Buckhead CID Supports Transit Education Effort

The Buckhead Community Improvement District has joined other business organizations in stepping up support for the 2012 transportation tax referendum.

At its June meeting this week, the Buckhead CID board approved a $175,000 contribution to the Metropolitan Atlanta Voter Education Network (MAVEN), formed to support the proposed 1-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects in metro Atlanta.The expenditure brings the Buckhead CID’s total contribution for the referendum to $200,000.

Michael E. Paris, president and CEO of the Council for Quality Growth, and Bob Voyles, CEO of the Seven Oaks Corp., appeared before the Buckhead CID board to request the funding. They said that other metro area CID boards had approved up to $300,000 for the voter education effort. In addition to the education campaign, corporate funds are being sought for an “advocacy” campaign for the referendum.

The transportation tax, approved by the General Assembly with passage of the Transportation Investment Act, is projected to raise nearly $8 billion for regional transportation projects. The Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable, formed by the Atlanta Regional Commission, is now in the process of determining which projects will be submitted to voters. Here is a link to the roundtable's web site. 

Paris told the board that the business community sees approval of the transportation tax as vital to the metro area’s continued growth. He said that traffic congestion is crippling the metro area’s efforts to attract new jobs.

Buckhead CID Chief Executive Director Jim Durrett told the board “I think this is the most important effort for us. If this fails, we all are going to see a significant setback. Everything the CIDs have been working for is at risk.” He said the tax represents the biggest metro investment in infrastructure in years.

Board Chairman David Allman after the vote said of the MAVEN education and advocacy effort, “I think it is critical,” adding that he sees the education component as “the higher of the two.”

The CID board also agreed to be the lead agency in working with the Atlanta Police Foundation’s campaign to link private video surveillance cameras in Buckhead with the Atlanta Police Department’s video integration center downtown. The move would allow police to monitor video cameras in businesses.

Police Foundation CEO Dave Wilkinson appeared before the board to give details of the video camera effort, which would also add 16 video cameras in Buckhead, two of them outside of the CID boundaries.

The board also agreed to contribute $60,0000 over two years for Wilkinson’s effort to give police officers incentives to live in the city of Atlanta. The money would be used to help police officers find housing in Buckhead.