Racism, Gwinnett, and MARTA: A Never-ending Tale

What a welcoming sign into Gwinnett County from DeKalb! 

This blog post is going to be a very local one. (Sorry to all my non-Atlantan readers, but some of what you read may resonate with you too!) It covers the relationship between MARTA and Gwinnett county. I am going to split up the post into three sections: 1) some facts, 2) some sobering history, and 3) the current situation. If you find my opinions to be scathing or hard, then hopefully your eyes will have been opened to how bad the current situation is.

First some facts:

• 56% of Gwinnettians are willing to pay more for public transportation
• Half of likely voters in Gwinnett support a 1% tax increase to join MARTA
• Gwinnett is the second most populous county in Georgia
• Within the next fifteen years, the population will top one million residents
• The county is under-served by its transit system: Gwinnett County Transit
• The county has a minority-majority populace but its commissioners are all white, all Republican
• CAR OWNERSHIP IS A PRIVILEGE
• ACCESS TO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT

County Commissioner seats... I wonder how the gerrymandering works here to ensure Republicans maintain control of all seats, not even allowing Democrats to have a seat at the table!

Now, I will recount a long (and  racist) history between MARTA and Gwinnett County:

• In 1971, Gwinnett voters rejected joining MARTA. At the time, MARTA was being created to bring mass transit service across the Atlanta area. Voters in DeKalb and Fulton Counties voted to join the authority while Clayton, Cobb, and Gwinnett voters voted against the expanding authority. There were multiple reasons for this split: large costs, low densities, small populations, a tax increase, and a rural setting. Decidedly though, the large black populations of Fulton and DeKalb Counties deterred white voters of these bedroom communities into voting against the MARTA system.
• In 1990, there was a referendum in Gwinnett about joining MARTA. Again, the vote failed. This decision though was more pure. By 1990, Gwinnett was growing rapidly. It was becoming more urban and less rural. People were told to expect a massive population boom in the coming decade according to growth models. So why the denial of public transit despite the stronger need for it? Racism. White Gwinnettians didn't want black people in Atlanta to have access to their community.  
• In 2001, 2002, express and then local bus service began by Gwinnett County Transit (GCT). A little too late though, as the county had already become the fastest growing county in the country at this time. Notably, local bus service primarily services middle or low-income communities, not the wealthy neighborhoods to the north and east.  



Sorry to curse, but what the actual fuck is this kind of service? How does this adequately serve Gwinnett? Someone ask Charlotte Nash for me because I'd love to know!

• Since then: the recession has cut local bus service (essential to those who can't afford a car) while express service has been expanded to serve the Atlanta commuters. The county has continued to grow resulting in worse traffic. Bad traffic creates unhealthy smog that hurts asthmatics during the year. In addition, the county has diversified. People hold different backgrounds and different opinions than those of 1990 or 1971. It has become distinctly urban with the only remaining agricultural uses at the fringes of the county away from the major highways. Additionally, surveys and polls show Gwinnettians support expanded public transit and/or MARTA expansion. 

The current situation:

• Charlotte Nash, county commissioner and chairwoman, on MARTA expansion: "It's an uphill battle... Its about feeling like they don't have control of the county's transit system." 
• Translation: 'Uphill battle' = her political career, she's unwillingly to jeopardize her political future by allowing a referendum, literally a decision made by the public, to go forward. 'Don't  have control of the county's transit system' = don't have control of preventing poor people from moving northward. Currently, GCT is limited to local bus service in certain disadvantaged areas in the west and center of the county. Joining MARTA would mean robust local bus service for the whole county since MARTA has the funds available for this. The only problem in that is she and her cronies would no longer have a say in preventing bus service to her affluent areas. Apparently providing public transit to her constituents isn't critical as long as the rich don't have to encounter a bloody bus allowing people to get to work. 
• John Heard, county commissioner: "I believe that if we put it on the ballet, a local transit SPLOST will pass -- for Gwinnett County only. Nobody wants to send our money down to the City of Atlanta."  
• Translation: 'for Gwinnett County only' = he's only interested in helping the affluent Atlanta commuter, not the average Gwinnettian (or Atlantan for that matter) without a car. 'Nobody wants to send our money down to the City of Atlanta' = Democrats/black people aren't taking our money. This might sound like a harsh translation, but it's not. He is being explicitly racist in what he is saying here. If Gwinnett joined MARTA, all taxes raised would go toward the expansion of MARTA in Gwinnett. He is lying to his constituents or he is being naive. He for sure is being racist in showing his distaste towards allowing a transit service use funds to provide robust transit that will directly allow better mobility for people of color.  

