Yahoo: Atlanta's Problem with White Stuff (Blames White People for Snow Issues)

[RonPaulFanInGA]

http://news.yahoo.com/atlanta-39-problem-white-stuff-195036552.html

Guess Detroit is another thing that is the fault of white people.

[tod evans]

No clicky linkies.

[LibertyEagle]

No clicky linkies.

He can't quote the whole thing. Copyright and all that.

[Suzanimal]

How much you wanna bet they're gonna use this as a rallying cry to start pushing T-SPLOT again?

They couldn't get it passed on it's own merit, so now they're going to resort to playing the race card to get it shoved down Georgians throat's.
I live OTP (Outside the Perimeter, for non Georgians) on the east side and if I recall correctly there was only one project on my side of town - which was improving an intersection that just finished being improved.:rolleyes:

Sorry Atlanta, I'm fresh out of white guilt.

[RonPaulFanInGA]

Sorry Atlanta, I'm fresh out of white guilt.

Black mayor voted in by a city with a majority-black population, and it's white peoples' fault. It's just hilarious. Reed was fiddling in Davos while Atlanta froze.

[Suzanimal]

Black mayor voted in by a city with a majority-black population, and it's white peoples' fault. It's just hilarious. Reed was fiddling in Davos while Atlanta froze.

Did the idiot get his dumbass trolley on Peachtree? I found it so sickening, I never bothered to find out how that went down.

[asurfaholic]

Read this. Anyone have crime rate statistics on Atlanta and Cobb county?

If so that could be used to either prove or disprove the Cobb county residents fear of bringing more crime to the area.

The author of this article is so obviously biased against the whites of Cobb county, the fact he didnt include any statistical evidence while calling the fears of increased crime "stupid"

[DGambler]

Article no longer exists

[pcosmar]

. Reed was fiddling in Davos while Atlanta froze.

So what. The Mayor (regardless of skin color) has no influence over the weather.

Georgia has no fleets of snow removal equipment,, because this is a RARE occurrence.

And a "mayor" is not supposed to have power over anything.. He is a figurehead. the "Face of the city".. A glad hand and ribbon cutter.

[tod evans]

So what. The Mayor (regardless of skin color) has no influence over the weather.

Georgia has no fleets of snow removal equipment,, because this is a RARE occurrence.

And a "mayor" is not supposed to have power over anything.. He is a figurehead. the "Face of the city".. A glad hand and ribbon cutter.

But, but...........It's gotta be somebodies fault.

[nobody's_hero]

How much you wanna bet they're gonna use this as a rallying cry to start pushing T-SPLOT again? .

It's already being done.

I've said again and again that if Atlanta wants to improve its infrastructure (which usually means constructing train systems that maybe 3 people a week ride and liberals feel like they've done something awesome to relieve congestion), it needs to be as localized as possible. The T-SPLOST was too involved over regions that maybe needed a few new stop signs and didn't see a need for a tax hike.

I read some of the stuff proposed for my region in the splost and it was things like sidewalks on rural roads, passing lanes for roads that see maybe 4 cars pass by per hour, and I just remember thinking that it sounded completely unnecessary, and really it was but I guess they had to think of something to spend money on or else some regions just raise taxes on themselves and get nothing back.

[juleswin]

http://news.yahoo.com/atlanta-39-problem-white-stuff-195036552.html

Guess Detroit is another thing that is the fault of white people.

Now that is a sensational way of summarizing the article. Some journalist (not sure if she is white/black/something) else writes an article blaming the traffic commotion that resulted from the unexpected snow on the Cobb county decision which is a majority white county. The article is way more complex than the OP would want you to believe and just be warned, it doesn't read like a novel.

Actually what the OP is linked to is an article about the original article that blamed the traffic problem experienced by people leaving Atlanta during the snow storm on white majority county.

From the original article by Rebecca Burns


What happened in Atlanta this week is not a matter of Southerners blindsided by unpredictable weather. More than any event I’ve witnessed in two decades of living in and writing about this city, this snowstorm underscores the horrible history of suburban sprawl in the United States and the bad political decisions that drive it. It tells us something not just about what’s wrong with one city in America today but what can happen when disaster strikes many places across the country. As with famines in foreign lands, it’s important to understand: It’s not an act of nature or God—this fiasco is manmade from start to finish. But to truly get what’s wrong with Atlanta today, you have to look at these four factors, decades in the making.

And then she goes on to explain the complicated mess that is road politics between Atlanta county and the surrounding counties. I suggest you read the original from politico to understand what she is trying to say.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/atlanta-snow-storm-102839.html#ixzz2rz5carnV

[osan]

So what. The Mayor (regardless of skin color) has no influence over the weather.

Georgia has no fleets of snow removal equipment,, because this is a RARE occurrence.

And a "mayor" is not supposed to have power over anything.. He is a figurehead. the "Face of the city".. A glad hand and ribbon cutter.

Good points, all. Jesus in a taxicab... what would they have the city do, invest tens of millions of dollars in equipment for events that occur maybe every 25 years? The damned trucks would rot between snowfalls from non-use.

Shit happens. Shit happened. Get over it.

But this is very revealing of the general mode of thinking that expects "government" to have all the answers all the time at no extra cost. Many appear to view rthemselves as entitled to zero-inconvenience because "government" is supposed to make all booboos better. Therein we see the true sickness and it is everywhere and spreading like the plague. Thinking is the largest problem we as a species have.

[georgiaboy]

fyi, a pollster just yesterday re-asked the question to Atlanta region residents if they'd be willing to reconsider a 1% sales tax increase that failed miserably as a referendum vote, and was to be dedicated to only funding transportation improvement projects. As mentioned above, this was the 'T-SPLOST', or Transportation-Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

The poll, taken just two days after the worst traffic congestion problem in the Atlanta region maybe ever, resulted again in continued overwhelming rejection of this proposed transportation tax. To me, that's a great sign of many things, including continued mistrust of gov't keeping promises and remembering that the list of proposed projects that would've been funded by the tax would not have helped solve congestion, and for sure didn't contain any big dollars for dealing with snowstorms.

Atlantas Smart to Still Oppose T-SPLOST (http://www.hegllc.org/HEG/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/HEG-Snow-Survey-Press-Release_Jan-31-2014_Final.pdf)

Better answers are out there for these kinds of rare occurrences, requiring no government intervention. I'd rather see the kinds of spontaneous good samaritan efforts that are percolating up in story after story like this one, for example. Atlanta SnowJam Heroes (http://www.examiner.com/article/snowjam2014-atlanta-facebook-group-highlights-panic-heros).

Yes, thousands were stranded, and some folks are only now getting their cars back. Still doesn't rise to the level of needing new taxes, shiny new infrastructure, or a new government agency. In fact, the government was actually proven again to be quite useless in this situation. In fact, Georgia's version of FEMA - GEMA - has a control center that was empty(!) during the time of the gridlock! De-fund it!

The only local government solution that might be worthy of checking into would be a so-called 'emergency evacuation plan' that would create staggered exit timeframes for major hubs of commuters, use of freight rail lines for emergency commuter transport, regional coordination of support efforts with already existing volunteer groups, first responders, etc.

Other than this, based on performance, I'd say there is probably more reason to de-fund parts of government than increase it.