Metro Atlanta fights over 1 percent tax for transportation
Atlanta area voters will decide July 31 whether to improve their transportation network by adding a penny to the sales tax for 10 years, to raise $8.5 billion. Similar proposals are on the ballot in other parts of Georgia. In metro Atlanta, where many workers have hour-long commutes, hundreds of businesses are backing the measure, and so are professional sports teams and advocates of bicycling and public transit. But The New York Times says there's opposition from Tea Party members—and from the state's Sierra Club chapter, which thinks too much emphasis is being given to roads. Transit projects that would benefit from the tax include the 22-mile Belt Line in Atlanta and a light-rail train for people who work near Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control.
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