After T-SPLOST Failure, Democrats Worry About Georgia's Future

Bob Peppel August 4, 2012 at 02:58 am

Scott Holcomb blames current leadership for the failure of TSPLOST. He conveniently forgets that the legislature set the stage for this years ago when they allowed MARTA to be a 2 county system. If the state gov't wants to have a transportation system, they should do it. Make it statewide and fund it however you wish, don't let the people vote and then wring your hands when they don't vote the way you want them to. I think it was very disingenuous of you to ask the voters of Fulton and DeKalb county to add another penny after allowing Clayton,Cobb, and Gwinnett to have a free ride all these years. Who knows what kind of transportation system we might have today if you guys had done it right the first time.

J Kilgore August 4, 2012 at 04:07 am

House Minority Leader Stacy Abrams “Georgia has under-invested in our transportation network for years, and we rank near the bottom in per capita transportation spending,” How stupid can an elected official be ? Sonny "Four Lane in Bonair" Perdue implemented his "Fast Foward" program to complete 16 years of highway projects in his eight years in office, incurred Hundreds of Millions of dollars in bonded debt trying to get all of those projects done, and this Buffoon Stacey Abrams comes along and says we have "under invested" in Georgia. Well, Georgia ranked 10th in the entire country last year, and second only to Florida in the southeast, and CNBC ranks Georgia number 3 in the country in terms of infrastructure and transportation. I would recommend you Dems improve your vetting process to ensure you recruit public officials that have at least done a little research before they venture into the public embarrassing themselves and the entire party all at one time.

Bob Peppel August 5, 2012 at 01:52 am

Right on J. Kilgore

Scott Holcomb August 6, 2012 at 07:42 pm

I appreciate the comments. One thing on which we can all agree, I think, is that there’s no profit in sulking about what might have been.
That is surely true about MARTA. I completely agree that Atlanta’s current transit system is far from ideal. Sure, it would be great if folks had made different decisions back in the ‘60s and ‘70s so that we would have a truly regional transit system with fair contributions from across the region and also from the State. But that’s not what we have. And history teaches that as long as we leave this question just to the legislature, this is what we’ll be stuck with. Just this session at the General Assembly, suburban and rural legislators continued to vote no when proposals to help fix MARTA’s funding problems were proposed. I’m sympathetic to DeKalb voters who feel like they’ve paid more than their fair share in the past. But we can’t fix the past. We have to figure out how to make a better future from the cards that we’ve been dealt today. I was not yet in the House when the T-SPLOST referendum was approved for the July 31 ballot. But it is my strong impression that the legislators decided to give this issue over to the voters specifically because they could not find a solution on their own. And voters rejected the referendum primarily because of a distrust of government.

Scott Holcomb August 6, 2012 at 07:43 pm

I sincerely worry that the status quo on transportation is a threat to our future prosperity. Notwithstanding J Kilgore’s personal attack on the Minority Leader, Rep. Abrams’ statement is absolutely true. Georgia has definitely shortchanged transportation. But J, you’re right about one thing. Some of the money that Georgians spent in the past has been wasted on extravagant roads to out-of-the-way places. I totally agree that we need to make sure that we invest in infrastructure that will move people and goods efficiently. I don’t like government boondoggles any more than you do.
To understand exactly where we are on transportation in Georgia and this region, let me suggest some original sources. This report from the Georgia Public Policy Foundation is a good place to start. (http://www.gppf.org/pub/Transportation/120523IATSPLOSTFINAL.pdf). Page 37 states that Georgia is ranked 49th in transportation spending. The American Society of Civil Engineers issued a report on Georgia’s infrastructure. Road and Transit received grades of D+ “due to below average funding, higher than average fatality rate and congestion issues in large metropolitan areas.” http://www.ascega.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/2009_GA_ASCE_Report_Card.pdf. See page 45.

