For decades now, I’ve likened metro Atlanta’s
posture to that of a beautiful adolescent -- preening, insecure and cocky all at
the same time; looking mature yet still wet behind the ears.
I stick by it. We’re a region that has boasted the
best of the best in our development, leaders, creativity and brand, yet we
still can’t commit to guarantee a quality public hospital; we move poverty
around the region like kids do the peas on their plate at dinner time; and even
now that we’ve stopped debating the value of more and better transportation
options, we don’t want to make the hard decisions to make it happen. We’re
brilliant yet we often don’t have a clue.
There is huge debate as to whether or not the
Transportation referendum will pass…if it’s good for us…who it’s really good
for…what it will yield. Let’s see:
·
We know it will cost and yield an extra
penny for an extra ten years.
·
We know that every county in the
ten-county region will receive some payback; some more than others and some sooner
than later.
·
We know – and this to my African
American brothers and sisters – that we’ll have to remain diligent and firm to
ensure that both the pain and benefit accrues to our neighborhoods, businesses,
and institutions as they do others. It
will take more than a TSPLOST to level this playing field.
I dig it. A penny may not seem like much but one percent
on every dollar I will spend for the next ten years seems like much more.
Yet here’s what I believe, and it’s not on
billboards and fliers and the dozen emails I’ve received since last week.
The TSPLOST will be an opportunity for us to finally
affirm our connectedness as a contiguous family of counties and cities, sharing
roads and rules and people and lives. We try to deny this and often rail
against it; as a lifelong Cobb resident, I confess that I brag about my county
and my tax base and the quality of my public services. My attitude has been
typically parochial: I don’t mind if you can figure it out in your county but
leave me alone if I have to give up something in mine.
But I also realize that the region we love is not
beloved by all. That the major airport and beautiful facilities and innovative,
entrepreneurial spirit we enjoy is distrusted and often derided in other parts
of the state. So tapping into what means more to me—the spirit of Atlanta--I am
ready to pay into a system and process that can help us out of our current
transportation hell.
Just as when we turned 18 and gained “grownup” designation,
this vote is one way for the region to plant a mature stake in the ground and take
responsibility for the outcome. We get to diss the haters and take the power into
our hands.
What we get to do tomorrow is to decide that the independence
the TSPOLST provides through self funding (ironically another milestone of
growth) are worth it. And that we get to hold ourselves accountable. There are
lots more technical and practical reasons to vote yes. That all public funding
for transportation is decreasing. That laws on the books are stifling. For a
good Q & A, click on http://www.ajc.com/news/transportation-referendum/faqs-what-you-need-1451877.html.
The list and process is messy, as messy as the
traffic we seek to avoid. Yet it’s the next step in our growth, as we mature to
the status of the great cities we admire, here and abroad. Yet I really want my
grandson to go after the job he wants and not just the one he can be assured reliable transportation
to. I want my nephews to receive relief from their asthma pain. I want to be
connected.
Remember the pimples, aching joints, fluttering
hearts and new explorations of your teen years? That’s the growing edge on
which we find ourselves, Atlanta. Let’s take a baby step to claim our future.
Vote yes.
