Nothing proved the need for better leadership than the April 4 County Commission workshop meeting. Every voter in Fayette County needs to look at the footage from the meeting (www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSCieM4hMh8).
A couple of representatives from the Atlanta Regional Commission gave a presentation on the upcoming July 31 referendum on the Transportation Investment Act also known as TSPLOST. They gave a less than impressive presentation on the referendum using PowerPoint slides full of smiling happy people.
The presenter said the Atlanta Regional Commission was only allowed to give “facts” and was not allowed to speak out in favor of the TSPLOST. Commissioner Steve Brown made quick work of proving that the presenter was leaving a lot of very significant facts out of his presentation.
The presenter actually agreed with Commissioner Brown, saying the regional government has absolutely no idea how the maintenance and operations of the current and another $3.2 billion worth of transit infrastructure was going to be paid. We’re talking billions of dollars annually.
The presenter also had to agree with Commissioner Brown that the mass transit projects the regional voters were being promised were only half-funded. Essentially, the supporters of the referendum are lying to the public in order to get their votes.
Chairman Herb Frady, Commissioner Lee Hearn and Commissioner Robert Horgan didn’t lift a single finger in opposition to special interest transportation plan that former Chairman Jack Smith and former Mayor Ken Steele were creating for this referendum.
Chairman Frady, the one I’m opposing on the July 31 ballot, voted in favor of the final regional transportation project list last year that includes $3.2 billion worth of transit that is only half-funded and no one knows how we are going to pay to maintain it.
Frady, Hearn and Horgan were key characters in the creation of the 2009 Fayette County TSPLOST. That referendum failed 3-to-1 by the voters because it contained the same kind of useless project list like we see in the upcoming Transportation Investment Act referendum.
Chairman Frady had the audacity to blame the mayors from the local cities for the 2009 TSPLOST. The meeting minutes clearly show Frady voted in favor of the 2009 TSPLOST and in favor of the terrible list of projects. As a county leader, he should take responsibility for his conduct and not blame the local mayors.
Those same three commissioners voted not to remove transit projects for Fayette County from the regional transit plan. They rejected a resolution calling for Fayette County to be removed from all regional and state transit plans. Total lack of transparency and accountability. Two of my campaign issues.
You have two distinct choices for the Board of Commissioners race on July 31. Herb Frady said nothing when Fayette was being included in the regional transit plans. Frady voted in favor of a special interest regional transportation plan that earmarks $3.2 billion for transit we can’t afford. Frady has shown what he will do if given the chance like the West Fayetteville Bypass and the failed 2009 TSPLOST.
I won’t put up with the special interest politics. I have consistently spoken out at public meetings and in the newspapers against the exploits of our current chairman and I can be counted on to listen to what the taxpayers have to say instead of ignoring them.
I would truly appreciate your support in my run for county commissioner on July 31.
David Barlow, candidate
Tyrone, Ga.
