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TODAY'S ISSUE
Transportation policies based more on politics than need
By Benita M. Dodd
Vice president, Georgia Public Policy Foundation
Special to GwinnettForum.com

SEPT

. 9, 2003 -- Driving on metro Atlanta's roads is reminiscent of that 50's fad in which college students staged elaborate contests to squeeze the most people into a phone booth.

Only, for motorists in the nation's ninth-largest metro area, the congestion is no passing fad; it has become a way of life.

Who's to blame depends on who's pointing the finger. The named culprits include:

The inconvenience of traffic congestion is compounded by its devastating cost - as much as $1.9 billion a year in lost time and fuel, according to one recent metro-area study - and the accompanying damage to the metro area's air quality and reputation. Vehicles spewing emissions as they sit idling in the hot Atlanta summer reduce the likelihood that the metro area will ever be free of costly Environmental Protection Agency regulations.

At his first meeting with the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority board, Gov. Sonny Perdue threw down the gauntlet: "We must put our efforts, and our money, into projects that are going to address cost effectively, the region's traffic congestion needs as well as its air quality issues."

That's a no-brainer, but agendas have been known to override common sense. As the governor pointed out in a recent interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "I think historically in Georgia transportation decisions have been more politically balanced than they've been transportation-policy balanced."

Unfortunately, according to The Road Information Program (TRIP), a Washington-based congestion-relief advocacy group, Georgia policy-makers have been taking the scenic route on relieving congestion. Analyzing statistics from the Federal Highway Administration, TRIP has found that Georgia is doing a dismal job at funding its transportation needs: at about half the national average, and considerably lower than neighboring states.

Georgia transportation spending is $10.74 per million vehicle miles traveled. The national average is $22.60; it's $21.36 in Florida; $21.11 in North Carolina and $15.43 in Tennessee.

Even as Georgia's population grew by about 2.7 million people from 1981 to 2001, along with the number of vehicles and vehicle miles traveled, state-generated funding for highways plummeted. State-generated funding for highway construction dropped 36 percent, when adjusted for inflation. And whereas in 1981 the state was generating $31.10 per 1,000 vehicle miles traveled, by 2001 that figure had plunged 74 percent to $8.25 per 1,000 miles traveled.

The impact on Georgia has been minimal thus far, because federal funding soared during the same period. Federal funding for Georgia highways increased 314 percent. Consequently, the overall capital expenditures on Georgia highways dropped just 6 percent from 1981-2001. Above all, there is a clear and compelling need for the state to show greater commitment to investing in accommodating the lifestyle choices of the vast majority of Georgia residents.

Automobiles are taking a back seat in Georgia at a time that vehicle travel has increased 141 percent and the state has registered 4.8 million passenger vehicles, 1.8 million trucks; more than 108,000 motorcycles and 24,000 buses. Drivers expect and understand a little inconvenience on their trips around town, but they don't deserve short shrift.

As the governor told GRTA, "When it comes to transportation investments, it is time we were guided by a little common sense."

ELLIOTT BRACK
George Keener, renown local artist, dead at age 77
By Elliott Brack
editor and publisher
GwinnettForum.com

SEPT. 9, 2003 -- He was something of a Renaissance man, we always thought, so multi-talented.

We first meet him when he kept up our aged 1976 Ford station wagon. At one time he rebuilt the transmission with over 100,000 miles on it, giving it even more life.

But he and his wife also had a gospel radio show on WLAW in Lawrenceville for years. He was a Sunday school leader and song leader. His medium in music was the guitar, some say in the Chet Atkins and Merle Travis style. His love was country gospel, which he and his wife performed for more than 30 years as a duet.

Yet he gained about as much fame before and after retirement as a painter of mostly landscapes, often reminding him of his native mountain area around Franklin, N.C. and in North Georgia.

He was George Keener, who died at age 77 last week. His funeral was Monday in the far northeast corner of Georgia in Rabun County, at Macedonia Baptist Church, about six miles south of Highlands off Highway 28, with burial in the church cemetery.

George was a genial, laid-back person, friendly and kind. After his retirement from repairing automobiles, most recently at Golden's Auto Service in Norcross, he devoted most of his attention to his paintings. He even encouraged others in the arts, and ran the Gwinnett Council for the Arts Norcross Art Gallery in the old library and telephone company building. While painting there, he was more often the teacher to others as well.

