Presenting his proposed budget for the FY2008 Governor Sonny Perdue did not even mention transit, let alone MARTA as being a part of the budget planning for next year. MARTA currently gets no state funding, a rarity and makes MARTA the largest light-rail mass transit system in the country to not receive state funding. Perdue's floor leader argues it's a question of expense and need.
"I have not seen any empirical evidence, again, personally, that would dictate that mass transit is a good expenditure of billions of dollars, ultimately, of taxpayer money"
For a counter argument, House Minority Leader, Rep. Dubose Porter said,
“You, at some point, are going to have to do something about mass transit. Mass transit is where people cannot get into Atlanta. I mean, it is a business problem for us in Georgia.”
As 11Alive's Denis O'Hayer puts it:
"The coming fight might not be Democrats versus Republicans, but urban versus rural."
Without the governor's backing in his Republican dominated state congress the future is grim for sweeping changes in the near future.
Denis O'Hayer - WXIA-11Alive (1/18/07-11:12am)
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