Regional transportation plan fit into a larger agenda of regional governance that strips local control, home rule.

March 14, 2013, Roswell, GA – Fayette County, Georgia, will be the first county in Atlanta’s ten-county metropolitan planning organization requesting to be officially removed from the Concept 3 regional transit plan. Concept 3 is a Regional Transportation Plan approved by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) that would cost $50+ Billion to build and operate through 2030. The plan consists of new heavy rail, light rail, commuter rail, bus rapid transit, other modes and transportation infrastructure for the 10 county ARC Region.

“If mass transit loses money and ridership in metro Atlanta’s dense urban areas, then it certainly has no place in Fayette County where the population is much less intense,” said Fayette County Commission Chairman Steve Brown. “The one-size-fits-all approach to transit in the Concept 3 regional transit plan is an ultra-expensive proposal that delivers no bang for the buck.”

The vote by the Fayette County Board of Commissioners will take place at their March 14 meeting. Brown expects an easy 5 – 0 vote on the issue. Brown, a leading voice on land planning and transportation issues, has demanded that top government officials tell the public how the region is going to sustain the future operations and maintenance of any expansions to current metro transit systems as outlined in Concept 3.

“During the T-SPLOST debate, I was opposed to the heavy emphasis on mass transit,” Brown said. “My stance has not changed. I continue to question the relevance of being locked into a mass transit plan with heavyweight counties like Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett and Cobb and I ask my colleagues throughout the metro area to do the same given most of the perimeter counties followed Fayette County’s lead and voted down the referendum by large margins.”

Brown was a lead spokesman as a member of the Transportation Leadership Coalition (TLC) which played a major role in defeating the TIA/TSPLOST last year. TLC is in full support of the Fayette County Commission’s plan to withdraw from the Concept 3 Regional Transportation Plan. The TLC was instrumental in getting the grassroots engaged in the T-SPLOST debate. Even though the referendum was defeated, the law is still on the books and can be reintroduced for a vote.

TLC is ramping up a statewide campaign to expose the more insidious agenda of regionalism. TLC chairman Jack Staver said, “More and more regular citizens are becoming aware of the dangers of regional governance and what it will mean for local control”. Regional governance as currently structured under the Department of Community Affairs and the enabling legislation for the Transportation Investment Act of 2010 is a fourth level of government that in many respects is unaccountable to the people. We believe that regional governance and the taxation scheme of TIA is unconstitutional under Georgia law.”

Brown will be part of an upcoming Atlanta Journal-Constitution panel discussion on regionalism held at the Georgia Public Broadcasting. Other panel members include Atlanta Regional Commission Chairman Tad Leithead and Director of Georgia Tech’s Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development Catherine Ross.

About Transportation Leadership Coalition, LLC
Transportation Leadership Coalition, LLC, is a grassroots, all-volunteer organization that came together in the spring of 2012 to oppose the Regional Transportation sales tax. Through its website www.traffictruth.net , the group seeks to inform citizens of issues related to transportation and good government.