Tomorrow, please go to the polls and vote!  I am hopeful that you will vote FOR TSPLOST.  In a nutshell, TSPLOST would increase our sales tax to 9 cents in order to fund a laundry list of projects – some make sense, some might not – but all of which are designed to help alleviate our increasingly difficult traffic problems.  The project list is lengthy and encompasses all ten counties which are voting on the TSPLOST but particularly benefit those of us who live intown.  The AJC ran a detailed list of the projects in the paper yesterday – and the list is also available online.

TSPLOST may well NOT pass – no one likes a tax increase, and some in areas outside the immediate Atlanta area feel as if they will not be getting enough from the tax.  The Marietta Daily Journal ran a headline: “Cobb County Not Getting Much Bang for the Buck [with TSPLOST].”   But helping intown Atlanta also benefits those who live farther out, in that all of the Atlanta metro area is losing business and relocations because of our difficult traffic – anything and everything that helps alleviate traffic helps Atlanta AND the areas surrounding Atlanta.

Why vote on it NOW?  The political negotiation process in the Legislature that resulted in the list was a lengthy, involved process (no surprise).  We need solutions, and even though these solutions may be imperfect, they are before us now.  If rejected, and the process has to begin anew – who knows how long that could take, or even if the outcome would be very much – if at all – different?