The DISH

Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use

Vol. 14 No. 26…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…June 27, 2011

Bit of History

Regionalism in Metro-Atlanta Transportation

The concept of regional transportation in the Atlanta Metropolitan area had its start during the mid-1960s with a group of private citizens led by Maynard Jackson; the effort culminated with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Act of 1965. Following the legislative approval March 10, 1965, the measure was scheduled for a vote in the counties that make up the metropolitan area surrounding Atlanta. The racially charged rhetoric during the campaign for voter approval revealed the deep racial hatred held by whites for blacks in the predominately white counties of Cherokee, Cobb, Clayton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale.

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), created to represent regionalism in governmental matters and dominated by Ku Klux Klansmen from Cobb County, came out in opposition to the approval of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA). Pitted against the heavily black populated counties of DeKalb and Fulton, the ARC couched its opposition to a regional transportation approach in fears of integration, white flight and crime. This racist appeal worked and the measure failed in all but DeKalb and Fulton Counties. Following the forceful leadership of then Mayor Jackson, the City of Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton Counties voted to pay the one-cent sales tax to fund MARTA, which went into operation in 1971.

MARTA's first rail line served Atlanta and was later extended into North Fulton County. Although south DeKalb voted overwhelmingly to approve MARTA and was promised an East I-20 train, as MARTA extended its service, a West I-20 line was followed by an extension into predominately white North DeKalb. Pushed ahead of predominately black South DeKalb County, economic development followed MARTA train expansion northward, leaving impoverished South DeKalb withering on the economic vine.

ARC's opposition to MARTA as a regional transportation system did not end with passage of the initial referendum. The ARC played the same white against black political game during the 1990 effort to extend MARTA into the predominately white counties that rejected it in 1971. The measure failed again. Whites repeatedly voted not to pay the one-cent sales tax to extend MARTA into surrounding counties. Consequently, DeKalb and Fulton Counties have borne the total financial burden for regional transportation, because white legislators passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting the state of Georgia from funding MARTA's operation. This amendment placed the state of Georgia in direct opposition to a regional transportation system and MARTA.

The election of Roy Barnes as governor (1998) reintroduced the concept of regionalism in transportation matters. Barnes represented an oxymoron in the regional transportation fight in that he fought MARTA's creation in the legislature and was instrumental in passing the constitutional prohibition against MARTA funding, but proposed creating the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) with MARTA as its centerpiece. During the sales pitch to get black leaders to sign on to the GRTA bill, Barnes promised MARTA would be converted into a regional transportation hub that would be extended into all metropolitan counties and these counties would pay the one-cent MARTA sales tax paid by DeKalb and Fulton residents.

However, once GRTA was approved, Barnes and the legislators from the surrounding Atlanta counties pulled a switcheroo that left MARTA's status unchanged and exempted the counties around Atlanta from paying the one-cent sales tax. All that came out of the GRTA bill was that the State of Georgia was given access to MARTA's dedicated source of revenue -- MARTA one-cent sales tax-- and it became the recipient of all rapid transit funds coming to Georgia from the federal government. This arrangement allowed GRTA to float bonds, obligating MARTA for repayment, while allowing GRTA to create bus transportation systems in Clayton and Gwinnett counties, which refused to pay the MARTA one-cent sales tax.

The regional concept of transportation only applies when it serves the needs of counties surrounding DeKalb and Fulton. The new transportation bill that is scheduled to go before the voters of Georgia in 2012 seems to be no different. This bill will impose a one-cent sales tax on Georgia residents to pay for transportation projects developed by state and local governments under the auspices of so-called "Regional Round Table" of politicians making up the list. This so-called regional concept, much like GRTA, relies heavily on tax revenues generated within DeKalb and Fulton which will be distributed to other Georgia counties, but it does not spread the MARTA tax obligation to those counties, even though these counties will benefit from the expansion of MARTA services.

