McDonough and the rail (Part 3)
As you know the McDonough City Council passed a resolution in support of the proposed Atlanta-Lovejoy commuter rail.
I understand that Billy Copeland and company proceeded against the wishes of the mayor of Hampton, Mr. R. W. Coley as well as members of the Hampton City Council. It's also my understanding that Coley and Copeland had a brief conversation about the resolution before it was brought before the council. Coley urged Copeland to reconsider, but it fell on deaf ears. Coley has told me that he is disappointed in the actions taken by the McDonough City Council, citing that Hampton will be responsible for the maintainence of the rail, not McDonough.
I also spoke to State Senator John Douglas, who was recently added to McDonough's delegation after the city annexed property in his district. Douglas told me that he was essentially ignored when he requested that the city wait until he had an opportunity to speak with them about it.
So much for One Henry, right?
Comments
I'm not sure why Copeland and the city of McDonough care about the rail except running it through Hampton now prevents it from going through McDonough tomorrow. Almost no Henry County residents will ride it and it will be another bottomless pit to throw tax dollars down. If you take half the money that you would throw away on the rail and add lanes to I-75, it would actually make a difference.
Posted by: Dutch | August 25, 2006 08:03 PM
Dutch: Rest assured that those in the Henry legislative delegation who also are in the majority party are working out front and behind the scenes to ensure your taxes arent wasted on this boondoggle.
People drive cars and that's where the money has to go. People dont ride trains and no matter how much tax money we send that way, nothing will change. CSX and Norfolk Southern would be operating them if there was money to be made in passenger service. But they depend on profits. Government has no such dependency or hesitation in spending your money.
Posted by: Sen John Douglas | August 25, 2006 09:13 PM
Where ever this rail system ends up going, you can be sure it's going to deteriorate the quality of life for the surrounding residents. Crime will more than likely escalate as well. I guess some of our "electeds" aren't too concerned.
Posted by: Tyler | August 25, 2006 10:32 PM
It's time for a reality check! What could possibly motivate Billy Copeland (and the entire council) to jump on this bandwagon?
This endorsement of a political and financial boondoogle defies reason for most thinking citizens.
Yeah, call me an untrusting cynic. But I have never seen unanimity over such a divisive issue unless the "fix was in" before the vote was taken.
Look for motivations and incentives. It's the only explanation I can believe.
Posted by: Larry Stanley | August 26, 2006 06:00 AM
It's that evil Andy Welch running around the county holding meetings about the CTP that cajoled McDonough's finest elected to believe in the train. Perhaps their plans to have a trolley will be include in the pork barrel project. You just never know what Gail and the pimps will do next. It’s a rainy night in Georgia.
Posted by: tufflove | August 26, 2006 12:15 PM