation is a product of the recent Legislature. It is new regional body that will fold all the Metro Atlanta transit systems into one single unit, several years from now. That new unit will work in 13 metro counties, bringing together under one organization Gwinnett County Transit, CobbLinc, GRTA’s Express system, and even MARTA by March 2023.
Yet that new transit authority doesn’t face a vote by the different counties until 2019 or even 2020 at the earliest. Once in operation, it would take several years for the new Authority to formulate plans for this entire region for transit.
In other words, ATL means more delays toward implementation of a real workable public transit authority for the county. Delaying to vote on ARL would mean improved transit would be years away.
Since MARTA will most ultimately be a part of the new ATL, why isn’t it reasonable for Gwinnett to call a referendum on MARTA this year, and be two years down the road toward a more encompassing transit system for the county?
Anyway, Gwinnett has already delayed joining MARTA for years. The voters defeated MARTA when originally proposed in 1971, and again in a binding referendum in 1990.
However, with more than 550,000 people moving into Gwinnett since 1990, we sense that a new majority of Gwinnett citizens would overwhelmingly agree for the county to become part of the MARTA system these days. After all, more highways just cannot handle today’s traffic. Since most all call traffic our biggest problem, we feel Gwinnett is ready to move forward and adopt modern public transportation……since that could be part of the relief. (The current estimated population is 920,260 for 2017).
Current suggestion is to bring MARTA at least to the Jimmy Carter Boulevard area and even possibly extend the heavy rail tracks to the Gwinnett Place area. Even this may take 10-20 years!
But to us, that is short-term thinking.
If Gwinnett is to get the benefit of MARTA, why not bite the bullet and take the right action, and extend MARTA all the way to the center of the county, that is, to the Infinite Energy Arena area! It would be a shot in the arm to attract people from the vast Metro Atlanta area for shows, conventions, sporting events and entertainment in the Arena area.
In other words, think big! All too often, Gwinnett has failed to think big enough in years past. If we do not bring the high-speed tracks to the center of the county in the upcoming referendum, it might be 50 years before that area could benefit from public transit tracks.
Think ahead. Think big. Do the right thing, county commissioners. Call the referendum, but don’t be timid about it. It’s a long-term proposition anyway, so do it right.
Bring public transit to the arena!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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