Scott Holcomb August 6, 2012 at 07:43 pm

The CNBC report mentioned in the comments can be viewed here, http://www.cnbc.com/id/46413842. Georgia fared well in this report, but it is important to understand what they were measuring. The grades in this report were based on “the value of goods shipped by air, land and water.” It can’t be a surprise that we rated highly under that measure. This is a bright spot for our state’s economy. The potential tragedy is that we aren’t investing to keep these assets competitive. For example, the Port of Savannah is finally on the fast track to receive federal money to be deepened so that it can accommodate the bigger ships that will soon come through the Panama Canal. What happens if we don’t have either the road or the rail capacity to transship all the additional freight from the port to its eventual destination? There are no transportation planners who would argue that we have all of the infrastructure we need to keep our state competitive. I don’t know if you are making that argument. If you are, I strongly disagree with you.
Lastly, I’d recommend to anyone who is interested in this topic a short article from the Brookings Institute on what comes next. http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2012/08/01-atlanta-transportation-tomer I don’t think there’s any chance for a second referendum, but the article contains some interesting food for thought. Thanks again for your comments.

J Kilgore August 7, 2012 at 02:55 am

Well Representative, you have several problems with your "analysis". You say "Rep. Abrams’ statement is absolutely true. Georgia has definitely shortchanged transportation." Simply saying something is true will not work with me Sir. You offer nothing to support either Rep. Abrams' claim or your support. As for the Public Policy Foundation, they simply repeat a statistic that was taken from the Georgia Statewide Strategic Transportation Plan http://dot.ga.gov/informationcenter/programs/Documents/Reports/SSTP-Final.pdf
page 1, footnote 1. Please note that statistic is based on a 2006 FHWA and National Transit Database statistic. I prefer to work with CURRENT information Sir. Georgia does NOT, in fact, rank 49th. Unlike you, I will provide factual data. Georgia's per capita spending in 2011 was $607, which is more than South Carolina ($443), Tennessee ($445), Arkansas ($488), Alabama ($511), North Carolina ($512) and Texas ($604). Georgia was within $88 of other states such as Kentucky ($629), Mississippi ($654), Virginia ($659), Florida ($660) and Louisiana ($695). You may note Sir, that those are all Southeastern states. Please also note that but for the re-building that continues as the result of Katrina, Louisiana and Mississippi would not rank higher than Georgia. You offer nothing Sir, to document your false claim that Georgia lags in transportation investment.

J Kilgore August 7, 2012 at 03:02 am

And you continue with your obfuscation and misinformation, by confirming what I had already suggested. You cite the CNBC study, and your comment was as follows - "Georgia fared well in this report, but it is important to understand what they were measuring. The grades in this report were based on “the value of goods shipped by air, land and water.” It can’t be a surprise that we rated highly under that measure. This is a bright spot for our state’s economy." You and I can agree on that point Sir, and that is EXACTLY why T SPLOST should have been, and indeed, was, defeated. Correct me if I misunderstood T SPLOST Sir, but my recollection is it included roads and airports, did it not ? So you concur that our infrastructure and transportation are a "bright spot for our state's economy." Good. But then you sink back into "politician speak", when you say - "What happens if we don’t have either the road or the rail capacity to transship all the additional freight from the port to its eventual destination? There are no transportation planners who would argue that we have all of the infrastructure we need to keep our state competitive. I don’t know if you are making that argument. If you are, I strongly disagree with you." No one has said that we don't have the road or rail capacity, and you Sir, are only speculating.

J Kilgore August 7, 2012 at 03:14 am

And you certainly did not read me to say that we currently have all of the infrastructure that we need. Now let's go back to something that you said that is a typical politician's trick. You said - I sincerely worry that the status quo on transportation is a threat to our future prosperity. You Sir, may consider the options for our state as either T SPLOST or the status quo, but I do not. To suggest that NOT doing what the politicians tried to mislead the people of Georgia into, which was a seriously flawed plan, with no cohesive strategy in any Region, which was, in fact, a hodge podge of previously approved GDOT projects, is leaving us with the status quo, is insulting to the intelligence of the people of Georgia, and to your constituents, who I hope read your writings and make note that you have such a low opinion of their intellectual abilities. The simple fact is that T SPLOST revenue was dramatically OVER estimated, the project cost was seriously UNDER estimated, and the projects lists for every Region were catastrophically UNDER funded, depending on federal Highway Trust Fund transfers to "balance" the revenue and cost. The small problem with that theory is that the Highway Trust Fund is insolvent, and has been since 2008. You elected folks better get used to working with the funds that you have, because that is what every average Georgian is having to do.

