Two months ago I wrote about the future of MARTA in Metro-Atlanta and specifically in Clayton County, where commisioners were preparing to vote on adding a ballot measure to the November ballot which would allow voters to approve a one-cent sales tax increase. The increase would raise almost $50 million annually and bring MARTA, at long last, to Clayton County.
The commissioners subsequently voted 3-1 in favor of adding the vote, as expected, and both supporters and opponents of the idea began circling the wagons and preparing for November.
The anti-tax wing of Georgia politics is well known for its opposition to various Atlanta SPLOSTS and other public transportation ballot measures, most recently the TSPLOST in 2012 that was voted down easily despite bipartisan support in the city. The prevailing notion that the city can’t efficiently spend big blocks of cash, even with good intentions, provides a strong foothold for opponents of the Clayton vote.
Clayton County Commissioner Jeffrey Turner though expects the motion to pass with relative ease in November, with opposition in the county relatively quite compared to the TSPLOST battle of two years ago. Clayton’s demographics are a deeper shade of blue than most of Metro-Atlanta’s, more at ease with increasing an already high sales tax if it means public transportation once again begins to expand in the county.
While the details surrounding the fate of public transportation in Clayton are still far from being fleshed out, (it still isn’t known whether the MARTA service, if approved, would include heavy rail or just bus service) it is always good news when residents get to vote on their own future. Expect opposition to raise its head over the next two months as the transportation debate heats up yet again in Atlanta.
