DoraBlog

Metro Atlanta Rail and Doraville January 1, 2009

I began writing this in response to NNA/ONA message board comments about a transportation/transit center including intercity rail (Amtrak) on the GM site. It became too long a message to broadcast to NNA/ONA, so I’ve placed it here.

Intercity Service

The current GDOT / City of Atlanta plan is to incorporate the central Atlanta Amtrak station in the proposed downtown multi-modal passenger station (MMPT). The MMPT would be located between the Five Points MARTA Station and Philips Arena in the area known as the gulch. Proposed Lovejoy (now Griffin, see below) and Athens commuter rail services (and any other commuter service that may be implemented) would also use MMPT train platforms. Direct same level access between the platforms and the Five Points MARTA station main concourse level would be provided under Forsyth Street.

Being multi-modal, the MMPT would also serve GRTA, C-Tran (Clayton County), Cobb and Gwinnett Transit commuter buses, various MARTA local buses, and intercity (Greyhound) bus service at the Forsyth-Spring Street level of the MMPT, intercity bus relocating from its present station location adjacent to the Garnett Street MARTA Station. I anticipate a Peachtree Street streetcar would make a detour off Peachtree Street to serve the MMPT as well, but I am less knowledgeable about the streetcar proposal.

It’s extraordinarily unlikely there will be any planning effort for a Doraville Amtrak station that would replace the Brookwood Station given the downtown MMPT proposal/concept and its state of development, even if the MMPT plan is changed to not include intercity rail. There are issues not discussed herein that could result in an MMPT that doesn’t include intercity rail service, but the Atlanta city government would fight to prevent relocation of the Amtrak station outside of city limits. An additional Doraville Amtrak station would be too close to either a downtown or Brookwood Amtrak Station to be practical.

More Background

GA, SC and NC have cooperatively been studying improvements to intercity train service along the Atlanta-Charlotte route since 2002. It has been determined that the freight traffic and alignment are not conducive to maximum speeds in excess of 80mph. GDOT is presently considering/preparing to conceptualize a new high speed (110mph or more) intercity rail alignment along I-85 right-of-way (ROW). The I-85 intercity rail alignment would connect to the existing railroad ROW near Suwanee where I-85 is only about a mile east of the railroad ROW, and use railroad ROW between Suwanee and Atlanta. The concept is insufficiently developed at this time to say whether the intercity service would have its own track(s) on railroad ROW, or would share tracks with the railroad between Suwanee and the MMPT.

NC / Charlotte is a decade ahead of GA on state development of commuter/in state intercity rail, having years ago established train service between Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh-Durham and Rocky Mount: http://www.bytrain.org/multirider.html . NC and VA furthermore are well along toward implementing high speed service: http://www.sehsr.org/

GDOT extensively studied Georgia intercity and commuter rail possibilities in the 1990’s. The study results included recommendations to further examine and develop Gainesville-Atlanta commuter rail service and increase intercity service on the line through Doraville, increased intercity service on the line being defined as additional service at least as far north as Greenville.

Six other commuter rail services—Macon, Athens, Bremen, Cartersville-Canton, Covington-Social Circle, and Senoia—and three other intercity services—Jacksonville-Savannah, Albany and Birmingham—were also recommended for further study. All except Lovejoy, the initial segment of Macon commuter service, and Athens services were killed after Perdue was elected and the GOP took control of the General Assembly in 2002. The only reason Lovejoy and Athens weren’t killed is that the work was farther along and had began prior to 2002. $4 /gallon gas evidently got GOP attention, and GDOT is now considering implementing Griffin service, a little longer version of Lovejoy service.

Doraville

Should Gainesville commuter rail service be reconsidered, Doraville would likely be one of on the order of a half dozen intermediate Gainesville commuter rail service station stops. Norcross would definitely have an intermediate station. The Lenox MARTA Station would be the only intermediate station, if any, between Doraville and Atlanta.

A Doraville commuter rail station would allow OTP commuters to transfer to MARTA for connection to Chamblee and Brookhaven, transfer to possible I-285 transit to Perimeter and Cumberland, as well as access whatever might be developed on the GM site. A Doraville commuter rail station would require only on the order of a long narrow two acres adjacent to the railroad, something that should be readily accommodated no matter how the GM site is redeveloped, along with a site plan that accommodates possible I-285 transit.

I’ve stuck to facts herein. This post is long enough, so I’ll save opinions on I-85 corridor public transportation for another time.

Falcons Stadium in Doraville GM Plant Site December 28, 2008

This is old news to many of you, but early this week a big announcement put Doraville back in the spotlight. The AJC reported that Sembler & Co — the only developer still negotiating with GM for their former Doraville plant — has floated a proposal to build a new football stadium for the Falcons on the site.

In most cities I’ve traveled to, the areas around sports arenas have been wastelands that people don’t feel safe driving through. They increase traffic & inconvenience nearby residents. I personally doubt that a stadium would do much to improve property values for current homeowners in this area.