There other artists could set up shop and paint, getting and giving each other encouragement, particularly from George. He kept the center open, with George sometimes there by himself, quietly painting away. He often had two or three paintings going at one time. "I've about got this right," he might say, coming back to it several times.

You could call him a pastoral painter, calm scenes with just the right colors of the mountains. Our favorite Keener painting hangs in our living room, showing a three dead, gnarled old trees besides a country road, which fades into the hills. But look closely and you can see the road edging up the mountain in the background. A hint of fall is in the air, though many of the individual trees still have their leaves on. A graceful mountain is in the background, the colors perfect.

One of his best works serves as background in the church where his funeral was held. What looks like a stream seems to feed a pool, which is the church baptismal pool. Seen from the pews of the church, it looks virtually three dimensional, and is quite stunning, and comforting at the same time.

George painted other scenes, including scenes from the beach. And he was chosen in the top 100 paintings in the National Park Academy of the Arts. In 1987, the first year of that competition, he placed in the top 100. Altogether, over the years, five of his paintings have been in the top 10, and eight in the second 100 of this nationwide competition. He was even featured, besides many newspaper articles, on the CBS "Good Morning, America" program.

What we remember best, however, is his easy-going manner, and quiet calm as he went about his work. For a look at some of his paintings, visit the Gwinnett Arts Center, where the gift shop has several of his paintings for sale. Or visit online at www.DKeener.com.

George Keener, 1926-2003: you gave us beauty from nature's surroundings. May you rest in peace.

FEEDBACK
9/9: Likes recent issue of Forum as example of what it can be

Editor, the Forum:

The Sept. 5 issue of the Forum is an example at what it can be. Very good article on "Spa's." Time to polish some of the county's rough edges. Nice "feedback" also.

-- Randy Stephens, Duluth

9/9: Uncomfortable with Administration view on Iraq

Editor, the Forum;

I am so opposed to the war. I have been since before it actually began. It was so obvious to me and so many others that there would be disastrous results from such a senseless endeavor. Now, understand, I felt a sense of pride and relief when I saw Saddam Hussein's image fall in Iraq. But considering that we have no proof that he is actually dead, and even if we did, the price has been and will continue to be too high.

How many more families will have to suffer the loss of a loved one? Ask them if the policies that this administration implements work for their safety. Quite frankly, I feel so much less safe now than I have in my entire life. I feel that we've stirred the pot and through these actions, created more enemies than were before 9/11. It doesn't make sense that we have and will expend so much in time, manpower, money, and human life...for what cause? I can't comfortably stand behind this war because I don't see the point. And many, many people are suffering.

What's obvious to me is that the "public servants" of the current administration have not a care for what the American people want. I'm very uncomfortable with that fact. I want to see us pull out of Iraq and handle the massive problems we have right here at home. Great though we may be, as a country, we cannot afford any more losses on any level.

-- Katrina Taylor, Marietta, Ga.

9/9: Bombing of mosque latest security failure in Iraq

Editor, the Forum:

The bombing of the mosque, causing 90 deaths and killing a moderate cleric, is the latest enormous security failure in Iraq. Despite the fact that hundreds of people were gathered at the mosque, no US troops were anywhere near the area. Bremer explained that we did not want to intrude on religious sites. Since when has that been a concern to the US?

Clerics are reported as saying that no Muslim would attack Imam Ali Mosque because it sits atop the tomb of Ali, the prophet Mohammed's son-in-law. This is akin to a Christian of any affiliation bombing the tomb of Christ!

In the attack on the United Nations, a large truck, loaded with huge bombs, somehow made its way through the streets of Baghdad without being spotted
by security forces. This, despite the fact that our troops shoot at almost anything that moves, including suspicious-looking cameramen and cars containing small families with children. And no Americans were present there either. Ditto the attack on the Jordanian embassy. Police said all of these bombs were made from the same materials!!!

And no known group has taken responsibility for or made any of the usual declarations or demands with respect to any of these attacks.. This does
seem awfully strange!

-- Charles Prendergast, Texarkana, Ark.