So here is what is actually going on. Our county commissioners are misleading the public by already throwing out incorrect facts about MARTA. MARTA, by no means, is a perfect transit system, but if Gwinnett joins it, we aren't losing control of where are money goes, how it is used, and how we are serviced. Ask Clayton County. They recently joined MARTA, now have robust bus service across the whole county, and will soon be discussing how to provide a commuter train to its communities. Gwinnett, on the other hand, recently lost NCR and its 3,000+ jobs because of a lack of transit access. Gwinnett has no plans moving forward on how to deal with its traffic problem. In fact, all Gwinnett is doing is sitting in traffic wasting time and money behind the wheel. Charlotte Nash and her Republican controlled commission are unfairly using their power to prevent democracy. They are preventing the county from moving forward by not allowing a referendum on MARTA. They are clinging onto power in a time when Gwinnett needs strong leadership and real change. Business as usual is failing. Growth and the economy is moving elsewhere but for some reason, everyone is sitting in traffic in denial about this.

Dacula, on the right, in relation to the rest of the county

What should you do? Demand your referendum! Charlotte Nash doesn't live along the 85 corridor; she lives all the way out in Dacula. She doesn't have to sit through an hour of traffic a day to get to a well-paying job that happens to be outside of the county. She doesn't grasp how bad it is. She and her fellow commissioners also don't grasp what it means to be apart of a region. Gwinnett is great, success does live here, but it is great because it relies on the greater Atlanta region. Gwinnett needs to be a part of its transportation system if it hopes to stay competitive in the future. Ask your neighbor what they would think of getting MARTA service. Chances are they wouldn't mind it! 

Remember these water towers? A moto we need to continue to live by! 

Our leaders are playing politics. It doesn't take much to read between the lines of their statements and see where their true opinions lie. Luckily, that doesn't mean we can't sway them. If enough of us raise a racket, we will get our referendum and the congestion relief and public transit that WE DESPERATELY NEED. 

*A lot of this article references David Wickert's reporting from the AJC. I encourage you to read his reports of the state of transportation in the AJC. http://commuting.blog.ajc.com/2017/10/27/will-gwinnett-county-join-marta-not-likely-officials-say/        

Why Clayton County Can Change Atlanta

After an exciting midterm election and a tight race to the finish, Atlantans are warn out from negative
attack ads, canvassers knocking on their doors, and weekly phone calls from political phone banks. It's a lot for a city where our politics has remained fairly consistent over the last few years. And while progressive candidates unfortunately lost to candidates who favor moving Georgia backwards across the board, Clayton County citizens made a progressive statement of their own this election. Clayton residents voted to expand MARTA service into their county, and this measure passed with a whooping 72% yes.

What this means for Clayton residents is that by passing a 1% sales tax, Clayton County will join the MARTA  system which already services Fulton and DeKalb county. Starting in March,  MARTA will start servicing limited bus service to Clayton County, and starting next year, MARTA will provide full bus service throughout the county. The rest of the sales tax will go into a fund for either commuter rail or bus rapid transit. By 2020, MARTA is hoping to get the permission and have the funding to start construction on Clayton's commuter line. 

Alternative forms of transit in Clayton has had a bumpy past. Back in the 1960's when MARTA was forming, the predominanty white suburb voted against joining the transit agency because they were afraid of crime coming to Clayton from the inner city. Over the years, the demographics of Clayton has changed causing the county to become more diverse. Eventually county officials started C-tran, a transit agency that provided bus service and handicap service to Clayton residents. Due to funds, C-tran was never able to fully service all of the county. In 2010 though, county commissioners decommissioned C-tran due to massive budget shortfalls. This left thousands of Clayton residents stranded in an urban county without access to public transit. Residents dependent on C-tran to get to work were left in the black due to the effects of the Great Recession. This year marks a turning point for alternative transit there though. Over the summer, county commissioners approved allowing MARTA  to service their county and this previous Tuesday, Clayton residents voted yes on receiving MARTA service for their county. 

While this doesn't seem like such a major development for Atlanta, I believe this signifies a new trend in Atlanta transit. People are tired of high gas prices, lots of traffic, and cars everywhere. It doesn't matter whether you are a wealthy Alpharetta resident or a lower income resident in Jonesboro, people across the metro desire more walkable, livable communities. Driving everywhere is just no longer a feasible way of movement, and by supporting MARTA expansion in Clayton county, residents are demanding an alternative to what they have always known to be the norm. 

For MARTA, this is the first major expansion since it's conception. This means several things for the 9th largest transit service in the country: 1) more ridership from Clayton commuters now traveling in town, 2) more funds from an expanded service base, 3) innovation through new forms of transit (eventually commuter rail or BRT) and making transit effective in a suburban landscape, and 4) more advocacy for expanding the service throughout Metro Atlanta. It's crazy but true that this is MARTA's first major expansion in over 40 years, and it's first expansion into a new county. Transit services in Washington DC and San Fransico started at the same time as MARTA have added over a 100 miles of rail to their service. MARTA on the other hand has collectively only 42 miles of track, and they haven't added any rail since the 1970's. But Atlantans now have the chance to change this by buying into public transportation and voting yes on SPLOST and transportation measures in upcoming elections. 