What is interesting is how this idea has created some strange bedfellows. City councilman, Bob Roche has come out in favor of the idea as has his opponent in the last council race, Chris Avers. The other council people seem to be keeping their mouths shut for now, although on one message board councilman Spangler’s wife made a comment that this proposal is essentially vindication for Tom Hart, proving he was right about the way to “revitalize” the city.

This is fairly big news - even being discussed on this morning’s Georgia Gang. What do you think about the proposal? Is this the best use of the land the GM plant sits on? Is it realistic? Will it be the best thing for Doraville’s current residents? Since most of these developments are subsidized by local governments, I think that makes Doraville an especially unlikely spot for this stadium.

Sidewalks - Part 1 - A Doraville Plan Is Needed November 15, 2008

I walked between the MARTA Station and the Northwoods quadrant of town about once a week for a few years a prior to 2006. It was great to use the new sidewalk along the south side of Park Avenue between the police station and Buford Highway, and along the west side of Chestnut Drive between Buford Highway and Buena Vista last Thursday evening. It was a better experience than the muddy path along Park Avenue, and walking in the street along Chestnut Drive.

(The only thing missing is a pedestrian signal for crossing Park Avenue at Buford Highway. I will be taking that up with GDOT though given the current state budget circumstances it won’t be happening anytime soon).

I hope the city continues with sidewalk projects of similar scale as a matter of course.

The purpose of this post is to suggest the city develop and adopt a sidewalk plan and develop and adopt (or revise as necessary) a sidewalk ordinance or ordinances. A sidewalk plan would be valuable to guide the city’s own construction efforts, and in the pursuit of grants to fund sidewalk construction. The proper adoption of an official plan in accordance with due process not only improves grant prospects, but would expedite grant-related construction.

Sidewalk plan development need not be costly. The base for the plan could be as simple as sidewalks on both sides of collector and non-expressway arterial roads as designated on the 2008 GDOT functional classification map.

Below is the web address of GDOT’s DeKalb County functional classification map. Cutting to the chase for those unfamiliar with road classification maps, local roads are gray and arterial and collector roads are various colors. (My suggestion above would have the color roads except the interstates and PIB be the sidewalk base plan.)

http://www.dot.state.ga.us/maps/Documents/metro/Dekalb_FC.pdf

(As info, in my opinion Oakcliff between Buford Highway and Winters Chapel Road is misclassified as a local road that I will bring to GDOT attention. If GDOT re-evaluation determines it’s not a local road changes its classification, the map can be revised when it is revised to reflect Dunwoody incorporation and perhaps Doraville annexation.)

A few additional roads for the sidewalk plan could be added to the functional classification map base plan. Chestnut Drive for instance is a local road that in my opinion should be included in a sidewalk plan. The sidewalk plan for local roads could for instance further specify a sidewalk on one designated side only of the street.

On Deck: Part 2 – Sidewalk Ordinance Part A - Sidewalk Restoration: Make ‘em do it or make ‘em pay

There have been sections of the relatively new Buford Highway sidewalk removed. There has been no utility construction at these locations for many months, yet the sidewalks have not been restored. I’m further concerned that if and when sidewalks are restored that the restoration may not be “in kind”, i.e. the brick surface patterned stained concrete will be replaced with plain concrete.

Often the reason utility companies do not promptly restore sidewalks removed in the course of construction and maintenance, or restore them in kind is that we don’t demand otherwise. How can that be changed?

Thereafter: Part 3 – Sidewalk Ordinance Part B - Sidewalk Construction: Sidewalk construction without grants or use of city funds

Annexation Vote Analysis Begins November 13, 2008

The DeKalb Elections Office furnished me it’s “regular” results, advising me responses to the questions I posed in an earlier post or comment will be furnished me as they become available, time permitting.

There are five groups of votes, election day at the Oakcliff, Chestnut, and North Peachtree precincts (there were no Warren Tech results so no one living in the motels on the northwest corner of the I-85 / Chamblee Tucker Road voted), and two groups of absentee ballots. (I’ve requested an explanation of the differences in the latter.)

67% or almost exactly two-thirds of the annexation ballots were cast election day.

95% of the Oakcliff precinct electors voting election day for President voted for the annexation. Based on that and no reports of Oakcliff precint election day irregularities, it’s likely there is no exception to be taken with Oakcliff precinct election day results.

75% of election day ballots were cast at Oakcliff where all voters were eligible to vote on the annexation, and 50% of all ballots (i,e. absentee/early and election day tobether) were Oakcliff precinct election day ballots.

The measure failed nearly equally among Election Day and Early/Absentee voters, with 48.7% and 48.1% respectively.

Excluding the North Peachtree precinct with a relatively small number of voters favoring annexation 17 to 10, there was a relatively narrow range of results for Oakcliff, Chestnut and the two classes of Absentee ballots—47.1%, 51.8%, 43.6%, 55.0% respectively.

