The AJC seems content to water down their T-SPLOST coverage.
The audience at the Sandy Springs debate on Tuesday got a big laugh out of my being “Politifact-ed” in the Tuesday, July 24 AJC.
I had submitted a figure in the AJC debate that the transit projects in the T-SPLOST would cost around $90,000 per rider. They quibbled that I had transit maintenance money in the number, so they said it would be “$84,500” — well, OK, now I’m voting in favor because $84,500 per rider is so much better.
The most humorous point was the when the Politifact-ers said, “We found Brown’s approach may vastly overstate and underestimate the problem at the same time.”
I am so talented that I can produce one figure and overstate and underestimate the problem simultaneously! Not just anybody can do that [Do not try this at home]. This is the price of demanding that the AJC provide full disclosure of their parent corporation’s large donation to the pro-T-SPLOST side.
Meanwhile, an article on one of the most important aspects of the T-SPLOST debate, how to fund operations and maintenance of transit in future years, did not make the front page of the AJC. It appeared in the metro section instead.
The good news: “Supporters of the tax concede the point.”Why isn’t this an eight-inch bold headline on the front page of the AJC???
ARTA has billions in unfunded obligations down the stretch (remember: “We do not have an answer how it’s going to be funded.” – Beverly Scott, AJC , Sept. 26, 2011) and the expanded transit will weight that down even further (much more than GRTA admits) and our leaders HAVE NO IDEA how we are going to fund it – this doesn’t even make Section A.
Now the T-SPLOST supporters made clear “that roads have ongoing costs, too.”What they did NOT make clear is that only 3.6 percent of commuters ride transit (at an enormous cost) and almost 90 percent of commuters use the roads as commuter, carpool or vanpool.
But remember Clark Howard’s (Doesn’t he have relationship with Cox too?) motto:LET’S JUST ALL TAKE AN $8 BILLION LEAP OF FAITH – oops, without a parachute.
Steve Brown
Fayette County Board of Commissioners, Post 4
Fayetteville, Ga.
