MARTA News (Atlanta, Dallas, Between: maintenance, income tax, living in)

[architect77]

Originally Posted by arjay57

You may be looking at North Carolina through rose-colored glasses.

I admit there have been several high profile state employees that have been convicted for corruption in NC, and not that this matters but almost all were white.

But those lists of most and least corrupt fluctuates from year to year and use different criteria every time. They are worthless in my opinion.

I still say that NC residents have much more faith in their state government than Georgia.

Over the decades it is evident that NC is run by conscientious people who continue the legacy of the state being progressive in terms of technology, state stewardship, state agencies and consumer protections.

All of that is not associated with the current republican legislature. Actually the state's history of holding itself to higher standards can be credited to the decades of democratic leadership, always trying to keep up with the Northeastern states.

NC's government is serving as the model that some Eastern European countries are trying to implement in their countries. A few years ago a team of Bosnians came and attended all the legislative sessions for a few months.

But I think the real difference is that NC has a lot more checks and balances in place to detect the bad players than Georgia does.

The government here and state agencies are as simple and primitive as possible. Georgia is a reactionary state and follows other state's moves rather than evolve and be the first with the better ideas.

NC is frugal in its spending for state agencies which often are located in run-down leaky buildings in Raleigh.

They don't spend on fancy headquarters and such, however they do spend a lot on the highway infrastructure.

The other night I went to Grady hospital to visit a friend and noticed that half of the streetlights downtown aren't working, and there are too many anyway. Half of the poles which are metal meaning they are the city's responsibility should be culled, and many street names overhead are faded completely blank. All of this is a few blocks from city hall where the public works depot. is.

Imagine how great Atlanta could be if city employees took the initiative to clean up every nook and cranny.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by arjay57

You may be looking at North Carolina through rose-colored glasses.

Understatement of the year, and not just on this thread.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by brown_dog_us

Successful projects make voters want to fund expansion. Look at Seattle.

MARTA has never delivered what they promised. In 10 years when they want more money everyone will be asking about the beltline rail that is planned for 2050 or whenever.

MARTA only recently become involved with the Beltline though...

For most of it's existence it was entirely ran by a non-profit and the City itself, not MARTA. But go ahead keep throwing out red herrings.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by architect77

Over the decades it is evident that NC is run by conscientious people who continue the legacy of the state being progressive in terms of technology, state stewardship, state agencies and consumer protections.

Isn't North Carolina the state that enacted the so-called "bathroom bill" that created so much turmoil?

[bigup]

As a former North Carolinian, I have to say that it's a big leap to say that more people there trust the state government than do in Georgia. I agree with some of the positives you mention about NC over the decades, but GA has also had progressive leadership in the past. And this goes beyond just infrastructure.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by architect77

nc is cheap in its spending for state agencies which often are located in run-down leaky buildings in raleigh.

Fixed

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Between 2009 and 2015 the Chinese built 1,900 miles of subway.

And we're still talking about starting to think about adding one new bus line that could possibly open in 7 1/2 years?

China 1.386 billion VS Atlanta 486,290

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by J2rescue

China 1.386 billion VS Atlanta 486,290

Would be more accurate to use metro population.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by J2rescue

China 1.386 billion VS Atlanta 486,290

Even still though it's pretty insane how far ahead foreign countries are ahead of America in general in terms of transit. Some of them having had High Speed Rail for decades at this point and all we have is the Acela.

[ATLTJL]

The thing that interests me about Australia, and maybe Canada too, is it has both robust mass transit and good highways with a very high rate of car ownership. It proves you don't have to give up one for the other.