What does any of this mean concerning the results? Very little, though the nearly same results for early/absentee and election day would seem to indicate that the few early/absentee ballot irregularities did not change results.

GA Politics Podcast - Episode 19 November 10, 2008

This weekend, at Manuel’s Tavern, we recorded the 19th episode of the GA politics podcast. We had a great panel including Griftdrift of Drifting through the Grift, Jason Pye of JasonPye.Com and Peach Pundit, Grayson Daughters of Mostly Media and our own recent candidate for the 81st district house seat, Chris Huttman.

We discussed the 2008 election in Georgia, Karen Handel’s performance as secretary of state, and the Senate run-off between Saxby Chambliss & Jim Martin. You can download the podcast at its page on the GA Podcast Network.

Who are the Citizens for DeKalb? November 7, 2008

Anybody ever follow up on “Citizens for DeKalb”, the group sending post cards opposing annexation?
Is the organization registered with the state? Who were the donors?

We may never know. The General Assembly blew it and this past session eliminated the requirement that election advocacy groups identify themselves on their mailings without knowing that they did in that paragon of organization that is the last couple days of the legislative session.

There may thus well be no such group as Citizens for DeKalb. The official name of the effort may well be “Coalition for ending the drought” for all I know given current law. Given the narrow aim and magnitude of the effort, it may be that noone will followup to see that if the group registered. I spent a few minutes trying—but I don’t know the official terminology for advocacy groups and my search was not successful.

Doraville Annexation Fails by 34 Votes November 6, 2008

The AJC is now reporting that the annexation failed by 34 votes, and admits to having printed incorrect information earlier. I think that this vote is going to have to be challenged, since it did not appear on many absentee ballots and even early voting ballots.

From the AJC:

Problems first appeared during absentee voting, when some mailed ballots did not include the referendum. Those problems continued into early voting, when there were reports of the annexation not appearing on ballots. [...]

Howe said Mayor Ray Jenkins is weighing whether to ask the city council for an investigation and possible re-vote on the issue.

I’m sure this will be a hot topic of conversation at some upcoming council meetings.

Election Results November 5, 2008

Not all of the results are in, but enough are in to be able to talk about them here.

Here are results as they were reported by the AJC and Dekalb County:

Doraville Annexation:

Yes | 748 | 54%
No | 751 | 46%

Doraville Homestead Exemption for Seniors over 70

Yes | 8991 | 67%
No | 4409 | 33%

District 81 House Race:

Chambers | 5102 | 55%
Huttman | 4231 | 45%

I had received an earlier number for the annexation, which must have been an early return, since it showed a much different result. Thanks to the commenter below who pointed out that the AJC had finally added this information. I still am concerned that the County did such a bad job at getting the right ballots to the right people, but 85% seems pretty decisive. I’ll update these numbers as new figures are available. The annexation results have been all over the place today - I’m not sure why so many different numbers have come out. The updated numbers are much different from what I saw on the AJC before. They are still in favor of the annexation, but by a much smaller majority. It seems like that might open the process up to problems if someone decides to challenge it - but we’ll need to leave it to the lawyers to sort that out. I just (Thursday morning) received word that new numbers are finally available from Dekalb County, and they are not good for annexation supporters. You can see above that the annexation appears to be falling behind again. I’m not sure if there will be more numbers coming out, but we will continue to post them here as they do.

Any other races that we should have been paying attention to which were missed?

Election Day Thread November 4, 2008

Today is election day - a lot of you have probably already voted early, but I’m curious about what those of you who waited to vote until today found.

How were the lines & wait-times? Did you run into a lot of people you hadn’t seen for a while? Let us know here!

Interview with Chris Huttman November 3, 2008

Dustin Brookshire has published an interview with Chris Huttman, the Democratic candidate for the 81st district. Here’s a short excerpt where Huttman talks about his history living in this area:

I’ve lived either within or about 2 miles away from what is now District 81 for 27 of my 28 years being alive. I went to elementary school with many voters that now reside in the district and graduated from Chamblee High School in 1998 in the district. In 2003, I lived in what was then District 53 (Chambers was the incumbent) before the lines were changed by the court. At that point my house was across the street from the new District 81. In 2005, when I chose to purchase my first home I bought a condo in the Chamblee mid-city district, again being located in District 81. Yet I didn’t run against Chambers in 2006 which makes her attack look silly. Most voters that I talk to are excited that younger people such as myself who grew up in the area choose to make it their home later in life. Jill knows her attack is untrue, yet again is counting on the voters not being smart enough to do their own research beyond her mail pieces. I’ve chosen to run my campaign in a different way which respects the intelligence of our voters by focusing on issues and Chambers’s legislative record and what I would do differently, not the rental and ownership history of the other candidate over the past 10 years.

Read the full interview at Dustin’s site.