MAYOR SOUNDS OFF: FROM MARTA TO AIR CARGO

Mayor  Kasim Reed's notable points was at Carter's breakfast last week, and had plenty to talk about:

• The city has no plans to expand MARTA, only to make sure ?the system doesn?t fall apart... There is no political will to move MARTA any place where folks don't want it,? he says.
  

• The mayor doesn?t see a need right now for the city to grow through annexation, and instead it will continue to work to improve city finances and build the  cash position  to weather future recessions. He predicts the city will return to 2008 revenues within eight years with ?a tax system that has been kept low.?
  

• He called the Atlanta Public School cheating scandal the ?darkest part of our city's history... The next leader needs to be a radical reformer,? he says.
  

• He's focused on increasing air cargo at Hartsfield Airport (already up 12% in past three years). Kasim says the impact of air cargo would make the airport run busy 24 hours a day and generate an estimated  $37B in economic impact. That would ?reduce the notion of two Georgias.?