Whether or not this new proposed transportation bill will be accepted by the voters is anyone's guess, but the history of regionalism has always worked against the interests of residents in DeKalb and Fulton Counties. In the past, such "just trust me" arrangements, like GRTA, have proven to be hoaxes. For instance, most of what has been done thus far has taken place behind closed doors or was based on decisions consummated between political associates and cronies.

This bill is not a true expression of regionalism because it does not begin with a good faith effort to show DeKalb and Fulton County residents the aim is to equalize the tax burden. Residents in DeKalb and Fulton will be paying two cents (one for MARTA and one under the new bill) compared to everyone else in Georgia who will be paying one-cent only for transportation. Moreover, if DeKalb and Fulton are to continue paying the MARTA one-cent sales tax and the new transportation tax, based on their population, DeKalb and Fulton should be a region unto themselves, and not have their tax revenue siphoned away to pay for transportation projects in other counties under the guise of regionalism.

Putting Lipstick on a Pig

John Burl Smith

Prior to the Wall Street meltdown and economic crisis, a well-known Wall Street investment firm popularized the phase "Putting lipstick on a pig" to describe what many firms were doing to glamorize worthless stocks and toxic assets as a means of sucking unwitting investors into worthless investment schemes. For many Georgia residents this phase accurately describes the new transportation bill passed in 2010. All dressed and made up to look like there has truly been a change of heart on the part of white political and business leaders across the state supporting the measure, die-hard provincialists are sounding like liberals exhorting equality and fairness towards black citizens as though Unitarianism has finally replaced racism, discrimination and the disparate treatment that have dominated race relations in Georgia since slavery.

Lipstick represents the painted on smile blacks see on the faces of white leaders talking about the new transportation bill as a means of coming together for the benefit of everyone to move the state forward and into the twenty-first century. That painted on smile hides the grim reality and overlooks the fact that white leaders and everyday working class whites have done everything possible to separate themselves from blacks since Brown v. Board of Education was decided by the US Supreme Court in 1954. Whites fled Atlanta during the 1950s and early 60s, fighting school integration and fair housing measures that would have begun building a foundation for a unified community mind-set.

Instead of providing the positive leadership that would have healed the racial divide, many of these same leaders of the ARC and Regional Round Table pushing this new transportation concept of regionalism were in the forefront of efforts to keep blacks bottled up in Atlanta, while directing economic development out of Atlanta into the suburbs. Back then, they showed their true faces fighting efforts to expand MARTA into predominately white counties, which would have made it easier for blacks to compete for jobs in these developing commercial enclaves. Retrospectively, the bare face of racism was covered by hoods that protected the inside track to economic and political success for whites, unlike today when a painted on smile is used to hide their true intent from the majority of blacks, who are counted on to support what whites see as a way to continue milking DeKalb and Fulton like "cash cows."

Another deceptive aspect of this new transportation plan is the continued reliance on motor vehicles rather than commuter rail transportation as the strategy for the future. The most glaring example of how the 8 billion dollars of projected revenue raised from the one-cent sales tax is fraudulent, less than a billion dollars has been projected to go for commuter rail. This is also part and parcel to the racial attitudes whites have expressed toward blacks and MARTA over the past forty years. From the inception of MARTA, South DeKalb residents have been promised a commuter train but have been continually passed over to provide train service to whites on the North end of DeKalb and Fulton Counties. If fairness and regional needs were the major motivation for this new plan, an I-20 rail line through South DeKalb is a "no brainer."

An I-20 rail line, more than any other, would do more to reduce air pollution, ease traffic congestion, save gas, cost less to construct and relieve the state of the need to buy land, while serving not only DeKalb but Henry, Rockdale, Walton and the counties along I-20 going into South Carolina. No other commuter rail route would have such a regional impact. Instead, current plans to extend MARTA rail service consist of several very costly extensions through established communities which will serve northern white enclaves or commercial interests. However, building the I-20 rail line will not require purchasing any lipstick to cover this pudding-faced transportation bill. But, it will require true equity throughout its conception and implementation.

