Transit has been a third-rail issue in metro Atlanta politics for some five decades, going back to Cobb and Gwinnett counties’ refusal to join MARTA in its formative years.
So public transportation advocates were heartened in January when Fulton County commissioners and mayors agreed on a transit expansion plan funded in part by a half-penny sales tax, raising $4.9 billion over 40 years.
Fulton would get bus rapid transit on Ga. 400, Holcomb Bridge Road, U.S. 29 and South Fulton Parkway, and bus arterial rapid transit on Roswell Road, Old Milton Parkway, Ga. 141, Fulton Industrial Boulevard and Camp Creek Parkway.
Yet almost immediately, two North Fulton mayors objected. They said the case hadn’t been made that transit would relieve traffic congestion.
Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker said the only sensible choice to handle congestion and avert high-density development “is one that does not involve the investment in light or heavy rail.” Bodker also was skeptical of the improved bus service.
Newly elected Roswell Mayor Lori Henry said bus rapid transit would worsen congestion on Roswell Road, and a right-of-way for buses was nonexistent on Holcomb Bridge.
Henry’s predecessor, Roswell Mayor Jere Wood, however, favored transit.
“In my mind, transit is inevitable,” Wood told the AJC in December. “North Fulton and Alpharetta, in particular, are growing very rapidly. … New business is coming, and it’s going to be in the Ga. 400 corridor.”
Cobb and Gwinnett are believed out of the running for Amazon’s second headquarters and its 50,000 jobs, because they have no rail transit and millennials supposedly do not like to drive. NCR and AthenaHealth left the suburbs for in-town sites. Other companies like State Farm located close to MARTA stations.
Is transit the solution to congestion, or will it degrade the OTP quality of life? Tell us what you think. Send comments by email to: communitynews@ajc.com
With crime increasing in many metro Atlanta areas, a city councilwoman from South Fulton wants to make parents pay financially and with jail time if their children break laws. Helen Zenobia Willis has proposed requiring parents to take classes or participate in other diversion programs to help them manage unruly children, if those children get in trouble with the law. If the parents don’t, or their interventions prove worthless, the proposed law could fine them up to $100 or send them to jail for up to 30 days.
We asked readers if they though Willis had a sound idea. Here’s what some said:
If your child is breaking into houses, cutting school, ganged up, robbing, how can you not know as a parent! What the heck is your child doing outside after 9 or 10 p.m.? Shouldn't they be studying? Parents have a duty and responsibility for their children. — Craig Gregory
I have been preaching this concept for a couple of years. If it can be proven that the menace's parents have been giving him free reign to do whatever the hell he wants, then yes not only that, the parents should get up to half the sentence as the menacing thug. This can be decided after a complete investigation, including talking to neighbors, school administrators, etc. and relatives to determine if it was plain to see what was going on, and the parent(s) failed to exert parental control. This needs to become GA law more like yesterday. It had reached a public health crisis status. — Anonymous
I am all for this! As a retired school counselor, I have always thought this. — Peggy Heinisch
There will always be ways for the law to excuse mentally challenged kids, but for the parents who just don't care, I'm all for this. It's their job to raise a responsible child. I've been one of the leading voices in opposition of this upcoming ordinance proposal. — Marcus Coleman
Yes, I feel parents should be held responsible crime committed by their children. It is the parent responsibility to make sure the child is responsible for their actions starting at home, bedtime, clean room, follow the rules of the parents. Respect for others. Parents must make an effort to find out who their children's friends are . Parents must show respect to their children if they wish for them to show respect for others. You can't use profanity towards your children and not expect them to imitate that behavior. — Olivia Gillette
Whatever happened to the program SCARED STRAIGHT? A program where offenders were sent to jail as a group to see what type of life they would be in for if they continue to disobey the law. I dated a fella who had gotten into trouble years ago and was sent through the Scared Straight program. Never again did he do anything that would land him in jail. There were a few folks in high school who went through the same program and 90 percent of them are upstanding citizens now and 10 percent are either in jail or dead. If even 50 percent of offenders are turned around by seeing what jail life is like, why did this program go away. — Jules
We raised our kids to be responsible for their actions. I always felt responsible for them and the few times car accidents happened we took care of the damage and they worked it off or paid us back. A one time slip can happen but when it becomes habitual the parents should be fines or the child removed from the house or incarcerated in a juvenile home. My older brother went through these types of problems and a few weeks at the dentition home finally snapped him back to reality. — Dan Ciomek
I don't think parents should be fined or jailed when their child breaks a law. Such a "solution" would unfairly punish entire families and the parent - often a single mother who is struggling to hold down a job and raise other children. Also, such consequences would likely target lower income families and minorities. Would wealthy white parents be sent to jail if their child is arrested for using illegal drugs, underage drinking or DUI? And don't we all know someone whose kid has chosen to make really bad decisions despite growing up in a stable, loving family? I do think family counseling and therapy should be encouraged and made affordable, but unfortunately, mental health care is anything but accessible and affordable. — Linda W. Dorage
It has become increasingly difficult for the school system to obtain teachers, substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, and other personnel who have positions of authority over children. Many in the school system have retired early, rather than be subjected to the abuse from unruly students. Children leave the school system with that loose culture and we have seen them now in society car-jacking, sliding, smashing and grabbing, and the shooting is unbelievable. I agree with this ordinance, parents should be held accountable, but we should not have gotten to this woeful point in our culture. — Horace Copridge, City of South Fulton
When we lived in Ohio, the mayor in our city had a juveniles Mayors Court. Depending on the severity of the crime, most children/parents had to pay a fine and or had community service hours. This seemed to work quite well. Doing community service hours alongside a grumbling parent for days or weeks really helped. — Becky Nowak
Pamela Mille for the AJC
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