Monday, July 16, 2012
Mayor Bucky Johnson held a Q&A session with locals to discuss the Transportation Investment Act, which many refer to as the TSPLOST.
About a dozen locals attended Mayor Bucky Johnson's Q&A session about the Transportation Investment Act at 45 South Cafe in Norcross last Saturday. The controversial TIA, which many refer to as a TSPLOST, is a 1-percent sales tax referendum that would fund transportation projects around the region. The region, which includes local cities, would cover 10 counties: Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale. A recent Rosetta Stone poll has shown a majority of voters are against the referendum, according to WSBTV.com. As the chairman of the Atlanta Regional Transportation Round Table, Johnson discussed the TIA in length and answered questions alongside field staffer Jon Richards of Untie Atlanta, a…
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The Norcross mayor will be at 45 South Cafe this Saturday to answer questions about the Transportation Investment Act.
Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson will be doing a casual Q&A session about the Transportation Investment Act on Saturday at 45 South Cafe, according to the city website. The TIA, also known as TSPLOST, is a 1-percent sales tax that aims to fund transportation improvements in the metro Atlanta area. Voters will be able to vote on the issue, which has garnered much discussion on both sides, on the July 31st ballot. Johnson, who's also the chairman of the Atlanta Regional Transportation Round Table, has been a huge proponent of the TIA. At Saturday's Q&A, he plans to use his intimate knowledge on answering related questions and explaining how the sales tax could support transportation projects. "I believed an informed voter is the best, and you …
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Mayor Bucky Johnson and City Engineer Jeff Mueller informed members on the city's proposed transportation projects.
Mayor Bucky Johnson and City Engineer Jeff Mueller spoke at the Progessional Development Committee meeting Wednesday morning to discuss the Transportation Investment Act and what it can do for the city. The TIA is a 1-percent sales tax that will be voted on July 31 this year. If it passes, the funds from the tax will go toward transportation projects within the the region for 10 years. In the regions outside of Atlanta, 25 percent of the generated funds will go to local jurisdictions for transportation. However, Norcross will be receiving only 15 percent, and that amount is estimated to be around $249,000 a year. Therefore, over the course of 10 years, the city of Norcross could receive $2.49 million for transportation projects. The city …
Friday, January 13, 2012
The Transportation Investment Act and a better bus system are among the topics discussed in Thursday's Just Transportation Forum.
Around 100 participants showed up Thursday evening in Norcross for the Just Transportation Forum to discuss what Gwinnett County and the larger region needs to do to improve the way locals get around town. Particularly, the topics discussed included how the region needs a better mass transit system with more buses and an extended transit line; sidewalks; how the Transportation Investment Act could help the region; and how transportation directly affects job growth and economic development. "Transportation can either become a barrier or a gateway to opportunity, point blank," said Nathaniel Smith, founder of Partnership for Southern Equity. "Public transportation creates 31 percent more jobs per dollar than new roads and bike path projects…
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Regional Roundtable executive committee reaches agreement on $6.14 billion list of transportation projects.
- GOVERNMENT
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Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Updated Aug. 16 at 2:26 p.m. The executive committee of the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable voted unanimously yesterday to approve a $6.14 billion draft list of transportation projects to be funded by a proposed penny sales tax. "This is a pretty momentous occasion," said Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson, Chairman of the Roundtable Executive Committee last night at the Council Work Policy session. “Today, the Roundtable Executive Committee worked tirelessly to craft a constrained list of priority projects that represent tremendous benefits to the entire region,” said Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson, Chairman of the Roundtable Executive Committee in a released statement yesterday. “We had representatives from all the major …
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Gov. Nathan Deal announces special session on “technical changes” to the referendum and more.
- GOVERNMENT
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Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Gov. Nathan Deal announced this afternoon that a special legislative session will be called to discuss delaying the vote on the Transportation Investment Act, as well as take on redistricting and the gas tax rate freeze. Deal announced that the special session will begin on Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. The official proclamation released by the Governor’s office, included an agenda item “for amending the official code of Georgia… relative to the special district transportation sales and use tax.” At a news conference, he reportedly called on lawmakers to delay the vote on the one-penny sales tax proposed for the 10-county region, which was set for July 15. Deal suggested that a November vote would allow more time for citizen input. The proclamation …
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Importance of transit investment highlighted.
Monday night’s telephone townhall meeting to gauge Gwinnett citizens' priorities for transportation projects revealed that citizens care about transit investment. A Regional Roundtable is currently working to draft a list of projects that will be included in the Transportation Investment Act, which citizens will vote on in July of 2012. The Act would create a one percent, 10-year sales tax for regional transportation projects, if passed. The citizens were polled about their priorities by phone: Of those 147,700 households who called in, 20,927 participated in the polling, according to numbers released by Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson, who is the chair of the Regional Roundtable executive committee. Fifty nine percent of the citizens …
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Transportation investment act will help future generations according to Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson.
Gwinnett County citizens had the opportunity on June 20 to share their priorities for regional transportation projects during a telephone town hall meeting hosted by the Atlanta Regional Roundtable. Citizens who participated in the call were polled regarding regional transportation investment, light rail and specific local projects. Participants also had the opportunity to ask questions of Gwinnett County commission chairman Charlotte Nash and Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson who heads the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable executive committee. “This is a really important issue that we have potentially in front of us next year,” Nash said. “Those of us who sit on the regional roundtable are anxious to hear what the priorities of the …
Monday, June 20, 2011
Lilburn resident says: 'I could find no rational reasons to remove from the citizenry billions of dollars one penny at a time.'
- OPINION
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Monday, June 20, 2011
As a concerned citizen I would like to comment, plant some doubt regarding the metro area TSPLOST movement and help enlighten the populace to this albatross. I attended the Metro Atlanta Northern Crescent Transit Summit with an open mind to understand the proposed value of a metro rail system. To my understanding I could find no rational reasons to remove from the citizenry billions of dollars one penny at a time with the TSPLOST for any type of rail system. It sounds inexpensive when you propose a penny tax. Depending on who you speak with that tax ends up accumulating $6 billion to $16 Billion. Take in account we are in the worst recession/depression since The Great Depression makes it an even worse decision. The price of laying tracks …
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Of the $1.28 billion in Norcross area projects submitted, only one idea was tossed: replacing the bridge at Jimmy Carter Boulevard and 85.
Hoping for Gwinnett Light Rail? You might be in luck. A new bridge at 85 and Jimmy Carter? You may have to wait longer. A broad, “unconstrained” wish list of transportation projects has been vetted by the Georgia DOT and was delivered yesterday afternoon to the Transportation Investment Act Executive Committee, with about 30 Gwinnett projects erased from the slate. The Committee, chaired by Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson, has the challenging task of putting together a final list for voters, who will make the ultimate call in July 2012 on a ten-year, one-penny sales tax for transportation projects. Ten Metro Atlanta regions submitted their suggestions in April, with the City of Norcross and the Gwinnett Village CID putting in $1.28 billion…
Joe_Harris
6:01 pm on Monday, July 16, 2012
If you give people more transit options they will use them. If you have a transit system that is more spread out and enables you to go to more places then people will use it. People are ready to get off of the roads and to their destinations quicker. Daily traffic, that is increasingly getting worse, and congestion are not the standard by which we should be living. more ›