Transportation Tax Won't Ease Strain of Traffic

Dear Readers:

July 31 will usher in either a new sales tax along with a complicated "transportation" plan or such will be rejected and sent back to the drawing board.

The decision will be up to the citizen voters. Whether you vote or not you could be saddled with a mess that will go on for years. You could be subsidizing businesses that do not deserve any public moneys directly or indirectly.

In fact, some already have been living off of the tax payers dime for some years. This and more is what happens if you vote for the sales tax increase and thus for this transportation plan which is really about economic development and does not ease the strain of traffic no matter what the millions of dollars in ads and surveys tell you.

It is also about fairness. Here are two instances: Go to the Cobb Department of Transportation web site. You will find an eleven page hit piece on located in Powder Springs.

AML has developed a Magnetic-Levitation "train" that could be incorporated into a sensible transportation system. Go to www.american-maglev.com.

Has this system received analysis by the non-elected special interest who are evaluating a possible transit system? Of course the answer is a flat no. Instead they use the taxpayers money to print up the above hit piece.

Next the Chairman of the Cobb County Commission, Tim Lee, makes a public statement calling opponents of the proposed tax "spoiled brats". He later retracted the statement but everyone suspects he simply stated his real thoughts.

Then he and the Commission support the Cobb DOT Director, Faye Dimassimo, who is fully behind the tax/transportation plan. She is also rude and hostile to anyone who questions this idea as she was to me when I finally tracked her down for an interview.

Couple all of this with campaign contributions to Lee that mimic the same persons and concerns that have given big bucks to something called MAVEN which purports to be "educating" the public about this issue. They are not "educating" anyone in the real sense of the word but rather trying to indoctrinate with piles of cash for ads, mailings, and phone surveys.

This whole matter is raising lots of disturbing questions about the intersection of big moneyed interest and politics. It is bad enough that the public distrusts the political system nationally but now it is showing its ugly side right in our front yards.

Further, they are doing this under the guise of the "public interest" to wit: transportation. If you vote for this because of promises that may or may not happen such as a few busses here and there, then you will find out the corrupt direction that our County will be going down for years.

For the sake of yourself and for those to come consider this matter very carefully. You might also look up on Patch West Cobb or Patch Powder Springs for an excellent article by Mike Boyce "" where he points out serious flaws in the overall plan much better than I can although I will continue to write about this issue where I feel qualified.

Thanks for reading, see you soon.

Tom Bevirt