The Lights for Liberty Drive, organized by the Individual Liberty Coalition, will begin at 10 a.m. Participants are asked to access I-285 from any on-ramp with their flashers on, driving the speed limit and circling the 50-plus-mile route twice counter-clockwise, which should take about two hours.
“Most people, for the most part, are tired of going somewhere and standing out in a rally,” said Marietta resident Jeff Martin, who helped organize the drive with the local coalition. “It’s real easy to access your automobile, and it’s not a stunt. It is just to create awareness on the TSPLOST issue in opposition of it.”
Martin said he opposes the TSPLOST because there is very little information available about what the project list entails or what the costs will be.
“If you look at the (pro-TSPLOST) advertisements, they tell you to support it, but they don’t tell you what they’re going to do,” he said. “They say, ‘It’s only 1 penny,’ but do we see anything ever go away? The costs are projected and estimated, but do things ever come under budget?
Cherokee County resident Patti Pratt, who helped Martin organize the drive, isn’t sure how many people plan on participating but hopes that many do.
“I’ve had more interest in the last two weeks when I’ve talked to people,” she said. “I just want them to be courteous to other drivers, give them space … we’re just out there to make a statement, not to be a nuisance.”
Pratt said she opposes the 1 percent sales tax because 52 percent of the money is earmarked for a transit project she doesn’t believe can be paid for in a decade.
“My hope is that I bring awareness to TSPLOST enough that they will go to TrafficTruth.net,” she said, referencing the anti-TSPLOST website that’s advocating the drive. “It’s important that (voters) make an informed decision. I can’t tell them how to vote but that they should vote.”
Marietta resident Pat Negron, who plans to participate in the drive, said the TSPLOST is “self-serving.”
“The project list was made up without any input from the public,” she said. “It’s unconstitutional to put together counties to form a region … it will not relieve traffic congestion.”
For more information on the drive, contact Pratt at (678) 460-6609, Martin at (770) 318-4870 or visit www.traffictruth.net.
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Seriously? I guess she totally missed all of the roundtable public meetings. I went to several and there was tons of public involvement.
Unconstitutional? Please. It is not.
This Lights for Liberty Drive is so stupid. I am part of the tea party and have been to many rallies. They have a point. You gather with other people, talk, express views, hear speeches, etc. A drive around Atlanta in protest of this only wastes gas, ads to the congestion, and presents a safety hazard. This might be as stupid as the occupy movement, well, I guess there wont be drug usage, defecating on cop cars, or rapes going on during this protest, so it's not as bad, but IT IS STUPID.
Those who would vote "YES" on the TSPLOST have no problems with the government reaching down into the citizens' pockets yet again, for more money because they couldn't budget what we've already given them.
"YES" voters don't care about you! They stand to benefit financially from this money-grab. Case in point: the huge "Untie Atlanta" billboard campaign. Notice how much big money is behind this scheme, from the road contractors to the politicians who will get the kickbacks. They don't care about you and your commute time! They care about their bank accounts! Don't fall for the "untie" hype -- it's still a tax and it will be wasted like all the rest we've given them.
Approving the T-SPLOST will build 157 much-needed projects to relieve traffic congestion and help bring JOBS to metro Atlanta. What does the other side offer? Moronic publicity stunts.
I've seen people complain that $500 a year may be contributed by a middle class family spending 50k towards this tax. That totals $1.37 per DAY. Seriously? So even if the improvements save you 5 minutes of driving (most people who go through I-285 and SR 400 interchange probably waste 10-15 just in that stretch) that's $0.27 per minute and the tax is over after 10 years! The benefits from these projects will last long after the residents of Metro Atlanta have stopped paying the tax (unless they decide this is actually a really good way to fund transportation projects and the VOTERS VOTE to extend the tax for a new project list).
And for the griping about no one has ever spent their way out of a recession argument I have a question… what got us out of the last Great Depression? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t starving government programs like road building.
anonymous -- the Ga 400 tax was completely different. This tax BY LAW has to end. Not the case with the 400 tax. And what projects are ever built (road or transit) with maintenance and operation money FOREVER?!
Another totally partisan comment by THE TRUTH.
The "drive around" is a very stupid idea. That is obvious.
However,
Going to the DOT or ARC websites as suggested by THE TRUTH to get factual information on the TSPLOST is beyond STUPID.
It is pro TSPLOST propaganda fomented by the very people who will stand to benefit if this taxpayer funded debacle passes.
Not facts, not truth, no objectivity.
Partisan BS!!
That's all you will be subjected to!!
Just like all the posts by THE TRUTH.
Even though I can't stop y'all from polluting our air a little more, I will be voting "no" along side you on July 31st. If there is another referendum, maybe it will present a more concrete, assured set of solutions to our traffic problems - reducing our air quality and natural resource issues.