Atlanta votes down transportation tax
A referendum to impose a penny per dollar sales tax to raise billions for transportation over 10 years was defeated by Atlanta voters this week after it was opposed by an unlikely coalition of Tea Party members, environmentalists, and the NAACP. The tax was supported by powerful political leaders and bicycle and transit advocates — it would have raised funds for the 22-mile Beltline and a light rail extension for people who work near Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control. But the Sierra Club said that too much money would go to roads. "One Plan B option the new coalition came up with would push the legislature to remove restrictions on how the city can spend current sales-tax revenues on MARTA, the existing bus and rail system in Atlanta, before building new light rail in gentrifying, in-town neighborhoods," writes the Christian Science Monitor.
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