I’m voting against the SPLOST. The SPLOST is an entire grab bag full of goodies none of which will solve transportation problems we’re facing here in Fayette County.
Take a look at the Woosley project, a reality project for an episode of “Fixer Upper.” I would hazard a guess most Fayette citizens can’t even point to Woosley on a county map much less understand why we should pay to rehab a rundown building so it can be used for meetings and tourist information.
The SPLOST website makes the Woosley project sound so endearing but no one knows what will be found in that old structure until the works gets started. And everyone knows, seldom does a remodel come in on budget.
If the SPLOST passes, think about your sales tax dollars going to a rehab job in Woosley while you’re stuck in traffic.
Or maybe you’d rather thinks about all the cart path improvements planned for Peachtree City. As you’re creeping along in the stop and go gridlock at the 54/74 intersection your sales tax dollars will be paving the cart paths in PTC.
And if you’re like me and a nonresident of PTC, you don’t even get to use the cart paths without paying an outrageous fee. So, if there was ever a classic case for increased user fees, the PTC golf cart path system is it.
Let the golf cart users pay for their golf cart paths. Otherwise, sit in traffic and pay your sales taxes so the PTC residents can tool around on the path system all of us will be paying for.
Then there are all the great road projects designed to make it easier for drivers from surrounding counties to clog our roads. Let’s expand Ga. Highway 54 east of Fayetteville just to dump more traffic into downtown Fayetteville.
A transportation study here, a utility relocation there, funded by the SPLOST, and the next thing you know, our SPLOST dollars have created gridlock from Clayton to Coweta.
I acknowledge the need for road maintenance. Let’s go to the legislature and raise the gas tax to fund those road projects. Let PTC raise the golf cart registration fee to fund their needed cart projects. But join me in voting “No” on the upcoming SPLOST.
Larry Dove
Fayetteville, Ga.