There is truly a lack of equity in this bill, even though the word "equality" is being used to paint a false face on what is being called regional transportation. This bill gives control of tax revenues to GDOT, which has historically mismanaged resources and squandered trillions of dollars on roads rather than investing in a commuter rail system. To develop projects, this bill brings together two forces that have been the most hostile to the needs of the predominately black residents of DeKalb and Fulton Counties over the last forty years -- the ARC and the State of Georgia. Even lipstick cannot hide the mind-set which has been totally happy with only DeKalb and Fulton county residents paying the one-cent MARTA sales tax and are now just as comfortable piling another one-cent sales tax on their backs for this new transportation measure, while the rest of Georgia pays only one-cent for transportation.

News You Use

Can You Hear Me Now?

By John Burl Smith

The Transportation Investment Act (HB 277) passed in 2010 created the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable with the primary task of creating a list of projects to be funded by a regional penny sales tax and selling that list of projects to voters before a referendum in July 2012. The regional roundtable includes the county commission chair and one mayor from each of the counties, whose job it is to convince voters to take ownership of the Round Table's list as though it is a list they developed. The ARC has been conducting telephone interviews during what they called Town Hall meetings this June 2011, as a major effort to give DeKalb residents the impression they are a part of the project selection process.

The legislation (HB 277) calls for public input throughout the project development and selection process but most citizens that participated in the telephone interviews were poorly informed at best, if they had any knowledge about the bill at all. The night of DeKalb's phone-in (6-18-11), I was among a large group of South DeKalb County residents that has followed transportation issues, particularly efforts to get an I-20 East MARTA train. This group from around the county began calling in questions as soon as the lines were opened. The format allowed calls to be screened and not one person among these callers was allowed to ask a question during the meeting. Callers were simply left on perma-hold.

Disappointedly, not one question was allowed to be asked about why the residents of DeKalb and Fulton would continue to be the only ones paying the one-cent MARTA tax, while counties like Cobb, Gwinnett, Cherokee and even Forsyth would benefit from MARTA's expansion plan under consideration. Moreover, no question was asked about the return disparity in terms of the amount of sales tax that will be collected in DeKalb and Fulton Counties with only 15% being returned, while other areas will get 25% returned to local government. Most importantly, with the state of Georgia controlling 75 to 85 percent of the revenue, tax money from DeKalb and Fulton can end up being spent all over Georgia, instead of on local projects.

The "telephone town hall" meeting answered none of the vital questions DeKalb residents had and with that format we were left talking to ourselves. The general consensus is that DeKalb residents are again being snookered into paying for transportation projects in other counties, while not getting anything in return. This is a continuation of the MARTA train game that has been played on DeKalb residents since 1971 and finally they should say no more. Can you hear me now?

Those with questions or comments about the new transportation plan should contact the Regional Round Table 404-463-3296 or email info@atlantaregionalroundtable.com, Jim Jaquish ARC, jjaquish@atlantaregional.com or call 404-463-3100 and Todd Long GDOT, tlong@dot.ga.gov or call 404-631-1021

Intuit's Vibe

Ode to Public Transportation

By Someone072

Oh Public Transportation

How you fill my heart with fear

As I'm forced to sit in the back

By the drunken hobo vomiting beer

Lord knows its bad enough

He might be carrying STDs

But please, oh mighty God

Don't let him look this way and sneeze

He's probably part of the reason

The back smells oddly like piss

Oh shit, he's leaning on me.

THE BASTARD WANTS A KISS?

I leap ahead to the middle

Seeking refuge from the bum

But now there's something holding me.

Beautiful, I just stepped into week-old gum

At least I'm away from the rummy

But now I'm in for a treat

There's an annoying little bastard child

Kicking me behind the seat

Its times like this I wish

I paid my car loans on time

Now I gotta hear this kid

Bitch, scream, moan, and whine

Now I know that everyone

That rides the bus is not like this

But when judging by the quality on this bus

SOMETHING seems amiss?

