Burroughston Broch
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Bio not provided
The site was offline last night beginning at 2238GMT/538PM EDT. There was only a cached copy available. It was still offline at 738AM this morning.
I tried to get in using Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome.
Perhaps you have a special entry point other than www.saportareport.com.
No further interest in this site since it is now inaccessible except during business hours Monday through Friday.
I assume this is intended to restrict non-positive comments.
It appears to be a Sam Williams-style change, so I assume the Metro Chamber is involved. That's sad because the Metro Chamber now has little credibility after the TSPLOST and APS cheating fiascoes.
As a realtor, what is your financial interest in this affair? Do you represent any developers or property owners?
I remember hearing similar words when the Georgia Dome was on the drawing boards. Nothing good happened in the neighborhoods at that time.
The only difference now is that Arthur Blank owns a large percentage of the neighborhoods west of the proposed stadium. He will upgrade his property if he can make money and get the City taxpayers to pay for it.
The struggle will continue until SCLC gets board and top executive continuity that's focused on prudent financial management instead of looting the treasury.
It's interesting to note that the demise came when President Obama was in his first term and interest rates fell to all time lows. Washington talk is cheap.
I guess PRI was not considered too big to fail. A pity.
The $922million cost was first aired in March 2012, a year ago. It's probably above $1billion now.
But, ignore the small stuff and concentrate on getting Arthur Blank a new stadium - the #1 priority now.
The City's expensive and burdensome contracting requirements will add considerable cost to the project. The City taxpayers will be at risk.
@markggerling It is not government's job to provide transportation for everyone - transportation is not an entitlement. If it were provided as an entitlement in metro Atlanta, then it would have to be provided everywhere in the State.
When Georgia Power Company ran the transit system, the bus and trackless trolley operators went out of strike for 5 weeks and the city did not collapse from the strain. Taxis and jitneys picked up the strain.
If MARTA raised its fares 20% and ridership decreased by 10%, MARTA's income would increase by 8%.
@ScottNAtlanta Public transport means transport of the public in general. It does not mean transport focused only on the poorest of us. It is not an entitlement.
@The Last Democrat in Georgia When you renegotiate a contract for lower prices, you must negotiate from a position of strength. MARTA has zero leverage with Georgia Power and is a captive. Georgia Power is a monopoly in its service area, and is regulated by the State. No alternate utility supplier is available. The only possible leverage is through the State.
@The Last Democrat in Georgia It's time for MARTA to start acting like a transportation system instead of part of the entitlement system. Since City of Atlanta voters overwhelmingly voted for a sales tax increase to support TSPLOST, they should be happy to pay more for MARTA fares.
@markggerling MARTA is in dire financial condition and must reduce costs, as amply documented in the recent KPMG report. MARTA's average compensation per employee is over $75,000/year, much of that due to very high fringe benefits paid to line workers. The employee costs MARTA pays are excessive compared to the general labor costs in the area, and MARTA must reduce costs.
I believe that privatization will reduce MARTA's costs by introducing some competition. With the present entrenched union, there is no incentive toward economy.
The usual cast of suspects - MARTA's local entrenched union, their national masters, and a lobbying group supported in part by the same union. Groups with a lot to lose and nothing to gain if MARTA privatizes jobs.
And all they can get is 1,000 signatures? The union has almost 4,000 local employees.
If MARTA privatizes some jobs, why would it not remain "public"? Public and union are not synonymous.
Let's see. "Independent, wholly government owned, outside of political influence."
Like FannieMae and FreddieMac today.
Independent of what? Politicians?
Wholly government owned - and bankrupt.
Outside of political influence? Not on your life.
If Beltway proponents want to stunt its growth, this is the path to take.
If one wants to build along the NE Beltway and is told they must build in the SW to make the Beltway appear more "equitable", then they will not build.
@ Really
Let me give you a view of the magnitude of waste in the Fulton County government.
The Fulton County Fire Department protects a mostly rural area in the southern part of the county with a population of 59,000. The cities of Chattahoochee Hills, College Park, East Point, Fairburn, Hapeville, Palmetto, and Union City have their own fire departments.
The Fulton County Fire Department has 10 stations and a fulltime staff of 149 - no volunteers.
As a contrast, the Rome-Floyd County Fire Department has the same size staff but protects 96,000 people in the City of Rome and the entire 518 square miles of Floyd County.
The Fulton County protected population is 39% smaller and the protected area is smaller than Rome-Floyd County.
@The Last Democrat in Georgia If Milton County is re-established (and I hope it is), Gwinnett County would become the most populous county, followed by DeKalb, Cobb, the reduced Fulton, and then Milton.
The population of the six cities that would become Milton was 349,000 in 2010, leaving 571,000 in the remainder of Fulton (420,000 in the City and 151,000 in South Fulton)..
@ Really
"Because growth in Fulton's top end has outstripped population gains in the southern part of the county over the past decade,"
There has been no appreciable population gain in the City of Atlanta and south Fulton over the last decade; effectively all of the 104,000+ increase was in North Fulton. In 1980 the City's population was 425,000 and the County's was 590,000, so the population outside the City was 165,000 (28% of the total). In 2010 they City's population had fallen to 420,000 while the County's had increased to 921,000, so the population outside the City had increased to 501,000 (54% of the total). Those 255,000 additional residents added between 1980 and 2010 were in North Fulton, not the City or South Fulton. In 2010 the six cities in North Fulton had 349,000 residents (38% of the total).
Doug, I was told many years ago that the transit worker's union had a major role in the 1950 strike that forced Georgia Power out of the transit business. I don't remeber this because I was 3 at the time.
The Atlanta transit strike of 1950 was a lengthy transit strike that lasted from May 18, 1950 to November 16, 1950.
A month after author Margaret Mitchell was struck and killed by a taxi during a year when trolleys had killed five, there was a call in the city to increase safety on city streets. The city council passed an ordinance which required all cab and trolley drivers to apply for a permit.
It required a $5 fee and a fingerprint which was the only method at the time to trace criminal records.
The fingerprinting in particular was fought by Jesse Walton, president of Amalgamated Street Car Local 732, first in court cases which losses he appealed up to the United States Supreme Court (who declined to hear).
Still not willing to comply, Walton called for a strike which began on May 18, 1950.
Police Chief Herbert Jenkins suspended all force vacations to staff downtown intersections all day long to handle the great increase in automobile traffic.
Mayor William Hartsfield called for legalized jitneys (which required a similar permit) to help reduce some of the traffic.
The strike was to last 37 days and as Hartsfield's law was written, jitney permits were immediately revoked.
The union voted to get permits on November 16, 1950 and found themselves working for a new company, the Atlanta Transit Company, as the former transit operator in Atlanta, Georgia Power, used this opportunity to get out of the transit business.