Scott Holcomb August 7, 2012 at 03:26 pm

Thanks J for sharing. I appreciate your interest in this subject. If every member of the General Assembly would do their homework like you do, we’d generate better bills than the T-SPLOST.
In large measure, I think we agree on where things are. For the sake of argument, I’ll accept that Georgia’s spending on transportation ranks more like 44th based on the data you provided (if you’d like to post your source, I’d be happy to look at it). But that only tells us that some places are probably falling behind the curve faster than we are, or simply aren’t able to grow. I’m not going to throw up my hands and join in a race to the bottom. I believe most citizens in my district and around the state probably feel the same way. Responsible policy is to find a way to fix our problems.

Scott Holcomb August 7, 2012 at 03:27 pm

We haven’t spent effectively on transportation assets that work for Atlanta, and we haven’t invested in transportation assets that will sustain our economic competitiveness statewide. We have problems that need to be solved. Mobility in Atlanta is awful and growing worse. Brookings rated our transit system dead last in connecting people with jobs among the ten biggest cities in America. Congestion costs us all in an enormous amount of lost productivity and frustration. It is also Atlanta’s Achilles heel in economic competitiveness. Congestion is a factor businesses consider when deciding to relocate and our congestion is not an asset. Outside Atlanta, the challenges are different. There, we need an efficient logistical network for moving goods. That is a prerequisite for creating economic opportunity in rural Georgia and in Georgia’s smaller cities. The transportation network we have today isn’t up to the task of handling the anticipated growth of, among other things, Savannah’s port or the expected increase in cargo at Hartsfield. I’m thankful we have the Port of Savannah and Hartsfield, and those were the items I was referring to as the bright spots in our state’s economy because they are helping to fuel growth, as evidenced by the CNBC report. But my concern is that we have world class ports (air and sea) but not the other pieces of the transportation puzzle.

Scott Holcomb August 7, 2012 at 03:27 pm

Again, the fight over T-SPLOST is over and I’m not debating that. The question now is how to move forward from here. I don’t believe the answer is to do nothing, and that is what I was referring to as the status quo. I hope our region and our state continues this spirited debate about our needs and priorities, and I hope we can find some workable solutions. Thanks again for sharing your views.

Wayne Kelley August 7, 2012 at 05:15 pm

Rep Holcomb: Thanks for your honest and persistent attempts to move this argument forward, in the face of ad-hominem insults like those expressed in this exchange ("typical politician's trick," "you continue with your obfuscation and misinformation," etc.) I applaud your ability to remain respectful and positive when dealing with people of this ilk; I sure can't do it!

J Kilgore August 7, 2012 at 05:54 pm

Thank you Mr. Holcomb, for your response, and I hate repeating myself, but nothing that is contained in what I have said suggests I favor DOING NOTHING. In point of fact, what I wish you and the rest of the General Assembly would do is what the people have elected you to do. Go to work and clean up GDOT. Once you have that agency re-formed and a stable management team in place, then we, and I emphasize WE, because I will be there on your side if you simply fix the problem, WE can determine how much "new" money is required. I respect the fact that you were not there when T SPLOST passed, but my frustration in talking to politicians is all you ever want to talk about is revenue. We, the people, would like for you to address the other side of the ledger. Fuel tax, in fact, increased in Georgia last year by $ 82 Million. The $ 82 Million is on the GDOT web site and I can provide the link if you wish. As you see at this link, http://www.mainstreet.com/slideshow/lifestyle/travel/best-roads-us/ Georgia has the fewest miles in "poor condition" of any other state in the country, according to Main Street, and ranks 10th overall in the US. The reason why I and many other citizens are strident in our tone is because we have been subjected to a $ 10 Million campaign of lies and our elected official's response is to wring your hands and say the state needs more money. Please make GDOT the priority.

J Kilgore August 9, 2012 at 07:44 pm

So - Rep Holcomb. Your silence is indicating to me that you are NOT willing to tackle the REAL problem at GDOT. If that assumption is NOT true, please indicate what your best idea is for a proposed solution to ensure that Georgia continues to enjoy the same world class transportation infrastructure that we already have.

J Kilgore August 9, 2012 at 07:45 pm

OOPPSS - Is or is not true, either way, what is your plan Mr. Representative ?

Scott Holcomb August 9, 2012 at 09:18 pm

J:
Thanks for your continued interest. I appreciate your input and agree with you that reforming and improving GDOT should be the priority, and I will make it so. It probably makes sense to continue this discussion via email. Mine is scott@repscottholcomb.com.