That's right, it's the old lady

With many a dollar store bag

The bus driver is just ignoring her

I bet he always hears her nag

AT LAST I pull the exit string

And hurry my ass off the bus

Oh Public Transportation

Thanks for scaring us

Because it is you who reminds us

To keep up with those car payments

Or else we'll be waiting in fear

When the bus pulls up to our pavements....

Hood Notes

Harvesting Crops

By Dot

In May, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law one of the nation's toughest immigration bills. Similar to measures passed in Arizona and Utah, it empowers local police to question suspects about their immigration status. The law takes effect July 1, but it is already having an impact on the state's agricultural industry.

Traditionally, Georgia farmers exploit illegal immigrants to harvest their labor-intensive crops, which include cucumbers, watermelons, berries and onions. This year, fearing arrest and possible deportation, not enough workers have shown up to harvest these crops. According to an informal estimate, more than 11,000 field-hand vacancies exist, and Georgia farmers have been vocal in their need for workers to harvest this year's crops before they rot in the field.

To aid Georgia farmers, Gov. Deal came up with the bright idea of putting the state's unemployed probationers to work harvesting crops. After a week, the experiment appears less than successful, as the probationers, mostly urban dwellers, seem ideally unsuited for the drudgery of field work.

The news story of Deal's experiment brought back memories of my youth. My sister, brothers and I hopped Holloway's bus, which was headed to the cotton and soybean fields of Arkansas, to chop crops in the spring and summer and pick cotton in the fall to make a little money. Even back then, no other job was available for black teens. Our family was dirt poor. We needed that little money, which was used to buy clothes and shoes for school.

I remember how we were ridiculed by the other unemployed kids when we exited the bus in the early evenings. Dusty, tired and a shade or two darker after spending the day in the blistering sun, we were a bit embarrassed. But, we were back on the bus early the next morning to repeat the experience, thankful for the opportunity to make a little money. And, it was a little money; we made four dollars a day.

In the case of the jobless probationers given the opportunity to work harvesting Georgia cucumbers, the pay rate is minimum wage - $7.25 per hour. With an incentive program in place, it is possible to make more than minimum wage. Apparently, only seasoned harvesters took advantage of the incentive, because the probationers failed to meet the 15 buckets of cucumbers per hour to earn minimum wage. Most quit before working eight hours.

I am certain when Republican governor Deal signed that immigration bill into law, he did not think about the impact it would have on Georgia's farmers. I suppose he assumed with so many folks unemployed -the state's unemployment rate exceeds the national average -- that there would be plenty of people willing to work for minimum wage harvesting crops, work that he would not do and certainly work he would never ask his children to do.

Quite frankly, even though I did it in my youth, I would not wish that kind of work on anybody for minimum wage, even illegal immigrants. So, for slave wages, maybe there is work Americans just won't do!

Disgruntled feels: Redistribution! Georgia, like the remainder of the Deep South has a long history of racism, discrimination and disparate treatment that did not disappear overnight. Vestiges remain, even as the black and white signs and hooded night-riders no longer mar the landscape. Some things we know have not disappeared are the systems devised under the Three-Fifths Compromise to fund state and local government operations. No revolution occurred to change these funding formulas, which have always redistributed income from majority black to majority white areas and are designed to maintain blacks in an inferior socioeconomic and political state. To pretend otherwise is to lie in the face of facts. Because this is still the prevailing state of mind in Georgia, it behooves blacks to be leery of the regional transportation pact. No where in the entire country are Republicans talking about raising taxes. Make no mistake about it! Georgia is run by Republicans! The only reason they would consider raising taxes is because it provides an opportunity for income redistribution from majority black urban to majority rural white areas.

