| We had lunch with Georgia Chamber of Commerce's Ryan Mahoney who's the organization's director of public policy (and has great taste in taco joints). Right now, the chamber is all about transportation. More importantly, the push to get a 1% sales tax for transportation projects approved in regions throughout the state. Ryan (a former reporter himself, so he knows how to deal with us) tells us the chamber has a grassroots campaign to promote the sales tax via its new affiliate, the Georgia Transportation Alliance. Our meeting came at an opportune time as the state DOT just released a wish list of projects that could be funded by the tax, including $839M to extend MARTA up I-75, $500M for interchange improvements at I-285 and GA 400, and $464M for commuter rail from Atlanta to Griffin. Of course, the wish list will be whittled down. If passed in a referendum next July, the tax could raise $8B in Atlanta alone and another $10B in the rest of Georgia over 10 years. Ultimately, the transportation projects are about ?jobs, jobs, jobs in both cases,? Ryan says, echoing what many CRE pros have been professing in various forums lately. ?It's absolutely as important as they say.? |
TAXING TACOS FOR TRANSIT
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