Fayette County Issues Tea Party MonthlyMeeting Feb 4, 2014 MonthlyMeeting Feb 4, 2014

Finding Our Way In Regional Government Fayette County Steve Brown Board of Commissioners

Sex and Age Fayette County

Sex and Age Mature: ages Fayette County

Sex and Age Atlanta Region 20 Counties

Race and Hispanic Origin Fayette County

Race and Hispanic Origin Atlanta Region 20 Counties % Minority

Single Households Fayette County Single Parent 14% Married Households Fayette County Married Parent 66% 2010 Census

Single Households Atlanta Region 20 Counties Single Parent 20% Married Households Atlanta Region 20 Counties Married Parent 49% 2010 Census

Close in size by land mass: DeKalb Population: 691,893 (2553 people per square mile)Fayette Population: 106,567 (535 people per square mile) 2010 Census

Counties With Highest Percentage of Population Living in Cities 1.Fulton County90.3%

Counties With Highest Percentage of Population Living in Cities 1.Fulton County90.3% 2.Fayette County53.8% 3.Henry County29.3% 4.Douglas County28.1% … 7. Cobb County26.0% 8. Gwinnett County24.5%

How do you classify “region”?

According to the Federal Government, our “Metropolitan Statistical Area” is made of 28 counties.

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is the regional planning and intergovernmental coordination agency for the 10-county Atlanta area, including Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale counties (20 counties for air quality issues)

Urban Core Counties COBBGWINNETT FULTON DEKALB CLAYTON Development Materialized

10-County Atlanta Regional CommissionCHEROKEE COBBGWINNETT FULTON DOUGLASROCKDALE DEKALB FAYETTEHENRY CLAYTON Emerging Growth

Big $$$ Problems There is no funding to maintain the dysfunctional growth of the Core Urban Counties. There is no funding to make the needed road improvements for the Emerging Growth Counties. Mass transit has low ridership and is not cost efficient.

The First Look at Regional Taxation and Governance Transportation Investment Act (a.k.a. “TSPLOST”) 63% Opposed (A horrible project list – little attention to traffic congestion)

TSPLOST: A Moving Target First: “Untie the traffic knot” (relieve traffic congestion) Next: “Save the development industry” Last ditch appeal: “It’s about creating jobs”

HB 195 A Flexible Solution (Heading in the right direction) Rep. Ed Setzler

Reminder: There is nothing wrong with regional cooperation. Fayette has been a key collaborative partner in the region.

“A man’s got to know his limitations.” - Clint Eastwood as Inspector Harry Callahan, Magnum Force (1973) Where do we draw the line on regionalism?

The Pitfalls of Regional Governance and Taxation Serious lack of accountability to the citizen taxpayers Disparity among various counties Parochial interests create a conflicting regional vision Influence of outside special development interests Lack of a decent regional planning mechanism Gwinnett vs. Fayette Atlanta Beltline and light rail trains

Atlanta Regional Commission 16 of the 39 Board Members are NOT elected by the citizens of any jurisdiction. The past and current ARC Chairmen are non-elected officials in real estate development who are with Community Improvement Districts, competing for transportation dollars within the region.

Georgia Regional Transportation Authority GRTA All 15 Members on the Board of Directors are appointed by the Governor. Only 3 are elected officials and nearly all the others are related to the real estate development industry.

“With the [Federal] Highway Trust Fund forecast to go bankrupt next year [2015] and the current two-year transportation bill set to expire Oct. 1, Congress faces a struggle to find funds for a new long-term transportation bill.” -Congress to face dilemma in funding long-term transportation bill, 1/15/ Washington Post Congress is stealing funds from the general fund to prop-up the Highway Trust Fund.

We need to stop funding transit from the [Federal] Highway Trust Fund. Motor fuel taxes pay for the fund and it should be used to pay for improvements to roads and bridges. Transit is a huge financial black hole and will never come close to paying for itself. Yet regional leaders urge the continued construction of expensive transit projects, further eroding the Fed Trust Fund.

“ [Metro Atlanta should] spend 50% of our transportation funds on transit rail.” - Christopher Leinberger, Atlanta Regional Commission’s State of the Region Breakfast, November 1, 2013 (Created the Atlanta Walk-UP study) Road maintenance? Low ridership? Reality check? Ultra expensive?

Instead of giving State Powerbrokers, Appointed Officials and Real Estate Developers the keys to our local governments, it might be better to change the locks. Paraphrase of a quote from Doug Larson

Accomplishments Moved transportation focus to “sub-regional” Leveling the playing field between Urban Core and Emerging counties Incorporating opposing points of view

Where to Focus Create accountability to the citizen taxpayers Demand protection of “home rule” Get out of “one-size-fits-all” solutions Do not allow forced mandatory regional taxation Develop rational metrics for transit projects Insist attention be given to Southern Crescent counties (transportation and economic development)

The New Federal View of Regionalism “Obamaregionomics” (Go look at the Board of Directors for Building One America) The unraveling of America’s suburbs.

Young Professor Obama on Race and Regionalism

The Agenda of Building One America Force new development in cities and prohibit growth in suburbs and beyond. Build a transit-oriented society. Impose economic integration, income housing quotas, loss of local control of zoning and land use. Tax sharing to reduce “fiscal disparities” among local governments. One county paying for another’s needs (Think Metro Atlanta T-SPLOST).

Myron Orfield Described as "the most influential social demographer in America's burgeoning regional movement," wrote Neal Peirce in his nationally distributed column in spring 2002.

Orfield Believes … “Local approaches to growth and economic development create competition that ultimately hurts all parts of the region. Instead, localities should work together to advocate new regional, state and federal policies such as: greater fiscal equity to equalize resources among local governments, smarter growth management to support more sustainable development practices, and accountable metropolitan governance to improve regional transportation and land-use planning.”

Megaregions Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion (PAM) Jacksonville to Nashville, Raleigh to Birmingham 34 million people 12% of total U.S. population Gross Regional Product: $1.1 trillion “Develop a conceptual framework that incorporates the megaregion concept into existing policy and governance processes.”

Thank You Steve Brown, Chairman Fayette County Board of Comm. (404)