Gwinnett County has the opportunity to join MARTA with the promise that the majority of tax dollars will be spent in Gwinnett. But is it too late to save MARTA?

MARTA ridership was below forecast for all of 2018 for buses and rail passengers. Will forecasting be any better with the addition of Gwinnett County?

The 3% Solution

So far MARTA is a 3% solution to the Metro Atlanta Urban population. If you assume that each MARTA patron takes a trip to and from their destinations, only 3% of the population uses MARTA on a daily basis.

That begs the question: How much more shall the 97% continue to vote and support the 3% solution?

MARTA has evolved into a two purpose system. The first is to get lower cost workers to employment areas.

The second is to transport those with private vehicles to both sporting events and the airport, where the hassles of drive times and parking fees can be avoided.

Will Gwinnett County voters be willing to commit large sums of money going forward forever for these purposes?

Or will they be wise enough to realize that MARTA just isn’t SMARTA?

For those that are supporting this push for MARTA, I have just one question:

Outside of the airport and sporting events, will you be using MARTA for your daily trips around your town, or are you hoping that your neighbor will be doing so?

That’s what I thought.

https://www.itsmarta.com/KPIRidership.aspx

There is a term that has been used by both elected officials and their supporters over the last few years to describe individuals such as myself: “Haters”.

The term is used as a bullying tactic meant to silence those who have an opinion about Johns Creek’s government, what they are doing, what they accept in performance from City Staff, and where they are attempting to take a City that was a runaway success even before the City Council held it’s first meeting.

We know the term “Haters” is being used at City Council Meetings and behind the scenes between the Council Members (including the Mayor) in an effort to intimidate and push dissenting Council Members to go along with the grand schemes those on the Council have pursued at the expense of the majority of the Public for the benefit of the few.

In retrospect, “Haters” may be the best word that could have been chosen by those that are trying to silence us.

We do hate.

We have government overreach.

We hate wasteful spending.

We hate being told our traffic issues are because of neighboring communities instead of just doing the hard work and eliminating our bottlenecks.

We hate government contracts that are renewed despite less than stellar work performed for the residents of Johns Creek.

We hate the push for Johns Creek to be like every other City.

We hate the continued push for higher and higher densities.

We hate being lied to about how awesome the traffic lights were when in fact the lights were not even close to what they were advertised.

We hate the political games played to push agendas with statements that are blatantly false and misleading.

We hate seeing Council Members shut down when trying to discuss the issues on behalf of all residents.

Nearly every Public Comment is followed up with a “Thank you for your comment” from the Mayor. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Anything that questions, challenges or otherwise casts doubts on the direction of this City and the objectives of the current majority on Council is derided and dismissed. Items that are factually correct are portrayed as inaccurate. Even if you were to use the City’s own audited reports to make a point, it is likely you will be told that you are wrong if the point is not what the majority wants.

What should this City Council do with the “Haters”? It should embrace them. Time and again they have pointed out issues with the direction of the City that the majority of the residents simply do not seek If in pursuing their agendas, they cannot answer the questions or objections with honest answers, and instead must resort to chastising and bullying the “Haters”, then maybe the agenda is just not that good.

We do not need to run this City by personal agendas and legacy building. Instead this City needs to be run based on the Charter and what it says we are supposed to be doing as a City.

Until it does, we will continue to bring up as issues and concerns what we see happening. We will continue to challenge the decisions this City is making as it impacts all of us.

If you want to see Johns Creek become just an average City, just sit back, do nothing and hate those labeled “Haters”.

But if you want a truly exceptional City, listen to what the “Haters” are saying. See if there is truth in it.

It’s interesting that I and the others who have been labeled “Haters” are discussed in whispers and behind closed doors. We take our issues directly to the City Council.

And we will continue to do so.

The semantics are similar, and people can argue which is which.  But make no mistake about it, Johns Creek has been pushed for the last ten years towards change.

The affects of this change are readily apparent in our annual CAFR reports.  Our per capita income is declining.  Our density(number of people) per square acre is rising.

It seems that there are those among us that believe we just need more population to make all of the things we have in Johns Creek work.  More residents justify the need for more services.  More residents justify the need for Bus Rapid Transit.  And you need to have a place for all of these residents to live, and while mostly built out, the only wan to do this is to increase the density of our housing.

The recent “first draft” of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan was revealing.  While the CAC and the City have more or less dismissed this draft, it was they that brought it to us. Continue reading →

What happens when you challenge the leadership in your community?  What happens if you do not accept the notion that the best choices were made, that the best outcomes were achieved?  What if you challenge the ideas that the future of your community needs to be drastically different from the community that you have chosen to call home?

In Johns Creek, you are given labels.  You are called a hater.  You are labeled as the wrong type of person to hang around.  Your elected officials tell people that you are the wrong types of people to associate with.  Those crying in the public arena about bullies are actually the bullies of Johns Creek, using their efforts in an attempt to silence the opposition. Continue reading →

Fats Domino passed away this week.  Being born in New Orleans meant you were aware of music and musicians at an early age.  I was no exception.

Domino was a fixture in New Orleans, where he had soaked up the influences of the musical melting pot and, even after gaining fame, stayed in his old neighborhood where he would sometimes sleep outside in a hammock.

I can still remember the day in the 1960’s, when my parents, who loved to take long rides, drove us past the home of Fats Domino.  It was not the first time, but it was the time that I remember that Fats Domino was sitting outside on the porch.

“Wave to him” one of my parents said.  And I did.

Fats Domino waved back, creating a memory I can see to this day.as if it were yesterday.

Rest in Peace, Fats.  We are gonna miss your presence.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/10/25/rock-n-roll-pioneer-fats-domino-dead-89/

In less than 90 seconds,  anyone should be able to clearly understand why we are frustrated with traffic and why we think that there are improvements that can be made without paving six lanes the entire length of 141.

While I took this video in Peachtree Corners, it was only because I saw it as an example of what ails us in Johns Creek.  We all experience the same thing on a frequent basis in Johns Creek.  It just happened to be convenient for me to film at this location.  Frustrated with the additional 10 minutes it took to get to Earth Faire at 12:30 p.m., I made it a point to stop and record it.

The questions I keep asking is why.  What does it take to resolve these sorts of issues with our traffic lights?

The video was taken Friday, March 10th 2017, just before 1:00 pm.  I am facing north on 141 on the eastern side of the intersection.

Be sure to watch to the very end where you will see as I zoom just how far the backup extends.

It’s been a long time since we had robust economic growth.  Most of those alive today cannot really recall a boom time.

Compounded Annual rate of job growth since:

1960:  1.75%

1970:  1.53%

1980:  1.28%

1990:  1.05%

2000:  0.56%

Anyone see a “long term” trend here besides me?

Slowly but surely this economy creates lower and lower job growth.  There are those, like me, who have relentlessly stated that taxes, regulations, and other restrictions are having a negative effect on the US economy.

And I have on more than one occasion demonstrated that profit growth in the US has also been on a steady decline.

With less profits and lower job growth, should we really be surprised that the overall health of the US consumer has been on a steady decline?

Were it not for liberal monetary lending, where American consumers are borrowing to sustain their standard of living, the evidence would be quite clear.

So, how long can this last and how much more debt can the American consumer get their hands on before we see some serious repercussions?

Once again, we faced a National Election for President of The United States, and once again the outcome was never really in question, was it?

What if you could find one indicator that pointed the way to what would happen in the election for POTUS that could very well sum up how the United States was doing, and therefore indicate what the outcome would be during election years? Continue reading →