South Cobbers Speak Out about TIA/TSPLOST

Cobb commissioners will get a say in how to use funds from the Transportation Investment Act if voters approve the referendum on July 31.

All the county commissioners submitted their TIA “wish lists” to Commission Chairman Tim Lee recently.

The TIA, often referred to as the TSPLOST (transportation special local one-percent sales tax), projects will be completed over the course of the next 10 years and residents in the Atlanta region will have a chance to v

What are your thoughts about the TIA/TSPLOST?

Two South Cobb projects made the $6.14 billion final list of regional transportation projects, which was approved in October by the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable.

South Cobb Commissioner Woody Thompson shared his ideas for spending his distict's $35 million piece of the $6.14 billion transportation improvement pie, if the referendum passes in July.

Thompson plans to use some of the funds for a town square in Mableton, similar to Marietta’s, and to develop the area around it. The town square would be located near the intersection of Floyd and Clay roads, which would become the nucleus of Mableton under the Mableton redevelopment district.

Along with the town square, the redevelopment district plan includes proposals for a plaza, community gardens and a park. Thompson told the Marietta Daily Journal that the town square could be funded without using TSPLOST money. 

He also said the proposed light rail from Midtown to Cumberland area in Smyrna would discourage many Cobb voters from supporting the TSPLOST.

However, Lisa Cupid, who recently announced her candidacy for South Cobb’s District 4 seat, had a very different perspective on light rail.

She stated in

Cupid believes South Cobb voices were absent during the recent TIA discussions and roundtables, and that the addition of a light rail option through the area would help Cobb’s “increasingly clogged roads and long commute times for drivers” and will decrease hardships for those without cars who are isolated “from job centers, schools, supermarkets, healthcare…anywhere that requires travel beyond foot.”

Did/do you support the proposed light rail to Cobb?

The much-debated $856 million Cumberland-to-Midtown light rail was cut from the final draft of transportation projects.

What Others in South Cobb Are Saying:

• , founder of the Cobb Taxpayers Association and former candidate in Austell’s November municipal election, commented on South Cobb Patch that he is opposed to the TIA/TSPLOST.

“It would not be cost-effective. The population density in the Atlanta region is not sufficient to support rail into Cobb without massive taxpayer subsidies, and would do little or nothing to relieve congestion,” Lamberton stated.

• Dominique Huff, CEO/Founder of the Tenth Amendment Media Group, whose local online radio broadcasts focus on South Cobb issues commented, "I recently read the draft plan for CCT which includes improving existing bus routes and adding new ones. Transit must be part of Cobb's transportation plan. The county is too close to Atlanta to continue to fight it. Yes, I know all about MARTA's problems and what is could bring to the area. Sorry, folks the area has all of the crimes and problems and not one MARTA bus route touches the community (with the exception of the 201 Six Flags which goes to the park and back to the station). For the transit to be the best, we are going to have to get rail involved in the plan. Buses can only do so much, especially when they are in the same traffic as cars. We can no longer simply plan for tomorrow. We must first play catch up and then start strategically thinking about the future."

• Sen. Doug Stoner, who represented South Cobb in District 6 until his boundaries changed in the recent redistricting process, said that moving forward with alternative transportation is “not about attracting new jobs, it's about keeping them here.''

• Craig Kootsillas, publisher of cobbhomeowner.org, which focuses on neighborhood and grassroots issues in Cobb County, has also written many pieces about his thoughts on TSPLOST/TIA. View them here.