MARTA as a result of this election now faces many challenges on how to implement effective public transportation in the sprawl of the Atlanta suburbs. The agency needs to ensure premium services and effective routes to provide the most for Clayton residents and their local economy. MARTA has the ability to kick start more development around bus routes and transit hubs in the county, so their routes have to be effective and beneficial to its citizens. Adding circulator bus routes around the town centers and major residential centers is one possible solution to the sprawl since it will kickstart local economies by adding more connectivity and cohesion. Another option MARTA can look into is implementing the huburb concept to its stations in Clayton. The University of Toronto and Toronto's transit has applied this concept  they created to their city's sprawl, and it has allowed the city to provide beneficial transit across their region. This clustering of development, education, and business has attracted Torontons to use transit more. 

While there is little precedent about how MARTA should handle implementing public transit to a suburban area with so much sprawl, I trust in their leadership and Atlanta innovation to provide the most for Clayton citizens. MARTA realizes it has the ability to change transportation not only across Atlanta, but also other Sunbelt cities with how they service Clayton County. There will be a lot of positive change coming from Clayton's monumental vote. 

MARTA On My Mind

For my first post, I find it very suiting that it is about my two favorite urban matters, transit and sustainable development. Last week, MARTA released  renderings of futuristic-looking stations that combine heavy rail stations and mixed-used developments. Along with releasing these renderings, the transit provider also released a statement that they were interested in developing on top of MARTA stations at Lenox, the Arts Center, Midtown, and North Avenue stops. MARTA would provide developers a 99-year lease to develop mixed-used centers on top of these stations. MARTA's aim in doing this is to increase ridership, increase development around stations, and make stations more appealing to citizens in the area. Below are the renderings MARTA has released to the public:






(Photos Credit: 11Alive)

I think by encouraging development on and around their stations, MARTA is reinventing what transit is in and throughout Atlanta. Historically, MARTA's bus and rail service has been commuter-oriented meaning that the purpose of its routes and lines were to transport workers in and out of Atlanta's commercial cores. But after surviving the Great Recession without going bankrupt, MARTA needed to readdress what kind of service it is to Atlantans.

Under the leadership of its new CEO Keith Parker, the last few years has transformed the company from one on the verge of financial ruin to now being on the cusp of its first expansion in over 30 years. MARTA is now envisioning itself as a service integral to our daily lives rather than just a way to take us to work. Working with the Atlanta Beltline and the Atlanta Streetcar, MARTA is now focusing on becoming a service that functions within the lives of an average Atlantan. This means MARTA needs to become a convenience rather than a hassle.

By creating mixed-used developments around the stations that service the Midtown and Buckhead community, MARTA will be making an extremely smart move. Atlanta's music and arts district and largest commercial district are currently experiencing the most population growth within the city limits. Young adults are flocking to these hip, urban area not only to start their careers but to also start families now. With improving schools, a strong police presence, and its modern and cool cultures, people are finding that they can both live and work in the same community in Midtown and Buckhead. These young adults want walkable, bikable, friendly communities where they do not need a car to get around everywhere. By building these mixed-use centers around MARTA stations in these areas, people will find themselves using rail to not only go to work but to also visit a friend or meet up with co-workers after work or even to have a nice night out. The more shops, groceries, restaurants, and businesses MARTA can build around and on their stations, the more these new citizens will find MARTA an integral part of their life.

In addition to making their stations centers of commerce, business, and community, MARTA can optimize smart transit in around these stops by adding circulatory bus routes through transit-deprived areas surrounding Midtown and Buckhead. For instance, Virginia Highlands is serviced with MARTA buses that work on a commute-oriented route that takes buses on a one-way route in and out of the neighborhood. While this transit serves the community, it does not optimize its ability to become an integral part of the residents' lives. By adding a circulating bus route throughout Virginia Highlands to the Midtown stations, MARTA will be providing Virginia Highland residents with more direct access to Midtown. While this does not seem like a huge deal, when you consider the benefits of providing a regular, consistent bus service between a major residential area, a major business center, a major commercial center, and heavy rail transit to the greater area, ridership could increase dramatically in this area.

Recently, the Saporta Report published a piece by a Tech Grad student on the benefits of adding circulatory bus routes to transit-deprived areas like the Virginia Highland, Little Five Points, and the Westside, where the community is near major transit, but not within a reasonable walking distance to utilize it. Circulating buses provide residents a way to use public transportation in this "final mile" of their journey. It cuts the walking distance between to something more reasonable, and since the buses travel on more consistent schedules on circulatory routes, using transit becomes a plausible alternative to driving.

Creating mixed-used developments around MARTA stations will make the system more dynamic and useful, and by attaching more circulating bus routes like the Stinger, Atlantic Station Shuttle, and the Buc to these stations from transit-deprived areas, they will provide the system with more consistent riders. MARTA would create a culture of usefulness by bridging the gap between transit and actual communities, and suddenly for the first successful time in Atlanta's history, transit would be an integrated part of the average citizen's life.

MARTA has a huge opportunity in developing the land on and around the Lenox, Arts Center, Midtown, and North Avenue rail stations. These mixed-used developments will be the catalyst of expanding and using alternative transit in Atlanta. These developments will also be Atlanta's reattempt on making public transportation more of a regular occurrence in its citizens lives (s/o to Underground's ideals), so here's to hoping for a new kind of Atlanta! Here's to MARTA's resurgence!