Coalition Emerges to Fight TSPLOST

The Transportation Leadership Coalition has launched a grassroots campaign in opposition to the proposed regional transportation sales tax.

Approximately 75 people representing several organizations, along with elected officials who oppose the 1 percent transportation sales tax, gathered at Adventure Outdoors in Marietta recently to discuss the July 31 referendum.

“We put out the invitation to various grassroots organizers to meet under one roof and learn more about this tax. We were very pleased with the response from across the state as far south as Valdosta,” Jack Staver, the chairman of the Roswell-based TLC, said in a news release.

The meeting produced a coordinated effort through the new TLC to oppose the will alleviate traffic congestion in the Atlanta area.

Regions across the state will vote on their own 1 percent, 10-year sales taxes for transportation projects. Northeast Cobb is part of the 10-county Atlanta region. The referendum will be decided by majority vote across the region, regardless of how individual counties vote.

The focus of TLC is to educate the public on .

TLC says it will rely on TrafficTruth.net, e-mail and social media to spread its message, whereas MAVEN and Untie Atlanta have used direct mail and TV ads.

Among the key claims of TLC:  

• Proposed rail projects will not relieve traffic congestion.
• TSPLOST will not be a “temporary tax” because the projects will require billions more to complete than the allocated amounts.
• There are other ways to fight congestion.

“MAVEN is well funded to the tune of $2 million, some of which is through the unconstitutional use of taxpayer money from CIDs," or community improvement districts, Staver said. "We are truly a grassroots, volunteer-­driven organization that is self-­funded through donations. We dispel the myths about traffic solutions" from the Atlanta Regional Commission.

A MAVEN representative told Creative Loafing that TLC is urging people to vote against new jobs, more productivity and more family time and for a "congestion tax" of $924 a year and rising.

Other organizations opposing the SPLOST include the NAACP, the Sierra Club and Tea Parties, although their reasons vary from too many transit projects to not enough.

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