Last week’s letter to the editor from Mr. Lentz about GDOT ignoring the traffic problem on Ga. Highway 54 near the new traffic light between Planterra Way and MacDuff Parkway was enlightening but misdirected. He pointed fingers at GDOT but the real finger pointing needs to be at Peachtree City council.
Mr. Lentz concludes, “The city of Peachtree City has done its job; now, it’s time for GDOT to step up to the plate and do theirs.” I have a considerably different assessment.
Did the Peachtree City Council really do their job? No. What they did was a total disservice to all who travel that part of town. Adding yet another traffic light, believing it wouldn’t have any impact, was an incredibly illogical decision with known undesirable consequences and beyond naivety.
Council inserted itself into a business decision best left to businesses and banks (i.e., the free marketplace) by adding the traffic light between MacDuff Parkway and Planterra Way.
Council said they wanted “quality” businesses on the site known as the Overlook. Who are they to say what a quality business is? To me, one simple definition of a quality business is one that is successful (within obvious certain bounds, of course). A bank considers a quality business one where they are willing to bet their money will be returned with interest from the business that borrows the money.
The developer considers only one thing: the payday at the end of the endeavor. The developer gets a bigger payday if bigger name stores go in. Those bigger stores insisted on a traffic light.
Unfortunately, this council was unable to see the consequences. They were told not to add the light; not only by me but by GDOT. Council broke GDOT’s rules when they shoe-horned this new traffic light in. Why? So the developer could walk away with millions while the rest of us get to suffer in the additional traffic quagmire.
So what’s GDOT’s response when Peachtree City cries for help? Simple … you asked for it, we told you not to do it but you did it anyway. GDOT no longer has a dog in this fight and I don’t blame them. This is 100 percent Peachtree City Council’s responsibility and they own it.
Now we hear the excuse traffic sensors are not working properly and GDOT is going to retime the whole thing. I’m sorry but I’ve heard this story before and I’ve watched the spectacle play out time and time again. I can’t count the number of times GDOT has “retimed” the lights over the years.
City Council let us down on this one, big time. Unbelievably, this is not the worse decision this council has made over the last two years. Those will come in future letters to the editor. Do we reward this council with the ability to make more of these type of decisions? This becomes the question when we elect three new council members in November 2017.
Eric Imker
Candidate for mayor
Peachtree City, Ga.
