Hi Keisha, it’s me. You should call for a state takeover of MARTA & champion rail for Georgia

My conversation today was heard by hundreds or thousands on Georgia NOW & Progressive Voices, but truly, it was meant for an audience of one – former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who’s now the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of Georgia.

MARTA’s a PR disaster. A ⁠ghoulish, murderous stabbing of a grandmother.⁠ ⁠New trains (again) delayed⁠ prior to the FIFA World Cup. “More MARTA” ⁠underwhelming the voters⁠ that supported it.

The Atlanta Beltline is falling further and further from its intention to alleviate in-city gridlock and offer easier mobility from Atlanta’s historic neighborhoods as resistance to the rail element continues to build clout.

Why not take a page from the Georgia GOP, circa 2020-21, and call for a state takeover of MARTA the way they salivated over ⁠wresting the airport from the city⁠?

As Atlanta’s former mayor, you have your fingerprints on the Beltline project and can’t possibly agree with ⁠Cox Enterprises CEO Alex Taylor who’s joined the NIMBYs and Eastside trail business folks⁠ who now don’t want the crucial rail element at all anymore, now, can you?

Transit … mobility … not just for Atlanta in-city, but the metropolitan area and – dare I say – the state (that’s home to the world’s busiest airport and has feeder airports inexplicably flying people in small numbers at exorbitant fares) should be a top-of-mind conversation for an aspirational gubernatorial candidate.

Heck, talk Delta into a public-private partnership. There’s ⁠precedence for this in Canada⁠. It makes good business sense for Delta, because it clearly did so for Air Canada, too.

While the two GOP candidates try to out “tax cut” one another while also slinging mud to and fro, wouldn’t be refreshing for the Democratic gubernatorial candidate to counter with something vastly more impactful?

I mean a $1000 break here or there is fine, I guess. Not life changing. Reducing commute times, an affordable, swift means to connect to the world’s busiest airport from Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Macon & Savannah – all of which makes it viable for people to live just about wherever they want in the state where they can find more affordable housing; that’s what would positively impact the lives of so many Georgians.

Mrs. Bottoms, you should pronounce to voters that you’ll be governor who connects the state. Be the “mobility governor.”

It’s there waiting for someone to grasp. Grasp it.