Disgruntled says: The USA has definitely changed since the inauguration of its first black president. No one in their right mind could possibly blame him from the serious economic troubles the nation faces, since much of what is coming home to roost began under previous administrations. Nonetheless, he is the commander-in-chief and the people that are suffering, losing jobs, homes and cars are looking to Washington for solutions. Even the ones sprouting rhetoric about not wanting to see growth in the size of government want to see some positive action to change the dire economic situation. As hope fades in the hinterland, the repo-man, a negative icon of any economic downturn, is extremely busy, so much so that now he has a reality show called the Repo Game. Delinquent car owners are given some hope of keeping their automobiles by correctly answering a few questions. Only a tiny fraction of those in trouble can play and win their car titles. The vast majority of those behind on their car payments will have their automobiles repossessed and be forced to downsize to the bus or other modes of mass transit, which more people appear to be turning to, another sign of these economic times. If conditions continue to worsen, while Washington procrastinates and campaigns for another term, the repo-man just might offer more hope (at least of keeping your car) than the man in the Oval Office.

Disgruntled wants to know: Billions, nay trillions, of dollars are being spent on wars and nation building, while the US economic situation worsens. The decision by President Obama to gradually pull out a few troops from Afghanistan as he escalates hostilities in Libya and Pakistan is worrisome. In some respects, his decision underscores the power of the military-industrial complex. Huge sums of money are being made by military contractors, war merchants and their financial backers. The average person has absolutely no idea why the US is still in Iraq or what the end game is in Afghanistan or what a win looks like. We do not make those decisions, nor do we decide who is killed with drones in our names. One wonders, would we really choose to remotely murder some "operative" in Pakistan if the mouse or joystick was in our hands rather than Obama's and the military-industrial complex?

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls

Email www.rawstory.com...Obama has taken a 'profoundly troubling' position on assassinations, ACLU tells Raw...By David Edwards...Disclosure of government secrets often has little to do with the public's right to know and has everything to do with an official's need to tell, according to ACLU deputy director Jameel Jaffer. And that's especially true when it comes to assassinations, which have not traditionally been an openly admitted component of U.S. foreign policy -- but the American Civil Liberities Union is cautioning that the Obama administration is changing all of that. In an exclusive interview with Raw Story, Jaffer, a key attorney with the rights group, even warned that the Democrat in office has taken a position on unilateral murder so extreme as to be "profoundly troubling" in its legal reach and potential for future use. For example, the CIA's "targeted killing" program has been shrouded in secrecy for years, but a recent Newsweek interview with former CIA lawyer John Rizzo shed light on the policy. The "kill list," which Rizzo said he signed off on during his time at the agency, contains about 30 civilians or "unlawful combatants" to be targeted and killed.

Email www.informationclearinghouse.inf...Man Burns Self to Death at Courthouse In Protest...By Jim Quinn...The Burning Platform" -- A New Hampshire man burned himself to death in front of a courthouse. The specific reasons are individual to him, regarding a domestic violence arrest and prosecution. But the larger reason he killed himself is that he says the system no longer follows the Rule of Law. Once you read past the details, he gives a fascinating analysis of the system. He argues for a complete takedown of the Federal Government and starting over from scratch. He may be an example of what is to come - people throwing themselves violently up against the system in order to bring it down. It is fifteen pages, longer than Joe Stack's but much shorter than the Obamacare bill. Here is the link www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28370.htm.

Email www.ajc.com...NAACP wants charges against cops in Pa. beating ...The NAACP is asking local prosecutors to bring charges against three white police officers who beat a black high school arts student last year in Pittsburgh. NAACP general counsel Kim Keenan says national and local leaders of the group met with Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala on Tuesday. Keenan says Zappala agreed to review evidence gathered by federal authorities who opted not to bring charges against the officers involved in the January 2010 beating of then-18-year-old Jordan Miles. A Zappala spokesman confirmed the meeting but declined further comment. Miles says he was chased and beaten by three plainclothes police officers who never identified themselves as police. The officers say Miles was acting suspiciously although he turned out to be unarmed. Miles is pursuing a civil suit against the city.