Politics & Government

Is Transportation Investment Act Research a Fair Process?

A Roswell resident questions the purpose and integrity of the Atlanta Regional Roundtable meetings.

The Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable has been working hard to gain feedback from metro area residents about which projects they would like to see on the final list for funding by the Transportation Investment Act. But, not everyone one believes the process is fair, or even valid.

"They are careful to avoid giving anyone who opposes the issue the ability to be heard by the entire audience," said

Lowry is against the local penny sales tax that is to be voted on next summer and, if approved, used to fund the projects on the final list. But those political issues aside, he asserts the Roundtable has shut him and others like him out of the input process.

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"They break the audience into small groups, then ask that everyone submit questions in writing. Of course, the only questions answered come from the 'pro' side," he told Roswell Patch. "There is no public citizen commentary allowed. Anyone in the audience who doesn’t already know about the issues is left with the conclusion that 'everyone agrees.'"

Lowry says the meeting layout is a newer take on the Delphi Technique - originally a Cold War expert prediction method that some claim has turned into a way of manipulating concensus.

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But Kathryn Lawler, Atlanta Regional Commission external affairs manager, says that's not true.

"We’ve put a lot of careful thought into the design of the meetings," she told Roswell Patch. "To respect everyone’s time, we don't want to take all night. But, we feel everyone should get to share. The meetings are organized in a way so that one side doesn’t dominate."

By having everyone write down their opinions about certain projects, the Roundtable is able to understand how everyone feels and the moderator can mix up the questions. According to Lawler, they've even opened the floor to public comment during several meetings; though they have restricted the time each speaker is allowed to speak and asked them to stay on certain topics. But, in doing so, they've heard from a broad range of perspectives.

"If we had all the time in the world," we would love to hear whatever anyone wanted to talk about, said Lawler. "But we have a ticking clock on our hands."

The Roundtable only has until Oct. 15 to finalize a project list that will be funded if the sales tax is approved by voters next year.

"Funding these projects via a [local option sales tax] takes the requirement for funding transportation away from the normal budgeting process," said Lowry. "As with the MARTA tax, it becomes a honey pot that the legislature then no longer needs to deal with."

While Lawler says the Roundtable understands not everyone is for the sales tax no matter what, others will wait to see which projects are on the final list before making their decision.

"We're asking people to stick to what they want to see on the list and not on how they’re wanting to vote next summer. That's a really import discussion that we think the region needs to have, but it will need to be at a later date," she said.

But part of Lowry's problem with the project list itself is the expansively diverse needs of the region.

"The North Fulton ... areas have no representation on the 'executive committee' at all," he said. "The projects are then selected politically without much regard to the true needs for transportation solutions. The big developers and ARC want rail, so we are getting rail."

For now, Lawler said the Roundtable is set on trying to collect all the information it can about project priorities for each area before the legally set October deadline before they go into the deeper issues of support for the tax itself.


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